Tube Amps and Noise

**kris** · 06-15-2012, 05:06 PM

Transistor amp are more quiet them tubes amps during recording.
really?

**Gabe** · 06-15-2012, 05:17 PM

I've always found tube amps to have more rattles and hum, but I kind of like that, makes it feel more natural I guess. I do however appreciate how quiet ss amps are when I'm practicing though.

**hans halmackenreuter** · 06-15-2012, 05:33 PM

it somehow it depends on quality, since a roland jc can be very noisy if you ask me.

**50Hz** · 06-15-2012, 05:46 PM

yeah, i have a yamaha g50 that is pretty noisy...but i find my twin ri to be as well...

**henryrobinett** · 06-15-2012, 05:49 PM

It depends on what you want. Tubes amps are always the guitar geek gods amps. But I got tired of chasing down the noise, tube rattle, hums, changing them out. For most jazz I think it's less crucial than what some of the rock demigod wannabes seek. It's not impossible to get that classic fat warm, low end, clean tone jazz cats like on SS.

But yeah, a Roland JC 120s is pretty noisy.

**mr. beaumont** · 06-15-2012, 06:02 PM

I dunno, I've heard quiet tube amps and hissy ss amps and vice versa.

my mid 70's princeton is very quiet.

**henryrobinett** · 06-15-2012, 06:14 PM

True, true! Most all of my tube amps have been quiet. But after a while they start breaking down. At least mine have. Tubes need replacing, shift. They start those little harmonic explosions.

**jorgemg1984** · 06-15-2012, 06:36 PM

On SS amps sometimes the noise comes from the reverb tank being too close to the transformer; had that issue on two amps of mine in the past.

**SamBooka** · 06-15-2012, 08:27 PM

No correlation at all
All depends on the design

**Keira Witherkay** · 06-16-2012, 02:02 AM

Also i have a 15 w handwired tube amp i use for studio sessions , very slight noise but no sound engineer has complained and just mic's it up, however i recently tried a 22w fender amp and it was considerably noisier , and we compared them side by side , so yes i'll say solid state is in general quieter but even though i own 3 solid state amps i love for other reasons to my ear i find the tube amps overall warmth and lets call it more organic softer bass end sounds better tonally to me , and one really hears it when tube and ss amps are played side by side
so as someone said before , there are both noisy ss and tube amps and dsesign matters , also i think a lower wattage tube amp may be quiter in studio as i found with the 15 w and 22w test i did ,

but hey find your sound and i agree sometimes that little ambient noise can be musical , noit talking buzz's and rattles tho

**Retroman1969** · 06-16-2012, 05:44 AM

Originally Posted by Keira Witherkay

to my ear i find the tube amps overall warmth and lets call it more organic softer bass end sounds better tonally to me , and one really hears it when tube and ss amps are played side by side

+1

My tube amp is almost dead quiet and it's just a vanilla 15w Fender and the wiring in my house is nearly 70 years old with the two prong plugs... And I use flouescent bulbs in most of the light fixtures.
Under those conditions it should roar like a B-29 but it doesn't.

**jorgemg1984** · 06-16-2012, 07:07 AM

"lets call it more organic softer bass" would this be due to tubes vs solid state or due to circuit design? Or even to speaker / cabinet design? I always find hard to compare tube and solid state clean sounds because a lot of times they are designed (voiced) to sound different and hence sound different; and a lot of the times they have quite different cabinet / speaker configurations which are essential to sound. I agree solid state amps in general sound a little colder and lack harmonics tube amps evidence but I usually attribute characteristics of bass, mids and treble more to circuit / speaker / cab design.

**teamster** · 06-16-2012, 10:16 AM

I've got the same old time wiring as retroman and live near a
high voltage tower so my amps are a bit active. But a Carr Vincent amp
came over for a visit---Totally quiet---what a great amp. Pricey though.

**rschwa9966** · 06-16-2012, 10:28 AM

I thought a lot of my amp noise was a function of my apartment's wiring. I've experienced this kind of amp noise in music stores as well on select days (when one amp had the noise, all amps had it).

**docbop** · 06-16-2012, 10:47 AM

To me tube amps and noise go hand in hand. In my playing day we typically had two amps one for live and a second for studio work. The studio amp besides being smaller a Princeton Reverb in my case also was selected not only for being quiet, but the cabinet and everything in it tight and rattle free. I was a recording engineer for a couple years and guys would bring their fave amp in to record with and we have to ask them for something else, they didn't realize all the rattles from handles, bad cabinets, microphonic tubes, hiss and other noise their fave amp had until a microphone is stuck in front of it.

Now live amps overall sound was and structurally solid was key, low-noise was normal push your running the amp harder.

All gear gets noisy over time parts as part wear out and its replace the parts or replace the amp. Or that now noisy studio amp become a gig amp.

I'm getting older and now understand why a lot of the old jazz legends would say.... if an amp works, it's a good amp. Dial in a sound you like and play.

**b_goat** · 06-16-2012, 01:22 PM

Originally Posted by docbop

...a lot of the old jazz legends would say.... if an amp works, it's a good amp. Dial in a sound you like and play.

I agree with this. And I haven't found one amp that will do it all.

My recent experiences:

My noisy Deluxe Reverb sounds noisy but great with certain guitars.

The Carr Rambler I own is overall very quiet for a tube amp, and works great with archtops or solid bodies.

I had a Hot Rod Deville that was quieter than the Deluxe Reverb.

My Schertler David (solid state) is dead quiet but best for acoustic guitars and archtops w/floaters.

b_goat

**jorgemg1984** · 06-16-2012, 01:29 PM

Originally Posted by docbop

I'm getting older and now understand why a lot of the old jazz legends would say.... if an amp works, it's a good amp. Dial in a sound you like and play.

Funny enough "sound" has been one of the areas where jazz guitar evolved a lot. To me most "new legends" have a much better sound than "old legends" (probably because they care about it)

**marcwhy** · 06-16-2012, 01:51 PM

I really don't understand the original premise of this post ... did someone "famous" make this claim, or is it an attempt to start (again!) a "tube vs. SS" debate?

A well-built amp (and even some cheap ones!) will have little to no noise.

Is there another question?

**henryrobinett** · 06-16-2012, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by b_goat

I agree with this. And I haven't found one amp that will do it all.

My recent experiences:

My noisy Deluxe Reverb sounds noisy but great with certain guitars.

The Carr Rambler I own is overall very quiet for a tube amp, and works great with archtops or solid bodies.

I used to play a Carr Rambler. I loved it. I even did a little MP3 and blurb on their website. I don't know if it's still there. And I own a great 1965 (real 1965) Deluxe Reverb. Great amp but noisy as hell.

**SamBooka** · 06-16-2012, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by marcwhy

I really don't understand the original premise of this post ... did someone "famous" make this claim, or is it an attempt to start (again!) a "tube vs. SS" debate?

A well-built amp (and even some cheap ones!) will have little to no noise.

Is there another question?

I have noticed a certain amount of .. trolling seems harsh.. but .. asking a very open-ended questions then not following up on the thread..