Do Solid State Amps sound "scruffy" to you?

**jorgemg1984** · 01-31-2012, 05:35 AM

I think the SS fame also comes a lot from rock / blues guys that like that slightly compressend / crunch / harmonically rich sound that clean all the way SS amps don't give.

I would swear all Hall's recording were made with tube amps. He started gigging with SS but I doubt he records wih them...

**mattymel** · 01-31-2012, 05:57 AM

Originally Posted by jorgemg1984

I would swear all Hall's recording were made with tube amps. He started gigging with SS but I doubt he records wih them...

+1.

I associate all the classic GB recordings with big Fender amps, twins and Supers from what i have heard of his olden setup. i think lately he will use SS but any pre80s footage i see its usually a twin.

**AlsoRan** · 01-31-2012, 09:50 AM

Originally Posted by Meggy

I am kind of interested in what you are hearing that you don't like Also Ran - I wonder if you could name a couple of recordings where the offending scruffyness is happening? I tend to think if you are hearing something you don't like, then that is real for you, whether it bothers anyone else or not. Just intrigued, cheers!

Meggy,

I heard some Jazz CDs a couple of years ago when I first started to collect Jazz Guitar songs from the Masters and found that some sounded muffled to my ears.

I have to relent and say that while I can still hear a little of that in say, Tal Farlow's early stuff, it does not sound nearly as pervasive now as it did then.

I did not think this one through.

Like one of the forum member's stated, I was deluded. Now its got me rethinking some of the other opinions I held as fact.

Take Care.

**AlsoRan** · 01-31-2012, 09:54 AM

Originally Posted by Little Jay

It's ongoing discussion: solid state vs tube (and I like participating

). But it's all about the design and quality of the parts used: a well-designed SS-amp sounds better than a poor designed tube amp I think. I think ss-amps have gotten a bad name because especially in the ss-segment many manufacturers jumped in and cut costs with hasty designs, cheap speakers and underpowered transformers, scrap-wood cabinets and so on.

I have a little MosFet amp (made by Session) that does everyting a tube amp does and it does the weight-thing even a lot better ;-)

Here's some nice reading about tubes vs solid state and amps in general:
http://www.award-session.com/pdfs/GEAR_TALK_1.pdf

Piggybacking on what you said, I went through around $700.00 of SS amps when I first started playing. They were relatively cheap and I got what I paid for.

I have changed my position on SS amps now.

To quote a line in a movie I saw, " I never knew it could be like this!"

**mr. beaumont** · 01-31-2012, 02:18 PM

Hey, you learned something--no need to delete the thread I think--we all make mistakes and false assumptions from time to time, and certainly nothing got ugly here...

**willtheguitardude** · 01-31-2012, 02:30 PM

Hey, I find my Sold State sounds a tiny bit warmer than my Tube. Don't get me wrong, I would never play Solid while there is a Tube around, but it makes a better Jazz tone sometimes... Is that weird?

**Insufferable_Rhythm** · 01-31-2012, 02:44 PM

Generalizations about hollow-state versus solid-state guitar amplifiers are almost never formed through rational thinking and are basically useless.

The amount of variables not controlled for is absolutely staggering.

**Meggy** · 01-31-2012, 05:26 PM

Originally Posted by AlsoRan

Meggy,

I heard some Jazz CDs a couple of years ago when I first started to collect Jazz Guitar songs from the Masters and found that some sounded muffled to my ears.

I have to relent and say that while I can still hear a little of that in say, Tal Farlow's early stuff, it does not sound nearly as pervasive now as it did then.

I did not think this one through.

Like one of the forum member's stated, I was deluded. Now its got me rethinking some of the other opinions I held as fact.

Take Care.

Ah well, you've still started an interesting thread about tone and the relative merits of SS and tube amps - I've always been an SS guy (love my Polytone and Yamaha G50), especially for clean jazz tones, but I do appreciate the tube amp thing - I guess most of the classic jazz guitar albums were tube amps which probably says something.