Future of Tube Amps

As a hobbyist amp builder myself I will always love a proper tube amp . Real power tube distortion. The smell of a hot machine that makes great noise.
Having said that - perhaps Nutube's time has come and we will still have the same bliss in a new format. Sounds better than digital that's for sure

0.02
Markus

I have to say that my modellers (had a Helix and now two AmpliFire products) sound damn good and the only thing holding them back is my playing. With modellers, once they are dialled in, you’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference these days. You can see it in the Captain and Chappers video where they can't tell the tubes from the Kemper. I love my Marshall Mini Jubilee, but I also like the different sounds I can get from my AmpliFire and my XiTone cab. It’s great to have options.

It's really hard to tell much with so many uncontrolled variables. You gotta be able to switch preamp sections only to get any real idea. I realise how not easy that would be to do; you'd probably have to build something special.

That said, it seems to have promise; it's not bad. It sounds much less fat/muddy (in some demonstrated licks this was better and others worse), but it is hard to say how much of that is due to those other factors (and tone settings).

Hmm, something to think about--but no matter what they come up with--some will be tubes or die!

I tend to look at this from a long term point of view. There has been no real innovation with tubes in what, 50+ years? Will those 60-70 year old dirty tube factories without automation still be around 30 year from now? R&D in these NuTube and similar technologies has got to start, especially in new power tube technology. Not that I will likely be around in 30 years, but hey...

I didnt watch the vid but my take on the modeller vs amp thing is yes you can get them to sound very close, though the modeller I find hides a lot. A clean or dirty tube amp plugged straight in with no effects forces you to play better, very honest sound with nothing to hide behind. The modeller hides a lot, even without effects. When im not playing great at least I can plug into the modeller (11 rack) and sound awesome. The other thing with modellers is they also get distort easier and more so than the amp its supposed to emulate. Higher end modellers may be more representative. I like the 11 rack but it will never replace the jcm800.

I haven't heard a modeller/solid state amp that raises the hair on the back of my neck like a tube amp. Until that happens they're just toys.

BSTheTech said:

I haven't heard a modeller/solid state amp that raises the hair on the back of my neck like a tube amp. Until that happens they're just toys.

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I'm sure we have different taste in music, but my brother has sent me demos using just his POD, amplifire or helix that make me go "how'd you do that". And that's using sub-$500 guitars with stock everything, kid just knows tones.

I'm curious to see what happens to the guitar world once the people born between 1940-1970 aren't here anymore. They are the ones who still have a big pull on the market, and once the '90's kids are 65 what will we see? I'm wondering what companies are out there playing the long game.

I don't want to get anyone charged up so I'm leaving out something that was pointed out following an interview with pedal makers.

I'll be dead.

There are lots of hairdryers, not many tubes.

Budda said:

I'm curious to see what happens to the guitar world once the people born between 1940-1970 aren't here anymore. They are the ones who still have a big pull on the market, and once the '90's kids are 65 what will we see? I'm wondering what companies are out there playing the long game.

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I suspect there will be a glut of cheap instruments dumped on the market via estate sales that eventually get binned (collector cars and other collectables too). Millennials are showing they have little interest in "things". Clothes on their back and a couple I-devices and they're cool. The long game doesn't look good.

I think that 99.99999 % of all folks in a real blind test would not be able to tell a tube amp from a solid state..
So whats the big deal with this new thing.
G.

GT MAKER
I agree- especially with pedals in front

That said,
I think there is the mystique of tubes, the fact that you can tweak sound with different preamp and power amp tubes and then also - and importantly- the way a good tube amp responds to the player. The symbiosis between attack, guitar and amp response.
So I think we love these things because we feel we have control over something. The same way as I could personally top to bottom service and tweak my 1973 Datsun

My humble opinion as an enthusiastic but mediocre player

Markus

Recording I can't tell the difference between tube and modelling.

Live in a room with a drummer, bass player, second guitarist rocking out, I can tell. Tube punches though. Anything else is washed out.

If they can solve that problem count me in as I love the versatility of modelling.

Guncho said:

Live in a room with a drummer, bass player, second guitarist rocking out, I can tell. Tube punches though. Anything else is washed out.

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And yet artists like B.B. King, Ronnie Montrose, and others managed to play live with solid state amps.

I love my gear as much as the next guy, but I will always be a "what-is-the-artist-trying-to-say" kind of guy.

Was it tube? Solid state? Digital? Who cares?

Was it Fender? Gibson? Fury? Secondary.

Made in Canada? USA? Asia? Geography, not music.

I have some of it all, and it's all useful. And fun. What prejudices I do have are based on nostalgia more than anything else. So if I hafta choose: Tubes, analog, heavy, messy.

Just sayin'.

GTmaker said:

I think that 99.99999 % of all folks in a real blind test would not be able to tell a tube amp from a solid state..
So whats the big deal with this new thing.
G.

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AC/DC recorded a couple of songs on their Black Ice album using recording software. I would challenge anyone to figure out which songs were recorded that way without using the internet to look it up.

Guncho said:

Recording I can't tell the difference between tube and modelling.

Live in a room with a drummer, bass player, second guitarist rocking out, I can tell. Tube punches though. Anything else is washed out.

If they can solve that problem count me in as I love the versatility of modelling.

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Try telling that to John Fogerty and CCR.

Budda said:

I'm curious to see what happens to the guitar world once the people born between 1940-1970 aren't here anymore. They are the ones who still have a big pull on the market, and once the '90's kids are 65 what will we see? I'm wondering what companies are out there playing the long game.

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Good point, I think. Fretted instruments will never go away. Keyed instruments will never go away. Wind instruments will never go away. Percussion will never go away.

Amplification. Ditto. In all its forms? Well, the history of musical instruments suggests that what sounds good today, sounds good tomorrow...

One guy wants modelling on an iPad, another guy wants a Stradivarius.

One guy wants a Tesla, another guy wants a Model T.

I have discarded many items that I thought had seen their day, that are now desirable again. Check the current price of a Roland TB-303 bass sequencer. Lol. Sorry I dropped that mofo for nothing!