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Digital vs Tube – Why Tube Guitar Amps are so much better
Introduction
We recently put out an article about why you might want to get a digital amp over a tube amp. Well, in this article we are going to look at why you might want to get tube over digital! We are nothing if not fair here at Gigs and Guitars! We had a good response to the last article! Many of you messaged to let us know your reason for going digital over tube or analog.
It is worth saying, that as someone who used both kinds frequently, I am not saying one is definitely better than the other! All these articles are designed to do is make you think about which one is better for you! Sometimes, it isn’t about what you want, it is about what you need and what is best for you! So why don’t we take a look at one of the main reasons I keep tube amps around! Maintenance!
Easy to Service and Repair
This is a huge one, Repairability! If you are a gigging and touring musician you want gear that is reliably but also easy to fix if it goes wrong! Digital is very hard to repair if it goes wrong, There are people that can repair them but they aren’t as many as people who can repair tube amps. If something goes wrong with your Tube amp, you can take it to a tech and they should be able to easily fix it. Parts can be changed out without needing to buy a whole new amp.
This also has a secondary effect of modding! Being that the parts are very easy to swap out and change, you find a lot of people modding these old tube amps! If you love the sound of your amp but want something changed, you can easily get it modded! Most famous amps came from modding other amp! Marshall came from modded Fenders, Dumbbells stem from Modding Fenders as well! Tube amps make these very simple and easy!
Ease of Use
Tube amps typically have fewer controls and avoid complex menus, making it easy to set up and dial in quickly. They offer a plug-and-play experience, perfect for players who want to spend more time playing and less time tweaking settings. Instead of scrolling through digital menus, a tube amp allows for real-time, tactile adjustments of essential knobs. This hands-on simplicity can be more intuitive and satisfying for some players. Especially when you might have to use a backline amp, you want something simple and easy so that you can easily dial in your sound.
it is also worth nothing that they don’t require software, apps or plugins to work! We wrote a whole article about this which you can read the full Article here. To put it simply, once you buy and set up the amp, apart from the odd servicing there isn’t anything else you need to get. You don’t need to connect it to anything, update anything or buy any extras. Some people love the simplicity of just plug and play!
"Well, it can mean that your amp will hold value more than a digital amp and sometimes go up in a value!"
Hold their Value
Due to digital amps being cheap and easy to manufacture, they sell for a low cost! What this means is the value of a digital amp tanks on the second hand market, why would you buy a second hand digital amp when a brand new one is only a bit more money? Bad news if you want to sell one! This isn’t so prevalent with tube amps! As they take more skill and engineering to make, second hand tube amps don’t drop much in value! But an amp, if you don’t bond with it, you won’t lose much money!
Amps aren’t only useable they are also collectible as well! And we don’t just mean the super rare ones! You will be surprised what some people collect! Most tube amps will be collected by someone, what does this mean to you? Well, it can mean that your amp will hold value more than a digital amp and sometimes go up in a value! Although this will happen very rarely, it can happens and good quality Tube amps won’t lose to much values anyway, meaning you can buy a good quality amp and if you don’t like it, sell It for the same, or as near as what you bought it for! You won’t get that with digital!
Tried and Tested
Listen to any song in the last 50-60 years, More than likely you are hearing a good old fashioned tube amp! They have been around for ages! Yes, I get it is “old tech” but it is old tech that works, sounds great and has been tried and tested for many, many years!
If you are after a certain sound, then there is most likely is an article out there that will help you achieve it. So much advice, article and videos about how to get alot any sound out of any amp! This is because it has been tried and tested!
You will easily be able to find out what pedals work with what amp! How to get certain sounds! If your amp has a weird glitch or something, it till be documented out there!
Not paying for features you won’t use!
This is happening a lot with gear now, Products are getting packed full of features! Which is good, but before you buy a certain product because of its features, you need to think about if you are going to use those features at all! If you plan to just use and amp live, throw and mic in front of it and be done, then a simple tube amp will be perfect!
We mentioned above about being able to fix it, this kind of plays of that. The less features you have on an amp the less there is to go wrong! So if you want something reliable, sounds great and easy to fix if something does go wrong, then you want a nice and simple Tube Amp. Something like a Deluxe Reverb or Blues Junior!
Conclusion
So that is our article on why tube amps are better than digital amps! As we said in the start, this isn’t really an article to make you buy a tube amp, this (and the digital counterpart article) is more to get you thinking about your needs when looking for amp. Things you might want to consider and think about. Both tube and digital have their place and can even been used together in a hybrid system, so picking what you want entirely depends on your needs and wants from your gear, something only you know the answer too! However, we are interested in what you play! Drop us an email or message and tell us what you play and why you went that route! We would love to hear from you all!
If you are after a Tube Amp, We have linked some of the classic amps below. Buying them through this link will give the site a small kick back as it is an affiliate link.
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