The
Great, Tube vs. Solid State, Debate
Everybody wants to sound great. It's
not enough to just sound "good".
"Good" is no longer good enough.
You want the kind of inspiring tone that makes people drop what they're
doing and start making their way towards the stage (or cd player) mumbling
"I've never heard anything like this before".
But how do you get there? Certainly
there is a great deal of high tech, sophisticated equipment to help (or at least
confuse) you in your quest for tone - like
multiple effects processors, midi switching devices, speaker emulation boxes,
etc. But let's set all that aside and take a look at one of the
most important tone-shaping components - your amplifier.
So which is better, tube or solid state amps?
It seems foreign to some that vacuum tube technology from the 1940's
should still be hanging around in the 1990's, especially when you consider that
the American tube manufacturers have long since packed their bags, sold their
equipment and moved on to newer, more profitable ventures.
Of course this is the technological advancement pattern we have always
seen, to build smaller, faster, lighter, cheaper, better(?) products with more
options for less money. When you
translate this to the amplifier market, it means switching from tubes to solid
state, which well-known companies like Fender tried to do as early as 1966.
When you consider what amplifiers were originally intended to do -
produce clean, undistorted tones - the solid state amps work surprisingly well.
The problem is we don't necessarily use amps the way they were originally
intended. We actually
"like" distortion. In
fact, even when we play clean there is still an element of distortion present.
This is where tubes and solid state really start to sound different.
It's important to understand how musical harmonics (overtones) during
distortion can color your tone. These
are broken down into three categories: 1)
the lower odd harmonics (third and fifth) which produce a "muted" or
"covered" sound. 2) the
lower even harmonics (second, fourth and sixth) which produce a
"choral" or singing" sound.
3) the higher order odd harmonics (seventh, ninth and eleventh) which can
produce an "edge" or "bite", too much of which can produced
a raspy, dissonant quality.
Now, here's where it gets interesting.
When solid state amps overload it creates a sharp clipping which produces
a strong third harmonic and an extremely weak second harmonic.
This yields a muted, restricted sound lacking in punch or power.
When pushed further the higher order odd harmonics (edge harmonics) rise
sharply adding unwanted "buzzy" sound characteristics.
Tubes, however, react very differently.
When tubes overload they have a strong second, third, fourth, and fifth
overtones which give a warm, full-bodied sound.
The combination of the slow rising edge harmonics, which produce soft
clipping, and the open harmonic structure form a great, natural sounding
compressor. More simply put, the
odd order harmonic distortion produced by a solid state amp has an artificial,
buzzy sound that lacks punch. The
even order harmonic distortion of a tube amp has a natural, warm, full-sounding
tone.
So in view of what happens, tube amps are best, right?
Well,.................maybe. Now
it comes down to what you describe as great tone. If you want a warm, 3-dimensional, lifelike sound where the
notes seem to breathe, you want tubes. If
you want a raspy, cutting, chainsaw through the brain with the middle sucked out
(middle of the tone curve, not your brain) type of tone, check out the solid
state.
Think of your amp as a way of creating your own electronic voice. When all
is said and done, who do you want to sound more like, Gregg Allman or Axl Rose?
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