QUOTE: “An engineer once told me that valves have the actual element of fire in them, something very real and organic. But as has been said its all down to personal taste.”

A real engineer, with education in the sciences, would be reluctant to make a statement like the above that reveals possible ignorance. I wouldn’t be caught dead saying such a thing. FIRE is NOT an actual element, but was believed to be by alchemists before true scientific research defined the elements. Fire is a process of combustion – usually a rapid exothermic oxidation – that involves several elements and compounds. Tube filaments get red hot, but do not burn unless oxygen has entered the glass envelope, in which case the tube becomes useless.

I agree 100% that regarding music and music equipment, it does all come down to personal taste.

Guitar pedal design engineering, repairs, and custom mods:
http://howard.davis2.home.att.net/

Am I the only one who thinks “Howard Davis/Newbie” reads weird?

Yeah Especially when he’s desgined SEVERAL pedals for EHX.

Simple reason why I like tubes. 1. Dynamics – better and more responsive, I think harmonics/sustain are just warmer with tubes. 2. The Volume Knob on your guitar – you can roll it back and the distortion disappears, you can turn it up and the distortion comes back. It’s all preference and the drawback to tubes is noise!!! I also really like hybrid products. I have a Rocktron Silver Dragon and have fallen in love with it’s combo of Tube/Solid State options. Plus like many others have stated, tubes look cool. On the other hand, I don’t care if its tube/solid state as I am usually looking for a certain sound or feel and will use whatever it takes to find that tone.

It’s not a matter of knowing all the specs and then logically deciding which one makes more “sense”. It’s a matter of tactile feedback, and knowing the feeling of getting warmed-up tubes really going and responding dynamically to your touch, and not being stiff as solid state circuitry often feels. There IS a difference.

With tubes, the louder, the better. Sometimes with solid state, the louder, the louder (and harsher).

Why is so much effort put into making SS sound like tubes? Talk to Hartley Peavey

By all means use what you like, but there are very good reasons for my general preference for solid state circuitry, especially for guitar pedals. This is discussed in depth on my website: http://www.howardmickdavis.com/Tubesvs.SolidState.htm

Guitar pedal design engineering, repairs, and custom mods:
http://howardmickdavis.com

i agree with Howard Davis, Julian, and many others in support for tube equipment.

amp wise, i must have tube, i have learned personally that i prefer the tone to tube amps after owning and testing over 100 different amps.

i recently sold off my Peavey 5150 head, and Mesa Boogie dual rectifier head. do to the fact that i don’t play out much any more and when i do there not huge venues.

i currently just use a 60W 1/12 tube combo that works very well for me, and if the show is bigger than i can mic it. check it out i like it very much (i also got it for $150. free shipping, and metal flight case on Ebay because no one els knew what it was, i should have payed over 3K for it :clap: )

in my opinion its a Euro clone of a Boogie mark II C+

http://www.studiomaster.com/1981 – 1982.htm

on the pedal side of tube use, i can go both ways, sum i think are gimmick and sum are really good.
i have not tried much, gimmick wise, i have a Behringer vintage tube distortion pedal that i think is crap.

but i love my EHX tube Black Finger compressor!! best one Ive ever tried!!

and i love the sound of a Mesa Boogie rectifier distortion!! since i down graded and i no longer have that sound and tone in my combo, i had been searching for years for a pedal to compromise.

i finally found it with the Damage Control’s “Solid Metal” a dual tube based distortion pedal. (unfortunately they no longer make pedals, they now make pedals partnered with another company under the name Strymon)

I agree with most of this…

I love clean tube amps, but usually prefer solid state for overdrive; an overdriven tube amp (other than for mild break-up) often doesn’t sound quite right to me, and SS cleans sometimes sound harsh.

There are exceptions of course; the Roland Jazz Chorus amps are fantastic clean for example.

I pretty much always use (SS) pedals for my overdrive/distortion.