Why tube amp sound better than solid state?

[Chuck H]

"when you ask people: What do you *prefer* for lunch? most answer Steak .... when then you ask: Ok, what *did* you have for lunch today? .... most answer Hamburger"

Yupper. I did a survey when I was working with Dean Markley. A flyer I distributed in a bunch of music stores asking what sort of amp and features players wanted. To be honest I came away with the opinion that it's better to offer people what you know they need rather than what they think they want. Guitarists with no technical knowledge are a funny bunch. Not funny "ha ha", funny the way fish smells. Of course none of the wish list stuff correlated with the "What was the last amp you purchased?" question. Which was the same for all types of players 80% of the time. A 1x12 combo with channel switching and reverb good for about fifty watts. That's the industry workhorse amp. Build it and they will come. Actually... Build it for less and they will come.

[J M Fahey]

"What was the last amp you purchased?" question. Which was the same for all types of players 80% of the time. A 1x12 combo with channel switching and reverb good for about fifty watts. That's the industry workhorse amp.

Thanks for the survey.
It closely matches mine.
My bread and butter amps for the last 40 years have been 100W SS heads and 2x12" cabinets, both for Guitar and Bass; but now Iīm designing a 100W combo, with a 1x12" 8 ohms built in, so it will put out around 60W and an extension speaker available, so those who need it can get the full 100W and a larger cabinet.
And a 1x15" 100W Bass combo.
Both of these will be crushed to death by the separate head/cabinet versions Iīm making now, but I know that the new, smaller ones will outsell the old larger ones 10:1.
Oh well.

EDIT: just to confirm your survey, here in Argentina the most sold imported guitar amp of all times was some version of the Peavey Bandit, followed by Marshall Valvestate 8080.
And 90% of Bass players buy some 100/120W Peavey/Fender/Laney/Hartke (China) 1x15" combo.
The few of them who play outside their garage, push them to death (they are not efficient) and typically blow the speakers.
Problem is, a single 15" has no highs, nor high mids, and bass is severely compromised because any combo cabinet which is easily portable (the very idea behind a combo) is acoustically too small.
The end result is farting bass and a nasal mid heavy nightmare. No snap at all.
Worst thing is that many have good equalizers, which mask this at low power, but at higher power you canīt beat physics and the castle crumbles down.
My test for any speaker is to plug a guitar or bass into a *flat* preamp, then into an obviously flat power amp and rise volume to the edge of clipping.
The sound must be acceptable, with no tricks to hide it.
*Then* we can add flavouring at will.

[kg]

because tube watts are bigger.

[Chuck H]

Nice analogies.

[JHow]

Yupper. I did a survey when I was working with Dean Markley. A flyer I distributed in a bunch of music stores asking what sort of amp and features players wanted. To be honest I came away with the opinion that it's better to offer people what you know they need rather than what they think they want. Guitarists with no technical knowledge are a funny bunch. Not funny "ha ha", funny the way fish smells. Of course none of the wish list stuff correlated with the "What was the last amp you purchased?" question. Which was the same for all types of players 80% of the time. A 1x12 combo with channel switching and reverb good for about fifty watts. That's the industry workhorse amp. Build it and they will come. Actually... Build it for less and they will come.

Purchase behavior trumps stated importance! MEF should consider adding survey functionality to the fora - we could test some additional hypotheses here.

[Steve Conner]

I believe it's possible to attach a poll to a thread when you start it. Nobody seems to use the feature though.

[g1]

I believe it's possible to attach a poll to a thread when you start it. Nobody seems to use the feature though.

Yes, I see it it under "additional options", right down at the bottom of page when creating a new post.

[J M Fahey]

Just got into a Tube Amps Forum I moderate in Brazil, and found them talking about a magazine article:
"The BEST 15 amps for small shows"
Os 15 melhores amplificadores para pequenos shows
Absolutely ridiculous.
1) you canīt have "15 best" the same way a race canīt have "15 winners".
Sounds like those elementary school contests where *everybody* gets a "prize" ... so they don't cry.
2) I mention this, because most of them are the typical close to 50W , 1x12" combos mentioned above ... but the list also includes 5W amps and 2x12" 100/120W high gain monsters.

EDIT: absolutely f*ck*ng unbelievable !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Itīs a translation of a BRITISH guitar magazine article!!!
You can trust no one !!!!!!
Best Guitar Amps For Gigging: 15 of our favourites | Total Guitar | MusicRadar.com

[Chuck H]

I repeat:

Guitarists with no technical knowledge are a funny bunch. Not funny "ha ha", funny the way fish smells.