View Poll Results: Is your main jazz guitar amp a solid state or a tube amp?
- Voters
- 386. You may not vote on this poll
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Tube
169 43.78% -
Solid State
217 56.22%
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in the current context, it’s running “straight up”. No distortion, no mid-knob pull boost. Just clean, a touch of reverb, volume low enough so it matches up with an upright acoustic bass and another guitar.
Originally Posted by Litterick
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01-28-2022 11:08 PM
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Well I've been a SS guy for years now. But I recently bought a Carvin V3M 50w tube amp just to fool around with at home for fusioney stuff. Nice sounds. And I like having the 3 channels. From clean, to grit, to lead, without the need for a pedal in front. And folks should understand there are many SS amps that are not class D. Dan Pearce made some of the most wonderful tubey sounding SS amps back in the 80s before the proliferation of class D. Had a huge toroidal transformer. Enough power to knock down a building. But no tubes.
Pearce Amplifiers
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Bought myself a hybrid Koch Jupiter last summer. Really nice. So tube or SS bit of both.
The Koch is a bit warmer compared to my Roland jc-40. Although the chorus is unbeatable on a Jazzchorus i'll go for the Koch.
Use it with my Ibbys (2616, jp20, as120) and a homemade telecaster.
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Originally Posted by Rolf Field
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My main amp is a Fender Vibrolux. But lately I've been using a Tech21 Fly Rig plugged directly into the desk. I'm happy with the tone.
Since this is such a pragmatic and cheap solution I kind of don't trust myself so I keep bugging our organ player "What do you think about the guitar tone?". His answer is always "I haven't paid attention" so I think it is at least good enough.
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The bear stays silent unless he’s poked. Originally Posted by guavajelly
I got a small, inexpensive digital recorder with built-in mics (TASCAM DR40x) several months ago and started recording our gigs. It has a tripod socket in the back, so I got a mic stand adapter and place it on a low stand at the edge of the stage. Hearing yourself as the audience hears you is eye opening, sometimes positively and sometimes negatively
I think this has really changed my playing and my gear. I discovered that my timing sometimes wasn’t as clever and innovative as I’d hoped - it was just plain too far off to work. I went from 11 & 13 E & B to 13 and 17 for much better balance with the rest of my TI JS113s. I cut the bass a lot to bring the 76 RW 7th down, until I finally bought a bunch of Chrome 75 singles that don’t boom as much. Then I got the Blu 6, which brought the Chrome 75s even a little more in line with the JS set.
Without being able to hear myself in a recording, I never would have known that I needed to do these things. And I now hear the cliches to which I default when I get too comfortable with what I’ve played before and liked. It’s also a great way to compare amps. I have a Mark Jazz 12, a Vibrolux, and a CS PR with me at my weekly gigs. Recording them all on the same night with the same guitar really shows up their individuality as well as common traits.
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I enjoy playing with both ss and tube amps. I guess it is just a different experience, but I wouldn't say one is better than the other. Here are some amps I like (both solid-state and tube):
- Henriksen
- Evans
- Fender Twin, Deluxe, and Concert
- Polytone
- Acoustic Image
- Raezer's Edge
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Originally Posted by mwilliams
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I've spent equal measures playing(and gigging) with tubes, now SS.
Nothing beats the warmth of my modded Fender tube amp, BUT for responsiveness and string clarity, I am drawn to SS for this, especially with a carved top instrument.
These days, I am way over lugging a 45 lb, amp to the gig.
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Since I had started watching this thread I have observed a swing of about 5% migrating across to SS. This coincided with the introduction of the Quilter Aviator, Superblocks ,Mach3 and the Fender Tonemaster Twin/Deluxe & now Princeton. When i joined the forum it was about 50/50 perhaps a smidge in favour of the Valves.
TBH I'm not surprised, most of the lighter or smaller Valve releases over the last 5 years have been aimed at Tube-Distorted tones at bedroom Recording volumes. Not much promoting Clean warm tones unless I'm missing the marketing media. The only outlier being the recent offerings from Blackstar.
EMike.
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TBH, I don’t know of a small, light tube amp that’s able to deliver clean warm tones at anything above bedroom levels. The perpetual popularity of good tiny tube amps is their ability to deliver great saturated tone at very low volume levels, and amps like Quilters and Tone Masters do it over a wider volume range. Originally Posted by EastwoodMike
The appeal of class D amps for jazz players is their ability to deliver clean warm tones at low or high volumes from a small, light box but still let you get crunchy at any volume if you want or need it. Few tube amps compare in this regard and those that do are heavy and costly.
I think the gradual migration to SS reflects a general letting go of the outmoded idea that only a tube amp is good enough. An attenuator will give you saturation from a big amp at low volume. But it won’t make a Twin any lighter or smaller. A 200W Quilter will do it all almost as well as a Twin, an attenuator, and a pedal board. It just makes sense.
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I don’t know... my pro jr sounds pretty loud and clean enough. I have never really tried it out at a situation where I would need to get it up and moving air.
I bought the amp during covid. It broke awhile back. I am going to get it fixed, and see what happens.
(Lately I have been happy using the Henriksen Jazz, or a ZT lunch box. Now I have to give a Duncan Powerstage 700 and a DV 2x8 cab a try... but I just keep using my Henriksen).
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While I adore my tube amps and prefer them overall (Fender / Mesa/ Peavey) for Jazz I rely on my Mesa Rosette which is a D class amp . It is amazing 300w and Active eq . 2 independent channels
I've jammed with a friend and the discrete channels work wonderfully
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And when Mesa does it, it's important! With very few exceptions, every amp they've ever made has been outstanding. I used my original Boogie hunree with internal fan (bought new) for decades without a failure or a gig it couldn't handle perfectly. If I were still playing multiple gigs a week every week, I'd be looking at this seriously. I only hope that Gibson doesn't corrupt Randall Smith's vision for the company. Originally Posted by Greywolf
And for those who are spoiled by $200 class D miniamp heads, I have no doubt that the amplifier modules in this are at least the equal of the best ICE amps, which start at about $300 for the raw electronics. A true top quality class D amp with allthese features is definitely worth $1500 retail.
I love my Blu, my Superblock, and my Toobs. But if I didn't have to pay for it and keep it someplace, there'd always be at least one Boogie in my home.
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It's all in your head..
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If I could have both:
Tube for single line solos.
Solid state for chordal playing.
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I said I would never buy a solid state but I now own a Cyber Twin. Never say never.
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This is an old thread and I'm a little old myself so I could be repeating myself; My very broad generalization is that while either one can sound great with any guitar, I do believe that a carved top with a floater is best represented through solid state and a solid body with tubes. Many many exceptions but I think it fair to say that archtops have "more inherent character" than a solid guitar and so too tube amps more character than SS.
I happily play and enjoy both amps.
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I’ve got two tube amps at the moment: a Gibson Falcon and a Fender VibroChamp, both early 60s. Love them, for home use.
But for jazz these days it’s solid state. I have a Henriksen Blu 6 when I use my own amp. Mostly now I play jazz at jam sessions in Japan, the norm is solid state in the backline, often Roland JC.
My first amp ever, back in the 70s was a Princeton Reverb. But when I started learning jazz in the 80s, my teacher in NYC, Remo Palmier, sent me down to Manny’s to get a Polytone Mini Brute. I used that on jazz big band gigs and some combos till the 90s, when I quit music and sold my gear to take up travel.
But something stuck with me from the Polytone. Maybe the mid rangey punch? So when I started playing jazz again after settling in Japan, and even though I have those two tube beauties, I prefer the Henriksen and the Rolands over the tubes.
With the backline Rolands at jams, I found if I zero out the bass and treble and set the mids at noon, with a dash if reverb, I get a useable midrange punch.
But a quest is fun, and this is a hobby, after all. So I mess with pedals on the solid states, and lately use the Jr Barnyard and the Mad Professor Big Tweedy!
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I want what he had.
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Pondering this I realized for the first time tonight that "tubes vs. solid state" is a false dichotomy. Which tubes? Tube amps can sound very different; speakers sound different; cabs sound different. Which solid state? The same caveats apply.
I have a Fender 5E3 clone that I built from a kit (Mission Amps). I initially built it as a head and ran it through my Raezer's Edge Stealth 12. It really did not sound very good: bassy, not particularly well-defined on the top end. My AI Clarus 2r, through the same cab, sounds fantastic. I put the chassis into a standard tweed Deluxe cabinet with a Cannabis Rex and it was transformed into a much better sounding amplifier. So I would have said that I preferred solid state to tubes only using the RE cabinet. But comparing the AI/RE set up versus the 5E3 in the combo cab, I tend to prefer the latter with most but not all of my guitars- so maybe I prefer tubes? In terms of portability, the tweed is actually one of my lighter amps and is more compact, as well, so it's pretty easy to take two gigs or rehearsals.
I have a Fender Pro Reverb that I've owned since the mid 1980s; great amp, but it has two JBL speakers and it weighs more than all my other amps combined, I think. It's about 75# thanks to those huge magnets. At 63 years old, I really can't haul it out to the car without hurting my back. So it just sits in a corner. Great sounding amp, but my friend's Twin Reverb sounds just a little better for jazz (but the Pro is killer for blues). My friend also has a TMDR which is excellent, and I like as well as either the Pro or the Twin.
I have an Egnater Rebel 30 combo. Kind of a unique amplifier that has both British and California tube circuits that can be blended with a knob to be all 6V6 or all EL34 or a mix of both, from 1W to 30W. It has a clean channel which is tweedy sounding, and a drive channel which can be quite clean with a lot of headroom, or very dirty, depending on how the knobs are set. Very versatile, but somehow, I just really don't care that much for it. If that was my comparison amp, I would say I preferred solid state. Ditto my experiments with Marshall amps. I've never gotten to try an Ampeg vintage tube amp.
I have a Polytone Baby Taurus that I bought here on the forum. I have been less enamored with that as time has gone on, possibly because I think I am realizing I don't generally like speakers smaller than 12 inches. But then, tonight at a friends, I played for a while through his Epiphone Electar tiny combo amp which also has, I believe, at 8" speaker and it sounded fantastic with a reverb pedal in front of it, a little too dry without. So, comparing those two, I would say I prefer tubes.
You see the problem. Saying whether I prefer tubes versus solid state is highly dependent upon the specific equipment being compared. I don't think that I can actually make a definitive choice between the two because the differences within each category are so great. Fender, Marshall, Ampeg, Mesa/Boogie, Dumble, etc. all have their own unique footprint. Roland, Polytone, Henricksen, AER, Evans, etc., all have their unique footprint.
Do I prefer tubes or solid state? Yes.
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If I were you the first thing I'd do is switch out those JBL"s for lighter speakers, maybe even Neo type. I'd even look at a beefier OP transformer for it if needed, that's a great amp. I think you would be a tube guy 100% again! Originally Posted by Cunamara
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I love love LOVE tube amps.
I had a Twin and a Princeton at first (newer blackface re-issues from 2018-2020). Princeton sounded better but not loud enough at 11 watts. Then I got into some of these boutique hand built amps. In my area you can pick them up for 60% off the price of when they were new. They pop up used once in a while. Now I don't use the Twin and the Princeton. I'm probably gonna sell the Princeton. The Twin looks cool in my living room (blonde tolex) and could be needed in the event of a gig where I need to be very loud.
I've found my nirvana with the Longbeard Little Jake, which is a boutique hand built amp I picked up for $800. It's similar to a Princeton, same size and weight. But it's got 20 watts of power, so it's loud enough for 90% of the places I play. That thing goes everywhere with me. I have a 40w Fargen Blackbird which sounds really good. It's heavy, but I think weight is not a big factor for me. I don't mind lifting a heavy amp. Ya just gotta lift with the legs. I used to carry the Twin and it didn't bother me at all. The Fargen was the highest wattage amp I could find that has a tube rectifier. I agree with the poster who liked the tube rectifier earlier. It does sound different. The Twin doesn't have it, which really puts it in a different class than all my other amps.
I did give SS a chance. I picked up a Polytone mini brute 2. I played it for a could days and I really don't like it AT ALL. Probably because I mostly listen to Wes, Grant Green and Ilya Lushtak and all those guys play tube amps. Coincidentally I am not a fan of anyone who plays SS come to think of it.... Maybe Benson on a couple of his albums? Joe Pass is a great player and I have listened to him but I wish he would have prioritized tone and gear a bit more.
The polytone is useful and convenient. I use it for singers when they don't have gear. I plug my computer into it to play to MrSunnyBass tracks off YouTube or Jamey Ambersol tracks. I will be keeping it because it works nicely for stuff that doesn't involve the guitar.
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A good amp is a good amp, whether it’s tube or solid state……
(But I do like the magic of tubes)
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Funny you mention Wes; he brought his custom Standel solid state amp everywhere….. (only played a Bassman briefly early in his career) Originally Posted by JazzIsGood
Like here in London in 1965, the Standel can clearly be seen behind him:
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