Should I ditch my tube amp?

**John A.** · 10-12-2023, 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by ccroft

NYC in the 80's people used to put a sign on the dashboard: "NO STEREO IN CAR".

Nope. “no radio” not "no stereo in car." We are a people of few words, even fewer printable ones.

**Spook410** · 10-12-2023, 10:40 PM

Originally Posted by wintermoon

Understood but to a large degree I don't really care all that much what they think, most of them probably couldn't tell the difference between a Harmony and an L-5 either. The stuff I use on a gig is geared to the sound I like.
Life's too short to compromise imo.

I can tell the difference in gear in my living room and I can get pretty nitpicky about it. L5 CES vs ES 175. Benedetto carved Chinese archtops vs Gibson. Models with different IR's. Lots of fun experimenting and lots of enjoyment with favorite gear. I can also tell the difference playing solo sitting in front of a high fidelity rig which isn't a practical choice with tubes in any case. However, playing with 3 or 4 other people and especially a drummer, I can't hear much, if any, difference between my Quilter 201 and my Fender Concert.

If you hear the difference and want to lug the gear.. by all means. I don't think anybody believes it's a bad option in terms of tone. The magic of a Fender Twin and Gibson L5 is legendary. However, on the amp side, my back insists I make other choices.

And for our younger viewers, if you don't have 50 years invested in achieving a specific tone, I would suggest trying different technologies. You may find guitars quite a bit cheaper and amplification quite a bit lighter with many (many) more sounds and features inspire your music and practical musician lifestyle much better than old school gear.

**John A.** · 10-12-2023, 11:18 PM

Originally Posted by Daddy Dom

Three and a half, if you go for the pedal-steelers' preferred 15" speaker.

That's gotta carry me and peel my grapes.

**John A.** · 10-12-2023, 11:36 PM

Originally Posted by omphalopsychos

I do like the limiter on the quilter but it doesn't respond the same way a tube amp does. The quilter still feels like it responds super fast and hard. Applying a limiting compressor changes the feel a bit but it's different from the type of compression you get from a tube amp, where the response feels a bit slower.

I literally just got the thing a day ago and have only had the chance to play through it for around an hour (going back and forth with the PR). I'm not sure I've gotten to that nuance yet.

Originally Posted by omphalopsychos

Btw I used to have an aviator and the speaker was a limiting factor. My recommendation for that amp or the quilter superblock is a celestion cream alnico. Huge improvement over stock.

I just looked up your post here about it. You seemed quite enthusiastic.

**Spook410** · 10-13-2023, 12:49 AM

Originally Posted by John A.

I just looked up your post here about it. You seemed quite enthusiastic.

Thinking that was someone else. I've never had a Quilter Aviator much less swapped speakers in one.

**ccroft** · 10-13-2023, 01:50 AM

Originally Posted by John A.

Nope. “no radio” not "no stereo in car." We are a people of few words, even fewer printable ones.

Quite right! I left 30 years ago, and my memory isn't getting any better. But you remember the joke, right?

BTW: best of luck with the Aviator. I've been playing ToneBlock202 for several years. The trick for me is in the balance between gain & limiter. I run both around half way up, but maybe I like a little more dirt. I played Mesa since '76 and still have one, but I prefer the Quilter for archtop. There may be some diff between the feel of the Quilter and 'tubes', but for what I'm doing I can't really tell.

Dawg: I'm happy you're happy with your twin. Great amps. I gigged a hundred watt Boogie, which weighed about the same with the Altec of the day. In NYC apartments with 5 flights of stairs and no elevator are common. Plus a couple more to the subway. You don't have to be an AARP guy to have trouble with that. I had a hand-truck and I was 25 to 40-ish, but it was still a solid work-out. Fortunately my amp lived in rehearsal spaces with better access... most of the time.

**jzucker** · 10-13-2023, 06:15 AM

Originally Posted by Christian Miller

Still lighter than a Morgan PR12

FYI morgan has the worst service !

**John A.** · 10-13-2023, 07:51 AM

Originally Posted by Spook410

Thinking that was someone else. I've never had a Quilter Aviator much less swapped speakers in one.

Sorry about that. Attribution got mangled in copying/pasting/trimming. Fixed it. It was oompaloomapsychosis.

**John A.** · 10-13-2023, 07:59 AM

Originally Posted by ccroft

Quite right! I left 30 years ago, and my memory isn't getting any better. But you remember the joke, right?

I don't know if I'm remembering or thinking it up, but I find it fascinating that people with "no radio" signs also have "baby on board" signs. So, "steal the baby, leave the radio"?

Originally Posted by ccroft

BTW: best of luck with the Aviator. I've been playing ToneBlock202 for several years. The trick for me is in the balance between gain & limiter. I run both around half way up, but maybe I like a little more dirt. I played Mesa since '76 and still have one, but I prefer the Quilter for archtop. There may be some diff between the feel of the Quilter and 'tubes', but for what I'm doing I can't really tell.

I have a gig in a couple of weeks. That'll be the test. If I'm happy, I'll keep it. If not, it'll still be within the window for returning it.

**jzucker** · 10-13-2023, 08:09 AM

by the way, celestion alnico 90 won't fit in a quilter blockdock without some chiseling. Don't know about the aviator...

**Billy Z** · 10-13-2023, 02:39 PM

You don't need a tube amp . Solid state amps can usually take pedals very well. I run all my pedals into a Raezers Edge Luna 200r and it sounds great. Sometimes at rehearsal I use the cheapo Berhinger bass amp( cuz it's there ) and it sounds really good. I just sat in with some of my old band mates at their gig and I used the Solid state Fender Champion 40 , with my pedal board and it sounded great.

Pedals are the great Equalizer when it comes to amplifiers.

**rpjazzguitar** · 10-13-2023, 03:34 PM

Of the two best sounds I've heard live, one was solid state (AER Compact 60 with some enhancement) and the other was tubes (Fender Twin). Both rchtops. Runner up was a Victoria tube amp and a Fender Strat.

On various recordings, a mix of solid bodies (like Ted Greene's Tele), archtops and I don't know what amps.

My Little Jazz sounds surprisingly like my vintage Reverberocket although the LJ seems to make chords sound a little less barky. EQ makes a bigger difference than which amp. And, for that matter, various aspects of the room, the band and sunspots make a bigger difference, or so it seems to me.

Practicality, for me, starts with weight. But, I do know that it's easier for a technician to fix a tube amp. On the other hand, I can buy a new solid state amp for what I've paid to have that Reverberocket maintained. And, back on the first hand, modern tubes seem more fragile than the originals. I've had a couple break and I'd rather not have to carry a complement of tubes and be sticking my hand into a nest of broken glass on a gig.

So, I use the LJ for low volume gigs and rehearsals. If I need more volume, I run the LJ into a powered speaker or PA, if there is one. Sometimes I include a mixer for additional EQ. I've gone through cycles of getting unhappy with this setup, but right now I'm happy with it.

All that said, if a player feels more comfortable with one than the other, my opinion doesn't matter at all.

**omphalopsychos** · 10-13-2023, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by jzucker

by the way, celestion alnico 90 won't fit in a quilter blockdock without some chiseling. Don't know about the aviator...

Fits in the aviator.

**Alter** · 10-14-2023, 06:20 AM

I used an Alessandro Rottweiler amp for about a decade, 40 watts tubes, about 15 kilos. The weight was why i bought the amp, it is a great, good quality amp and with a very reasonable price if you can find one used. I think if one searches, you can find a light weight 30-40 watts all tube head for under a grand used, especially in the US.

**sicourtjon** · 10-14-2023, 01:16 PM

I ditched tube amps in favour of a DV Mark Jazz 12. For the money the sound is amazing even on headphones.
I also love using the ElectroHarmonix Headphone Amp.

**frankhond** · 10-15-2023, 01:27 AM

I have same apartment situation and solved it completely with a Revv D20 and a 12” cab with a GA-SC64.

The Revv has attenuation switchable between 4w and 20w. And a built-in Two Notes so you can run the amp through an IR and then XLR to a PA, or to your computer interface, with or without speaker engaged. And headphones are post-IR so you hear exactly what comes out.

And it’s a tube amp designed to be a pedal platform. There is a combo version if you’d rather have that. 4w is a bit loud if you want to crank the power amp, but typically I bring up the preamp gain and push it with a low gain or boost (e.g. left side of a protein). Sounds just great and solves all logistical problems.