What's the thing with tube amps and why do people like it?

[AlexL]

Play a tube amp at loud volumes in a band setting, and you will know. The amp becomes an instrument in and of itself. There's nothing like it. For me, it goes beyond tone, and it becomes an actual experience.

It does depend on how you use the amp as to whether tubes are right for you. For the bedroom player, or low-volume applications, a modeler may actually be the best choice. But if your environment will allow the higher volumes required to get the best out of a tube amp... oh, baby!

- E.

[Chief_CrazyTalk]

I love the sound and as importantly, the feel of a good tube amp.

[warlok]

I forgot to mention, I do have a Pod 2.0 setup through my PC for quick recordings and headphone playing. But more than anything, I can get an idea of the sounds of different amps from the modeling and settings on customtone. I still have my Crate GX900 Excalibur head that I'm gonna grab a 2x12 for and use the POD's A.I.R. output because the clean on the Crate is outstanding quiet or loud. So I'm definitely not set on tubes either.

[jdr94]

Chuck musta played the valvestate on scream bloody gore, leprosy, and spiritual healing. maybe individual thought patterns, but it cant be on human is it?
why tube amps...if a ss amp craps out. throw it away, buy another and so on.
tube amps can usually be repaired.

ss amp next to a tube amp is like a verizon commercial.....can you hear me now?

the only thing i like ss amps for is bedroom quiet jammin. you can run some processor thru it and it sounds great. turn it up and it thins out beyond recognition. at least thats how i feel

[MartinBarre]

Chuck musta played the valvestate on scream bloody gore, leprosy, and spiritual healing. maybe individual thought patterns, but it cant be on human is it?

As far as I understand it he used them on the later albums, not the early ones. I don't know when he started using them, I only found this out the other day!
Apparently he wanted a sound something like Dimebag's, and valve amps were making things too mushy for him, so the Valvestate gave him exactly what he was looking for.

[MartinBarre]

odd to see that a Death fan would have the name MartinBarre.

Then again, maybe not.

Both bands have/had amazing songs and musicians, especially the guitar players. What's not to love about Tull and Death?!

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

Play a tube amp at loud volumes in a band setting, and you will know. The amp becomes an instrument in and of itself. There's nothing like it. For me, it goes beyond tone, and it becomes an actual experience.

It does depend on how you use the amp as to whether tubes are right for you. For the bedroom player, or low-volume applications, a modeler may actually be the best choice. But if your environment will allow the higher volumes required to get the best out of a tube amp... oh, baby!

- E.

+1 on all of that. I use a little Korg thing for practice through headphones and it sounds fine for practice.

Back when I was a kid, I had a 2x12" Crate and it would get loud as hell, plenty loud enough to keep up with a drummer, but man, when you get a good tube amp up to the same kind of volume... The way it reacts in terms of sustain and feedback just blows away a solid state amp.

[MetalMedal II]

As far as I understand it he used them on the later albums, not the early ones. I don't know when he started using them, I only found this out the other day!
Apparently he wanted a sound something like Dimebag's, and valve amps were making things too mushy for him, so the Valvestate gave him exactly what he was looking for.

I remember in an interview Chuck mentioned using Peaveys in the early days. Mind you, this was waaayyy before the 5150 and other hi-gain amps were available. I can't remember the model but it wasn't a high end one...don't think Peavey had a high end amp back then!

[MetalMedal II]

Back when I was a kid, I had a 2x12" Crate and it would get loud as hell, plenty loud enough to keep up with a drummer, but man, when you get a good tube amp up to the same kind of volume... The way it reacts in terms of sustain and feedback just blows away a solid state amp.

My first real amp was a 2x12 80 watt rms Crate with Celestions. It was pretty good distortion for a SS and kept up well with my friend in the early days....but man, he started to really hit the skin hard. I actually split the effects output and sent the distorted signal to a Sunn 100 watt amp from the 70s with the matching 6x12 cab and got great results with both amps together.

Years later, the Crate circuitry died and I removed the innards and use it as a stand alone cab at my friends. Still have the Sunn, that thing won’t die!

[MartinBarre]

I remember in an interview Chuck mentioned using Peaveys in the early days. Mind you, this was waaayyy before the 5150 and other hi-gain amps were available. I can't remember the model but it wasn't a high end one...don't think Peavey had a high end amp back then!

"Well, I really have a simple set up. I've been playing the B.C.Rich Stealth for years now. I have three of them, one is a custom black one that is my main stage guitar, one is an emerald green that is really beautiful, and an old one that I recently stripped down. They all have a fixed bridge and one Dimarzio X2N pickup which is a key to my sound. My amp is a Marshall Valvestate head and cabinet, that's about it. I don't use effects except for a little chorus on my leads, I really like a basic setup."

From http://www.emptywords.org/Pit06-99.htm

And:
"Our producer, Scott Burns, recommended the new Marshall ValveState, so I tried it and thought it sounded phenomenal --especially with a little chorus. Now I use the Marshall all the time, a B.C. Rich Custom guitar, and only a few extra effects."

From http://www.emptywords.org/GuitarSchool09-1993.htm

[MetalMedal II]

"Well, I really have a simple set up. I've been playing the B.C.Rich Stealth for years now. I have three of them, one is a custom black one that is my main stage guitar, one is an emerald green that is really beautiful, and an old one that I recently stripped down. They all have a fixed bridge and one Dimarzio X2N pickup which is a key to my sound. My amp is a Marshall Valvestate head and cabinet, that's about it. I don't use effects except for a little chorus on my leads, I really like a basic setup."

From http://www.emptywords.org/Pit06-99.htm

And:
"Our producer, Scott Burns, recommended the new Marshall ValveState, so I tried it and thought it sounded phenomenal --especially with a little chorus. Now I use the Marshall all the time, a B.C. Rich Custom guitar, and only a few extra effects."

From http://www.emptywords.org/GuitarSchool09-1993.htm

For a sec, I missed the quote marks and thought this was your rig, and was thinking, hey that sounds like Chuck's! Yeah, that sounds right. I do remember him mentioning Peaveys in his early career, but likely this is from Scream bloody gore era, which predated the valvestate series, IIRC.

[Grim]

Chuck musta played the valvestate on scream bloody gore, leprosy, and spiritual healing. maybe individual thought patterns, but it cant be on human is it?
why tube amps...if a ss amp craps out. throw it away, buy another and so on.
tube amps can usually be repaired.

ss amp next to a tube amp is like a verizon commercial.....can you hear me now?

the only thing i like ss amps for is bedroom quiet jammin. you can run some processor thru it and it sounds great. turn it up and it thins out beyond recognition. at least thats how i feel

Chuck played Randalls until the last album (Sound of Perseverance), on which he used the Valvestates.

[MartinBarre]

Chuck played Randalls until the last album (Sound of Perseverance), on which he used the Valvestates.

The second interview I quoted from there is from the making of Individual Thought Patterns, 1993.

" I originally wanted to record Individual Thought Patterns with all rack equipment. I had an ADA MP-1, but when we tried to get guitar tones, I couldn't find anything I liked. Our producer, Scott Burns, recommended the new Marshall ValveState, so I tried it and thought it sounded phenomenal"

[toejam]

Chuck musta played the valvestate on scream bloody gore, leprosy, and spiritual healing. maybe individual thought patterns, but it cant be on human is it?

It would have been impossible for him to play Valvestates (or anyone else for that matter) back then. The Valvestate series didn't come along until 1992. It was on Individual Thought Patterns, as that album came out in 1993.

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I really wanted to hate the Valvestates back then, but they didn't sound bad at all.