Tube or solid state, what do you use more often and why.

[Steve]

I have two Amps, a Fender Performer 1000 and a Fender Blues Deluxe. Right now I am figuring out the settings on the Blues Deluxe and am using it more. I like the throaty sounds I can get with it. The Performer 1000 is a nice amp and is super clean and easy to work with. I usually color the the sound to get that "right tone" that sounds the way I like it.

[Brian Magsipoc]

Well if I had a pure tube amp I'd probably use it more often. I've played through a Blues Deluxe amp before, absolutely love the warm, rich, throaty tone you can get out of it. My amp is a bit of a hybrid, it's a Vox Valvetronix that uses a 12AX7 tube and a dummy speaker circuit to simulate impedence changes (like an all tube amp).

[Steve]

Thanks Brian for adding to this discussion. Yes the Blues Deluxe is a tasty amp. My Performer 1000 is a 100 watt hybrid with a 12ax7 tube used as a diode. However, I very seldom use the distortion/Gain channel on the amp because I like the tone to be clean, that way I can add just the right color to it. I haven't done any recordings with the Blues Deluxe yet but I usually just record direct. I can definitely hear the differences between my Strat, Ibanez, and Les Paul through the Blues Deluxe, more so than through my Performer. But I like that.

[Jeremy Kennemur]

It just depends on the amp. At the moment I use either a Behringer V-Amp preamped through a Crate PowerBlock or a Hafler Triple Giant preamp (7-12AX7's !!) through the Crate PowerBlock both through a 1x12 cab. I had a Deluxe and actually didn't like it!! It didn't have enough PUNCH for me (I like 4x10's!). The Tech 21 Trademark amps are awesome. Totaly analog, but solidstate. Just depends....

[Steve]

Jeremy, thanks for adding to this discussion. I also like multiple speaker combinations and feel it makes the amp drive better. My fav is 4-12's but there is the portability issue to contend with. Those Crate PowerBlocks are a great tool to use for stage sound reinforcement. With the Blues Deluxe, I tend to favor the clean channel over the drive for the reason that I color the sound to taste. The Blues deluxe sounds better that way to me, I run it with a 12" extension speaker.

[ecgitar]

I like tubes for that pure blues tone better than solid state. I love the vintage blues tone, but I like the option to kick it up as well. I use a Mesa Dual Rect. Tremoverb Amp 100 Watt head with a Two 12" speaker Mesa cabinet that has vintage cel. 30's in it. The Mesa can also switch to solid state rect., which is better for heavy metal high gain which is tighter than tube's. I mainly use the orange channel clean switching to a blues position using a foot switch. I also have a home made speaker cabinet with a 1960's 15" Jenson life time war. speaker. It a good option when playing out in a large hall. The Mesa has a built in variac (power soaker) which helps when playing at lower volumes but still getting the cranked sound. My other amp is a Gibson 1974 Lab Series L5 combo amp with built in compression which has a very good clean sound. BB King uses this model amp. It is very heavy 2 12" speakers at 100 Watts. It's about the same weight as a Fender Twin. Fender amps have great sound, I used to have a pre CPS 1960's Deluxe Reverb amp which was great for a small hall. At the time I wanted more power so I sold it to a relative for $80.00 in the 70's. Kicking myself now!! I replaced it at the time with a Fender bandmaster and Baseman amp's which I also sold (another big mistake).

The guy who designed Mesa came over from Fender and colab'd with Carlos Santana on the amp's. Carlos uses Mesa's.

EC

[Steve]

Thanks EC for adding t this discussion. Those Mesa's are some pretty cool sounding amps. I used to play through an Ampeg V2 many years ago, 50 watt head with 4-12 cabinet. I sold it to my Bro for $300 so I could get something more portable. I bought the Performer 1000 used for $265 (I still have the sale tag) it's a hybrid amp that uses a 12AX7 tube as a diode for the dual distortion channels. The amp is one of the loudest and cleanest I ever used, 100 watts. The Blues Deluxe was at the right place at the right time and fit nicely in my budget. I like to run it with 2-12" speakers, a 1960 vintage Fender through the extension jack, it sounds much fuller and I can get a lot more out of it than with 1-12 it came with.

[( James Michael (Mickey) Emerson]

Used to have an L-5 changed the eminenss speakers out right away, wasn't real loud either, but like you say, had a really good sound, especially clean because of the compression. Great for chet adkins type stuff. Used to crack me up, if you set it just right you could hit a chord and it would build up and play the chord again almost like an echo, I don;t even know of a compression unit that does that.
I heard moog designed the L-5.

[Jeremy Kennemur]

The stock speaker in the deluxe seems to have some flabbiness, especially with the amps gain. The clean channel is good. I bet that 2x12 cab does help to beef it up a lot. What kind of pedals are you using with it?

And EC, those Lab Series are awesome dudes. Great for blues and jazz. I know a few people who have one and they love them. Ty Tabor of King's X also used one (distorted) on their earlier stuff. Sounded killer.

[Steve]

I am using the Gold Label stock speaker plus a 12" vintage 1960 Fender speaker cab through the speaker extension jack. I use the clean channel I don't use the gain channels in either amp. The effects I use are an Original Dunlap Crybaby Wah, Boss CS-3 compressor, Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, MXR Phase 90, Boss Harmonist, DOD Stereo Chorus, and a DOD dfx9 Digital Delay (hardly used) that are powered by a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2. I get some nice harmonics with this setup and the warmth of the tube amp gives me a really smooth sound.

[Scream]

My main two amps are Fuchs Lucky 7 and Fender 65 one 15" speaker twin reverb all tube. Gotta love that tube tone. I have heard solid state amp manufactures claim that they have imitated the tube sound, which one?, and rushed to the store to play it, but every time it just isn’t so. I’m not knocking all solid state amps I have a Line 6 spider III that has some great on board FX. Guess it depends on the type of sound im looking for the song being played. If I play live I have an AB switch on my board that allows my to switch from the Fender to the Line 6. My Fuchs Lucky 7 is used in the studio for recording, only 7 watts, but huge tone check my latest upload Whiskey Love that’s all played using the Fuchs If you like the tone of the Lucky 7 and can find one, buy it cause Andy Fuchs isn’t making them any more.

[OldMan]

I have two amps as well. Both are Kustoms and both are solid state. I have the Kustom 12 Gauge which has 16 watts, built in analog delay and reverb with a 12" speaker. I love the tone of it and since I only play clean, distortion is not important to me however, this amp does have a distortion channel that a few of my friends who play with distortion say is extremely good for a solid state amp.

I also have a Kustom '66 Dart that is 10 watts with the same effects built in and a 6 1/2" speaker with a closed back. It is the amp I take with me when I'm not playing at home. It sounds nearly as good as the 12 Gauge and both appear to be bullet proof as I've had absolutely no problems of any kind with them.

The best part is, both amps cost less than $250.00 for the pair. Great sound, great price, great reliability and low cost. Definitely a hard combination to beat.

[( James Michael (Mickey) Emerson]

You know old man I find this particularly interesting, because the best outfit I ever had was a 100 watt Kustom tube amp, and an epiphone coronet silverfox back in the late 60s early 70s, guitar was stolen out of my car in maryland, don't know what happened to the Kustom, but one had to crank it up all the way playing out as it really wasn't that loud for a 100 watter, but man did it sing with the p-90 . Made a good pillow when I wasn;t playin too lol
Was at the Cleveland guitar show and a guy had just the chassis under his table, I kept thinking, I outta buy that, but it needed work , and I didn't. But I still think that amps are not the same today , mostly because of the effects market.
Tube amps have compression, which is good for some things, but will clip notes, particularly fast leads, whereas a solid state will not, both have their uses. Also some tube amps will color the sound with effects.
Just have little tiny amps now and a comp, got a line 6 pro, still haven't figured it all out yet, but really does sound good, i mean , even through a little radio shack mps-45 some things do get better