Tube Amps?

Boyd · Post by **Boyd** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 9:00 pm

I have an old Fender tube amp thing from 80-somethin, exactly what the hell do the glass tube things do anyways beside get really hot and possibly explode and destroy my sound system... oh yea are they any good?

You_Enjoy_Myself · Post by **You_Enjoy_Myself** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 9:06 pm

Well, I don't know much about them, but after hearing and playing on a tube amp, I love the sound of them

Ranting Thespian · Post by **Ranting Thespian** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 9:23 pm

Tube? That's where the sound comes from. H on, let me ask my dad for a bit more info (he deals with tubes every single day).

Ok, basicly this:

you plug your guitar in, and your amp in. The combination of the pickups from the guitar and the electricty goes into the tube (which actualy is a total vacum, there is no air in int), and they generate the amplification. The whole sound comes from those tubes. The controls on the amp controls what comes out of the tubes and through the speaker.

Boyd · Post by **Boyd** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 12:08 am

So they're better than new amps?

Pickles · Post by **Pickles** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 12:13 am

Boyd wrote:So they're better than new amps?

tubes are more natural... theyre a lot higher maintenance, more expensive (and you never stop payin for em, you have to replace your tubes every once in a while... my amp has 7 tubes in it.. it can be pricey).

anyway, they give you a better tone. 'new amps,' or im assuming you mean solid state amps, just wont give you the tone of a tube amp. valvestate amps have preamp tubes and then the rest is solid if im not mistaken, so you wont get the full effect.

the hotter the tubes get, the better the tone. how do you get them hotter? turn up the volume. the amp will break up some.. depends on the amp.

naturally overdriving a tube amp is awesome, gotta love it. cant get that from a solid state amp.

Boyd · Post by **Boyd** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 12:16 am

Ohhh, I always try to keep mine from gettin too hot cause I think somethin will blow up.. hehe.

Pickles · Post by **Pickles** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 12:29 am

Boyd wrote:Ohhh, I always try to keep mine from gettin too hot cause I think somethin will blow up.. hehe.

nah, they will never get that hot... without using like... something hotter than a blowtorch

ShawnRT · Post by **ShawnRT** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 9:02 am

Tubes are the analog transistor. The beauty of tube amplification is that as you increase the power, a tube will overdrive with a nice smooth and fat 'distortion' tone. Think every great rock album ever made (Zeppelin, ACDC, Who, etc...).

A solid state amp will 'clip' as it overdrives, producing a harsher, more metallic overdrive as opposed to the smooth gain curve of tube power amp overdrive.

It's one of those things that you just have to play around with for yourself.

When you see a guy like SRV take a strat and have it go from sparkling clean to a dirty overdrive just by rolling up his volume knob, that is tube amplification. It just doesnt work the same way with solid state. I wish it did because tube amps are damn heavy, changing tubes and rebiasing the amp is a pain in the ass and everything runs hotter on a tube amp. In the end it is so worth it.

PS: Your tubes WILL NOT explode, think of them as super high powered light bulbs (not the greatest analogy, but it works). They will get extremely hot though, even if the amp is in perfect shape. DO NOT touch the tubes or remove them when the amp is on! Tube amps run 400 Volts through the plate with enough amperage to blow your socks off. Everything will be fine as long as you don't mess around inside it when it is on.

Pickles · Post by **Pickles** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 11:26 am

my amp is autobiasing so i dont have to deal with that

and yeah.. tube amps are extremely heavy. mine weighs 65 lbs..

thejoe · Post by **thejoe** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 7:04 pm

shane, those valvestate marshalls arent too good
i played one.. and they just arent tube

im just not that big a fan of marshalls

Pickles · Post by **Pickles** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 10:17 pm

crash_in_to_me wrote:shane, those valvestate marshalls arent too good
i played one.. and they just arent tube

im just not that big a fan of marshalls

the only good thing about the valvestate marshalls is that they have some digital stuff which could be useful for say, acoustic simulation.

other than that, bleh

thejoe · Post by **thejoe** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 10:45 pm

i didtn think they were too special

HendrixWS · Post by **HendrixWS** » Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:40 am

Have a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe and love it. Sounds really good even with an acoustic guitar plugged in. It's worth the extra pennies you put into it but yes it is a pain in the ass to maintain but you only have to do it once or twice a year depending on how much you play.

grock · Post by **grock** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 3:43 pm

ShawnRT wrote:Tubes are the analog transistor. The beauty of tube amplification is that as you increase the power, a tube will overdrive with a nice smooth and fat 'distortion' tone. Think every great rock album ever made (Zeppelin, ACDC, Who, etc...).

A solid state amp will 'clip' as it overdrives, producing a harsher, more metallic overdrive as opposed to the smooth gain curve of tube power amp overdrive.

Actually both amp types "Clip" when overdriven. clipping is distortion. Tube amps just have a much "softer" clipping. here is a pic.

This is actually how distortion pedals work as well. The harder the clipping the "harsher" the distortion.