I thought I would try and make sense of why do we like the sound of valve versus solid state amps. ” Solid state” is the name that was banded about in the 1960’s to sell the new transistorised technology. I am old enough to remember this new technology coming on the market. We were told that it was more reliable, much better sound quality, lower distortion, lower noise. This sold us all on solid-state”?
So why are valve ( tube ) amps still around and in fact why is there a real growing market for “re-makes” and ” re-inventions” of the classic amps of a bygone age?
There are a bucket load of companies around the world making “boutique” amps which all have their own exciting twist on many of the old favourite designs. I was amazed at the huge range out there . Click here for a list of amps to give you the taste of what you can buy.
It appears to me there is a few things going on here. There is the element of valves sound better with a guitar…..more on this later.
In spite of CD’s then MP3, Ipod etc appearing on the market, the LP, ( the Long Player vinyl record) is making a big come back here in the UK. So much so , that a vinyl record chart has been re-instated after being consigned to the bin a decade or more ago. Sales growth of LP’s is huge !
So why are folks buying LP’s again. It gets scratched, CD’s have much better sound quality we are told.
Two things are going on here. The first is that LP’s are not compressed sound. They are reproductions of the ORIGINAL sound. To get all that data into an MP3 file or a CD the compression actually is not lossless. Some stuff is lost! So we can say that an LP is a better more accurate presentation of the orginal sound. It sounds better is said a lot !
The other part of this revival is that the experience of listening to an LP is better. Why?
The anticipation of reading the album cover, then removing the album from the cover and then placing it carefully on the turntable and then placing the stylus arm on the record is a nice experience and there is the anticipation of hearing music you love . All of that is missing with an Ipod although a lot more portable !!
Now back to amps. Valves do add more distortion but it is “nice ” distortion” . The distortion is mostly odd harmonics of the original notes and this makes sounds warmer to the human ear. It rounds out the sound.
On the other hand, a solid state amp has very low distortion so an electric guitar sounds to me ” brittle” and cold. Not the warm notes of the valve amplifier. Acoustic guitars may actually benefit from a solid state amp but in my view the electric guitar wins hands down through a valve amp.
I think also there is the experience element of using a valve amp. There is the warm up time. There is also the history element of a great sounding amp design. Hand wired, built as in the old days amps, lets you experience the original amps but with the added reliability of new components. The new generation of boutique amps offer the user to have effectively a Marshall Bluesbreaker / VOx AC30 / Fender Deluxe Reverb all in one amplifier . This is real added value and these amps are just examples there are many variants out there.
Remember hand wired and the care taken in making small quantities of boutique amps does mean big prices. Remember the guys who are lovingly designing and making these amps need to eat and buy clothes too.
There is always the option of buying the orginal vintage amp. If you don’t have the experience to work on the electronics of these old amps, it is probably better to buy ” boutique” or a re-issue amp. Old valve amps are a bit like having an old vintage car. They are great fun but they inevitably need running repairs and if you don’t do it yourself, it can become mighty expensive !!
The only real downside of valve amps is that valves do wear out much faster than “transistors”. The god news is that they are easy to replace as they are plugged into sockets. Most amp manufacturers recommend changing them evey couple of years or so. Like light bulbs they do suddenly fail so always worth having some spares so you never let down. ( this is why we sell valves !)
Another inevitable thing is that we all get older. Our hearing actually starts to change from about the age of nine and it only gets worse ! The frequency response of our ears gets poorer as we get older . Men and women are not equal in this repsect. Men’s hearing gets worse and faster than women.
Our ears don’t have a flat response to frequency and we are all different . Our brains do have their own personal perception of sound so there is no right or wrong. My own conclusion is that for electric guitars valve ( tube ) amps sound wonderful. Now where did I put my hearing aid………..
Valve versus solid state amps
