Jeremy Johnson
English 101
Bleck
11/00/09
Endangered Tone of the Electric Guitar

Your music collection is in trouble and it has nothing to do with your taste. We are now living the days of cataloged tone, and the ideas and equipment that went into Angus Young’s guitar tone in the AC/DC song “Back in Black” has been dissected, examined, copied, and cataloged in a graphic user interface by using cheap sounding diodes and microchips. If you’re thinking “Guitar Hero”, you’re sadly mistaken, because the game itself requires no real guitar skills to be a champion. Right now some thirteen-year-old guitar player has the world at their fingertips, when players today can have a choice plugging to a solid state modeling amp and having it replicating the sound of the tube amps used by from George Harrison on the of the Beetles “White Album” or the latest Metallica guitar tone. New York Times writer Bill Marshall recently published an article called “Guitar Modeling”, in his article he interviews the designing technician at Line 6 amp division Steve Herman, who emphasizes why guitar players today might choose one of their solid state tube modeling pods that sell for upwards of $200.00 ” It’s not because they own a replica guitars or tube amplifiers that the masters themselves used, but rather the invention of modern technology that solid-state amps have themselves. These days the average kid down the street wants to sound like his top 10 favorite guitar players, but can’t obtain or afford all their gear. With Line 6’s Pod line they can do it all on a budget, and without the weight” Even though it’s been under great controversy in the music world, manufactures will never be able to re-create the sweet clipping distortion sound of a real tube amplifier by using sold state amp modeling technology.

Solid-state circuitry in guitar amplification is nothing new; it surfaced in mainstream music shops in the early 70’s, but never was taken as a serious means of amplification over traditional tube guitar amplifiers until the late 90’s. Today solid-state guitar amps are more popular than ever selling 3 to one over tube amps, with their price and flexibility to mimic some of the history’s best guitar tones with a turn of a knob, versus the weight and high cost of the traditional tube amplifiers that were used to achieve the original tones. There are some styles of music where solid-state amps excel: bass, jazz, some country, and death metal. When a clean guitar sound is needed for a certain style of music, some players could choose solid-state, just for its clean overhead or its ability to not distort at high volumes. In an article posted on www.buddyhawk.com titled “Tube vs. Solid state Guitar Amps” author Buddy Hawk gives his professional opinion” I tend to lean toward tube amps because of the more “natural” and “warm guitar sounds they produce” and “A solid-state amps can sound stale lifeless and generic especially in a live venue situation even when colored with effects”. Solid-state guitar amps are also non-user friendly when maintenance is required, and considered to be non-serviceable to the user compared to a tube amplifier. Today, the fact still stands that large amount of live and recorded music we listen to are tube amps for their sweet sound, over the stale sound of a solid state modeling amp.

Tube amplification has a long history, going back to the first transistor radios. In fact, I guarantee that your grandparents or great grandparents gathered around a tube radio to listen to their favorite radio station shows. With the invention of the circuit board, almost overnight tube amplification sales were replaced with cheaply made solid state technology, Some militaries, such as Russia’s still use tubes today for their robust survival strength though a nuclear blast. Today some of the last tube amplifiers for audio listing can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Guitar tube amplifiers have held steady though out the years as far as manufacturing and professional use, but have suffered in modern sales because of their price and weight. In the book titled “A Desktop Reference of Hip Vintage Guitar Amps” author Gerald Weber gives a clear definition of vintage vs. modern technology in tube amplification. “Modern amplifiers don’t get those raw tones that tube amplifiers can achieve, that’s not to say all modern amplifiers are not tube. Some of the best tube amplifiers I have ever heard are being produced today and played by serious players making memorable music.” Even though tube amps on average are ten times the cost of solid-state amps, it’s worth the investment to get the tone from a tube amp that can’t be achieved from solid-state.

Cost above all, is what drives new and un-educated guitar players today in their purchase of a guitar amp, essentially going with the small price tag of solid-state amps compared to the hefty price of a tube amp. In Buddy Hawks article “Tube vs. Solid State Guitar Amps” he writes “Time and time again I’ve seen guitar players with solid-state amps that were drowned out in the mix in their band, struggling to be heard. If a band has two guitar players and one guitar player is using a tube amp and another that uses solid-state amp, the tube amp player will almost always be heard though the mix with beautiful clarity.” In today’s economy cost is always a concern, but when you’re in it for the sheer guitar tone no modern solid-state amp can compare to the rich overdrive of a tube amp.

Work Cited

Marshall, Bill. "Guitar Modeling" New York Times 6 April .2008 gadgets.N10Proquest. Spokane Falls Community College. Spokane. 17 Nov

Hawk,Buddy“Tube vs. Solid State Guitar Amps” Modern Guitar Tone Blog. 16 Dec. 2009.
17 Nov. 2005.

Weber, Gerald. "Desktop Reference of Hip Vintage Guitar Amps.”
CATO. 10 Sept. 1994. CATO. 16 Nov. 2009
http://books.google.com/books?id=fvUVBP3wW1gC&lpg=PP1&dq=A%20
Torqueville, Alexis De. Kendrick Books. Kempner Texas. Route 2 box 871, 2001.

Fliegler, Ritchie “The Complete Guide to Guitar and Amp Maintenance” 15 Dec. 2009
http://books.google.com/books?id=FCaskxpGLooC&lpg=PA62&dq=solid%20state%...
Hal Leanord Corporation Jan.5 2009