Why aren't you using tube amps?

[Zbysek]

So I know the tube vs solid state thing gets beat to death. I'm not here for that. This is mostly for those of you who would like to use tube amps, but don't, so my question is more along the lines of:

What aren't tube amps doing that keeps you from using them?

Weight will surely be a big factor. How light would they have to get for you to consider it?

What other features aren't common to tube amps that you require?

In my thinking, the issue is different: it's not about what the tube amps aren't doing, it's about what the lighter amps aren't doing. I have been using lighter (class D, class AB) amps because I get what I need from them.

That being said, I have bought my first all-tube head recently (Ampeg PF-20T). At 15 pounds it was light enough for me.

 

[PWRL]

Because the last two I owned- a Sunn Model T and an Ampeg V4B Reissue- were in constant need of being taken into the shop for this and that. If I could buy a tube amp and be assured that it would function properly, I'd reconsider going back to them, but I found them to be too unreliable. I wasn't hard on them, either. Maybe it was just bad luck, who knows.

 

[Zbysek]

Because the last two I owned- a Sunn Model T and an Ampeg V4B Reissue- were in constant need of being taken into the shop for this and that. If I could buy a tube amp and be assured that it would function properly, I'd reconsider going back to them, but I found them to be too unreliable. I wasn't hard on them, either. Maybe it was just bad luck, who knows.

That's the reason why I would never go to a gig with an all-tube amp without backup amp or preamp...

 

[EricMordus]

Because I dont need a hernia to be heard anymore

 

[metron]

I have owned some of the big hitters: SVT, SVT-CL, Classic 400, DB728, V-4B. They are too heavy and my walkabout sounds almost as good or better.

Here I am replying to myself because a few months after this post, I bought a 400+. It sounds good so that's where I'm at. I almost always have someone to help me carry gear so a tube amp it is. Things change, what else can I say?

 

[Ron Berenato]

I played Peavey solid state amps for years and then graduated to a Mesa 400+. The tone was awesome but it didn't have the hard hitting attack that I was used to. I decided that tube preamps work better with solid state power for me. I like the "quicker" response of solid state. Now I run one of those old Butler/Chandler tube pedals into a solid state head. Really light and lots of headroom with a single 15 cab.