I've been playing a Crate G60xl solid state amp since I started back in the mid 90's. Looking at buying a nice tube amp for playing at home and the occassional jam session with friends.
I was looking at the Fender Cyber twin SE, which is a Tube pre-amp, or a B-52.
My question is, what's meant by tube pre-amp? Is this a tube amp?
I like the "clone" feature of the fender, and the ease of quickly changing sounds without the use of pedals, etc.
Any suggestions for a good tube amp that has the flexibility of multiple pre-set sounds?
Also played and liked the Marshall MG250DFX. Is this a tube amp? I'm guessing no.
Sorry for the abundant questions. :) I'm trying to learn as much as I can. Would like to be informed before pulling the trigger! Hoping my next amp is my last one... for a while.
Thanks for any and all suggestions.
Dan-o
The Marshall MG series is solid state.
The B-52 AT series are great Tube Amps. I wish I had money, because I would definatly pick up the AT stack. If you liked what you heard then go with the B-52.
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My question is, what's meant by tube pre-amp?
Guitar amplifiers, in general, have two stages - a pre-amplifier stage and a power amplifier stage. The pre-amp stage takes the signal from instrument level (the guitar signal is pretty low power - generated by the motion of a string in the magnetic field of the pickup only) and brings it up to what is called line level. In some amplifiers this may be the only stage and from there it goes to headphones or recording equipment or an external power amplifier. In some amplifiers there are multiple of these pre-amp stages - perhaps best known for this is Mesa Boogie. It's in this stage that you have tremolo, reverb, tone controls, effects send and return, etc.
The second stage is the power amplifier. It takes the signal from the pre-amp and raises it to a level sufficient to drive speakers. These two stages are separated because it is more efficient to do so - you can design each stage to more optimally amplify the signal. Also, a tube (or transistor) will only provide a certain amplification factor (how many times it multiplies the signal) before you get too much distortion or power inefficiency.
Is this a tube amp?
Sure, it has tubes and it amplifies. Is it tube enough for you? I wouldn't judge based on the tech but on the sound. Do you like it?
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