Tube preamp, or hybrid amp head?

[pejsaboy]

Somehow I managed to stumble across this yesterday, and have been having a total gas attack ever since. Now, I'm not unhappy with the SWR 2x10C that I have now, but I've come to the conclusion lately that the sound I want involves hot tubes as opposed to some combination of one or more effect pedals.

So here's what I need to figure out- Aside from the possibility of liking the marshall tone better, would I get the same effect by simply adding a tube preamp to my combo?

My thought was to sell locally or trade-in my SWR at GC and make up the difference in cash on the marshall. But, if I can get the same effect overall by just adding a tube preamp, that would probably be less hassle than selling my amp. Thoughts or comments?

[CopperheadLXXIX]

Depends. If you're looking largely for distorted/overdriven tones, adding something like an EBS Valvedrive before your amp or in your effects loop could give you the sound that you're after.
With that said, I don't think it would give you the cleaner tube tones of the Marshall, or the channel mixing. I actually use the MB4210 as my main amp, like it quite a bit, especially after swapping the preamp tube.

[CopperheadLXXIX]

PS-I actually went down the same round you're contemplating-Before the Marshall I had an SWR combo, and decided it was just too "hifi" for what was after.

[bongomania]

There's a simple answer, and a complicated one. Both are true.

The simple answer is you can add a tube preamp to your combo, no problem. There are literally over a hundred tube pre's to choose from, in both rack and pedal format, at a wide range of prices. Look in the Effects forum for recommendations.

The complicated answer is that not all tube devices sound even remotely similar. Part of that is because of:
--the number and type of tubes used.
--the way the tubes are powered.
--the way the tubes are implemented in the amp circuit.
--the rest of the amp/preamp design
...which can all vary radically from one amp/preamp to the next.

Some tube preamps are designed for high fidelity. Some are designed for heavy distortion. Some are meant to sound fat/warm/vintage. And some are just a scam, with lots of glorious ad copy talking about the amazing fat warm tone, but where the tube doesn't do jack squat.

So rather than focusing on the word "tube", instead try to pin down the actual exact tone you are after (like by naming specific songs, or linking to Youtube clips), and then ask which devices could get you similar tones. You'll get way better results that way.

[Bassguy1]

Check this out first. I'm about to pull the trigger on one.

http://thetonegod.com/tubeulent_photos.html

[RickenBoogie]

What Bongo said.

[pejsaboy]

Originally Posted by Bassguy1

Check this out first. I'm about to pull the trigger on one.

http://thetonegod.com/tubeulent_photos.html

Were you able to find any sound clips of it? Lemme know what you think of it, although at $399 I'd probably just buy the Marshall combo.

Thanks for the suggestion Bongomania. I tried nailing down a few tones I liked for a while with limited success, but I was also in more of a dirt pedal mentality. Strangely enough, the one sound that I liked enough to research the effects on happened to be a Stingray played straight into a Peavey tube amp... Time to start digging back into the music for good tones I guess