chilipeppermaniac
Ambassador of Decibels
why solid state amps suck
- Thread starter eSGEe
- Start date
Astral Traveler
Ambassador of Both Time and Space
The romantic feelings are proportionate to the suckiness
Hands down, the most frequently seen studio amp on SoCal studio circuit...
Interesting…
Kerry Brown
Ambassador of the Great Northern Bar Jams
I used to play in a blues jam that had an all Peavy SS backline. It sounded great. The guy that ran it bought them off Craig's List. He never paid more than $150. He always had a couple of spares. I was sad when he left town.
Astral Traveler
Ambassador of Both Time and Space
My Quilter sucks sooo bad!
gball
Ambassador of Boogie
As has been said, SS amps don't all sound bad, and tube amps don't all sound good. But...(and it's a biggie for me)...I have yet to play a SS amp that FEELS like a tube amp. I know its an intangible, and there is not evidence-based criteria to compare them to each other by that I am aware of, but I just never find SS amps rewarding to play in the same way a well-designed tube amp is, no matter if the tone is good or not. The feel alone makes me play better, and really at the end of the day that's what its about.
Jethro Rocker
Ambassador of Live & Loud Action
What's interesting to me is that we have sounds we strive for and most of the time it is a tube amp sound, realistically. That said, some SS can sound very tubeish. Even my cheap Peavey Studio Pro Transtube sounded remarkably good through decent speakers. The little Yamaha THR sounds amazing and I really like my Katana.
The JMD starts to blur the lines.
As long as it sounds good, I don't care how it gets there. TheTaurus pedal amp has one 12AX7 and it appears to use half the circuit in pre and half in power somehow. Sounds killer. I call it SS cause it is analog and 1 tube does not make 60 watts
EDIT _ yes the feel is different. Except the JMD as it is tube power section.
The JMD starts to blur the lines.
As long as it sounds good, I don't care how it gets there. TheTaurus pedal amp has one 12AX7 and it appears to use half the circuit in pre and half in power somehow. Sounds killer. I call it SS cause it is analog and 1 tube does not make 60 watts
EDIT _ yes the feel is different. Except the JMD as it is tube power section.
Astral Traveler
Ambassador of Both Time and Space
Do you thinkbyou could tell the difference in a blind test? Honest question
I don't think I could. Depending on what amps I was comparing of course.
Kerry Brown
Ambassador of the Great Northern Bar Jams
Have you played a Quilter?
Cadorman
Ambassador of the Catocaster
If you are doing a listening test I would say absolutely not. If you are playing I think you could depending on the amp. The way a non-master volume Marshall interacts with a guitar, especially as volume goes up, I don't think you could duplicate.Do you thinkbyou could tell the difference in a blind test? Honest question
I don't think I could. Depending on what amps I was comparing of course.
gball
Ambassador of Boogie
Do you thinkbyou could tell the difference in a blind test? Honest question
I don't think I could. Depending on what amps I was comparing of course.
At high volume, yes. I have no doubt, because that's where the biggest differences manifest themselves. At practice levels the line is blurrier, but I did trade in my SS/modeling practice amps for a 1-watt Marshall tube amp and although it could be placebo effect I find that it's much nicer to play and has a bit of the "pushback" I was missing with the SS stuff. So I'm happy.
Astral Traveler
Ambassador of Both Time and Space
I couldn't tell my Quilter from a tube amp I think. Or maybe I could if I could play loud enough that I could push thebpower tubes over the edge. But the Quikter has some magic limiter-thingy-madgick that makes it pretty hard to tell it's not a tube amp.
gball
Ambassador of Boogie
Yes. Very nice stuff. A guy I knew was good friends with Pat Quilter and he'd bring whatever the latest Quilter amp was over to our practice space and of course we'd geek out on it for a while. Good-sounding amps but not something that would get me to mothballing my Mesa, especially after being able to compare side-by-side.
Once in a great while you'll find that one (in my case it was two) elusive SS amps that make you go whattttttt???? I had an Acoustic 150 and some kind of Kustom amp that absolutely screamed! As they say..."it could move air"
