Does everyone arrive at tube amps, eventually?

[solspirit]

I wouldn't mind a little tube amp and cab but I don't need it. I've got 2 SS amps that are fine for my house. I'd rather not deal with another guitar related expense either.

[Demanic]

I have a pretty decent selection of both tube and SS amps and modelers, (and like them all), but my main amp of the last few years is my Bogner Alchemist. A Line 6 / Bogner collaboration. It's all tube, pre and power, but with some Line 6 effects. Mainly delay and reverb. Works great, sounds great.

I also have a SpyderValve 112, that's also a Line 6 / Bogner team effort. That one though, is the Bogner tube power amp with a whole Line 6 modeling frontend.

I knew someone else had to have one!

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[ArtieToo]

I have a pretty decent selection of both tube and SS amps and modelers, (and like them all), but my main amp of the last few years is my Bogner Alchemist. A Line 6 / Bogner collaboration. It's all tube, pre and power, but with some Line 6 effects. Mainly delay and reverb. Works great, sounds great.

I also have a SpyderValve 112, that's also a Line 6 / Bogner team effort. That one though, is the Bogner tube power amp with a whole Line 6 modeling frontend.

[beaubrummels]

I would say most everyone at least passes through a tube amp at some point. If you are chasing that tone, a real one solves all the deficiencies of an emulation of it. But an emulation provides a lot of convenience that could be considered an improvement - lower weight to haul around, support for multiple configurations/preset sounds, little relative maintainence, etc.

[Sirion]

With my ADA MP-1 (which admittedly features two preamp tubes) I have used both tube and solid-state power amps. I like the top end of the tube power amps slightly better, but the difference really isn't enough to warrant the extra headaches (in this case, a Sonic Maximizer is the common solution to get that top end back. I have yet to try it, but it is on my list for 2021), so I've gone hybrid in this case. With the righ replacement preamp I have no reason to think that you couldn't get a similar all-solid-state rig to sound great.

[Demanic]

Spidervalve.

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[Ascension]

I sure did and will never go back to a modeler! Ran racks for years they would not respond like i wanted live to touch and technique and would spend time tweaking a parch then get it in a live setting and it sounded like poo through that system so spent more to time programing a computer than I did playing guitar. Went back to a very simple rig Tube amp few effects and most times a miced cab or IR load box. Super straight forward quick to set up and super easy to tweak on the fly.
Example is here. Playing a conference with my Carvin DC 127 loaded with a ALT 8 and a Sentient through my tiny 1/10 Mesa Subway Rocket that you can barely see on stage at super low volume miced with a Beta SM 57 and the only effects are a little verb and a delay in the loop.

[justFred]

Mark Knopfler ended up with a profiler...however he could afford a tech guy to spend months dialing in his tone settings....
would say at some point if your into overdriven tone spectrum ya gotta be hands on with a tube amp for a period of time...

[Erlend_G]

My first good amp, was a 80's transistor Marshall combo, two channels and spring reverb. It did all the classic Marshall tones, at any volume. It was truly a great amp.

I then got a Blackstar HT-20, and I wouldn't say it sounds any "better" than the SS Marshall. It does have that "tube chime and warmth" though, that I have never heard from a SS or modeling amplifier.

So, I guess, I'm sold on tubes.

[Mincer]

Nah. I love my tube amp, but I also love my Fractal and Tech 21 just as much. Every guitarist should try as many types of amps as they can, but what they 'arrive at' should be unique to that player.

[weepingminotaur]

No. It depends on taste, usage, and application. I'm a bedroom guitar player who plays a goodly amount of metal and hard rock, with some pop, jazz, blues, and funk thrown in. I have a Boss Katana 50 and I LOVE the versatility it gives me, via Tone Studio, for a super-affordable price. Maybe gigging players in different genres would need tube amps. Not essential at all for me. I'm not saying I wouldn't buy a tube amp in future, just that not all roads lead there necessarily.

[JamesPaul]

I'm backward as I was primarily tube from 1984 until 2008. Then I picked up a Peavey Vypyr 75. Lots of variety in one amp, I didn't care if someone dumped their beer on it and it also cut down the weight I was lugging around. I even got a Vypyr 30 to leave in our rehearsal space.

Somewhere in here I also put a stereo rig together, using 2 Peavey XXLs. Not far off my Triple XXX stack and bonus stereo at half the cost.

When the Vypyr VIPs were released, I sold the 30 and bought a VIP 3. For the longest time the VIP 3 was my only amp readily accessible. I did leave my JSX 212 combo out when I found it, but mostly because it weighs like a battleship and I didn't want to lug it to basement storage.

I do love my JSX tones, even to the extent I've started selling off my other tube amps. I also agree that nothing feels like a 100+ watts coming thru a 412 or full stack. Still, feel is about the only thing that modelling can't always deliver. Plus, my VIP 3 works well with my electrics, acoustics and my 2 basses.

My final comment is my usual. "Owning a tube amp is like owning a vehicle. You are responsible for the scheduled maintenance. Owning a solid state amp is like owning a clock radio."

Yes, scheduled maintenance has improved some since the paper in oil cap days. Still, I think my current clock radio dates back to 1984. All I ever do is unplug and replug the clock radio when we move. I've been thru a lot of tubes since 1984.

[Leon Of Late]

I have a Boss GT-6 that I have used as a recording interface since like 2001, for basic guitar tones or just to run my actual guitar amp through to my recording program. It’s easy to get a great tone laid down digitally. But in the room and overall I always like the tone of my Marshall better, always. Whether it was my JCM 800 or my DSL40C with the right tubes, the tubes always sound better.

[GuitarStv]

I've been happy with sounds from a JC-120 . . . and think I'd get along pretty well with a Fender Tone Master. But my current amp is tube.

[Securb]

I use both but I am one of the biggest SS fans around here