Hybrid amps

Wayne27

Member
Are Hybird amps(half tube/half solid-state) worth getting? Do professional musicians use them? Also can you still play them if the even if the vacuum tubes don't work or if you don't have any?
 
Re: Hybrid amps

I can only speak from my own experience. I have a hybrid. It's a Line 6 Spidervalve. Not the typical hybrid in that it's a digital (SS) front end married to a tube power section. It sounds killer. You can use the Pre-amp section through the line out with the standby switch in the off position for recording.

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Re: Hybrid amps

It is all about the design. Some sound/feel great, some not so much. Same with any kind of amp.
 
Re: Hybrid amps

Does it still work even without vacuume tubes like a solid state amp?
Well, I think that it might, but I can't be sure as I've never run it without the power section at least being on. I've done recording with it in standby, where no sound is coming through the speakers.
Why are you concerned about running one without the tubes?
Most Hybrids have a tube in the Pre-amp with a SS power section anyway. They wouldn't make any sound without the tube.

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Re: Hybrid amps

I’ve had a Hughes & Kettner ATS Sixty and a Fender Performer 650. Both were solid-state power sections with a 12AX7 in the preamp. Nice amps. Both a little more interesting and fluid than the typical solid-state. The H&K in particular had a nice texture on the distortion. Either would make for a nice practice amp, with good sound and no power tubes to wear out.
 
Re: Hybrid amps

Why do you want to run a hybrid amp without tubes? You probably wouldn’t get any sound. That’s part of the cost of using a product designed around vacuum tubes. Fortunately, preamp tubes are cheap. You can keep a few on-hand.
 
Re: Hybrid amps

Marshall has done some of the best hybrids. Some very subtle with preamp and output tubes but some SS circuits hidden in there to make a highly versatile amp.
You can run a hybrid preamp amp without the tube....all you have to do is insert a SS circuit to replace the tube...stupid thing to do I think.
 
Re: Hybrid amps

My Randall T2 has a full tube preamp (3x12AX7's + 1x12AT7) & a SS power section & it's a great sounding amp. I can use the 'effects send' to record just the tube pre..
 
Re: Hybrid amps

My Randall T2 has a full tube preamp (3x12AX7's + 1x12AT7) & a SS power section & it's a great sounding amp. I can use the 'effects send' to record just the tube pre..

That 12AT7 is part of the power section, too. It drives, if I remember right, a class-D power section to give it just a hint of tube compression. The G3 I had was basically a T2 with lower power and a solid-state preamp.
 
Re: Hybrid amps

Marshall has done some of the best hybrids. Some very subtle with preamp and output tubes but some SS circuits hidden in there to make a highly versatile amp.
You can run a hybrid preamp amp without the tube....all you have to do is insert a SS circuit to replace the tube...stupid thing to do I think.
Yes, but you can't run it without a tube or something to replace it, in the pre-amp.

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Re: Hybrid amps

Hybrid amps have been around for a long time. Peavey had several amps back in the '70s that were SS preamps and tube power amps. Music Man amps were also built this way and were very reliable.

It is more common today to see amps with a single tube in the preamp, and many modelers are done this way. The tube may or may not be effective in creating tube amp "feel".

I can't think of ANY hybrids with either tube preamp or tube power that you could run without the tubes. You would certainly run the risk of damage to the amp if you try to play it without the tubes.

Really, if the cost of maintenance and tubes is too much for your penny-pinching ways, by all means...stick with a solid state amp or a digital modeler.

Bill
 
Re: Hybrid amps

I used MusicMan amps for several years back in the 70s. They were SS preamp/tube power stage, very Fendery. Pretty clean preamps- not great low-volume amps but they really warmed up and sang above a certain threshold volume. Sounded great pushing four JBLs at stage volume. In today's world I bet they'd make a good pedal platform.

I don't know of any tube (or tube hybrid) amp that can be used without tubes.
 
Re: Hybrid amps

Just curious if you can play the amp with tube so I can save some money on vacuum tubes lol
That still doesn't make much sense. Are you planning on buying a hybrid with a burnt out tube?

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Re: Hybrid amps

I used MusicMan amps for several years back in the 70s. They were SS preamp/tube power stage, very Fendery. Pretty clean preamps- not great low-volume amps but they really warmed up and sang above a certain threshold volume. Sounded great pushing four JBLs at stage volume. In today's world I bet they'd make a good pedal platform.

I don't know of any tube (or tube hybrid) amp that can be used without tubes.

I have a MM HD-150 and they do sound great, even when overdriven. With their preamp design, the OD isn't tubey...it's more like a good OD pedal into a great clean amp. With a good tube driven OD pedal, and the preamp run clean, they rip. The best part is that no matter how hard you run them, there is never any tube rattle, provided you're running good tubes in the power section.

It makes for a growling bass sound into a good bass cab, too.
 
Re: Hybrid amps

Just curious if you can play the amp with tube so I can save some money on vacuum tubes lol

a preamp tube is cheap, and in something like a hybrid amp where there's just 1 in the preamp circuit they often last a long time (as in many years).
 
Re: Hybrid amps

The tube that comes with the BluGuitar is supposed to outlive the user, at least.
 
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