TUBE TONE

[bassfart]

What affects the tone of an Ampeg SVT CL, is it the power tubes or the preamp tubes?

[Sartori]

Both.

[pthunder7]

Sartori is absolutely right, it is both. I thought perhaps I could get off cheap and just buy a tube preamp into a solid state amp to get that same tone of an all tube head; I was mistaken. That is not to say that you can not get a good tone with a "hybrid" with an amp that has a tube pre-amp and solid state power, but in my opinion, it is not the same tone that you will get with an all tube amplifier.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

For me, it's preferably the output stage, ie. power tubes and OT driven hard, that's responsible for the "tube sound", so I try my darnest to dig that out from the tube amp(s) regadless of the make. The problem is that when the "perfect" tone is reached, the stage volume can be unbearable.

The different pre amp circuits obviously sound different as well, so it really depends on how You dial the sound.

Regards
Sam

[Seans]

Originally Posted by bassfart

What affects the tone of an Ampeg SVT CL, is it the power tubes or the preamp tubes?

The pre's will give the tone at all times, so nice tubes nice tone, when the amp is driven higher then the output tubes will add their own flavour to the mix.

[okabass]

Originally Posted by bassfart

What affects the tone of an Ampeg SVT CL, is it the power tubes or the preamp tubes?

HI
Try it yourself. Does CL have pre amp out/ power amp in? Put some different pre amp to Classics pwr amp in. Or feed some different brand power amp from Classics pre amp out.
I'd say the sound comes from the wholeness: it's the circuit and the tubes and the cab.

[Thumpking]

While the preamp section is definitely important for tone, the power section is what determines color and presence. IME the 12AX7's and AT7's are pretty close. I tend to spend a bit more for the power section than preamp, but I do not skimp on those either.

Of course, if you use crappy preamp tubes, it will not matter what power tubes you use.