fender '59 bassman

Choosing Your First Tube Amplifier By Andrei Popa

For decades, it's been a general opinion that tube (or valve) amplifiers sound better than solid state amps.

First of all - what is a tube amp? A tube amp is a type of guitar amplifier that operates on valves (or vacuum tubes) instead of transistors. The sound you get from a tube amp is warmer and fuller that what you'd get from a solid state amp.

What is gain? If you play mostly "clean" music (virtually, no amount of distortion), you won't need a lot of gain. If you play metal, you'll need a high-gain tube amp.

The most notable clean amp of all tube amp history is the Fender Bassman, the holy-grail of clean sounds. Most tube amps have the amount of gain necessary for blues or rock (Marshalls, the expensive Buddas, the budget Blackhearts).

If the basic sound of the amp is bad, it will sound bad anyway you will adjust the equalizer, amount of gain, anything.