Questions regarding amps...

Discussion in 'Guitar Gear Talk Forum' started by tirtha2chester, Dec 23, 2011.

  1. tirtha2chester

    tirtha2chester New Member

    Ok, so I had a few questions regarding guitar amps...

    1) Are all combo amps necessarily solid state amps?? If not, then which of them aren't??

    2) How are tube amps and valve amps different from solid state ones?? Can you differentiate between them just by looking at them?? How are they TONALLY different??

    3) How do you create a stack?? I know that you gotta have a tube head... What about the rest (I mean the cabinets....).. Can somebody breif me regarding cabs??

    Thanks in advance...
     
  2. mymusicmyguitar

    mymusicmyguitar Active Member

  3. aryasridhar

    aryasridhar New Member

    Combos are both solid state and tube as well, depends if you want a Solid State amp or a tube amp.
    Tubes and Valves are same, if you look at the back of a guitar amplifier, you will see tubes (Looks like a bulb), whereas on solid state amps these tubes do not exist.
    Tonally YES there is a huge difference between Solid State and Tube Amps - Think of it this way. You have 2 cars - One has a speed governor on it and the other doesn't - On The car with the Speed Governor (Solid State) no matter how much you try to floor the pedal, it will not exceed the speed limit set on the governor, and when you drive the car without the speed governor, you can really push it to its limits - which is more than what you get from a solid state amplifier. In Short - Transistors used in Solid State amps will have an output that can be pushed to just that much and no more, and in tube amps, the tubes can be pushed really hard - mostly beyond their normal working conditions - This is where the warmth in tone comes into play.

    Full Stack - Amp Head + 2x 4x12 cabinets
    Half Stack - Amp Head + 1x 412 cabinet.

    You don't necessarily need a Tube head for a stack, a solid state head can also be used.
    Cabinets are enclosures used to house speakers in them
    There are many different types of cabinets that are available
    1 x 12" speaker cabinet 2x12" Speaker Cabinet 4 x 12" speaker cab and many more configurations are available or can be built.
    4x12 cab sounds a lot fuller than a 2x12 or 1x12 cab.
    there are cabs made with 10" speakers as well......

    Huh........Hope this helps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
     
  4. deepsal

    deepsal New Member

    who said transistors cant be pushed they can be pushed its just that they create harsh overtones that are harsh sounding
     
  5. tirtha2chester

    tirtha2chester New Member

    @aryasridhar-

    reps to you mate... Helped a lot...

    Couple of questions more:

    1) Can I put any amp as a head for a stack??

    2) What are preamps and power amps??
     
  6. aryasridhar

    aryasridhar New Member

    1) Yes you can, provided the amp impedance and the speaker impedance matches e.g. 8Ohm Out should be hooked to an 8ohm speaker cab and so on. Another very important factor is the power rating, hooking up a 100 watt head to a cab with a max power rating of 75watts can be dangerous. These 2 factors met, you can hook up just about any head to a cab.

    2) Guitar > Cable > amp Input > Preamp > Tone Section (tone circuit section may not necessarily be here always) > Power Amp > Output.
    The above mentioned is a generic path the guitar signal travels in,
    Simply put - the Preamp Section amplifies the guitar signal just enough so the power amp section can get hold of it and amplify it further.
     
  7. tirtha2chester

    tirtha2chester New Member

    So you mean that cabs should always be of a higher rms wattage than heads?? And dangererous in what sense?? It might explode or something like that??
     
  8. aryasridhar

    aryasridhar New Member

    Using a 100 watt head with a 50 watt speaker would blow the speaker out. a safe rating speaker to use with a 100 watt head would be 120w watt rated speaker(s). The rating on tube amp heads e.g. 100 watts, is without clipping, but when the tubes are run hotter the overall output may be more than 100 watts. hence it is recommended to use speakers rated higher than the head rating.
     

Share This Page