Tube amps are best! No, solid state is best! No, hybrid amps are better!

With all due respect to your friends, colleagues, local music dealer and amp manufacturers, there is no best and no better when considering the electronic composure of a musical instrument amplifier. Although experience and the type of music, and the music being played are the most important criteria, there are several important bits of information you should be aware of when considering the purchase of an amp.

The choice of a tube amp or one that is solid state is a subjective choice at best. Reliability, price, and versatility are actually secondary considerations when considering the 'sound' of an amplifier and whether it is the best choice for you.

First, let us dispense with the rumor that solid state amps can duplicate tubes and vice versa. Not so! There is no substitute for the sound of a tube amplifier. Solid state amps offer a flatter frequency response and react to the played note more accurately. Tube amps induce a particular character to the note — often a fatter and more distorted sound. Listening to a tube amp and a transistorized one will immediately demonstrate the difference.

Tube amps, however, change in response in direct proportion to the life of the tubes. When new, the amp will seem qleaner. As it heats up and/or ages, the sound becomes more distorted. This is the sound craved for so much by guitarists who exist only for the endless sustain of a tube amp turned up to 10. Of course, once the tubes die, the process .may have to start again.

There are more technical considerations such as cabinet impedance in relation to tube amps and solid state electronics that we can discuss, but it would become boring.

On the solid state side, we're used to hearing very harsh response and the words 'too clean. ' This may still be true with many amps on the market, but today's solid state technology has grown along with the musician's plea for better musical sound. Companies like Sunn and Acoustic have developed a better distortion circuit for one thing, that can be termed* 'soft distortion.' It comes close to that tube sound when adjusted properly.

But the real key is properly overdriving the front end or preamp stage of the amplifier. (Tube amps are typically distorting at the back end or power amp stage.) The master volume control is another answer to the distortion dillemma. Even tube amplifiers have incorporated this so that the player can go either way — clean or dirty. Fender pioneered this development with tube amplification.

Overdriving the preamp is accomplished by either turning the amp up beyond human tolerance or (more better) turning up the tone controls to extreme and realizing a more natural bite to the note along with better sustain . Patching two preamp channels together, especially with dual channel self-contained amps, and overdriving one tone control on each channel' can also achieve the same effect with more power.

So, solid state is a bit more versatile than originally believed. Its reliability certainly surpasses tube amps, but some extra experimentation is necessary to get the right sound.

Of course, if a clean sound is required, solid state amps are ideal. With tubes, you'll need the master volume control feature to achieve a clean sound at reasonable volume levels.

What things come down to once again, however, is that trial and error and constant experimentation in. the store *and on a gig is necessary to find out what's right for you.

Although there are some shortcuts to take regardless of the amp you own to achieve a different response, there is no substitute for the proper amp.

External devices such as fuzz tone, wah wah, phase shifter, etc., can be used quite effectively. Just remember that they are additions to the system. If you're using them to excess to get the sound your amp won't produce, just get another amp. External effects are there to offer a change of color when the tune calls for it — not as a third leg of the amplifier. (Anything used to excess such as a fuzz tone is annoying and ultimately unmusical.)

Again, our advice is to experiment. Listen to the dealer, write (or call) the manufacturer, and read any and all literature on the product. The answers you're looking for are available.

Just remember, musical sound is highly subjective.There is no right way ...only your way,