Tube snobs suck?

[walterw]

Yeah, I guess we can't take B.B. King seriously as a guitar player, because he uses a solid state amp. Or the jazz guys, we can't take them as serious guitar players since many of them use solid state amps....

those are exceptions to the rule, don't you think? some of the old blues guys use weird solid state amps because that was all they could afford coming up, or that was all that would get loud enough and stay clean through the primitive PA situations of the day.

the jazz guys use that bland solid state tone, which i never could understand or enjoy.

 

[bigsnaketex]

I want to know what kind of store doesn't sell their floor models - that seems really stupid to me!!

 

[groooooove]

i agree that if he likes the sound and diddnt buy it cause of a lack of real tubes, thats dumb.

however;

its very possible that he wants a real tube amp to get real tube overdrive, and was not turned up loud enough in the store to get into that. if i was recording guitars more often i'd want a good tube amp on hand no matter how good SS amps sound at low volumes.

but i agree that guy was most likely a moron that just wants tubes "cause theyre tubes"

 

[Bassdirty]

I think it's silly... the guy liked it, and wanted it- until he was told it didn't have tubes.?.

it's stories like that ,that give tube tone supporters a tougher battle during the neverending "tube v s.s. debate"..

:scowl:

Of course my preference is.. ehh.. doesn't matter actually, ya like what ya like..

 

[Drunk Heffalump]

I actually have to tip my hat to "the dude" (or His Dudeness, or Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing) for having enough brain tissue to know that no matter how good a SS amp sounds, a tube amp will always sound better!

(uh oh....Sactobass is now donning his flamesuit in preparation of the inevitable impending firestorm)

All in fun, folks......all in fun.

Actually they do sound better. the human ear is more in line with the frequencies generated by tubes, they sound sweeter somehow. Can't remember where I read that.
However the one thing I can assure you of is tubes are louder. and before I have to borrow Sactobass's suit lemmy 'splain. Tubes don't hit max output, say 100W and stay there. They drift upward depending on bias, heat, plate voltage and the like. So while they'll tell you it's 100W they'll drift upward of 30%, so they are louder.

 

[walterw]

Tubes don't hit max output, say 100W and stay there. They drift upward depending on bias, heat, plate voltage and the like. So while they'll tell you it's 100W they'll drift upward of 30%, so they are louder.

yes and no.

it's not a question of bias or anything; ordinary ss amps sound clean right up to that 100w (or whatever) rating, then begin to clip in a nasty, unpleasant way.

tube amps gradually clip in an ear-pleasing way as they get to the max rating, and keep gradually clipping more as you go past that rating; they thus are still usable when driven into deeper distortion, squeezing out more power than otherwise.

 

[klejst]

Just because he has a nice bass and plays "pretty good" doesn't mean he actually knows anything.

+1

A lot of "posers" out there. Sure I like to have nice things, but yeah I too stay within my means which means all my amps of the past have been SS as well. But I too have nothing against tube amps, just never been able to afford one.

I have encountered and overheard stuff like this at my local Guitar Center all the time. To some players it is all about the looks and "prestige" to say you have a certain something. Not that is a bad thing if you can back it up.

 

[fraublugher]

Tube socks don't last as long , it's true.

 

[Ric5]

With all of the effects, modelers, and various pedals, and really good ss amps you can get the tube sound from any rig.

Also the average person in the auidence will never know the difference.

The last tube amp I owned was the Sunn 2000s back in the 70s. Back then SS sucked and had a hard artificial sound. But since the 80s SS amps sound pretty good.


Also I always hated changing and testing tubes.

 

[Ric5]

Are these Tube or SS????

 

[Ric5]

This Rig has to be Tube!!!

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[rude_basstard]

I want to know what kind of store doesn't sell their floor models - that seems really stupid to me!!

Because they generally have to sell them at a discount as an "open box" item. So a lot of places will generally only sell floor models if they're actually trying to get rid of the floor model for some reason. i.e. no longer stocking that model or too many floor models on display.

If they sold floor models every time they ran out of stock, they'd be selling a lot of discounted amps, which can be a pretty expensive business move.

 

[TheFitz]

I'm fine with folks who prefer tube. In fact, I used to be that way. But it all depends on what you're looking for.

On the guitar side, I used to be a tube purist.... then I got into really working with modelling, and I've come to the determination that something like an Axe-FX (or Pod HD500) through a nice powered cabinet is the way to go for me.

I play a lot of styles at home, and my last three bands have been VERY different. For me, having a lot of different options for tone is a good thing. SUre, I'd love to have an ENGL, some vintage fenders, a Marshall, etc etc. But I can't afford it. So, I have some reasonable fascimiles of ALL of these, in a portable, low maintenance package.

Funny tube snob story. I had for a while a Rocktron velocity power amp. I'd run my HD500 as a pre into that, then into a 4x12 carvin cab with eminence speakers. Very nice setup.

I got one dude at a gig telling me about how "the reason your guitar tone sucks is because you're using a solid state power amp. Blah BLah BLah BLah."

Guitar tone was good. It sounded great, and I got lots of compliments on it.

Later, I got a V3 head. For this particular band, though, I continued using the POD, and sent it straight to the FX return of the tube head, effectively using only the power section. Tone was about identical as it was with the rocktron.

Same guy at a later show: "Dude, your tone is so much better. Aren't you glad you listened to me."



Anyways... I'm a bass noob. I'm learning slowly... for now I have a solid state fender bass amp, and I get pretty good tone out of it.