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sutarappa wrote:One of the pillars of electric bass conversation this is. I play in a few bands and currently use all tube, solid state, and hybrid rigs. Which do I like best? I can’t really use the idea of “best” because I love them all. The context in which I use any piece of gear is dependent on my tone goals. The gear choices I make therein come from experimentation and experience. Trying shit out. I’ve tried a lot of shit out over the years. Ended up owning more shit than is probably healthy.

In comparing all tube tone to hybrid or ss, I like to reference all the physical senses. And here’s a fun spot to interject about the weight of amplifiers: Carry the load! I mean, the low end is physical, son. Always. Girls don’t dance to guitar solos. To me, tube tone feels like it has the most mass, like there’s a great dense weight punching out the sound. Certain combinations of gear with ss tone can feel like this too, but to a lesser degree. In my experience, solid state technology produces the fastest, most articulate response from a rig and generally colors the signal less. Fuzz pedals through tubes add delightfully to that massive weight and harmonic overload, however, individual fuzz pedal characteristics can remain a touch more pronounced with ss. Good hybrid systems can strike an interesting middle ground, adding punchy harmonic content while retaining great responsiveness.

The more experience I build practicing, playing, using gear, the less meaning generalized gear “standards” carry. It’s all just tools which perform with specific traits.