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Tubes Or Solid State, A Perspective

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#41
georgestrings said:
With all due respect, you seem to anger in these types of threads too, Jimmy - and are also guilty of spreading a little misinformation yourself... Tube amps DO require *a little* more upkeep than SS amps - they just do... As I've said before, over the span of 10 years of moderate to hard use, a typical tube amp will need to be retubed atleast once, if not twice - whereas, most quality SS amps will easily do 10 years of the same use without needing anything done to them... To say otherwise is not being honest, IMO...

Also, it's a safe bet that you gig at lower volumes than most here - so, not only do you put less wear on a set of tubes - or an amp, for that matter - you don't need as much wattage as many here do... So, when you make statements like: I like to have headroom, so I bring atleast 25 watts" - most people might not realize your particular situation...

Hey, I really like tube amps, too - but let's be totally honest here...
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ok, i'll be totally honest here. all amps can break and sometimes you have to drop money into them. i've never said any different once in any of these threads. but you getting 10 years out of a ss amp without servicing is every bit as flukey to me as you think it's flukey that i could get 10 years out of a v4b without servicing. when i go to any tech, i see plenty of ss amps sitting there waiting to be serviced, so let's not act like it never happens. i certainly don't pretend that every tube amp will give you 10 years of trouble free service. just a couple months ago i had to replace two pre tubes in my svt. set me back a whopping $40, too.

so let's not bollocks up my words here, ok george? all i've said is that there is nothing that proves that ss amps are any more reliable than tube amps. to say that i've ever said anything else is being disingenuous at best.
 
#42
works for me
FenderBassman001.jpg

might not work for everyone. certianly not my back.
 
#43
seamonkey said:
UncleFluffy says measure it.
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Yeah. But please consider that as "Until someone measures it, what's the point talking about it? We've all got our own opinions and have already decided what we believe. Why get into a ****-waving contest? Either someone comes up with hard data, or else we go find something more interesting to talk about."

I own an SVT and a scope, but won't have time to get everything set up for at least a month - house hunting, job interviews, 20 flavours of other crap going on.

If it chills things out hereabouts I'll put an entry in my diary for the end of May to go measure this stuff. If anyone else can do it before then that would be great.

'til then, we're in the land of more heat than light.
 
#44
ya, exactly, fluff. i couldn't give a crap whether the svt has clipping diodes or clamping diodes or clapping diodes. i never turn one up till it clips anyway. all i know is that i greatly prefer my tone coming out of an svt or b-15 than i do any other amp.
 
#46
JimmyM said:
ya, exactly, fluff. i couldn't give a crap whether the svt has clipping diodes or clamping diodes or clapping diodes. i never turn one up till it clips anyway. all i know is that i greatly prefer my tone coming out of an svt or b-15 than i do any other amp.
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Fair enough. No complaints about the sound here either.

Personally, I do find the question an interesting one - is that awesome sound just tubes or tubes + semiconductor diodes? But it's just an engineer's interest in how something works. Knowing that the diodes are active during normal operation (or not) doesn't change the sound one bit.
 
#47
Mark Olson said:
Even if the diodes in the SVT clip, that clipping is going to sound 100% better because it's going into a tube amp vs. the standard solid state fare. The argument is moot, irrelevant, asinine, and weak.
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This is unfounded
Diodes do "soft clipping" when used like this. You could measure it, but "sound 100% better" is subjective.

If you have a SS amp, try some back to back diodes just like this in the effects loop.

Or you could buy
STEWMAC.COM : Black Ice Overdrive

But the diodes used in it are just a few cents each.
 
#48
UncleFluffy said:
Yeah. But please consider that as "Until someone measures it, what's the point talking about it? We've all got our own opinions and have already decided what we believe. Why get into a ****-waving contest? Either someone comes up with hard data, or else we go find something more interesting to talk about."

I own an SVT and a scope, but won't have time to get everything set up for at least a month - house hunting, job interviews, 20 flavours of other crap going on.

If it chills things out hereabouts I'll put an entry in my diary for the end of May to go measure this stuff. If anyone else can do it before then that would be great.

'til then, we're in the land of more heat than light.
Click to expand...

I look forward to measurements if you can get to them.
 
#52
Sartori said:
I also find this obsession with a couple diodes in the SVT to be more than just a little bizarre.

I mean, honestly, why give a crap?
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+1. Even if the signal path includes solid state components, it's not a solid state amp, and it wouldn't sound half as good if it was. I'm not even a fan of the SVT, Ampeg's other amps, sure, but still, a couple diodes, no matter what their purpose, in one of the most popular amps of all time hardly proves that we should give up tubes.
 
#53
JimmyM said:
ok, i'll be totally honest here. all amps can break and sometimes you have to drop money into them. i've never said any different once in any of these threads. but you getting 10 years out of a ss amp without servicing is every bit as flukey to me as you think it's flukey that i could get 10 years out of a v4b without servicing. when i go to any tech, i see plenty of ss amps sitting there waiting to be serviced, so let's not act like it never happens. i certainly don't pretend that every tube amp will give you 10 years of trouble free service. just a couple months ago i had to replace two pre tubes in my svt. set me back a whopping $40, too.

so let's not bollocks up my words here, ok george? all i've said is that there is nothing that proves that ss amps are any more reliable than tube amps. to say that i've ever said anything else is being disingenuous at best.
Click to expand...


You have said - many times, actually - that tube amps don't require any more maintenence than SS amps - which is definitely not true...

"but you getting 10 years out of a ss amp without servicing is every bit as flukey to me as you think it's flukey that i could get 10 years out of a v4b without servicing."

Actually, I'd bet that SS amps frequently provide 10 years of service-free use - the same simply cannot be said of tube amps, and just saying it doesn't make it so, bud... Again, it isn't the extreme difference that many make it out to be, but there is a difference...

I'm not "bollocking up" anything, Jimmy - and as I've said many times during these discussions, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one...


- georgestrings
 
#57
I started out using a bedroom 10w johnson amp. That was great for about a year......but then I just NEEDED to join a band .....sooo I got an ampeg solid state amp and that great big 8x10 fridge. While that worked, it was not totally awesome. I mean, it was NEARLY awesome, just didnt do it for me. So I traded away a few guitars for a 400+. That was GREAT for a few years. Loved the sound but it didnt really mesh with the other instruments in the band. Now I use a hybrid amp. 2 channels blended and a nice little 4x10 cab. It sounds really nice and it dosnt weigh much. I can carry my cab, head and all the cables I need into a venue by myself. I enjoy the sound that I can achieve with the equipment that I have. It is exactly what I need at this point in time. Plus it blends very well with the other instruments.

I dunno, I guess I have enjoyed both worlds. And they are both wonderful for what they can provide.
 
#58
Owned a silver face bassman in 1968, rented a 58 single showman while I squirelled $ for a better rig. Both Fenders were too weak for my tastes. Nice low volume tonality, but not enough balls for Amboy Dukes, Hendrix and Cream. As has been stated, to each their own, as I played through a Sunn 200S, and it was a huge tub of flappy goo. I guess it just depends on circumstance's. I switched to solid state in late 1969.
 
#59
JimmyM said:
then explain to me why i've had to have ss amps serviced, too.
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I don't know - what were they, and what circumstances led to them requiring service???

If we're going by that standard, maybe you can explain to me why I've never had an SS amp serviced, yet every tube amp I've ever owned has needed atleast a little attention, eventually???

After all, I've been playing atleast as long as you, probably play as many gigs per year as you - and most definitely play way louder than you do...

I know it might not seem it at the moment, but I really like and respect you, Jimmy - but don't pee down my back, and tell it's raining, OK???


- georgestrings
 
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