[This repost is an excerpt from an ebook that I released a few months ago. You can download it here!]
When I was starting to get serious about my guitar tone, I really wished that someone would have written this kind of post. I was clueless about guitar tone. In the previous posts, we discussed how your guitar choice greatly determines your tone. We also listed a guide on how to buy pedals. Although we will talk talk about the details and awesomeness of pedals in the next post, I believe that your amp is extremely important. The guitar is the most important because it is the instrument, but the choice of your guitar amp will basically determine your guitar tone- either good or bad!
Some Differences Between Solid State and Tube Amps
Without writing a huge research paper about the differences, I’m going to briefly explain the major tone differences between the two.
Solid state amps- these amps have no tubes in them. They are not as warm, bright, and sparkly as tube amps. Also, these amps sound more “electronic” or “boxy”. The pros of solid state amps is that they are a lot cheaper! They are also more reliable. You do not have to replace tubes and worry about tubes shattering during transport, but you do suffer on the most important thing- you guitar tone!
Tube amps- these amps have tubes in them for power. The tubes create a warm, bright sound that is only distinct for tube amps. They are a lot louder (in terms of comparing the same wattage) than solid state amps. You can also get them to “break-up”. This simply means that you get have a nice natural amp distortion from the amp without using any pedals.
You need a tube amp!
I really don’t know how else to say this, but you need a tube amp! Many people can make solid state amps sound decent, but it is still not great. The difference between the two is massive!
Ah…look at the tubes from my Fender Blues Jr!
In fact, I will do a gear demo just to show the difference in another post!
When I first started on guitar, I bought a cheap guitar, some cheap pedals, and used a cheap solid state guitar amp that came with my Esteban classical guitar. I got some decent sounds out of it (because I eventually upgraded the guitar and the pedals), but it was still not incredible…or at least where I wanted it to be.
Don’t Let The Price Turn You Away!
Now, tube amps are extremely expensive. They can range from a few hundred on up to thousands of dollars! You don’t have to go after the mega insanely expensive tube amp because you can get some great sounds out of the cheaper ones. For example, I bought a Fender Blues Jr. 15w tube amp. This thing is loud! I currently set it at volume 3 out of 12 at church! These run for $500 new, but I bought it for $299+tax=$347. If you think about it, that is not a bad price for a tube amp that sounds incredible!
I really wished that I would have purchased a tube amp and a nice guitar before I ever started buying pedals. It would have saved me a lot more money and time. Almost every guitarist (99.9%) you see playing in a touring band has a tube amp! Of course, this shouldn’t be the reason you decide to buy one…it should begin to show you that tube amps sound better! Then you can compare yourself and realize that they do sound better!
So…please save up to buy a tube amp! It is really the best option!
PS- I will work on a demo to show the differences between the two amps in a video…then this post will make a lot more sense if you haven’t distinctly heard the two amps.
What amp do you play through? If you have never heard about the differences between tube and solid state amps before this post, what did you learn? Let me know in the comments!
