Tube vs. Solid-State

[El-Gato]

I was just wondering about the differences in bass between tube and solid-state. I was lookin at an SWR rig at musiciansfriend that includes 1x15 woofer and 2x10 speaker cab with 4004 head. 400 watts in total. I was wondeirng how this would sound compared to tube amps of the same price ($1000).

 

[El-Gato]

boop!

 

[redneck2wild]

Tube amps tend to have a "warmer" tone with nice low mids. Tubes also slightly compress a signal so they may produce a "smoother" tone. Tubes may also bring out harmonics more than solid state. The downside to tube amps is weight and heat.
Solid state amps will be much lighter and may give you better deep lows but you may not have some of the rich overtones that tubes bring out.
A good tradeoff that gives you good tone with light weight is to use a tube preamp with a solid state power amp. The tube preamp will give the "tube sound" to the signal. There are also many preamps that offer both tube and solid state sections that you can blend (that would give you the harmonics of tubes and the deep low end punch of solid state).