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Whats the ratio of tube watts to solid state watts.

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#5
Most of the time for solid state I think they eithr post fabrications, or the peak wattage.

I know for most tube amps they post an RMS value. which is an average power rating. Its a better way of representing power, because some equipment can handle peak power that is 10+x what its RMS power is. but only for micro seconds.
 
#8
oh no, :help: another one of 'those' threads.

don't let the new peavey ads fool you, sometimes what we all know isn't correct. the truth is out there.

no one seems to have an answer for you because there is no answer.
 
#10
Another page said:
The answer lies in the human ear. Tubes produce a 2nd order (even harmonics) where as transistors produce a odd order harmonic (3d order), if both are of the "push-pull" type. Transistor distortion sounds HARSH to the human ear, where as even harmonics are more easily tolerated. Thus a tube amp can be "pushed" further without our ears objecting.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if this works for bass-gear but for guitar-gear there is a rule of thumb:
Yet another page said:
You generally have to have 3 times the power in solid state amps to equal a tube amp in volume.
Click to expand...
 
#11
treromantic said:
a watt is a watt is a watt.
It is a unit of power named after James Watt (helped develop the steam engine). It is always the same, no matter what. Check it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watt
Click to expand...
+1. What differs with tubes is they have a natural compression. You can take a tube and an SS amp and, using a compressor on the SS amp, get pretty much the same results. Pretty much, but not exactly, because the tube amp's compression takes place in the both the preamp and output stages, and that's something an SS amp plus compressor can't quite emulate.
 
#12
billfitzmaurice[ said:
+1. What differs with tubes is they have a natural compression. You can take a tube and an SS amp and, using a compressor on the SS amp, get pretty much the same results. Pretty much, but not exactly, because the tube amp's compression takes place in the both the preamp and output stages, and that's something an SS amp plus compressor can't quite emulate.
Click to expand...

Modeling does all this, and let's you instantly switch it off when you don't want it.
 
#13
Implosion's post above touches on this, but I don't see it specifically addressed. Amps aren't rated in just watts, they're rated in watts @ XX% distortion (usually Total Harmonic Distortion- THD). Say you've got an SS amp and a tube amp both rated at 200 watts @ 10% distortion (which IIRC isn't out of line for a musical instrument amp). Both amps are capable of producing more than 200 watts at a higher level of distortion. The difference is that the SS amp is going to sound like crap at higher distortion levels, while the tube amp will sound good to a much higher level of distortion due to the even order harmonics. So a 200 watt rated tube amp can be pushed to put out 300 or 400 "pleasing" (i.e.- nicely distorted) watts and sound as loud as a 300 or 400 watt SS amp.

Anyway, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it....
 
#14
Going from 500 to 200 is gonna be felt and heard MUCH less.
On paper, a watt is a watt no matter from your amp or your lightbulb.

The previous posts concerning tube amps(and modeling gear) to "smash" your signal up to raise the average level and SEEM louder is correct.

The post about RMS being average is almost correct as RMS = root mean square but the actual average of a sinusodial wave or amplifier output of your bass would be very close to zero.
http://www.indiana.edu/~emusic/acoustics/amplitude.htm


Not all manufacturers post meaningfull RMS numbers.
 
#20
some manufacturers exaggerate the watt rating of their amps. tube amps seem louder with all things being equal because when pushed the light distortion is either not audible or wanted. maxed out solid state amps will sound very bad and damage your speaker, sou you turn it down and hence they seem quieter.
 
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