I play on a Mesa Boogie Walkabout head, which has a tube preamp built in. After having experimented with different brands of vintage triodes I've found a combination of tubes that make the amp sound just great. Playing with plain gut string, the tubes add some sort of afterglow effect (I think it's called "harmonics") that compensate for the short sustain of the guts. I haven't found a solid state amp that does that
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Double Bass which is better for upright, tubes or solid state?
- Thread starter ao'connor17
- Start date
Such distortion, which you find desirable, can be achieved with solid-state circuitry. I think, for the most part, people were discussing tube-based power-amp sections. There are many solid-state and tube pre-amp sections that incorporate various types of intentional "voicings" and effects. Again, if you found one you like, by all means use it and enjoy it. It is the case, however, that one need not employ tubes to achieve these effects.
i still need a pickup for my upright, but now i have a mic which brings up a new question.
mics or pickups?
mics or pickups?
It might be helpful to start a new thread on this. Meanwhile, here is my view.
A microphone can capture the true sound of your bass, under ideal conditions.
On a crowded stage, with other instruments and the spectre of feedback, a microphone can be unworkable. That's a reason why bassists use pickups, even though they probably never achieve utterly authentic tone quality.
One of the biggest advantages to solid state is the power/weight ratio. Sooner or later you have to lift the thing, unless you can afford roadies. Bassists have it rough on the size / weight factor all the way around. We have bigger instruments, bigger repair bills, and bass frequencies have to be 10 times the amplitude to sound as loud as high frequencies. So a tube amp that will deliver the overhead power to produce a really loud, clean and undistorted sound has to be a monster. A solid state amp can deliver that with a fraction of the weight of equivalent transformers pre-amp and output tubes.
I maybe in the minority but I have always preferred solid state amps for bass guitar as well as double bass. To me distortion has never been an integral part of a good sounding bass line. It gets too muddy and takes the punch out. I like solid state for acoustic-electric guitars also.
Now it is very different for electric guitar, IMO. And even though it is over 150 lbs., I'd never trade my vintage Marshall half-stack for a solid state guitar amp.
I maybe in the minority but I have always preferred solid state amps for bass guitar as well as double bass. To me distortion has never been an integral part of a good sounding bass line. It gets too muddy and takes the punch out. I like solid state for acoustic-electric guitars also.
Now it is very different for electric guitar, IMO. And even though it is over 150 lbs., I'd never trade my vintage Marshall half-stack for a solid state guitar amp.
Quote "despite the clamor for tube amps in the guitar world, the best bass amps are almost always solid state. For bass, high levels of clean power takes priority over the magic of valves. "
Actually, this depends upon the overall levels. At low levels, the differences in intensity required for equal judged loudness across frequency are much greater than they are at high levels. At very high levels, the function is rather flat, meaning equal intensity across frequency leads to essentially equal judged loudness. This is captured in the classic Fletcher-Munson curves depicted below. The function of the "loudness" button or control on home stereos is to boost the very low and high frequencies so that, at low listening levels, the tonal balance of the music is maintained.
At the levels most of us play (say, 80-90 phons or so), Silver is quite correct that it requires a greater amplitude of the low frequencies for them to be judged equally loud as the mid-frequencies that carry most of the energy in music. How much greater depends upon what level you're at and what frequencies you are comparing. 10x the amplitude corresponds to 20 dB.
