Solid State VS.Tubes , & WHY ?

[TwilightOdyssey]

How about a post on Vinyl vs. CD vs. Mp3? :roll:

Why? You've already got the heirarchy right!! ;)

[Tim]

Whatever works for you as an individual, personally I've always liked valve amps they're warmer and more harmonically rich.Saying that alot of seriously great players have gone SS route with amazing results.

[Ratrod]

IMO, the word 'tranny' says it all. It's something that tries to be something it isn't.

[HJM]

IMO, the word 'tranny' says it all. It's something that tries to be something it isn't.

:lol:  :lol: i like that.....

[PhilKing]

I find transistor amps don't have the dynamics I like.  When you attack the strings hard with a valve amp you can get a sweet distortion that cleans up when you play lighter.  Transistor amps don't do this.  For home I have a stero 3 watt EL84 amp (Lexicon Signature 284), even this is loud, but I have attenuators on the speaker cabinets and can bring the volume down using them.

[The amazing Phil]

IMO, the word 'tranny' says it all. It's something that tries to be something it isn't.

That's classic. :lol:

[Bob Johnson]

I guess the bottom line is; valve amps contribute to the sound you want to get, like speaker voicing, cabinet design/constuction, guitar leads etc etc, ad infinitum. Solid state gear is better at totally faithful reproduction (who uses a valve driven power amp?) and although the various manufacturers have tried to emulate "valve sound" with their solid state kit, they have obviously failed. How can you reproduce something so complex and so variable? However; here's still a place for both in the live music biz

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

AHahHAAHAhahah TRANNY, ahHAAHahaHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Bob Johnson]

You can Ahaha ha ha as much as you like. 500w guitar amp stacks belong in Jurassic Park. If you ever play a big, like really big gig your overall sound, "front of house", will depend on the PA and solid state amps. All you want from your guitar amp is a signal source and yes an all tube job is going to give you more of what you want. All you really need is about 50 watts, tops! You can't fill a large hall from the backline without having a totally shite overall sound. If we're just talking guitar amp fine tubes rule. But if we're talking the right tool for the right job let's get real.

[JJretroTONEGOD]

call me a nutter, but you dont need more than 5 watts in any valve amp, me personally I go for the low watt class A, subtle clean and complex sound. I love that 'zappa' tone and it's impossible to get without valve amps. I'm also very fond of the Peavey Bandit 112, the newest model, with a preamp valve and solid state rectifier, great live!

[WezV]

I voted valves.  About 6-7 years ago i found a 5 watt valve amp in a second hand shop for £40.  It a 60's dallas scala with Mullard valves, its a bit noisy sometimes but it has the best sound i have ever heard.  I have since built a little 5 watt fender champ reproduction which sounded awfull at first but after changing a few valves for NOS ones it really came to life.

Although....I was in a newly kitted out studio last year that had all brand new amps.  There was a fender twin, orange stack and combo and a vox ac30.  These are all amps i have dreamed of owning but none of them lived up to my expectations.  I think with a re-valve they could be great but stock they were nothing special and you can see how people think all these modeling amps are close to achieveing the valve sound we all desire

[_tom_]

^ I also tried a Vox AC30 at the studio our band practises in and it was pretty bad sounding, the JCM900 was cr@p as well.

[gingataff]

Although I do prefer valves to SS I think its a bit like comparing strawberry and chocolate ice-cream. Both do the job but in a different way and it's down to taste and situation as to which works for you . My first amp was a Marlin 10 watt combo, and I got what I thought was a nice a crunchy sound, even better when I got my Boss Digital Metalizer. I then upgraded to a Laney AOR pro-tube 30 watt valve combo and to this day can find a sound I'm completely happy with but I do love the responsiveness of valves which I haven't found replicated in SS.

It just so happens valves were invented before SS and therefore became the 'standard', imagine if it had been the other way around, maybe we'd be complaining about valve amps being too coloured, saggy and un-transistor like!

[Crazy_Joe]

I have never played any tube amps but they are more expensive, therefore they are better than solid state.

[gingataff]

..Which is also why Rolex is better than Timex even though a quartz watch keeps time far better than a mechanical watch (especially a Rolex!)