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SS vs Tube

What's your cup'o'tea?

  • Tube

    Votes: 41 51.3%

  • SS

    Votes: 18 22.5%

  • Hybrid

    Votes: 21 26.3%
  • Total voters
    80
#21
I have an SVT and GT200 as my main amps and a TH500 as a backup. While the TH500 sounds good clean I was extremely disappointed with it's overdriven tone. Completely unuseable for me which was a surprise especially considering all the praise it gets for being tube-like. I also owned a mesa walkabout and I found it much more tubey than the TH500. having said that I keep the TH500 around because it has a nice clean sound, small and light. Perfect for a backup amp but it's no substitute for a real tube amp....sorry aggie lovers but it's true.
 
#22
It's not as simple as "all (tube/ss) amps are (good/bad)" but as I don't any own any SS amps besides a Microcube, I'll pick tube. Distorted or clean, I get better sound from my tube amps than SS amps. Exception - some ancient SS heads, Acoustic and Peavey come to mind, have awesome distortion when cranked.
 
#24
I like having the hybrid. I am currently playing the SVT 3 Pro. The tube preamp provides enough warmth for me and I can swap gains to get to a SS sound when I want it. However, if I had to pick, I would go SS. Too many advantages in reliability, size and weight. Then again, my style dictates my choice in amp more than anything else so there is really no wrong answer.
 
#29
I used to play Marshall Major 200 watt tube head. It felt like it weighed a hundred pounds and sounded like the Almighty Himself. I could feel the tubes cycling when I played it really loud. As great as it was my Markbass Little Mark II is much more practical, almost as loud (and I no longer need the volume).:)
 

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