Let's talk guitar amps (valve v solid state)

[TankAbbott4Eva]

Hi all,

So I'm thinking of selling my Blackstar HT-5 amp and my pedals and going solid state. I'm not a real audiophile, the valve sounds good but I feel like the solid state will be easier to use and troubleshoot when things aren't working, and also plenty more options re sounds etc

I'm looking at the Line 6 v 60, I want something that's loud enough to jam with some mates, I don't think the v 30 will do that. Anyone have any knowledge on this or can suggest some other options I should have a look at?

Thanks for reading, here's a random hottie for your troubles

 

[Bluesbreaker]

I'm afraid my experience with modern solid state amps is limited mate.

Have you been having trouble with your current gear?

 

[rikwebb]

Anyways gonna be valves and physical pedals for me. Had a solid state head once, was ok but always kept going back to my Valve Heads.

Currently though got an Orange Tiny Terror Dark as i haven't got much space but will probably end up with an EVH head when i make some space.

 

[Violent Violin]

Tubes!

 

[helax]

Tubes!

This.

 

[Violent Violin]

Don't also forget to replace the factory tubes with nice tubes (NOS!) makes a *huge* difference.

If you don't want to spend the money on replacing all the tubes, just replacing the front end tubes (not the power tubes, which are also the most expensive) will give you 75% of the sound.

 

[Vogg]

Modeling for me these days. Cheaper and quicker, also a billion times lighter. Tube amps for recording, modeling multi fx for everything else

Don't also forget to replace the factory tubes with nice tubes (NOS!) makes a *huge* difference.

If you don't want to spend the money on replacing all the tubes, just replacing the front end tubes (not the power tubes, which are also the most expensive) will give you 75% of the sound.

Change your speakers and get an EQ pedal imo

 

[Violent Violin]

Change your speakers and get an EQ pedal imo

Changing speakers is a very good idea

 

[KawhiDoh]

I've owned a Traynor YCS50(Tube) as well as two Solid State(Line 6 Spider 15 and Boss Katana MKII 50).

I ended up selling my YCS50, cuz it was heavy as hell, took up too much space etc.

That said, I don't have anything against Tubes really.

I do love Solid State though. As someone else mentioned, they're more affordable, lighter and personally, sound great. I understand, that they don't compete with Tubes on every front and that Tubes are essentially the classic choice that so many have used over the years, but SS is my choice.

My main amp as of right now is the Katana and I love it. I like to stream and recording directly into my computer, so it's a great piece of gear for that.

One of these days though, I wouldn't mind owning a NDSP Quad Cortex. Once I manage to save up the money.

 

[AGGAMEMNON66]

*reserved*

I’ll try and get back to this later because I’m headed out the door but.. Solid State has come a long way over the years.. and of course there’s all the modeling stuff.. I personally still prefer Tube myself (Matamp, Orange, Sunn, Laney are all in my wheelhouse).. but I also dig Marshall as well (I’ve got a VS100 head thru a 60’s cab with V30’s) and I love that head.. it’s got a tube preamp with a solid state power section (basically).


That said, Tubes are incredibly expensive and require maintenance. Besides that, most of them need to be dimed (or turned way up) for you to get their true tone.. so I’d suggest looking into finding one with an attenuater (Orange makes a few) or building/finding someone to build you a speaker soak.. this allows you to separate the volume/tone equation. Basically you can crank the volume knob on the amp to get the tone (heating up the tubes).. while using the knob for the soak/attenuator as your volume so you can play at bedroom/practice levels.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

I'm afraid my experience with modern solid state amps is limited mate.

Have you been having trouble with your current gear?

I had a jam session the other week and there was something wrong with my pedal board, it sounded weird. There's so many areas to troubleshoot in my current set up that I ended up bypassing the pedalboard and used the onboard distortion. Then I started thinking 'why do i have all this shit if it's not going to work if I need it"

I've owned a Traynor YCS50(Tube) as well as two Solid State(Line 6 Spider 15 and Boss Katana MKII 50).

I ended up selling my YCS50, cuz it was heavy as hell, took up too much space etc.

That said, I don't have anything against Tubes really.

I do love Solid State though. As someone else mentioned, they're more affordable, lighter and personally, sound great. I understand, that they don't compete with Tubes on every front and that Tubes are essentially the classic choice that so many have used over the years, but SS is my choice.

My main amp as of right now is the Katana and I love it. I like to stream and recording directly into my computer, so it's a great piece of gear for that.

One of these days though, I wouldn't mind owning a NDSP Quad Cortex. Once I manage to save up the money.

Yeah I was looking at the Boss Katana, I use Boss pedals mainly so that would look attractive. I do like the ability to link to a PC as well, I'm really only a bedroom player who occasionally jams so that sort of thing would be fun for me.

*reserved*

I’ll try and get back to this later because I’m headed out the door but.. Solid State has come a long way over the years.. and of course there’s all the modeling stuff.. I personally still prefer Tube myself (Matamp, Orange, Sunn, Laney are all in my wheelhouse).. but I also dig Marshall as well (I’ve got a VS100 head thru a 60’s cab with V30’s) and I love that head.. it’s got a tube preamp with a solid state power section (basically).


That said, Tubes are incredibly expensive and require maintenance. Besides that, most of them need to be dimed (or turned way up) for you to get their true tone.. so I’d suggest looking into finding one with an attenuater (Orange makes a few) or building/finding someone to build you a speaker soak.. this allows you to separate the volume/tone equation. Basically you can crank the volume knob on the amp to get the tone (heating up the tubes).. while using the knob for the soak/attenuator as your volume so you can play at bedroom/practice levels.

Yeah I heard about the attenuator option which sounds pretty cool. I'm just not sure I'd want to reinvest in another valve amp right now.

I think the next step would be me taking my guitar and trying some different solid state amps out and seeing if I like any of them.

Thanks for the discussion everyone!

 

[Bluesbreaker]

My experience with the Boss Katana:

I use an Orange Tiny Terror for the heavy band. For any cover band work, I use the Katana MkI head through a 2x12 with V30s.. I only run it clean and use appropriate drive pedals for the song. It sounds good clean and driven with pedals.

I found the crunch, lead and brown channels almost unusable in a band setting with their scooped sound.

 

[AGGAMEMNON66]

I think the next step would be me taking my guitar and trying some different solid state amps out and seeing if I like any of them

Definitely check out the Orange Crush Pro120..

 

[Violent Violin]

That said, Tubes are incredibly expensive and require maintenance. Besides that, most of them need to be dimed (or turned way up) for you to get their true tone.. so I’d suggest looking into finding one with an attenuater (Orange makes a few) or building/finding someone to build you a speaker soak.. this allows you to separate the volume/tone equation. Basically you can crank the volume knob on the amp to get the tone (heating up the tubes).. while using the knob for the soak/attenuator as your volume so you can play at bedroom/practice levels.

Yes, you want to get power tube distortion, much better than overdriving the preamp stage.

 

[cheesus]

Valve is largerly better, especially if you have the ability to drive it, far more warm. Solid state technically is way better than what it use to be 10 years or so ago, they've made some dramatic changes in solid state with hybrid valve arrangements and new solid state technology. I currently play through a VOX Superbeetle and it's one of the best sounding solid state amps I've ever heard. At low levels it's really chimey and bright and with the pre / post volume controls it acts exactly like a tube amp, breaking up when you drive the volume, the distortion is rather organic with a lot of clarity and doesn't super muddy or fuzzy like a lot of solid state amps do. Without physically opening it up, you'd be pretty hard pressed to tell if it had valves or not.

An overlooked problem with valve amps at lower volume, I've owned anything from small Fender Champs with 5 watts and a 8" speaker to 100+ watt Twin Reverbs and Vox Stacks, they're all hard to control at lower volumes. They really need to be pushed for full tonal efficiency.