Dedicated stereo poweramp vs tube head

[JoeHans]

Hello!

How does the two options compare? The other one can be used as stereo and the other only as mono but beside that.

I've tried Axe Ultra with my Hughes and Kettner Switchblade (ran to fx return) twice and it worked ok. Although it left a feeling something was still missing a bit. My setup was no pa and no cab sim and I started to dial the sound with only the amp blog and everything set to 12 o'clock. I'm used to working with Axe-edit and this time I needed to dial in with only Axe's own knobs so this might alos have affected the results.

If I buy a dedicated power amp does it make any difference on the feel?

EDIT: I just realized this should have probably been posted to the amps section, sorry.

 

[The_Kid]

you will notice a difference, based upon the power section and how its setup/wired. Some power amps (tubes) will have a certain response, feel, and sound all their own. If you go with a solid state power amp, you should get a relatively uniform sound between amps. I had a Boss GT 8, and a Boss GT10. Ran both through a VHT stereo poweramp...but also ran both through a solid state amp. Loved it through the VHT because the modelling in those units is no where on par with Fractals sounds and doesnt do the power section thing as well. Also ran a gt8 through my Peavey JSX head for a few years....mostly used the JSX for the crunch/ultra channels, but did use the GT's preamps through the clean channel as well...that tube section really worked well for warming up the GT.

My current rig runs my Ultra through a Carvin solid state poweramp...I like this because I feel the power amp sims in the Ultra are amazing and different enough that I dont need the 'flavor' of a tube amp to amplify it, I want a clean power section that will take what I feed it and just amplify it. If you were to power it through some type of tube head, your patches may always take on that power amps flavor, feel, compression and such regardless of how you tweak the preamp stuff.

does that help at all?

 

[JoeHans]

Thanks! This information is certainly very useful. I guess the only way to truely find out what works best for me is to try and experiment with different gear. Too bad there aren't lots of power amps available at the local music store since I live in a small town. Maybe I can get my hands on a second hand Matrix poweramp through this forum and sell it away if it doesn't do the trick.