Need both a Solid State and a Tube?

[LPCollector]

Both have their place.

I mean, how else are you going to run a great Wet/Dry rig?

 

[KP11520]

IMO, both categories have their place with a big Butt (no pun)

When you find either that is in the "special" category, the lines are blurred. As far as modeling amps go, they really need to be considered a third category.

I have two Vox modeling amps. An AD15VT and an AD50VT 2x12. Both not bad for modeling amps and have their place in my stable. But I wouldn't consider either of them like my SS or my Tube amps. Both of which I love.

My SS is a vintage (orange) Roland Cube 60. Cleans like a JC120 and the OD channel is great for Rock and Blues and is really quite warm, like a Tube amp. And it takes pedals really well. This one has the special quality and blurs the lines into the tube side. Weak spot is the speaker. I have to find something that is shallow enough yet delivers more.

My Tube amp is a Laney Lionheart 5 watt Combo. This is the sweet spot and has some of the nice SS traits, yet does most of what you'd expect from a quality Class A tube amp. What it doesn't do, I am not missing anyway. The headroom on the clean side could be higher, but what I get is super sweet, nonetheless.

So if you want only one amp, find a "Special" SS or Tube that blurs the line and crosses far enough to the other side for your taste. They are out there. But if none can cross far enough over, I guess it's two amps at the least. But this is a very personal niche for each of us and nothing will replace doing the search yourself.

And you never know. The journey just might be better than the destination.

In my world, my Roland and Laney are both staying and loved equally. The Vox amps are nowhere near as important to me. But that's my life's experience perspective. All of us have our own.

BTW, Tone Kings are real nice.

If you can find an orange Roland Cube 60 for cheap, these are real sleepers. Grab it and don't tell anybody. LOL

I hope this adds some perspective to your question!

 

[Codeseven]

Thank you fellas, all great answers.

As with almost anything musical it comes down to personal taste. Currently I'm having trouble getting good, clean and warm sounds out of my Mustang 3 and I'm not too happy with it even though i know it's capable amp. I've begun messing around with the 'basic' presets to try and get a sound I prefer and I'm going to educate myself a bit more on making my own presets. After all it is a modeling amp, it relies on presets or the right inputs to get a good sound out of it and who better to know if it sounds good than yourself.

 

[edro]

gotta be a blog/forum/etc somewhere of users for that amp with users sharing patches.... There is for most any other modeling amps

 

[jcsk8]

No. I have and good old Peavey classic 30, wich is tube. The sound is good overdriven and clean. I use it on low volumes and on stages without problem. Currently is my only amp. For clean sounds only I don´t need a tube one, a good SS for me it´s ok, but for overdriven I like the tube sound and dynamics.

 

[Gerr]

An interesting hybrid would be the Fender Super Champ. Most hybrid amps have a tube pre-amp and a solid state power stage. The Super Champ is the opposite. It has a solid state pre-amp and a tube power stage.

What makes this amp interesting is at low volumes, it uses the SS pre-amp with modeling & effects to provide you any sound you want. But when you turn the amp up, what ever sound you are getting from the SS pre-amp is now enhanced by the natural break up of the power tube section.

I have never played one myself, but wonder how it would compare to a normal tube amp or the standard type of hybrid...hmm

 

[dspelman]

Try a Koch Jupiter! It has the pre-amp tubes, but with a solid state output stage. Sounds wonderful, and has the feel of a full-tube amp.

Interesting!

I have a setup that's the opposite -- the Atomic Reactor (from atomicamps.com, the same folks currently in bed with Axe-FX) 112-18, 112-50 and 212-50 are tube-power-amp powered speaker cabinets (the 18w are EL84 powered, the 50w are 6L6 powered) with one or two 12" speakers in a closed-back ported (well, the 50W versions are) cabinet and an interchangeable bay with adapters for Pods (bean style), Vox, Behringer and M-Audio modelers. Essentially, they end up a combo amp with the Pod as the preamp and the tube power amp intended to give you the warm fuzzies.

 

[Drew224]

While I agree that a good tube amp is very delicious, a good solid state amp also has some desirable attributes.

Solid state amps are very tight sounding, or as Drew224 said: "flat". They have a fast attack that can't be duplicated on a tube amp. Lack of sag, if you will. This could help if you're a very fast player or you have a lot of intricate things going on in your playing and you want it all to fly out of the speaker. A lot of lapsteel and slide players appreciate the fast attack. Jazz guys who are changing complex chords rapidly like the fast attack.

Like Buzz Haze, I have a Music Man amp that is solid state preamp with tube poweramp. It's a good cross between the two and I love it for slide. I also have an Orange OR50 and a Fender Vibroverb which are both all-tube and I love my Music Man equally.

My rule of thumb with solid state amps is that as long as it's high wattage, it should sound good for playing loud. I find the closer a solid state amp gets cranked to its power capacity is when it starts to sound bad and exhibit all the things people hate about solid state amps.

This is true. I, never being a great jazz player, because let's face it, I just can't switch between diminished chords more than twice in one bar, have never really appreciated what's better about solid state. I think that a Roland Jazz Chorus sounds really awesome. And I think that a Fender Bassman sounds even better, given my playing style. When it comes to clean tones, tube and solid state are definitely on a more even playing field. However, I tend to prefer just a bit of grit in my clean tone, as opposed to it being totally pristine.

For me as a player, nothing beats jamming with my halfstack. But it's not for everyone. Your gear should be reflective of your approach to music.

 

[KP11520]

Roland had a model similar called the "Bolt". If I find one cheap enough, Im going to grab it.

An interesting hybrid would be the Fender Super Champ. Most hybrid amps have a tube pre-amp and a solid state power stage. The Super Champ is the opposite. It has a solid state pre-amp and a tube power stage.

What makes this amp interesting is at low volumes, it uses the SS pre-amp with modeling & effects to provide you any sound you want. But when you turn the amp up, what ever sound you are getting from the SS pre-amp is now enhanced by the natural break up of the power tube section.

I have never played one myself, but wonder how it would compare to a normal tube amp or the standard type of hybrid...hmm

 

[scottyk]

Try and find one of these...Roland BC-60 Blues Cube.
You'll be quite suprised with the performance versatility and tone.
Could never figure out why they stopped making them.

 

[mad dog]

I'm experimenting with SS right now. Got a used Quilter Aviator head. The appeal is pretty obvious - small, light, great convenience. The surprise is how good it sounds and feels. A very cool little amp. Even so, it won't supplant my favorite tube amps. They have a sound and feel unique to them, and it'll probably always be my preference. But SS has sure come a long way.
MD

 

[entresz]

THe way I see it, there are amps that:
- sound good
- sound bad

I don't really care how they work whether that be tube or transistor.

Nearly all my amps are solid state, but that happened coincidentally, not deliberately. I play clean nearly all the time and need amps that can provide huge headroom. Many amps are too bright, even with treble on zero, making them undesireable for me as a jazz player.

My favourite amp I have currently my Quilter Aviator 2x10. It's a Class D solid state amp. It sounds like a tube amp though, responds to dynamics in a very different way to most amps I've used (including some quite high end tube amps).

The old Peavey SS amps I have are very transparent, particularly with dynamics so that makes them a bit less forgiving. For clean guitar though, it can be nice to have so much control over dynamics, where the amp isn't compressing at all.