Do you play Bass through a solid state or valve?

[spaz21387]

Tubes for both guitar and bass. I almost never power up my ss amp. It stays in my gig bag for emergencies. Ever since i got my svt its became my main amp. The tone is just amazing. I dont care that its heavy the amazing tone makes up for it. I will always be a tube amp fan. There is nothing like an angry svt.

 

[Eidolon0274]

SS, but I use tube emulation frequently. Nothing can replace 100 lbs of glowing, hot tube sound, but there are too many upsides to carrying an SS rig with a good emulation pedal (VTBass)

 

[jazzyvee]

I've never owned an all tube rig for my bass setup. My main setup is a F1-x pre-amp with QSC PLX solid state power amp which sounds amazing. I don't push the gain anywhere near where the warm tubey sound would start to kick but I love it's ultra clean but not sterile sound. I also have a hybrid Mesa boogie walkabout which sounds great and I use that a lot for smaller gigs, and again I don't push the pre-amp stage but this one does sound really warm. I've used many valve rigs at festivals or venues where a backline is provided and every one of them sounded distorted and gritty so these days I carry my spare F1-x in a rack and use that either as a DI or direct to the power amp section of a bass head and that most times works better. I think a solid state only or one of these class D amps could be fine for me and I'll probably check one out when i need to downsize due to weight.

 

[Neon Blues]

For me, I love the sound of tubes, nothing sounds better than some uptempo Blues through a big tube amp but most of the tube amps around except for a couple are way too overpowered for my gigs and needs.

They are harder to transport and then there's maintenance and reliability on some of the older amps. Plus the weight.

My biggest issue with tubes is I get ridiculous amounts of compliments and feedback when I am playing through the cleanest amp possible. I find it just cuts through the mix and let's my playing really shine and I can do that with a combo that weighs less and is cheaper than a small tube head.

 

[rnolan]

Well I'm new(ish) to bass gear but the GAS has kicked in and I'm growing a decent rig. I play through both tube and/or SS as I have 2 ADA MB1 MIDI tube preamps (both modded with the enhanced MDRT transformer) and an ADA B500B SS poweramp. The MB1s are just awesome (just like their guitar cousins ADA MP1 and MP2 which I've been using for over 25 years). The MB1 has a tube channel (with 6 contours (AKA voices, tweaks the tube circuit), input, overdrive, master) and a SS channel, input, 5 contours, master; you can use either or any blend of both (and 256 internal mem slots to store the desired patch (incl compressor, eq (lo & hi shelf + 3 by sweep mids), chorus, 2 x FX loops). I bought an Alembic SC Brown (from the lads here at BC) to go with the MB1s, absolutely perfect match. While I like tube poweramps, they weigh a ton. The B500B is also quite heavy so I left it with my tech mate in Belgium for now as it's US voltage and we are having a hard time getting a 240v power tranny for it. So I've bought a Carvin DCM200L (200w bridged, 1RU lite..) poweramp and a Mesa Powerhouse 1x12/horn cab. The DCM200 is clean and transparent which is what I want from a poweramp.

For guitar, I wouldn't use anything but tube preamp. An all tube poweramp does add a little warmth (and often colour depending on the amp/make etc). For bass, over the years, I'd always preferred SS preamp sections. Now I have these MB1s that's changing as I can have either and or tube/SS. I put in some nice new Mullard 12AX7 long plates last week, very articulate and 3D tube (replacing the 2 JJ 12AX7s, nice (tight) tube but a bit 2D for me), I use the Mullard LPs in all 4 of my ADA MP2 guitar preamps (tubes all sound so different and these really suite my playing (guitar and bass)). If you do use tubes, getting the right tubes for you preamp/amp which suit your playing makes a big difference.

 

[Cosmo Dalton]

I've always gravitated toward solid state. I have also always preferred a cleaner tone.

 

[BawanaRik]

Solid state Takes power to make bass notes.

 

[brianrost]

is it more of a personal preference thing, rather than a consensus?

Is your main amp tube or SS?

100% personal preference.

I haven't owned a tube bass amp for around 20 years.

 

[onda'bass]

Solid State for me, there is a pedal for the dirt nowadays. and it 100lbs lighter HAHA

 

[Wesley R]

I hurt a close friends feelings when I dinged him pretty hard for bringing silica into a particular jam. Sometimes I sound more harsh than I intend to be.

If you want tubes then by all means have tubes. If you want SS then get SS.

 

[rtslinger]

Imo, tubes rocked back in the day and solid state stuff early on couldn't compare to it, fast forward to today and Class D amps the solid state stuff sounds 100x times better than it did, great tone and lightweight has brought on a lot of SVT die hards to it's side I have a Fender Rumble 100w and a Peavey 200w and I love the tone I get from both. SVT is still my favorite but it has retired from the road and I use it in my music room

 

[Korladis]

I have read a lot of STRONG opinions about how much valve amps rock and solid state amps suck on guitar forums, although I use a solid state for both and I like them, and if anyone thinks my amps suck, that's their problem

When it comes to bass players in general, is there a consensus among those who can afford top end/upper-middle tier gear, about all bass amps worthy of recognition being valve amps, or is it more of a personal preference thing, rather than a consensus?

Is your main amp tube or SS?

It's a matter of personal preference. I prefer tube power sections, but some prefer solid state.

 

[Slevage]

Tubes sound nice, but not worth the occasional maintenance and especially not worth the weight.

Playing through SS stuff does not hinder my ability to get hired and I carry a GK200 in my gig bag as a spare and to carry to rehearsal space where I leave a speaker cabinet. The only time the "spare amp" was used on a gig was to lend to a guitarist whose tube rig started making horrific noises----- ended up being a bad preamp tube.

 

[username1]

I like it all. I love my mesa strategy but also love my ampeg 7pro. every amp sounds a bit different but I think they all sound good in their own way, just different. I don't have a problem getting a decent sound out of every head I try, now speaker cabs are a different story, there are a lot I don't like.

 

[gully_jones]

Sometimes you need a sledgehammer, sometimes you need a jackhammer, other times you might only need a ball peen hammer.

 

[strictlybass_ic]

I have 2 main amps I switch up frequently. One is mosfet with zero tubes, the other has a tube pre. I think they both sound great, but I've been using the tube more because it's newer and was a dream amp of mine.

 

[seansbrew]

Solid state for me. Valve amps are special in their own way, dont want to carry them.

 

[Jeff Bonny]

With a tube amp finding the sweet spot in the gain so that laying back with your touch it's pretty clean but when you dig in the power tubes are driven to growl offers dynamic possibilities you just can't get with a solid state amp. Cooking power tubes is just one flavor out of many great ones though. And no tube amp will fit in the pocket of your gigbag.

 

[Slevage]

Solid state Takes power to make bass notes.

"Energy is neither created or destroyed." Some smart guy said that a long time ago.

 

[AngusHasMoxie]

I love the sound of tube amps, but I don't love having to move them. I use a class D combo right now, but I've had my eye on a tube amp for awhile and will get one eventually because I feel they go with my ideal sound (read: tube breakup). But until I own a home, no tubes for me.