Valve guitar amplifiers are tone beasts
May 4th, 2010
To generate guitar amplification back in the ’50’s and ’60’s, guitar amps used valves (most often referred to as tubes) to produce the power they needed.
These tubes are what you used to see in old gramophones from the 1950 through to late 1960 era, before transistors were developed which then lead to solid state circuitry being used in amplifiers in order to generate amplification.
Solid state circuitry is now very common in most guitar amps you find on the market today.
The reason why is because solid state is cheap to manufacture, and for beginner musicians it enables them to start with a guitar amplifier that won’t break the bank.
These consumer type entry level guitar amplifiers do have a disadvantage though in that the sound they deliver can be thin and a little concocted – even though you get a lot of wizardry thrown in such as crazy effects and distortions.
With a solid state amplifier the sound is of course manufactured, and following on from this there has been a subsequent movement back to searching for warmer tones and fatter analog sound that you can only get from tube based amps.
All guitarists worth their salt will at one time or another attempt to find and develop their own sound, their own tone so to speak and most will head down this track by seeking out and acquiring a tube based amp.
A great starting point for a tube guitar amplifier is the Vox ac15 amp. It is a compact, single speaker 15 watt tube amplifier, easy to move around and with enough grunt to make yourself heard with the other members of the band.As a soloist jazz or blues player this Vox ac15 is excellent for small gigs such as cafe’s or restaurants. Don’t be confused by the 15 watts either, this is equal to more like a 40-50 watt solid state amplifier.
Most tube amplifiers you should have cranked up to near 60-75% of their capacity as this is normally there most efficient range where they produce the warmest tones.
Moving up in performance you can try the Vox ac30 custom classic, with 30 watts of tube grunt. Little has changed in the format of these amplifiers since when they first accompanied the British invasion of the ’60’s.
The ac30 is in effect a re-release from 45 something years ago which reinforces the saying that old guitarists give out before their amps do.
Next on the lineup is the Orange Rockerverb 50, in effect a head and cabinet unit squeezed into a tube combo amp with heaps of power yet still light enough to move it around single handedly.
A huge number of famous musicians such as Madonna and Prince, use these tube amplifiers in their bands. Being flexible enough to be used both on stage or in the studio, this amp suits Blues, Rock, Rock’n’roll and pop music enabling you to develop your own tone and style.
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