Hey Friend,
Which is better, tube amps or solid state?
I love tube amps! My first amplifier was a Fender head with a generic cabinet, but I don’t remember what model I had.
Mesa Boogie has been my all time favorite so far, even though I don’t own one now. I had a 60 watt Mesa S.O.B. back in the 80s that I never should have sold, and it sounded awesome.
My Bugera 333 120 watt also sounds fantastic, and I’d bet it would sound even better if my 4x12 cabinet had Celestion Vintage 30s in it. And, Bugera’s are a LOT less expensive than Mesa Boogies!
But, I’ve had some really great solid state amps an modelers, too. The Lab Series L5 was a great sounding amp with its built-in spring reverb tank. I could give it a kick to simulate a thunder clap like in the .38 Special song " Chain Lightning”… Played the crap out of that song!
Even the little Roland Cube I’ve got sounds pretty good, especially fed through a live soundboard.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Line 6 TonePort I’ve used for recording. Modeling gear has come a long way, in in many respects, like Jim mentions, you can get identical tone reproduction out of the modern modelers.
So maybe I’m not as snobby as I thought I was.
You won’t hear me disagree on the the weight argument. Lugging those tube amps gets old really quickly, especially when you’re gigging a lot. When you can get a modeling rig for the same cost or less than one of the boutique tube amps.
When Jim goes through his signal chain in the video, he doesn’t go into a lot of depth regarding tone creation, but it’s going to be similar whether you’re using a modeler or a full-on amplifier. Ain’t modern technology grand?!
If I‘m being honest, I just want one of everything. I’m not big into gadgets (which is odd for an IT guy), but when it comes to musical gear, I’d love to have it all. And the time to play with it all day long.
That’s the dream - have the gear surrounding me and just make noise all day, every day. Of course, my wife would have to get me a sound-proof, padded room…
She’s probably already considered that…
What do you think? Is there that big a difference today in the sound quality of a tube amp versus a modeler? Or is there no definitive answer? Does it depend on what you’re after sound-wise?
Or do we get too hung up on these debates?
Peace~
Dave
| 
