Solid State and Digital Technology Progression

[Asphalt Cowboy]

It's pretty apparent that low wattage tube amps are the cool thing right now because the advancements of PA quality have made low stage volume ideal, and digital effects are sounding better and better, and even solid state amps are getting there. Won't it be great when the day comes where a single multi-effects pedal and a light weight solid state amp can sound as good as a heavy boutique tube head and a dozen boutique pedals?

Do you guys think it'll happen any time soon? Within 5 years? 10 years? Never?

I've been hauling around heavy tube amps and a massive board for a while now, and convenience has been on my mind lately.

[blues bondsman]

SS still has a long way to go to give us the
Rich harmonics of the simplest tube circuit

[Tonemonkey]

Some say that time has come, or at least its close enough to save the effort of carrying a lump of real amp around ......... I ain't one of them though. They'll be at this thread soon enough though.

[Randypttt]

Originally Posted by Tonemonkey

Some say that time has come, or at least its close enough to save the effort of carrying a lump of real amp around ......... I ain't one of them though. They'll be at this thread soon enough though.

Got that right. The Mustang users are legion now and will let you know in a big way.
I actually own one but it hasn't been the boon to great tone that I thought it would be.
I'm not that concerned with great tone cuz I just play and record in my basement and I like what I do.
To each his own.

[AJBaker]

I've taken to using bass amps just because they've gotten so light and LOUD! A sansamp used correctly get's me more than close enough to feeling like playing a tube amp.

I like tube amps, but for the kind of work I do they just aren't practical.

[Justinvs]

I would love to see how many songs are being recorded today without any amplifiers at all, using only high end modeling effects straight to the board. My guess it's already fairly high.

FWIW - and please take this with a huge grain of salt because I'm not much of a guitar player - but the best tone I ever had in my life was with a Digitech RP50 pedal through an old Peavey Deuce. And now I can't even remember which preset I was using!

[Warm Gums]

Originally Posted by Justinvs

I would love to see how many songs are being recorded today without any amplifiers at all, using only high end modeling effects straight to the board. My guess it's already fairly high.

FWIW - and please take this with a huge grain of salt because I'm not much of a guitar player - but the best tone I ever had in my life was with a Digitech RP50 pedal through an old Peavey Deuce. And now I can't even remember which preset I was using!

I know that John Mc Laughlin uses a laptop based rig, both live and on record and Pete Anderson claims to have stopped using amps at least 3/4 years ago.
Oddly I like amps for recording, live ,eh most people aren't paying that kind of attention at the places I play..I could probably use i rig thru a small pa with no problem.

We are probably at the point now where things are how they are so to speak.
You can do anything from setting up multiple tube stacks ala Hendrix to pluging in your phone, baring the total shut down of tube production, or the enaction of draconian noise regulation, that should be the situation for the foreseeable future.

BTW one of the best country tones I ever heard was a Tele thru a 70s PV pa head with a RP 50 set on country clean, a great player in a small town bar working as a duo with a guy on snare drum...

[StephaninMelb]

In the pro bassists world solid-state amps are pretty much defacto standard except for a few muscle men lugging around old Ampeg SVT & Mesa 400+ amps. People are using amps like light weight TC Electronics RH750 (750W @ 8 lbs) or higher end bass amps like my Swedish EBS Fafner II amps.

[Joe-Bob]

Solid State technology has indeed progressed, but you have to remember that it won't ever get to tube sound.

Why?

Because nobody is even working on it.

The guitar amp market is so small that none of the component or chip designers are designing and producing new technology specifically for us. None.

The amp designers have to use what's there and what's available, and then compromise and adapt it to do some of what they want.

Now maybe if amps had iphones in them.....

[jammers5]

Ever hear of an amp called Retro Channel?

J5

[Open G Tele]

Solid state modeling has reached a point where even the educated listener can't tell for sure.
95% of the population aren't educated listeners.
Tell me again why I need a heavy, fragile, inconsistent tube amp?

[jh45gun]

SS amps sound good and I have used them in the past plus I like RP modeling pedals but I prefer tube amps over SS and yes I have and use both. I have a Teal Stripe Bandit and a Vox DA 5. They have their uses but I gig with a PA 100 when I do play out. My MMB would be back up through the PA if needed or small jams. My Bandit I keep as it is paid for and dependable. The Vox for camp fire playing.

[jipp]

i have a good set head phones and i can say the tones im getting with aplitudes software s pretty dang amazing. im a noob so granted i do not know any better.. i also bought this recording program called acoustica by mix craft paid 50.00 on sale. im learning how to use it. but out of all the recording software i looked at it.. it was the cheapest, and was the simplest to learn.. and youtube had a ton of video how too use it. my whole idea for learning how to record so i could sorta gauge my self since i do not know anyone else who plays who i could learn from so im sorta just learning on my own winging it which means it will take 20 years longer than it should to learn to play a simple song or two that someone may recognize.. im the king noodler.. but, hets its a sit down hobbie this crippled can do. i highly recommend this software:http://www.acoustica.com/mixcraft/ also, if you lose your serial and what not just email them they will give you the needed info.. no problems what so ever.

[andrenighthound]

I'm really a fan of the lunchbox for stage and recording and the pignose amp for dirty tones. The pignose to me sounds like a 5 watt tube amp cranked.

[jipp]

Originally Posted by andrenighthound

I'm really a fan of the lunchbox for stage and recording and the pignose amp for dirty tones. The pignose to me sounds like a 5 watt tube amp cranked.

i think the pignose amp sounds great with single coils.. i did not like the tones i got with humbuckers... cool amp tho, and everyone needs a pignose, and a roland micro cube.. they both run for so long on 6 double a battery's its crazy/
chris/

[songofthewind]

Check out the Kemper KPA on YouTube. You play a tube amp into it, it analyses the sound VERY thoroughly, and then reproduces that. It's not a toy!

[Carvalho Diablo]

Originally Posted by jammers5

Ever hear of an amp called Retro Channel?

J5

Got one. Love it.

Incredibly lightweight and it has all the tones in it that I need.

It's replaced my Marshall TSL100 as my gigging head, and now I'm looking to shift my 1960B cab for a lightweight 2 x 12.

I also used a solid state Marshall Valvestate 8100 head for many years and I can tell you this - I was shocked by just how much improved and more "authentic" the Retro Channel is over that old SS technology.

That said, my daily amp is my RAT modded Blackheart Little Giant. All valve, all warmth and I love that thing too.

[Durtdog]

I have a couple of small ss amps that I like, but I've yet to find ANY modeling technology that I can live with.

I can't believe how lazy guitar players are. There are plenty of small, light tube amps available today if you want them, but it's too much trouble because they weigh 3 pounds more that a POD? And you might have to take an extra 12 seconds to hook up a pedal?

[popthree]

modeling and solid state shouldn't be clumped together like they are one in the same.

[Ed P]

Originally Posted by popthree

modeling and solid state shouldn't be clumped together like they are one in the same.

Yep.