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Solid State vs Tube Watts: Need Help

#81
Finding the tone that you "hear in your head" is a search that has been going on for centuries. Be it a violin, a bass, horn whatever, each particular instrument has an inherent tone. If you find one that suits you you're golden if not the search continues. For the electric musician, we contend with instrument, electrics, amplifier and speakers. Each and every one can have a dramatic effect on the tone produced. As human beings our tonal goals change as we age or the genre of the music changes. This means that for some, that search never ends. Every time we change a component part of our signal chain all of us have to experiment to find the new "sweet spot". Wanting to bypass part of that process is disingenuous to the creative process. It's similar to not practicing your instrument and wondering why you hands no longer move as fast as they did at an earlier time.
 
#82
Calaverasgrande said:
When it comes to tube amps 2 power tubes usually means about 50 watts. 4 usually means about 100-135 watts and 6 power tubes usually means 150-200 watts.
Click to expand...

So, according to your way of estimating power, you'd need 40 tubes for 1000 watts?
Oops: http://www.chambonino.com/construct/const9.html
That guy did it with 4.

What I'm trying to point out, is that the number of tubes isn't quite an accurate way to estimate power. Yes, high power amps usually have more of them, but you can't just put a amount-of-tubes/power ratio like that.
 
#84
Ragnor said:
So, according to your way of estimating power, you'd need 40 tubes for 1000 watts?
Oops: http://www.chambonino.com/construct/const9.html
That guy did it with 4.

What I'm trying to point out, is that the number of tubes isn't quite an accurate way to estimate power. Yes, high power amps usually have more of them, but you can't just put a amount-of-tubes/power ratio like that.
Click to expand...

first off, that isnt a production amp using off the shelf power tubes such as el34/6550/6L6gc.

2nd, I said, rue of thumb, not a scientific formula. Kind of how you can get a good idea how much power an engine in a car has by the number of cylinders, but there are obvious exceptions to that one as well!

These days most bass amps use 6550 or 6L6gc power. As of very recently KT88's are making a comeback. I havent seen any EL84 bass amps, so yeah, it works out pretty well since folks dont run EL34 very hot except for old traynor.
But seriously, do you guys never shop for bass amps in stores? Do you never come across an unfamiliar amp and then look in the back to get an idea of how loud it is? Sure there are some very loud 2 power tube amps (Traynor YBA1a) and not so loud amps I am sure by other companies. But genrally speaking it works as a RULE of THUMB. Nothing more, nothing less. But hey, lets bicker about side issues some more. Its totally educationall.
 
#85
1 tube - 10 Kilowatts:

6166.JPG
 
#89
Ragnor said:
Well, that's not quite an accurate estimate either.
a 4-cyl Subaru WRX can put out well over 300 hp, yet the V6 dodge puts in it's Nitro R/T only has a peak of 260 hp.

But cars aren't tubes. Back to topic.
Click to expand...

yeah, but comparing a 6cyl acura to a 4cyl honda it is valid. Ditto for dodge or Subarau I am sure. With tubes it is more valid as a rule of thumb (not a scientific formula) because tubes are pretty standard. In most amps you get about 50-60 watts for each pair of tubes. This isn't an absolute. The EL84 is a lot less, but you rarely see those. The EL34 can go a lot higher, but is rarely utilized that way. The 6550 and KT88 are the only ones that really depart from 50-60watts pair as they can handle higher volts/amps. But this does not mean they are always utilized that way.
Of course a tube amps is ultimately dependent on the power supply for how many watts it puts out. But as far as production amps go, I have never seen a two tube 100 watt amp (aside from the 90 watt YBA1a!).

Still, long story short, I have been more than happy for years with 100-300 watt tube amps. They get loud as hell. 180-300 watt solidstate amps just never do it for me. I always end up having to pull out a 600 watt or better SS amp to compete. Telling newbies that a watt is a watt when it comes to tube vs solidstate is not helpful at all.
 

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