Trying to keep this about ad copy and possible misrepresentation, my Micro Terror is a tube pre and SS power amp. I have seen them called tube amps (not by the manufacturer), but if I wrote an ad for it, I’d call it a “hybrid” amp.
'All tube' may not mean all tube...
- Thread starter TC 57
- Start date
If an amp has tubes, what is wrong with referring to it as a “tube amp”?
The thread premise is that manufacturers list amps as “all tube” but aren’t. What is that premise based on? I’d love for OP to answer my Q above.
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Oh, you mean the sag. Sure, just put a sag resistor in with the SS diodes. Done that many times.
I love and build tube amps but agree with everything said above. It’s totally subjective. If SS sounds better to your ears then power to you. Tube amps, especially vintage ones are a PITA. Filter caps, carbon resistors, tubes. Personally I don’t care for SS guitar amps. Any effect or gain feature just sounds like a bad MP3 file. Very fatiguing to my old ears. And the whole “single tube” in an otherwise SS amp is complete BS. Just a marketing trick. No one has figured out how to emulate tube distortion.
Classic Vox Tone in a Compact All-tube Amp
From chimey cleans to classic Top-Boost-style crunch, the AC10C1 delivers all-tube tones with legendary Vox panache!
Finally, you can have the sought-after Vox Top Boost tone in an all-tube and affordable combination.
It does say that it has SS reverb, it has a LND150 Mosfet on the input stage as well as the effect loop.
Mind you, this is not the original AC-10 circuit of the 60's. Given a pair of 12AX7's they chose to put them where they make the most sense. The more I look at it the more I am thinking of copying the first stage rather than just using a pair of tubes alone.
Actually you are wrong about someone not figuring out how to emulate tube distortion, a Russian fella did a good job from what I heard. Mind you the circuit never made it into production equipment, might be because it runs at high tube like voltages. With two 12AX7's you can get a decent tube sound.
Kev-wilson
Tele-Meister
I had an AD30VT that worked as you described, I'm no connoisseur but I found it a quite poor sounding amp that did the high gain models better than the cleaner ones, not helped by poor onboard effects and the attenuator dial on the back removes most of what fun there is in the first place.
I read somewhere two guys figured out how to create a nuclear fusion reaction in their kitchen but I’ve never seen it. Being silly to make a point: I’ve never personally experienced a SS gain circuit that sounded like a tube. And I didn’t mean to infer that you can’t get a decent sound from a Marshall Valvestate. The gain circuit just doesn’t sound anything like a JTM45 (100% tube).
wabashslim
Friend of Leo's
That tube was in there purely for marketing. I had a first-gen Valvetronix and it was the most digital-sounding POS ever - worse than the first POD. Poorly designed anti-aliasing filtering that they tried to mask by cutting off the normally life-giving upper mids & sparkle...but that couldn't kill the annoying peakiness of the filters. The tube, while technically in the circuit, did nothing useful except to sell the thing. I tried changing that tube as well as the speaker...some difference but no improvement.
I don't know about the later V-tronix with the metal grill. They might be better.
Fenderdad1950
Friend of Leo's
I figure that it boils down to one's ear preference. Play what sounds best to you, no amount of discussion will change what your ear likes.
bgmacaw
Doctor of Teleocity
It's all in the "crystal lattices"
loopfinding
Poster Extraordinaire
Painstakingly curated. We have the choicest mosfets. Everyone else is skimping.
Yes. Specifically, one triode for the driver, one triode for the PI.
the AC10 C1 (as I own one),AC30 S1, I believe, though not certain, the lower priced Marshalls and Blackstar amps have always made use of tube/SS circuits..I'm sure there's more
OK, The Chinese made AC10 C1 does not have effects loop...the AC30 S1, which is a scaled up version of this, does...Classic Vox Tone in a Compact All-tube Amp
From chimey cleans to classic Top-Boost-style crunch, the AC10C1 delivers all-tube tones with legendary Vox panache!
Finally, you can have the sought-after Vox Top Boost tone in an all-tube and affordable combination.
It does say that it has SS reverb, it has a LND150 Mosfet on the input stage as well as the effect loop.
Mind you, this is not the original AC-10 circuit of the 60's. Given a pair of 12AX7's they chose to put them where they make the most sense. The more I look at it the more I am thinking of copying the first stage rather than just using a pair of tubes alone.
Which of those are marketed as “all tube”?
The Tone King Imperial is superb...as are a few other boutique brands ...but they come at a price
Post #25.
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