Power Amp?

[***wicked***]

Hello guys. This is a noob question but Im wondering how power amps affect the sound quality of preamps? Do they make any difference brand to brand on the tone or are they all about just a power supply?

 

[jdurso]

Hello guys. This is a noob questions but Im wondering how power amps affecting the sound quality of the preamps? Do they make any difference brand to brand on the tone or are they all about just a power supply?

To answer your question in short, yes they make a difference brand to brand and product to product. What exactly are you looking to do?

 

[flieger67]

Yes, power amps vary quite a bit. From just a basic standpiont, some power amps are equipped with tubes while some are solid-state machines. Usually the tube power amps are designed for the power tubes to either distort or to at least add to the tone by virtue of the tubes themselves. Solid-state power amps are often designed to be more neutral in their tonal colorings, though some solid-state power amps do try to enhance the tone of the preamp.

Back in the '90's, I had a Marshall 9001 tube preamp and I ran it through a solid-state power amp and it really didn't sound that great, but it was what I could afford. If I'd been able to run it through a tube power amp like a Marshall 9100 or something from VHT, I might have liked it more. Depending on the tones that you are looking for, a tube power amp may be a big part of the sound.

And another consideration in the tone chain is the effect of cabinets and speakers on your tone.

 

[jdurso]

The use of a tube vs SS power amp all depend on the application.

Say you have a really good amp modelling multi-fx unit (maybe an Axe-fx), to get the most out of your unit you're most likely going to want a SS power amp, as that will allow your modelling to do what its built for. Now thats if you have a modeller that has really good simulations, and right now the Axe-FX to me is THE best. The idea here is to let the modeller emulate the distotion and stauration and let the SS power amp amplify the signal as clean as possible.

Now say you have a tube or SS preamp... in those situations you may want to go tube power amp to get the tube power distortion and the character of tubes. In this situation you'll have to select a particular power amp that has the character your looking for

 

[***wicked***]

Hello guys. This is a noob questions but Im wondering how power amps affecting the sound quality of the preamps? Do they make any difference brand to brand on the tone or are they all about just a power supply?

To answer your question in short, yes they make a difference brand to brand and product to product. What exactly are you looking to do?

I have a Marshall JMP-1 preamp standing beside my dual rectifier. Im running the jmp-1 with a marshall valvestate power amp (which is a non-tube power amp) right now. Im more into melodic death metal and metolcore (in flames, lamb of god, as i lay dying,trivium). Just trying to catch a better sound out of my jmp you know.

 

[MusicManJP6]

There's a guy on the Petrucci forum selling his Mesa 50/50 Poweramp right now...

http://petrucciforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61596

Tell him MusicManJP6 sent you!

 

[jdurso]

Hello guys. This is a noob questions but Im wondering how power amps affecting the sound quality of the preamps? Do they make any difference brand to brand on the tone or are they all about just a power supply?

To answer your question in short, yes they make a difference brand to brand and product to product. What exactly are you looking to do?

I have a Marshall JMP-1 preamp standing beside my dual rectifier. Im running the jmp-1 with a marshall valvestate power amp (which is a non-tube power amp) right now. Im more into melodic death metal and metolcore (in flames, lamb of god, as i lay dying,trivium). Just trying to catch a better sound out of my jmp you know.

If you have the cash look for a VHT 2:90:2... amazing tube power amp. Mesa also makes killer power amps, the 2:50 and 2:90 are both amazing. On the cheaper side, Carvin's tube power amps are pretty good especially for the price. The VHT and Mesa power amps are my favorites... rock solid construction, rock solid tone. The only reason i would go one way or another is they have a different flavor from one another. VHTs have a dryer tone which is a characteristic of all VHT amps IMO. The Mesa power amps to me sound more like a Mesa flavor, very strong and big. You cant go wrong either way.

 

[***wicked***]

That was very helpful friends. Thank you