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03-25-2010, 05:16 AM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: London, UK | | | Are tube bass amps louder than SS?
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I've always heard/thought that tube guitar amps were perceived louder than their equivalent solid state amp.
Is it the same for bass amps?
cheers |
03-25-2010, 05:19 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: D'Shaw | | Quote:
Originally Posted by jjl5590  I've always heard/thought that tube guitar amps were perceived louder than their equivalent solid state amp.
Is it the same for bass amps?
cheers | "Perceived" is a funny word. Something can be "perceived" to be anything by anybody at anytime.
Some may perceive tube amps to be louder than solidstate or hybrid amps.
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Last edited by mongo2 : 03-25-2010 at 05:22 AM.
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03-25-2010, 05:21 AM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: London, UK | | | well I thought it was a fact.
Say with guitar amps. You have one tube amp, and one solid state amp. Both are, say, 500W. They both put out the same power. But the tube amp 'sounds' louder.
I'm just wondering if bass amps are the same? |
03-25-2010, 05:23 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: D'Shaw | | | Once perception enters the picture facts fall by the wayside.
The perception of loudness with any amp has to do with the envelope of the signal and how our ears hear.
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"It's a Crapshoot." The timbre is in the timber. It's a poor craftsman that blames his tools.
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03-25-2010, 05:25 AM
|  | I'll take you into the water. | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Brisbane QLD Australia | | | lets not get into this PLEASE. |
03-25-2010, 05:27 AM
| | | | JJ
Try the search fuction; this issue has been covered a number of times in the 2 years you've been a member mate; as recently as last week
The really sharp guys on this board get tired of answering the question accurately |
03-25-2010, 05:28 AM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: London, UK | | | hey tom hows it goin? still rockin that marshall bass amp? |
03-25-2010, 05:28 AM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: London, UK | | | I was just lookin for a simple yes they sound louder, or no its about the same, answer but I'll have a search |
03-25-2010, 05:30 AM
| | | | The thing is that for the same money (or weight) of a 200W tube amp you can get a 2000W SS amp.
That makes it a bit silly to compare a 200W tube amp to a 200W SS amp. |
03-25-2010, 05:30 AM
| | I'll take you into the water. | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Brisbane QLD Australia | | Its not really a yes or no answer.
Still got the rig, but Im playing through my ampeg rig now  (3 Pro and 410he) |
03-25-2010, 05:33 AM
| | | Quote:
Originally Posted by jjl5590 I've always heard/thought that tube guitar amps were perceived louder than their equivalent solid state amp.
Is it the same for bass amps?
cheers | Yes |
03-25-2010, 05:38 AM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Apr 2000 Location: Route 66 | | Quote:
Originally Posted by jjl5590 I've always heard/thought that tube guitar amps were perceived louder than their equivalent solid state amp.
Is it the same for bass amps?
cheers | No.
Tube guitar amps aren't actually louder either. It's all in your head. |
03-25-2010, 05:47 AM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Hamilton ON | | | Yes.
It's partly related to the fact that tube amps can be driven to (or close to) full throttle and still sound "pleasing" or "musical." It's also related to power ratings and marketing.
For a couple of years, I was playing small to medium sized rooms with a rock cover band. I used a Traynor YBA-1 into an Eden D410XLT. The drums were not mic'ed. That rig was plenty loud and produced gobs of bass. I was asked to turn down in that setting.
My YBA-1 made about 48 watts with a pair of EL34s and later a pair of 6550 tubes. I was with my tech when he worked on my amp, so I saw it on his scope. 48 watts represents the point where a sine wave could be amplified without having its peaks clipped off by the limitations of the amp. That point was at about 9 o'clock on the volume knob. Once you spin past that point, the amp starts to clip off the sine wave and flatten out its peaks. It wouldn't produce more than the 48 watts past that point, but the sine wave got thicker on the screen of the scope, and still sounded "good" (ie. classic tube distortion sound).
The YBA-1 has no power rating on the amp because it was built in an era before that was common practice. But I suppose you could call it a 48 watt amp because, with this very crude method of eye-balling the scale on an oscilloscope, it could be said to produce 48 watts "clean." My point is that you could not find a mass produced solid state bass amp rated at 48 watts that would be as loud as that amp. My guess is that it would have to be something rated in vicinity of 200 to 300 watts. That's just a completely subjective guess, mind you.
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03-25-2010, 05:49 AM
| | | | To my experience, tube is a louder watt but i feel like i can find get more out of a SS. For clean tone atleast but its almost like a rice burner compared to a vetty. You can pump the ricers hp but that vette will spank it |
03-25-2010, 06:15 AM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: London, UK | | Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim C JJ
Try the search fuction; this issue has been covered a number of times in the 2 years you've been a member mate; as recently as last week
The really sharp guys on this board get tired of answering the question accurately | I had a search, but most of the threads are from years ago, technology has probably moved on from then.
also they just said tube amps in general, not specialising in bass tube amps. Quote:
Originally Posted by Bootzilla The thing is that for the same money (or weight) of a 200W tube amp you can get a 2000W SS amp.
That makes it a bit silly to compare a 200W tube amp to a 200W SS amp. | thats not necessarily true, well actually i'm just talking about bass amps with a tube PREAMP, so not the whole thing. But yeah saying that, they are pretty much the same price as their equivalent SS amp at the same wattage. |
03-25-2010, 06:31 AM
| | | | watts are watts, tubes don't produce "louder" watts than SS.
but put it this way.
A 300 watt solid state amp will struggle in a loud band/big venue. A 300 watt tube amp will rarely go past halfway in most settings. I don't think any tube amps go above 300 watts.
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03-25-2010, 06:34 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: St. Louis | | | Yes.
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03-25-2010, 06:35 AM
| | Banned | | Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: London, UK | | Quote:
Originally Posted by wetzelman1 watts are watts, tubes don't produce "louder" watts than SS.
but put it this way.
A 300 watt solid state amp will struggle in a loud band/big venue. A 300 watt tube amp will rarely go past halfway in most settings. I don't think any tube amps go above 300 watts. | im just talking about bass amps with a tube preamp. they go way past 300W |
03-25-2010, 06:36 AM
| | | 
To me yes.
Tube has added depth, headroom, fills the room more.
So a 100 watt tube amp, up against a 100 watt solid state amp.
Tube will sound louder.
I've also heard that a 100 watt tube amp, sounds like a 200 watt SS amp. in volume ? |
03-25-2010, 06:40 AM
| | Registered User | | Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: St. Louis | | Quote:
Originally Posted by jjl5590 im just talking about bass amps with a tube preamp. they go way past 300W | Maybe just me, but amps that have tube pre's are a sales gimmick. One 12AX7 in the pre will not give you tube amp tone.
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