Tube pre into a solid state

[stolenband]

Hello to all.

i want to make a tube pre-amp to try to integrate some tube sound into a solid state amp. And wondering if this is anything worth trying. I will be trying at my own construction of a pre amp. I plan to run it like this:

Guitar --> pre amp --> solid state head --> effects loop --> speakers

would this work at all?? and is there any benefits here??

Thanks

[bunkie]

I think you want the effects loop between the pre amp and the power amp, not between the power amp and the speakers.

Lots of commercial amps (Marshall ValveState for example) have a tube preamp and a solid state power amp, so this is a very workable idea.

However, in my opinion, most of these amps fail to work as well as all-tube amps because they are usually done to keep costs down. It's cheaper to do an SS power amp than a tube one of any given wattage. The problem is that the typical SS guitar power amp is as cheaply made as can be. Small power transformers, small power-supply filter capacitors and poor attention to detail make for mediocre results. Again, this is my opinion, others may disagree.

[century tek]

I don't disagree, but I will say that both do work. A lot of people have solid state preamps going into tube amplifiers, and vice-versa. I guess it just depends on your ears and dollar budget.

[stolenband]

I am getting a line 6 or ibanez ss amp. I am moving on from combo amps, trying to get a stack, so if i use the tube pre, will it get it to sound any closer to true rube amp??

[tinitus]

I expect a guitar tube pre to be relatively tricky, with regards to impedances and gain structure
been looking at a Summit pre
if I remember correct it has both SS and tube curcuit, and a blend fuction
no doubt a tube could give you tube sound, but not automaticly

been thinking about going the opposite route
to build a cheap tube power with EL34
and use maybe Tech 21 Sansamp bass driver
or even build my own pre too, with combined Jfet and tube gain

with commercial amps, note if it takes balanced signal only, or have multiple options
and input from guitar may need to be very high impedance, megaohm
with onboard guitar pre it may be different
the Summit has switchable input impedance, so maybe it could be a matter of simple resistors