Tube Amp vs Solid State – What's the Difference?

[Music] [Applause] hi i'm mitch gallagher from sweetwater when we're talking about guitar amplifiers a common question that comes up is which is better tuber solid state i've got both types here a tube amp as well as a solid state amp and it can certainly be confusing to sort through the benefits of each type of amplifier in fact the question gets even murkier because in modern amps we also have modeling to consider there have also been an increasing number of what you might call hybrid amps that combine different technologies together let's start our conversation today about tubes versus solid state with some definitions and descriptions of the various technologies involved in all cases what we're talking about is taking the very small electrical signal that a guitar pickup puts out and raising its level or amplifying it to the point where it's strong enough to drive a speaker this requires a huge increase in power to achieve this huge increase in power amplifiers typically use two stages the first is a preamp stage which raises the tiny signal from the guitar pickups to what's called line level this is the signal level that you might see come out of a studio preamp or compressor or other piece of gear and similar to the level that most keyboards put out the preamp stage is where you'd find the gain and volume controls the different channels and the tone stack or eq controls and it's where the tone of the guitar signal is largely shaped the second stage of the amplifier is called the power amplifier and it takes that pre-amplified signal and dramatically increases its level so that it can cause a speaker to physically move there typically isn't a lot of tone shaping that goes on in this section aside from the power amp circuitry of course although sometimes you see presence resonance and similar controls that actually function inside the power amp section between these two stages the preamp and the power amp sections is where the effects send and return will be located if your amp has one now the differences come in because designers use different components to build these stages in the amp in a tube amplifier typically 12ax7 tubes would be used for the gain and so on in the preamp section in the power section you might find 6v6 6l6 el84 el34 kt66 kt88 or other large power tubes doing the heavy lifting each of these tube types has a different tonal signature different distortion characteristics and different response characteristics and so on that contribute to the overall sound quality and feel of the amp there are some tweaky electronic design things that also affect how the tubes sound an important one of these is whether the amp is operating class a b where pairs of tubes work together to amplify the signal or class a where each power tube is used to amplify the entire signal there's a big tonal difference response feel and efficiency difference between these two operating classes a key component here in tube amplifiers is that the power tubes require a transformer to match the tube output with what the speaker wants to see the transformer also contributes a tonal signature saturation characteristics and more to the overall sound with a solid state amp all those tubes would be replaced with transistors transistors perform the same function as the tubes making the signal louder either in the preamp or in the power amp there are two approaches here one uses transistors to directly generate the tone simply using them in place of the tubes the other approach is where some of the murkiness comes in many dabs that technically are solid state because they have no tubes also use digital processing to emulate the function of tube components and tone whether through modeling profiling convolution irs or whatever other technology now both these approaches can work fine a non-modeling solid state amp will have its own tone that may or may not be tube-like examples would include the quilter line of amplifiers the orange crush pro amps like this one beside me the roland jazz chorus amps and so on a solid state amp with modeling or digital processing will use computer algorithms to recreate the characteristics of tubes and transformers and it tries to replicate the sound of a tube or possibly even a solid state amp i've seen model damps that emulated jazz chorus for example all this is fine when we're talking about tone it's not the technology that matters but the result still the technology is what generates the tone so we need to look at some of the differences at their most basic tubes take an incoming signal and make it louder using the electricity coming from the wall outlet that's why they're known as valves in some parts of the world transistors do the same thing the difference is that tubes are fairly non-linear meaning their response and characteristics change as the signal level changes when you push them harder and harder tubes go gradually and smoothly into clipping meaning they no longer accurately reproduce the signal our ears perceive this as distortion and largely consist of additional harmonic content that's added into the signal with tubes these harmonics are mostly even order which tend to sound warm and full there's also a compression characteristic where the sound gets smoother the feel for the player gets a bit softer as well and the notes sustain longer it's not just a tone thing but also a touch and feel thing for many players with a transistor clipping or distortion comes on more immediately and the emphasis is on odd order harmonics which can have a harsher more metallic sound there's less of the compression effect as well and of course you don't get that extra coloration from the transformer which tends to be non-linear as well saturating more as you crank things up and tending to roll off some of the top end for a warmer tone however and this is important manufacturers have made huge strides with pure solid state designs modern solid state amps and i'm not talking about modeling here but pure solid state amplifiers sound much more tube-like for lack of a better way to say it and the feel is much more tube-like as well when you do factor in modeling the emulations can be stunningly realistic so let's talk about the pluses and minuses of tubes versus solid state first we have the desirable tonal qualities of the tubes richness dynamic response sustain harmonic content gentle clipping characteristics and so on these have made tubes the go-to for players for decades we also have the desirable characteristics of the transformers that tubes require general saturation warm top end and full bottom end on the other side of this tubes and transformers are simply heavy and bulky there's just no way around it tubes are also basically glass bottles with all the air inside removed this makes them fragile and subject to breakage during transport tubes also wear out and their tone changes as they're used over weeks and months they generally need to be replaced regularly if you're playing a lot especially if you're pushing the amp hard and to sound their best many players find the tubes generally need to be cranked up which can cause problems if the resulting volume is too loud for the situation solid state on the other hand does not require heavy transformers and the components themselves are light and compact meaning solid-state amps generally can be made much lighter and can be made smaller as well transistors don't wear out or age and never need to be replaced they're by definition solid devices so they're durable and they don't break tonally solid state amps have made huge strides forward they now sound and feel very tube-like and if you do factor in the addition of modeling convolution profiling and other technologies then the emulation of tubes can be phenomenally accurate but there are some other considerations all other things being equal to bamps tend to sound louder than solid state amps so for example it's likely that a 50 watt solid state amp is not going to be perceived as loud as a 50 watt tube amp this is one of the reasons you often see much higher power ratings on solid-state amps however the tone of a solid-state amp doesn't change as it changes the volume level it just gets louder or softer a tube amp on the other hand typically does change tone and feel as you change the volume level and in most cases a solid state app will simply be less expensive than a comparable tube amp another consideration is musical genre certain genres rely more heavily on tube characteristics roots rock alt rock and genres where semi-distorted guitar are common may work better with an appropriate tube amp however for clean jazz tones solid state is often preferable for its more consistent tone at different volumes and its clean amplification characteristics but speaking of clean tones either a tube or solid state amp should be capable of clear sparkling cleans and either can serve very well as a pedal platform high gain may also go either way a player may enjoy the slightly softer touch of a high gain tube amp or may prefer the tighter faster response of a high gain solid state amp as a side note you may see some tube amplifiers that have a tube rectifier and some with a solid state rectifier and some where you can switch between different rectifier types the rectifier with a tube or solid state is part of the power supply in the amp that's the section of the amp that converts what's coming out of the wall outlet into usable voltage for the amp components a solid state rectifier will give a tube amp faster response and may be more desirable for high gain tones while a tube rectifier will generally have a softer some say spongier feel that works well for lower gain tones and certain styles of music so as you can see so much of this comes down to personal preference what tone do you desire what sort of touch or field you want the app to have as a player what volume are you playing at what's your comfort level with fragile tubes and replacing tubes as needed how much does the weight of the amp factor in for you all these are important characteristics tubes versus solid state is a very complex topic one that goes way beyond what we see at the surface those major secondary differences like weight durability and price are fairly objective and easy to vet they either matter to you or they don't but the primary considerations tone and feel are much more subjective and personal only you can make the call on those choosing the best amp for your needs can require soul searching and serious consideration but it's also a lot of fun as well a great resource will be your sweetwater sales engineer your sales engineers experienced a lot of amplifiers of all types and can help you work through the many options on the market give them a call and they'll be happy to discuss all the possibilities with you thanks for joining me today i'm mitch gallagher from sweetwater [Music] thanks for watching be sure to like comment and subscribe click here for more videos like this or start at sweetwater.com for all your music instrument and pro audio needs

Channel: Sweetwater

Views: 271,146

Keywords: Sweetwater, tube amp vs solid state amp, tube vs solid state amp, tube amp vs solid state, solid state amp, tube amp, tube guitar amp, cat:guitar

Id: QoGiW2h68k4

Length: 9min 46sec (586 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 20 2020