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Post subject: solid state and tube amp question
Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 8:24 am
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Roadie
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Location: Watford, North London... and how I wish it was Texas
Do solid state amps try to sound like tube amps?
Because I'v got two cheap, quite good, small amps type amps and there both solid state, but I can get a really good sound out of them from my ibanez tube screamer which confuses me - because when I got the tube screamer, they told me it would just make like a click sound on a solid state amp.


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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 9:42 am
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Location: Westchester County, NY
A TS pedal will work on a solid state amp. Just not as good as it was intended. Solid state does not try to emulate tube sound, it's got it's own sound. Some prefer tube some SS.


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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 3:47 pm
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Roadie
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Location: Watford, North London... and how I wish it was Texas
I prefer tube, but I can actually get a decent tube sound out of a solid state.


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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 4:08 pm
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I usually prefer tubes as well although I have been surprised in the past by a few SS.


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Posted: Wed Jun 10, 2009 8:23 pm
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Professional Musician
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2008 1:51 pm
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Location: Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA
Hello JimmyGuitarist,

I like them both, sadly I borrowed out
my frontman about a year ago I fear
it'll never return. It was only a 25r but it
had a super nice clean and was bulletproof.

Blues Jr. only for now. :wink:

Frontman 65---Maybe. :D

Cheers.


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Posted: Tue Jun 16, 2009 9:26 am
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Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2009 5:30 pm
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atolleter wrote:
I usually prefer tubes as well although I have been surprised in the past by a few SS.


I'd love to be pleasantly surprised by a pure SS amp. I have nothing against them other than their tone. I'd hoped by now that somebody could really have duplicated tube tone in a non-tube configuration but I've yet to find it. The sad thing is the world is going digital. The young guys today don't give two spits about tone. Tone chasers are a dying breed.


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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 2:04 pm
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Aspiring Musician
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Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:21 am
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Solid State amp builders have been making claims about tube like tone for years. Even my little 1982 Peavey Backstage boasted they had simulated tube overdrive tones in that amp with its Saturation Knob. It was distortion, so I guess that makes it tube like

With that, I had a couple SS amps that I liked before I got a real tube amp. I actually started love for tubes with a tube preamp and solid state power amp. This went a long way to fattening and warming my tone. A tube power amp helped a bit for practice levels to warm the tone more.

I think with amps real tone starts in the preamp, and a tube preamp will go a long way, I still use a tube pre into my SS amps for practice and I get great tone.

To get the real deal, a cranked tube amp is the way to go. At practice levels, you at least need a tube pre to get a good tube tone. However, a SS amp has not yet been created that can reproduce authentic tube tone. This is due to the completely different way that the two amp types amplify.

However, Jazz players with hollow body guitars generally prefer a solid state amp, as the tone and warmth comes from the body of the guitar, and a solid state amp is great at amplifying a signal exactly, as it won't add any color or warmth itself, as a tube amp adds color and warmth.

_________________
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1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst


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Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2009 6:49 pm
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firstrat wrote:
However, Jazz players with hollow body guitars generally prefer a solid state amp, as the tone and warmth comes from the body of the guitar, and a solid state amp is great at amplifying a signal exactly, as it won't add any color or warmth itself, as a tube amp adds color and warmth.


Take a look here for jazz amps--

http://www.jazzguitar.be/jazz_guitar_amps.html


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