Robert S. said:
I think the DSLs are fine sounding amps. They aren't quite as cool as the pre 1990 Marshalls (pure opinion) but they are channel switchers with more gain and thats what many people wanted so Marshall seems to be on point with the DSLs.
All amps need to be turned up a fair amount to sound their best. No circiut sounds great when it's choked and no speaker sounds good until it's getting hit with a solid signal. Sound is no more than vibrating air and you need to move some air to get tone.
Tube amps are definately different than SS amps. Much of the distorted tone in a tube amp is developed by saturating the tubes and this can only be done by turning the amps volume and or gain up. With even a 30 watt tube amp this will be a significant level. Even a 18 watt tube amp will be able to rattle the pictures on your bedroom wall if you crank it up but it's a killer sound. To a point, the louder you play a tube amp the better it will sound.
SS amps don't need a lot of current flowing to sound their best. The distortion is usually created by opamps which is a 5 volt chip instead of a 400 volt, high current tube. By using chips to create the square wave you can create small but distorted signals, giving you distortion at far lower levels. You still need to get to a given level to get the speaker moving but it's usually lower than a tube amp because you aren't pushing the tubes to saturate.
The problem with small SS amps is though that they often don't sound all that great. Sure you get more distortion at a lower level but the quality of the tone isn't all that, it's just more distorted and typically grainier than you'll get with a tube amp. Also, since SS amps don't need to have big trannys to handle the current that tubes need to operate or to couple the speaker(s) to the amp they can be put into smaller packages. The smaller the box, the more boxy your tone will sound. The enclosure has a lot to do with tone.
The biggest thing to consider is that you can play a DSL quietly and it will sound much like a small SS amp with thin and somewhat buzzy tone but if you turn up a small SS amp it will never sound like a DSL cranked, it will just get louder.
If your main considerations are level and price you may get great service from a small SS amp in your bedroom and unless your girlfriend is a guitar player, no one will know or want to burst into giggles when they see your Bandit next to your night stand.
From a tonal point of view there are better options for bedrooms than a under $200 SS practice amp and most of those are really built and marketed for those that are just starting out and can't see spending $2000 on a new Marshall half stack. For that purpose small SS amps are a blessing. A better option for bedrooms is a used Pod 2.0. Good effects, reverb, gate, tuner and tone that is more along the lines of what you will hear in the real world. Run it into a small home stereo and you have very quiet practice "amp" that has a headphone jack and can be used further down the line for recording.
I have a 180 watt Mesa rack, a 100 watt JCM 800, a 30 watt Crate V32, a Crate GT80 and a Pod 2.0 here at the house and I can get tones very simular to all of them with a Pod (maybe not the GT80 - yuck) and at levels that don't bother people or distroy my ears.
You can have sound or you can have tone and you can have both at reasonable levels with modeling gear. The Pod will never replace my tube amps but in a pinch it can get in the ballpark. A small SS combo doesn't even come close.
It's amazing some of the tones I've been able to get from this amp into the right cabinet,and I've gigged alot with it..
