Choosing Your First Tube Amplifier

For decades, it's been a general opinion that tube (or valve) amplifiers sound better than solid state amps.

First of all - what is a tube amp? A tube amp is a type of guitar amplifier that operates on valves (or vacuum tubes) instead of transistors. The sound you get from a tube amp is warmer and fuller that what you'd get from a solid state amp.

Valve amplifiers range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars, so the choice is really confusing! If you're reading this article, you've probably decided that it's time that you want to crank your volume past the 10 mark on your current practice amp or the tone just isn't satisfying you anymore.

There are a few things you have to know in order to make your decision. First of all, the type of music that you play, so that you can decide on the amount of gain that your amp needs to have. What is gain? Gain is basically a synonym for distortion. If you play mostly "clean" music (virtually, no amount of distortion), you won't need a lot of gain. If the music you play is blues or rock, you'll need a mild amount of gain, depending on how distorted you want the sound to be. If you play metal, you'll need a high-gain tube amp.

The most notable clean amp of all tube amp history is the Fender Bassman, the holy-grail of clean sounds. Generally, you'll want to look at Fender and Vox. Most tube amps have the amount of gain necessary for blues or rock (Marshalls, the expensive Buddas, the budget Blackhearts). Finally, if we're talking metal, you're going to want to look at Peavey, Mesa Boogie, ENGL.

The second aspect of a tube amp, why many people crave them, is the dynamic. Dynamic is the ability of the tube amp to sound clean when you're hitting the strings softly, and distorted when you're hitting them hard. This allows a great amount of expression. You're going to have to listen to an amp to see if it has this quality.

You'll also have to listen for definition, which is the ability to amplify every single note your play clearly. This is very important, otherwise you'll sound all muddy. The best way to test this is to play some chords, even fewer amps possess this quality.

Lastly, you'll just have to listen if it possesses the basic tonal characteristics that fit you. If the basic sound of the amp is bad, it will sound bad anyway you will adjust the equalizer, amount of gain, anything. It's not uncommon that you find bad tube amps made by prestigious brands. There's no such thing as "not knowing" if it sounds good or not, and although store employees can help you with various information such as amounts of gain, number of tubes, etc. they always want to convince you to buy the products you're trying. If you don't buy it, you can always come back another time and try it again, but if you do, you'll just lack motivation and it will harm your playing. This is important because tube amps aren't as cheap as a practice amp. Always try before you buy!
My name is Andrei Popa, and I've been playing electric guitar for 6 years now. I've bought and sold a lot of gear over the years, filtered all the guitar playing information I've received and have generally been through a lot of trial and error. I maintain a gear reviews website at http://guitar-gear-demos.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrei_Popa

How To Choose A Guitar Amp

Here are some things to keep in your head when you are going out to buy your first guitar amp. There are different amps to suit different styles of guitar music. Blues, jazz and blues based rock are best served by the so-called "vintage" sound. This is the sound of the sixties, brought to the world by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Hendrix and Cream. You can get that authentic sound by getting yourself an effects program that can replicate many of the vintage amp sounds. For playing heavy metal high gain amps are the way to go. These amps give you greater distortion than the vintage amps.

Let's go onto the possibility that sometime in the near future you are going to be a professional or semi-professional guitar player. You will be getting paid to play the guitar on stage. People will enjoy hearing you play at your gigs but don't get the idea that your family will be enjoying listening to your guitar practice. The message here is to get a practice amp or an amp that's small enough to play through without making your family and neighbors mad. Either that or make sure the place you practice is separated by distance or thick walls from the rest of the world. If you must practice in your bedroom, get some headphones.

To use for practice or for small gigs you need a low wattage amp. It's best to go for a good tone so that your relationship with your amp will always be one of mutual respect. Don't let a guy in a guitar store sell you a big bad amp with a boatload of effects. You won't be needing any of that for quite a while, if ever. You will eventually become disenchanted with loudness but a good sound is a joy forever. So get a thirty watt amp and start working on being a serious musician.

The thing that makes the sound of your electric guitar into a nice tone is your pre-amp. You plug your guitar into it and it works on the noise from the strings to give it bass, treble and a number of other qualities that go into a great tone. You will find some pre-amps using MIDI technology to generate your tone. Using this kind of setup you can save your settings and access your preset effects with a pedal. It is best to get yourself a separate effects box. This will give you better quality effects and greater versatility.


Newbie guitar players are flocking to Guitar How-To for the free articles, tutorials and videos on every aspect of guitar playing you can think of. Fast track your guitar expertise now at http://guitar-how-to.com/

I know it's only Rock and Roll, but I like it!

If you are like me the phrase “too many guitars” is not a concept I can understand. I mean the ladies like shoes and hand bags….and most have a similar feeling regarding the numbers involved. So why are we poor put apon men so hassled about our guitar gear?

I have a modest collection with a standard Fender Telecaster, a Keith Richards type Fender Telecaster with a Seymour Duncan Jazz humbucker on the neck and a Texas Special on the bridge, three Fender Stratocasters, a deluxe, a red USA Standard with Texas Specials and a Frankenstrat with a Warmoth swamp ash body and Hot Alnico Fender pickups and a Wilkinsons bridge….after that a Epiphone 335 with Seymour Duncan humbuckers last but not least a Tokai Les Paul (Japan) and again with a set of Seymours! Nearly forgot the Ovation acoustic!

To compliment a Marshall TSL602, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Blind Dog, and a Laney LC15 tube amps. With effects from Boss, Nady, Electro Harmonix, pedals modified with Monte Allums kits, a TC distortion, a VOX Big Ben, a modified RAT, Dunlop Wah, etc.….. plus two boards, one with two channels switching.

No that’s modest when a friend has 17, OK a lot are FrankenStrats and Teles…but still reasonable. What would I buy if I could, maybe a Suhr or an Anderson. Possible ENGL or a 57 reissue Fender twin..or even a Cornforth. Part of the fun would be looking and trying and deciding.

The biggest regret was selling my Fender 59 Bassman, without dought the best clean sound I’ve ever heard. The trouble was the clean was so good when played through pedals…good but suffered compared to the clean sound.

I’m currently trying to get back in to a band…..just got to join one who’s standards are low enough. I enjoy playing…..isn’t that why we do it.

We are not expecting to be playing at Glastonbury next year….a pub would be just fine!

Source GMP