TUBE AMPS
Tube amps are still the best sounding guitar amps on the planet! One day modeling amps will catch up...but they haven't. WHY? Because the best they can do is model what happens to a tube in a second or less. Tubes...the tiniest changes in power change the sound. The tube amp uses large transformers to supply the current...and these cause many fluctuations in the power. Add to that the tubes heat and cool with any external changes in air temperature. These small changes in the sound brighten and darken the tone by raising and lowering the gain on different harmonics in different ways making for what is subtle enough not to have a distracting tone but definitely create a very,very complex sound. Complex sound means a rich sound.
All tube amps have a natural tendency to exaggerate even ordered harmonics. The most notable and richest is the second harmonic. Think of it this way. It is like having a phantom guitar tracking every thing you play but a couple of octaves higher. This trait is even present when the amp is set to a clean sound.The sound is therefore richer and noticeably warm and full. Overdrive the amp a bit and these sweet sounding overtones get louder and fatter.
The down side is that they are often noisy and designed to create distortion makes them even more noisy. They are high maintenance. A tube is much like a light bulb.Vacuum sealed and creating a lot of heat they simply burn out. Even before they burn out they become unusable by making an unacceptable amount of noise. They are more expensive to build. They are much heavier and more hassle to move around.
To say a solid state amp can be better is like saying if a Strat or Les Paul were made out of high tech metal...carbon or plastics they would.produce a better sounding guitar..
It is the same for pedals...my best sounding pedal is hand made and hand wired point to point.
It is actually a much simpler circuit then my other pedals...but the sound is totally organic...and real.
But like 2 identical guitars...identical amps do not sound 'exactly' the same. which is both frustrating but cool too.
There has never been a better time to choose a valve/tube amp
The choice is in the hundreds. From vintage reissues..to esoteric 'spare no cost' ...to amps with a good design made accessible by the lower cost of producing them in Asia.There are even a few antiques that have escaped the collectors grasp going cheap.
Ok...I will maybe remove this later...but I bought this little gem today.
VOX AC4TV
All tube amps have a natural tendency to exaggerate even ordered harmonics. The most notable and richest is the second harmonic. Think of it this way. It is like having a phantom guitar tracking every thing you play but a couple of octaves higher. This trait is even present when the amp is set to a clean sound.The sound is therefore richer and noticeably warm and full. Overdrive the amp a bit and these sweet sounding overtones get louder and fatter.
The down side is that they are often noisy and designed to create distortion makes them even more noisy. They are high maintenance. A tube is much like a light bulb.Vacuum sealed and creating a lot of heat they simply burn out. Even before they burn out they become unusable by making an unacceptable amount of noise. They are more expensive to build. They are much heavier and more hassle to move around.
To say a solid state amp can be better is like saying if a Strat or Les Paul were made out of high tech metal...carbon or plastics they would.produce a better sounding guitar..
It is the same for pedals...my best sounding pedal is hand made and hand wired point to point.
It is actually a much simpler circuit then my other pedals...but the sound is totally organic...and real.
But like 2 identical guitars...identical amps do not sound 'exactly' the same. which is both frustrating but cool too.
There has never been a better time to choose a valve/tube amp
The choice is in the hundreds. From vintage reissues..to esoteric 'spare no cost' ...to amps with a good design made accessible by the lower cost of producing them in Asia.There are even a few antiques that have escaped the collectors grasp going cheap.
Ok...I will maybe remove this later...but I bought this little gem today.
VOX AC4TV
The original came out in 1961 All tube of course.. Unlike this new version..it was designed not to let the preamp overload the amp and distort...
isn't that silly...LOL
So it is a class A amplifier that is only 4 watts RMS...
it even has a power attenuator to cut the volume down to a 2 watt or even 1/4 watt level.
In other words the volume sounds the same when cranked...no matter if it is producing a 2 or quarter watt sound.
Great for recording and a practice amp that you can get heavily distorted sounds and even sing over without a mic.
I work with my singer/bass player and a drum machine composing....we can do quick recordings and get a very realistic idea of how the song sounds and would sound with a real drummer and full sized amps. The thing has only 3 knobs.
A tone control that full on is classic bright Vox sound...or turned fully the other way gives you a very dark tone
A second knob controls the gain...half way up it starts to overdrive.
The final 3rd knob is a switch between 4 watts...2 watts or 1/4 watts
This thing has a warm fat sound...at 1/4 watt it sounds loud...This is an illusion...you can easily talk over it but it is so full and rich sounding that the sound appears to be too incredibly big not to be loud.
Hell!!! this thing is just too much fun. Gone is a that wimpy sucked out little amp sound!!!