Solid State Power Amp w/ Tube Preamp?

[Bachelard]

Interesting thread. I'm quibbling over the same thing - also have a Peavey Rockmaster, which is great. Currently running through a Valvestate combo. Would the sound be much improved going through a Marshall 8008 power amp? What if I went through a tube head, such as a Peavey Windsor. Which of these is the best option? Thanks.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I still think tube amps FEEL better, but you can get a great tone from a Solid State amp.

[6string40]

Interesting thread. I'm quibbling over the same thing - also have a Peavey Rockmaster, which is great. Currently running through a Valvestate combo. Would the sound be much improved going through a Marshall 8008 power amp? What if I went through a tube head, such as a Peavey Windsor. Which of these is the best option? Thanks.

Others may disagree, but I think you would get a better tone and better feel if you used any sort of tube power section...whether it be in a rack unit or head. I posed the question about ss power just to see how others who have used it viewed the sound. I'm still a tube guy, so I don't know whether I'd ever go back to the ss thing again.

[Racerx2k]

Interesting thread. I'm quibbling over the same thing - also have a Peavey Rockmaster, which is great. Currently running through a Valvestate combo. Would the sound be much improved going through a Marshall 8008 power amp? What if I went through a tube head, such as a Peavey Windsor. Which of these is the best option? Thanks.

Well, while I liked my Rockmaster/ADA setup, I had a friend that ran a Rockmaster, too, but into a Marshall tube power amp, and I happen to think his sound was better than mine. the best sound, of course, was the gig we shared, and we stacked my rack on his and ran our pairs of 4x12 cabs in an x fashion, onstage. We each hit an E chord and stood there, with jaws open at the sound. Ah, golden times.............Of course, he went on to get signed and I'm still hacking away behind this keyboard.........DAMMIT!

[lerxstcat]

I have a Rockmaster preamp as well, and an Alesis RA100 into 2 Carvin vertical slant 212s as a practivce or backup rig. It is not really that loud though, it was fine for jamming with my buddy with the TD-20 kit because he could control his drums' volume and keep the volume pretty low. That actually sounded really good, the Rockmaster out into the Intellifex and into the Alesis. I would probably want an RA300 for gig volume.

I also run my Triumph PAG which is a 60-watt 112 combo with basically the same preamp as the Rockmaster, except it only has one effects loop. It will drive either one of the 212 verticals for a compact rig, or both if I unplug the internal speaker and run both cabs. So it's very similar but a lot more organic with the 2 6L6s of the combo. And of course 60 tube watts are a lot louder than 100x2 SS watts.

I know I'm wandering off the subject, but I also use my Carvin VM100 head with the 2 Carvin 212 slants, or with my Carvin X-Series straight 412. Since my stroke I got the 212s because I can't wrangle the 412 by myself anymore with a numb left side. The 212s with a handtruck are easier to deal with.