Mark, no one knows... me either 🙂
You can put there any FET you want to. But then I would suggest to use trim instead of R193 and R195. Thus you would be able to set drain voltage (half of the supply).
I think the most popular (and cheap) is BF245. If it's possible try to get and use 2SK30 or 2SK117.
Good Luck!
TH.J.B
You can put there any FET you want to. But then I would suggest to use trim instead of R193 and R195. Thus you would be able to set drain voltage (half of the supply).
I think the most popular (and cheap) is BF245. If it's possible try to get and use 2SK30 or 2SK117.
Good Luck!
TH.J.B
Speaking of good sounding solid state amps like the VH-140C, I've always thought the older Randall solid state heads sounded pretty decent. Dimebag was always able to get a pretty heavy sound out of them.
John
Mesa Boogie Amps
John
Mesa Boogie Amps
unclejed613 said:the actual pc board is about 2"x3" and the wires on the tubes allow for them to lay flat or stand up. inside a stompbox case, there's not much heat from these tubes either, not near as much as from 12AX7's. the tubes are also rated at 400g's (they are after all designed for military applications), so unless you drop your stompbox from an airplane, these tubes are almost as durable as solid state devices. i tested the preamp with a few different guitars, and it's got plenty of "clean" gain, then when you begin to overdrive it, it has a nice even transition to fuzz where you can go smoothly from clean to dirty just by changing your playing style. turn the input control up all the way, and you have a nice smooth fuzz without the crunchy crackle of a SS fuzz. it even works well with a bass without sounding "farty".
as far as the original question on this thread goes, i like SS amps for getting a nice clean sound with no coloration, and adding whatever coloration or effects i want at the front end, and even adding tube sound if i want. there are, however certain sounds you can (usually) only get from a tube amp, but they're not impossible to duplicate with SS amps. IIRC, Bob Carver duplicated the transfer characteristic of a couple of high-end tube amps (as well as a couple of very expensive SS amps) with one of his t-series SS amps. transfer characteristic duplication is a bit more difficult than just adding an effect at the front end, but it can be done, and done well with a good SS amp.
I have one of those Carver "t" amps. It is still going strong since the late 80's. Very smooth tonality.
I was just sure that Bob Carver would be the one to turn ears away from tubes to solid state, but musicians, especially guitar players, sometimes hear what we want to hear. We play tube amps but use solid state circuits in front of them (pedals) to get the tonality we are really striving for.
I love a good tube amp and own a few. I also like a good solid state amp and there are some out there. The Tech 21 Trademark series of amps are great, IMHO. I own the 60 Watt combo amp.
As somebody said here, you can dime a tube amp and get the crunch or sustain you are after. If you dime a solid state amp the result is not so pretty. You've got to have some headroom when you use a solid state amp, so don't equate low Wattage tube amps with low Wattage solid state amps as they are different animals.
I have been performing live for about 25 years and here are some things I've noticed (opinion):
Most people who prefer SS to tube have never owned a good tube amp usually due to the cost.
I have built some dam good distortion pedals trying to get that tube sound in a SS circuit but never succeeded.
I can easily hear the difference between a good tube amp and a good SS on recordings but not so much live. Stomp box through a tube amp (except TS) is still SS.
Good SS amps are better then anything less then a top end tube amp. Low cost tube amps are IMO junk.
I know two VERY good players who sound like **** because they take the easy SS road. When I see Howard "Guitar" Luedtke live two things happen. 1. My jaw drops at his incredible skill. 2. I leave after half a set because the high-end SS clipping makes my ears hurt.
Hope I haven't pissed anyone off with my first post, its only an opinion.
Most people who prefer SS to tube have never owned a good tube amp usually due to the cost.
I have built some dam good distortion pedals trying to get that tube sound in a SS circuit but never succeeded.
I can easily hear the difference between a good tube amp and a good SS on recordings but not so much live. Stomp box through a tube amp (except TS) is still SS.
Good SS amps are better then anything less then a top end tube amp. Low cost tube amps are IMO junk.
I know two VERY good players who sound like **** because they take the easy SS road. When I see Howard "Guitar" Luedtke live two things happen. 1. My jaw drops at his incredible skill. 2. I leave after half a set because the high-end SS clipping makes my ears hurt.
Hope I haven't pissed anyone off with my first post, its only an opinion.
You should take your son out, go round the shops, let him play amplifiers and buy him the one that he wants.
Would you want to play with a home-made reed?
I'm not saying don't build an amplifier, as well
Things to think about:
What does his favourite player use?
Is the amplifier to be used for practise or performance or both?
How loud can the amplifier be run without causing nuisance?
If you can run loud then you can afford a valve amp, and I personally would have one if only for the exposure, but if you need to run quiet then a sophisticated 'practice' amp is probably the economic choice and offers the greatest versatility in a small portable package. Both is best.
Part of the guitar sound may be generated through feedback, as opposed to compressive sustain. While it is possible to crank up the gain at the front end, satisfactorily results are more readily achievable with a substantial volume. Not everybody likes a guitar as 'live' as this however, and opportunities to practice may be more limited.
I often practice 'dry'.
w
I think it's cool that you and your son have interests in common, but in this instance I think you should maintain a bit of separation between these hobbies.
Would you want to play with a home-made reed?
I'm not saying don't build an amplifier, as well
Things to think about:
What does his favourite player use?
Is the amplifier to be used for practise or performance or both?
How loud can the amplifier be run without causing nuisance?
If you can run loud then you can afford a valve amp, and I personally would have one if only for the exposure, but if you need to run quiet then a sophisticated 'practice' amp is probably the economic choice and offers the greatest versatility in a small portable package. Both is best.
Part of the guitar sound may be generated through feedback, as opposed to compressive sustain. While it is possible to crank up the gain at the front end, satisfactorily results are more readily achievable with a substantial volume. Not everybody likes a guitar as 'live' as this however, and opportunities to practice may be more limited.
I often practice 'dry'.
w
I think it's cool that you and your son have interests in common, but in this instance I think you should maintain a bit of separation between these hobbies.
dmw said:
I have one of those Carver "t" amps. It is still going strong since the late 80's. Very smooth tonality.
I was just sure that Bob Carver would be the one to turn ears away from tubes to solid state, but musicians, especially guitar players, sometimes hear what we want to hear. We play tube amps but use solid state circuits in front of them (pedals) to get the tonality we are really striving for.
I love a good tube amp and own a few. I also like a good solid state amp and there are some out there. The Tech 21 Trademark series of amps are great, IMHO. I own the 60 Watt combo amp.
As somebody said here, you can dime a tube amp and get the crunch or sustain you are after. If you dime a solid state amp the result is not so pretty. You've got to have some headroom when you use a solid state amp, so don't equate low Wattage tube amps with low Wattage solid state amps as they are different animals.
i gather it'a "t" amp with the transfer curve of a tube amp, like the McIntosh.
tube amps do sound louder per watt than do SS amps. it's mostly the harmonics generated by tubes, but some of it also has to do with things like lower damping factor. the lack of damping factor tends to allow the speaker to add tonality to the sound, which in many cases makes it sound louder even if it really isnt.
SS amps if designed correctly will not give you a headache when they clip. the clipping behavior of a lot of SS amps not only is headache inducing, but tends to eat tweeters as well. the biggest cause of this is "overhang", where the output stays latched to the rail until well after it should (if it were truly following the input waveform), then suddenly drops down to where it should be. this is a saturation effect, and there are ways to keep this from happening. the sudden precipitous drop from the rail to where the output voltage should be is usually has a very high slew rate and generates large amounts of ultrasonic frequency energy. enough to fry tweeters and give you a nasty headache.
Did also discover whichever I choose the other type is usually preferred. But anyway...
Have found that spending time with a usable amp you can learn to get sound out of it. Some amps seem more "user friendly"-easier to take to. Many users won't want to take tons of time to get the feel of an amp, understandable.
Some seem a beast but worthwhile, some others a chore then don't seem worth all the work or time once figured out. Kind of user dependent but doesn't always have to be ridiculous, not knowing where to begin.
Usually most aren't bad but occasionally some just feel awkward that way.
*
The advice about taking your son to try amps sounds good-even just to get some idea of what looks interesting or what to look for in an amp.
Have found that spending time with a usable amp you can learn to get sound out of it. Some amps seem more "user friendly"-easier to take to. Many users won't want to take tons of time to get the feel of an amp, understandable.
Some seem a beast but worthwhile, some others a chore then don't seem worth all the work or time once figured out. Kind of user dependent but doesn't always have to be ridiculous, not knowing where to begin.
Usually most aren't bad but occasionally some just feel awkward that way.
*
The advice about taking your son to try amps sounds good-even just to get some idea of what looks interesting or what to look for in an amp.
Tube or Solid State?
If you want to find out which is the most popular,go to concerts,websites,and get guitar magazines.
What sounds good to your ears? Your favorite guitar players,what amps do they use?
Tube amps are heavier,tubes have to be changed about once a year?
But tube amps sound like no other.
Some Jazz stars like Solid State,but I even question that.Maybe they'll use a SS amp for a couple of songs,and a tube amp for the rest.In the studio.They get promo $ for pushing SS.
Sure,they'll get $ for tube models,too; but the push is on for SS.
The manufacturers WANT all of us to embrace SS.I know Guitarists that have bought SS.They end up getting little for their investment.When they decide to sell and get a tube amp,there's not much market for 'em.....among guitarists who've been around awhile.
It's cheaper to build SS.No output Transformer.The latest foray into SS has been "Modeling", that is, capturing great amplifiers and cabinets and microphone techniques into computer chips. Guess what....95% of the modeled amps are.....TUBE.
Line6 started this craze....now everyone is in on it.....except some tried that for awhile and went back to....TUBES. Even Line6 is pushing a new line of amps with modeling features.... + a tube!
Go with a low-powered Tube amp, a 'practice' amp.
The vast majority of the world's best Guitarists use TUBE amplifiers.
AX84.com has some (relatively) inexpensive D-I-Y projects.
"TUBES".😉
If you want to find out which is the most popular,go to concerts,websites,and get guitar magazines.
What sounds good to your ears? Your favorite guitar players,what amps do they use?
Tube amps are heavier,tubes have to be changed about once a year?
But tube amps sound like no other.
Some Jazz stars like Solid State,but I even question that.Maybe they'll use a SS amp for a couple of songs,and a tube amp for the rest.In the studio.They get promo $ for pushing SS.
Sure,they'll get $ for tube models,too; but the push is on for SS.
The manufacturers WANT all of us to embrace SS.I know Guitarists that have bought SS.They end up getting little for their investment.When they decide to sell and get a tube amp,there's not much market for 'em.....among guitarists who've been around awhile.
It's cheaper to build SS.No output Transformer.The latest foray into SS has been "Modeling", that is, capturing great amplifiers and cabinets and microphone techniques into computer chips. Guess what....95% of the modeled amps are.....TUBE.
Line6 started this craze....now everyone is in on it.....except some tried that for awhile and went back to....TUBES. Even Line6 is pushing a new line of amps with modeling features.... + a tube!
Go with a low-powered Tube amp, a 'practice' amp.
The vast majority of the world's best Guitarists use TUBE amplifiers.
AX84.com has some (relatively) inexpensive D-I-Y projects.
"TUBES".😉
If you want to find out which is the most popular,go to concerts,websites,and get guitar magazines.
I’ve been to plenty of concerts. I've seen Valvestates, Roland Cube series amps, SS Crate amps and other similar stuff mixed in with the "classic" tube amps and modern hi-gain tube heads. Lately there's also been a lot of rack stuff, which is typically 90% solid-state. The equipment has always seemed to be at least 50% solid-state – not to mention PA which is always completely solid-state.
Also, if you take a look at what was used by famous artists either at gigs or in the recording studio you’ll be surprised how many of them actually used solid-state amps. Queen? Solid-state. Frank Zappa? Solid-state. ZZ Top? Hybrid Legend amps. Santana at Woodstock and on his debut? Solid-state. CCR? Solid-state. Iron Maiden’s Somewhere in Time and 7th Son? Solid-state. All clean tones of Metallica? Solid-state. Albert and B.B. King? Solid-state. Pantera? Solid-state. Plenty of death metal bands such as Dying Fetus? Solid-state. Many of the famous artists have at least in some point of their career used SS amps. This includes: The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Beach Boys, The Ventures, Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf, and so on and so on.
But tube amps sound like no other.
Sure. But why do you people always ignore the fact that even individual amps sound like no other either. Vox AC30 sounds totally different from Diezel Einstein, which is very different from Marshall JTM45, which is nothing like a Fender 5C1 Champ. Pretty much all amps are different from another. Some more some less.
Sure,they'll get $ for tube models,too; but the push is on for SS.
No. The push is on for a product that earns the greatest amount of money for the manufacturer. Often it’s the tube amps since they typically form the high-end lineup that costs the most. Cheap entry-level amplifiers can also sell well, and although they are cheap they make more sales and cumulatively make a lot of profit as well.
The manufacturers WANT all of us to embrace SS.I know Guitarists that have bought SS.They end up getting little for their investment.When they decide to sell and get a tube amp,there's not much market for 'em.....among guitarists who've been around awhile.
No. Again, the manufacturers praise the product they are selling. Line 6 praised digital switching amps, and guess what they are praising now when in pact with Bogner? It’s all about the current products they have on the market. For Peavey, right now it’s the modelling amps since the VYPYR is out, for other manufacturers it can be things like hand-built boutique amps. It’s all about what they make and sell.
Yes. SS amps can be a poor investment. Either they were cheap in the first place or they are regarded as cheap simply because they are SS. The latter fact is a bit sad. There are plenty of people who would pay 2000 dollars for a mediocre tube amp without giving it a second though, yet would never pay the same amount of money for a SS amp that is – even by the majority – recognised as a whole lot better. Still, old Ampeg VH and SS series amps, as well as things such as Pearce G2R, fetch a lot of money when sold on ebay. I think resale value of Pritchard’s boutique amps could be quite good as well.
It's cheaper to build SS.No output Transformer.The latest foray into SS has been "Modeling", that is, capturing great amplifiers and cabinets and microphone techniques into computer chips. Guess what....95% of the modeled amps are.....TUBE.
So what? Many tube amps are great. Though, you may have to remember that out of thousands of tube amps only surprisingly few were good enough to be modelled in the first place. Yet, it’s the modelling that can provide tones of 10 great amps plus more in a single package. Sure, if I was rich and never had to carry and setup stuff at gigs I would likely buy and use those 10 classic amps instead. But we know that in most cases this is never going to happen. Many of those modelling amps also include a model of a classic clean SS amp, e.g. Roland JC-120, and model of a classic, extreme hi-gain amp, e.g. Randall, Ampeg or Crate. So it’s not just about modelling tube amps – it’s about offering a wide range of different tones in a compact and affordable package. Modellers have their place. Most of that modelling stuff is also at its best when it’s tweaked to produce its own tones, which are only slightly based on some classic amp – like most of non-modelling amps are, anyway. If people only needed that one exact tone of the classic amp, they would likely buy it instead but I think the success of these things speaks volumes.
I felt the need to reply.
Some times you get what local music stores have to rent, sometimes a famous guitar player has a suck tone and gets by on vocals. I swear by tube but I build and play around with SS for fun.
All SS are generally the same with different EQ
A good tube amp is just better than a good SS amp and will be until technology makes a leap
Why you need to spend some time with a tube amp to know if it’s good and with SS every possible tone is revealed within 1 minuet
Many of the famous artists have at least in some point of their career used SS amps[/quote]I’ve been to plenty of concerts. I've seen Valvestates, Roland
Some times you get what local music stores have to rent, sometimes a famous guitar player has a suck tone and gets by on vocals. I swear by tube but I build and play around with SS for fun.
All tube are generally the same with different EQSure. But why do you people always ignore the fact that even individual amps sound like no other eithe
All SS are generally the same with different EQ
A good tube amp is just better than a good SS amp and will be until technology makes a leap
Sales to pros are tube amps - sales to noobs are SSNo. The push is on for a product that earns the greatest amount of money for the manufacturer
Why you need to spend some time with a tube amp to know if it’s good and with SS every possible tone is revealed within 1 minuet
Agreedthe manufacturers praise the product they are selling
A sought after tube amp will sell for much more then a sought after SS amp, buy what you can afford.things such as Pearce G2R, fetch a lot of money when sold on ebay
OMG have you ever heard modeling? Uber yuck! You have just proven to me that you never played through a good tube amp and now all my arguments to you cannot be understood for lack of reference.it’s the modelling that can provide tones of 10 great amps plus more in a single package
All tube are generally the same with different EQ
All SS are generally the same with different EQ
See the fact is; they are not. There are plenty of differences besides EQ, such as the number of gain stages and their bias points and gain, voicing within the stages (although that can be seen to fall in to the EQ category), BJT versus FET versus OpAmp versus tube, soft or hard clipping and in how many stages, SE versus PP, OT versus OTL, the amount of feedback used in the output stage and the tone controls incorporated within, in tube amps the output transformer properties and other features, in solid state class-A voltage amplifier input versus interstage transformer coupled versus input versus singleton input versus differential input, in solid state current feedback or not, in tube amps LTP PI versus paraphase versus split-load, and so on.
I’m surprised that you even make such a blanket statement.
Sales to pros are tube amps - sales to noobs are SS
No, sales are sales and manufacturers have different product categories they cater for different people. They can’t sell a 2k amp to a noob but just as well they can sell a cheap and poor entry-level SS amp they can sell a cheap and poor Epi VJ or another similar product. The noob would still be better off with a solid-state or tube product from a slightly higher price range. Pros have a good ear and experience on what they need so they’re not that gullible to marketing talk. They buy either tube or a solid-state amp – but what they choose is at least hopefully about the quality of the product. Mostly they buy a tube amp since those tend to be the high-quality “pro” products with good tone and plenty of power and features – yet, you don’t see them buying those aforementioned Epi VJ’s or something. Another proof more that tube amps are not the same. (Hey they could hook that to graphic EQ and get just about any amp out there - or could they?)
Some pros use solid-state amps instead because they get the tones they want from them. For example, plenty of pros bought Marshall’s MF350, when it was the hot new thing they pushed out. I’ve seen one used by Eric Peterson from Testament and it didn’t sound any worse than its tube counterparts – although the reliability gives me some doubts. See the list of my post – that was just a tip of the iceberg. Some pros also use rack gear, which is very often hybrid-style circuitry. Just take a look at “tube preamps” such as ADA MP-1 or Marshall JMP-1 and tell me how much tube you see in them and how much solid-state. Many pros actually don’t even care what their stuff is as long as it sounds good. Many average guitar players can't even distinct a tube from a transistor or mistake those big power supply capacitorss as tubes.
I for one hate tube sniffing.
OMG have you ever heard modeling? Uber yuck! You have just proven to me that you never played through a good tube amp and now all my arguments to you cannot be understood for lack of reference.
Yeah. What do you know.
actally, if you look at the music business, what amp one uses is purely a matter of taste. i remember when Acoustic Controls amps were the latest and greatest. i'm a bass player, and there used to be a music store next to the tv shop i worked at as a teenager. while i was waiting for the boss to open the shop i would go over to the music store and try out bass guitars and amps. Acoustic 370's were selling like crazy, and after playing through one i could see why. nothing but chest thumping, spine crunching bass, especially if you played it through JBL or EV bass bins. the 370 did have one flaw, however. if you blew it up, it would never work again. the amplifier board and power supply would fail catastrophically, and every tech i've talked to that's tried working on them has come to the same conclusion i did (after rebuilding one 3 times and having it blow up at 60V on a variac), it's not rebuildable. at the same time there was another bass amp selling like crazy, and that was the Earth amp. it was a tube amp, and had chest thumping, spine crunching bass as well. it sounded a little boomier, but that was because of the lower damping factor. i eventually bought one at a pawn shop years later and was really happy with it. but like any tube amp for bass, it had one minor problem, if you kept the head on top of your bass cabinet, it would eat tubes. the vibration would eventually rattle the tube elements loose. the low damping factor and the interaction of the amp and the speaker cabinet is one of the things that gives tube amps their distinctive sound. it's all a matter of taste. now there are class D amps. it might actually be easy to make some of these emulate a tube amp. the reason for this is that there are two basic types of class D amps, those with global feedback, and those without (or with very little) the ones without tend to have a high output impedance, and therefore a low damping factor, and will have a similar interaction with the speakers as a tube amp. if you then use an input signal processing (analog or digital, doesn't matter) stage to emulate the transfer characteristics and frequency response of tubes, you now have a SS amp indistinguishable from a tube amp.
there's nothing wrong with digital modeling. if somebody likes it they will buy it. remember the market is driven by the buyer. marketing hype can only go so far, and it only really works on newbies. after that people tend to gravitate towards what they like best. so the majority of the market is driven by experienced musicians who try stuff out before they buy it. so if it's selling like hotcakes, there must be people out there who like it.
every time there's new technology in the music business, there are those who say it'll never catch on....
yeah.... i worked as a computer repair tech for a company where the boss kept saying "just watch, computers will never catch on, and i'll corner the market with adding machines and abacusses"
there's nothing wrong with digital modeling. if somebody likes it they will buy it. remember the market is driven by the buyer. marketing hype can only go so far, and it only really works on newbies. after that people tend to gravitate towards what they like best. so the majority of the market is driven by experienced musicians who try stuff out before they buy it. so if it's selling like hotcakes, there must be people out there who like it.
every time there's new technology in the music business, there are those who say it'll never catch on....
yeah.... i worked as a computer repair tech for a company where the boss kept saying "just watch, computers will never catch on, and i'll corner the market with adding machines and abacusses"
As we can see, discussion on which type of amp is better can be endless. I suggest a blind test. Here: http://www.myspace.com/bluesmaszyna are few recordings of a band that I'm sure you don't know (my colleague plays guitar in the band). Please listen to song #1 and #3. The quality is not perfect; the first one is taken live from a concert, and the second is a home recording - with electronic drums. But listen to the guitar (in the first song there is a solo somewhere in the middle of the song) and tell me whether this is SS or a tube amp. Was there any digital effect or digital modeling used? Was there any analog effect used? At least for me, it wasn't that easy to tell. I wonder whether you can do it 🙂 .
Mark
Mark
😉 I'll bite...
Song 1: 3m21sec: guitar solo
I really like that sound... if this is SS, it would be nothing to be ashamed for!! It really sound like a heavey treble boosted, power amp clipping at some points.. nice low-fi mojo.. perfect for that blues song. I miss a bit of low-end reverbration and warmth.., the signs of a low-damping factor tube amp. Also the notes don't decay so beautiful in to a clean note as is possible with a Tube amp.. And the two-note intermodulation fragments, don't sound so nice.. I think SS, but a very nice low-fi blues tone even so...
Song 3: the clean guitar
to me it sound sounds definitle SS, even allmost keyboard like...I think nowadays you can get that kind of sounds out of a good syntheziser.. I miss the low-end flutter of a underdamped, low damping factor, tube amp driving big 12" speakers.. .. also I don't like the lack a natural sustain.. maybe due to played at low volume, lack of vibrato, intended by player?
Tell me, am I wrong? Both cases...?
But i'll bet, that if I was plying myself on these setup, I would know instantly with no doubt about it.
BTW:
very nice band!! I really like their MoJo! 😎
Song 1: 3m21sec: guitar solo
I really like that sound... if this is SS, it would be nothing to be ashamed for!! It really sound like a heavey treble boosted, power amp clipping at some points.. nice low-fi mojo.. perfect for that blues song. I miss a bit of low-end reverbration and warmth.., the signs of a low-damping factor tube amp. Also the notes don't decay so beautiful in to a clean note as is possible with a Tube amp.. And the two-note intermodulation fragments, don't sound so nice.. I think SS, but a very nice low-fi blues tone even so...
Song 3: the clean guitar
to me it sound sounds definitle SS, even allmost keyboard like...I think nowadays you can get that kind of sounds out of a good syntheziser.. I miss the low-end flutter of a underdamped, low damping factor, tube amp driving big 12" speakers.. .. also I don't like the lack a natural sustain.. maybe due to played at low volume, lack of vibrato, intended by player?
Tell me, am I wrong? Both cases...?
But i'll bet, that if I was plying myself on these setup, I would know instantly with no doubt about it.
BTW:
very nice band!! I really like their MoJo! 😎
Thank you, very interesting remarks (I will pass them to my colleague). I really appreciate your opinion.
Can we wait for one more try? Maybe FlyingZ or Teemu would like to bite 🙂 the recordings?
Mark
Can we wait for one more try? Maybe FlyingZ or Teemu would like to bite 🙂 the recordings?
Mark
No problem, I can wait a bit..
Come on guys! Give it a shot... what do you think about the guitar sounds in the recordings? SS or Tube and why?
Come on guys! Give it a shot... what do you think about the guitar sounds in the recordings? SS or Tube and why?
I really can't tell since in my opinion there is no distinct tube sound or solid-state sound. When I still used to buy all that tube hype I believed that many great recordings were made with tube amps. Later I learned that they were made with other things, including SS amps, ghettoblasters, overdriven recording mixer channels - and sometimes by even puncing holes to the speakers. The key factor to good tone has always been the person playing the guitar. Also, different amps sound different. Truthfully, what we hear on that record could be anything and I'm not that much of a blues fan to really dig the genre and listen analytically. Since you ask I think it must be a SS modelling amplifier.
Here is another interesting SS versus tube comparison:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D5um0kRcQQ
And here is an example of some nice and lush tube tones:
http://instruments.breyfogle.org/Gallery/amps.html
Hopefully that latter link at least makes you doubt the correctness of some of that clichéy stuff that people always bring up when arguing about tube versus solid-state amps. All those nice things about tube amps simply do not apply unless you design them into your circuit. Do a few things wrong and the end-result is simply not worth bragging about.
Also, I like to make one point clear: I do not hate tube amps. Many of them are great. But I do hate condescending and ignorant hostility against SS amps and their users. We rarely see the same type of behavior the other way around (people commenting how someone is a totally stupid newb and must have wooden ears because he plays a tube amp). I also hate generalised statements made of both SS and tube amps. Like that stuff about harmonics, clipping characteristics, output impedance etc. Most of that stuff is very case specific and varies a lot depending on the amp - regardless of whether it's a SS or a tube amp.
There are plenty of other and more interesting things we could discuss about amps than this issue. This is a petty argument that has been going on since early 70's and I really don't see why general opinion would change due to some discussion at some Internet forum? No way that will happen. Truthfully, I really want to avoid this whole issue in the first place since it usually means I waste my time on typing stuff that doesn't make any difference in the long run. Sometimes I just see too much of stupid stuff written not to step in and correct it.
Here is another interesting SS versus tube comparison:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D5um0kRcQQ
And here is an example of some nice and lush tube tones:
http://instruments.breyfogle.org/Gallery/amps.html
Hopefully that latter link at least makes you doubt the correctness of some of that clichéy stuff that people always bring up when arguing about tube versus solid-state amps. All those nice things about tube amps simply do not apply unless you design them into your circuit. Do a few things wrong and the end-result is simply not worth bragging about.
Also, I like to make one point clear: I do not hate tube amps. Many of them are great. But I do hate condescending and ignorant hostility against SS amps and their users. We rarely see the same type of behavior the other way around (people commenting how someone is a totally stupid newb and must have wooden ears because he plays a tube amp). I also hate generalised statements made of both SS and tube amps. Like that stuff about harmonics, clipping characteristics, output impedance etc. Most of that stuff is very case specific and varies a lot depending on the amp - regardless of whether it's a SS or a tube amp.
There are plenty of other and more interesting things we could discuss about amps than this issue. This is a petty argument that has been going on since early 70's and I really don't see why general opinion would change due to some discussion at some Internet forum? No way that will happen. Truthfully, I really want to avoid this whole issue in the first place since it usually means I waste my time on typing stuff that doesn't make any difference in the long run. Sometimes I just see too much of stupid stuff written not to step in and correct it.
Hi Markus!
I think that the recordings were made on ss.
But for me it is not important because the songs sounded good.
For me the most important is a fun for the guitar player: overdriven tube power amp has much more beauty sound that overdriven ss amp.
but in the end:
Some people like the blonds, the other the brunettes...
😀
I think that the recordings were made on ss.
But for me it is not important because the songs sounded good.
For me the most important is a fun for the guitar player: overdriven tube power amp has much more beauty sound that overdriven ss amp.
but in the end:
Some people like the blonds, the other the brunettes...
😀
I wanted to get back to the discussion of using chipamps. I have an LM3875 kit and had wondered how it would sound as a mp for jazz/blues. I have a keely modded blues driver pedal. I have doubts that the chipamp will sound as good as a tube amp but had considered using a tube preamp to drive it. Has anyone successfully built such a hybrid yet?
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