Why Aren’t Tube Guitar Amps Obsolete?

What did the guitarist do when his teacher told him to turn his guitar amplifier on?.......He caressed it and told it he loved it!

Only a joke yes, but there is a lot of sentiment expressed about guitar amps, especially the tube variety, which have been knocking around (and knocked around) since the 1950s. Ever since Leo Fender calculated the first commercially unfilled power guitar amplifiers, guitarists have developed a like affair with tube /valve guitar amps, which on the face of it appears to defy logic or reason, but why should logic or reason apply to artistic expression. The basic design of tube amps has evolved very small since those early designs in the fifties and sixties, enhancements yes but the basic principles are the same.

As one shape up place it:..."So how is it that a 1950's design got it so right that it is still noteworthy today? Was it luck? Or were they calculated by geniuses of the day? I like to reckon it's a bit of both...the vast margin of players prefer valve designs for their guitar amplifiers, and there are some excellent reasons for this"

Is it really so black and white, did they get it right first time and haven't been able to increase on it since or are there other aspects worth taking into account. What they did was build amps using the only equipment unfilled at the time. The guitarists of the time pushed the equipment to the limits and beyond, developing their SOUND. When the guitar amp didn't meet the guitarists expectations they modified or added enhancements to realize their sound (such enhancements including making holes in the amp speakers) So when the electronic revolution that was the solid state amp arrived in the late sixties, there was no competition, the warmer richer sound of the valves was preferred by the serious guitarists to the "harsher" or more "brittle" sound of the transistor guitar amp.

It's well recognizable that there was still a certain audible difference between tube amps and solid state amps, especially when a tube amp was pushed hard and being played by a blues guitarist. The soft clipping overdrive "tone" of a tube amp was most noticeable with a blues guitar players' particular style of playing. Even if it can be next to impracticable to differentiate the clean setting of a tube guitar amp (with no overdrive) over a solid state amp, or the high gain setting of a tube guitar amp with that of a solid state amp.

Audible differences apart is it also not the case that most serious players developed "their sound" on a tube guitar amp and unless a touch came along which sounded better than a tube guitar amp their inclination would always be for the tube amp. These guys could afford the additional expense and consequently the sentimental attachments. Taking into account the rate of progress of the microelectronic meticulousness (they can place 2 billion transistors into an area less vital than a guitar pick) has the time not arrived when the tube amp might might irrevocably be superceded.

Discussion to the younger emerging players of today there appears to be a inclination for the latest modelling guitar amps. Of course expense is always a consideration and emerging artists are always strapped for cash, but just like their guitar heroes of the sixties and seventies, they'll improvise, develop their sound, but unlike their heroes they'll be able to store that sound and maybe a few others at the press of a button. The modelling guitar amp enables the guitarist to make multiple sounds replicating the sound of a variety of different guitar amps. One guitar amp can now be made to sound like any vintage tube guitar amp and the setting save and implemented at the press of a button. The shape up quoted before also stated:

"When a new design becomes unfilled that sounds better than a excellent guitar plugged direct into a excellent valve amplifier, guitarists will buy it and go on"

Is that time now upon us??

Tom McCool is writing a blog about guitar sounds with a particular emphasis on guitar amps and things at http://www.reverbguitaramps.com. The blog provides latest news views and reviews of imminent events in the guitar music field, as well as links to some appealing artists. So why not pay a visit and note on the published articles at http://www.reverbguitaramps.com

Shape up Source: EzineArticles.com