Am I the only one?

[Jay 77]

Am I the only person here that actually likes their SS amp? I'm running a Valvestate from '98 and it's been nothing but fantastic for me. Granted, everyone would love tubes all the time, but for a third of the price, this thing will punch you in the guts and buy you a drink afterwards. I love it. Anyone else feel the same, or are you all tube snobs?

(BTW, the Triple Recifier gives me a boner)

 

[Rushfan2112]

Re: Am I the only one?

I'm not a tube snob, but I'm not into a lot of gain. I only pull mine out for some jazzy clean stuff.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Am I the only one?

I'm not about using SS.... if it gets the tone I want. I'd pick a lot of Randall amps over a lot of tube amps.

 

[TimmyPage]

Re: Am I the only one?

Tube. Erm, I cant get the maddest, heaviest metal tones that I could before, but I dont mind, as im really falling from that music now. Tube inspired me to blues it up.

 

[Jay 77]

Re: Am I the only one?

Hey, tubes are the way to go for blues and a lot of easy-going stuff too. I just find that everyone here has this huge thing for tubes 99% of the time. I'm not arguing the sweetness of tube amps, but there are other options for those of us without large amounts of disposable income.

 

[Rushfan2112]

Re: Am I the only one?

Hey, tubes are the way to go for blues and a lot of easy-going stuff too. I just find that everyone here has this huge thing for tubes 99% of the time. I'm not arguing the sweetness of tube amps, but there are other options for those of us without large amounts of disposable income.

$100 is large amounts of disposable income? That's all an Epi Valve Jr is.

 

[Jay 77]

Re: Am I the only one?

I mean something that'll play an indoor or outdoor venue. Little tube amps for around the house are one thing, but I was looking at Marshalls & Mesas recently and they're all upwards of $1800. Tough to swallow for me. As much as I'd like to have them, I'd rather put that cash towards a couple more good guitars.

 

[Jackson Distortion]

Re: Am I the only one?

I like (Crate) solidstate for it's consistency and affordability- I don't even think if I had a grand to toss around I'd buy a tube amp... too little piece of mind for me. I just like to turn on my amp, kick it, spit it, and get to the darn song already... (by the way I don't kick it and cuss for it's lack of realiability... matter fact I don't do these at all lol, just embellishing).

Main point: I play heavy riffs and hack leads 24/7, I don't need pricey tube for that.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Am I the only one?

I have a stack of Tube heads and a few tube combos.... but i also have 4 SS amps.... I use the SS stuff a lot more then my tube stuff these days.... I always wanted a mid-late 90's Valvestate 2x12 Chorus amp...... I thought they were pretty good

 

[34029324079]

Re: Am I the only one?

I think that solid state has come a long way; my main gas is the vox valvetronix

...I think it is a socialization thing; we have collectively defined tube amps as the thing to have, and honestly, people look at amps at shows ...if you can ignore all that big ups to ya, and play what sounds good to you cause that is usually what matters anyway

 

[IcedEarth112]

Re: Am I the only one?

damn i'd choose a tube amp over a solid state anyday. Tubes sound so much more.. real, i guess, and they have huge balls.. some of em anyways.

 

[larry_emder]

Re: Am I the only one?

Whatever makes ya happy

 

[Jocelyn]

Re: Am I the only one?

Hey, tubes are the way to go for blues and a lot of easy-going stuff too. I just find that everyone here has this huge thing for tubes 99% of the time. I'm not arguing the sweetness of tube amps, but there are other options for those of us without large amounts of disposable income.

I mean something that'll play an indoor or outdoor venue. Little tube amps for around the house are one thing, but I was looking at Marshalls & Mesas recently and they're all upwards of $1800. Tough to swallow for me. As much as I'd like to have them, I'd rather put that cash towards a couple more good guitars.

I understand what you are saying i am in the same boat too. I play blues but honestly it would be expensive...

 

[GuitarStv]

Re: Am I the only one?

I just like what sounds good to me . . . and I find that at gigging volumes, tubes sound nicer than solid state amps for the stuff that I play. I like a great sounding clean, and I havn't found a solid state amp that gives the same kind of cleans as a tube amp. You can get some great recording sounds out of little solid state amps though . . .

 

[Jay 77]

Re: Am I the only one?

I just like what sounds good to me . . . and I find that at gigging volumes, tubes sound nicer than solid state amps for the stuff that I play. I like a great sounding clean, and I havn't found a solid state amp that gives the same kind of cleans as a tube amp. You can get some great recording sounds out of little solid state amps though . . .

No kidding....on a whim we recorded some parts not too long ago with my Fender Princeton and it ended up sounding awesome. We also used a Valvestate 2x12 Chorus through a D112 mic and the sound was huge.

 

[Rushfan2112]

Re: Am I the only one?

I mean something that'll play an indoor or outdoor venue. Little tube amps for around the house are one thing, but I was looking at Marshalls & Mesas recently and they're all upwards of $1800. Tough to swallow for me. As much as I'd like to have them, I'd rather put that cash towards a couple more good guitars.

Indeed. I say as long as a venue has a PA system, they can mic my Fender Blues Junior.

 

[ErikH]

Re: Am I the only one?

There's nothing wrong with solid state amps. I own a few and use them. They're more practice amps than anything but they get the job done, and done well.

When it comes to the big rig, I gotta have the tube warmth. I love the tone. But in a pinch, I'll use a SS amp without hesitation. I'm in that situation now since my Marshall head is in the shop. I'm running a Marshall Lead 12 combo in to my 4x12. The thing keeps up just fine with the band. And yes, it's 12 watts, but a very loud 12 watts. I'm tempted to find a head version for backup.

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Am I the only one?

I was using my Marshall Valvestate 8080 exclusively up until about 4 years ago, and was able to get some great sounds out of it (including on large outdoor stages, through a PA to 3000+). I only changed because I got a amp offer I couldn't refuse!

 

[Jay 77]

Re: Am I the only one?

I love the tone of a tube head too, but man it's tough to afford something. And there's always that "what if" with the tubes. Nothing worse than playing through an amp with a blown tube or two. When I get rich & famous I'll get a few amps & pay a lackey to look after them at all times. Yeah, that's it.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Am I the only one?

There's nothing wrong with solid state amps. I own a few and use them. They're more practice amps than anything but they get the job done, and done well.

When it comes to the big rig, I gotta have the tube warmth. I love the tone. But in a pinch, I'll use a SS amp without hesitation. I'm in that situation now since my Marshall head is in the shop. I'm running a Marshall Lead 12 combo in to my 4x12. The thing keeps up just fine with the band. And yes, it's 12 watts, but a very loud 12 watts. I'm tempted to find a head version for backup.

Back in 1989 when i had sold off all my amps expecting to buy bigger and better, i had spent all the money quickly and was stuck.... So for $100 i bought a little Roland practice amp.... i still have the thing sitting here behind me on the floor.. It had 2 little speakers and a hell of a lot of gain... a DS1 on roids.. Fuzzy and crapy sounding too..... But when i took the speaker wires off the speakers and soldered a 1/4 inch jack on them and plugged that into a 4x12 Bass cab it was deafening