Do you think tube amps have a real future?

Do you think tube amps have a real future?

  • Yes

  • No

  • Just for some tube amp freaks

Results are only viewable after voting.
TheRedDevil

TheRedDevil

Inspired
After 30 years with plexi tube amps I switched to modeling amps like Marshall Code some years before and to Fractal Audio Axe Fx III some month before. I'm totally happy, don't miss anything and love the sound, features and possibilities. After Covid-19 and vacuum tube delivery crisis I don't see a future for tube amps anymore. More and more guitar players switch to modelers, Gibson (Fender?) has issues to sell their expensive guitars because there are no guitar heros anymore (like in past) and chinese guitars are better then great for the price. Marshall stopped the Code 100 Head series and tries to sell old tube amps again and again. Fender releases modelers too and think about switching so solid state amps more and more. The old rocker generation more and more die out. Well, I think in future new or modern guitar players will use chinese guitars and modelers (hopefully by Fractal Audio). Just have a look at modern live concerts or you tube videos (w/o tube amp influencers) . No Gibson, no tube amps. What do you think?
 
The tube manufacturing industry took a major hit because the manufacturing process is not eco-friendly, but there is word of some new ones opening. We’ll have to see how they affect the industry.

As an official member of the “old rocker generation” I have no intention of going anywhere in the next decade, so this poll is premature.
 
I think there will still be a market for tube amps due to the tactile nature of them and the promise of that final x% of tone / feel peeps perceive (or think they can) that modellers may never completely reach. The question is: can they retain some market without pricing themselves out of it? ie 2 years ago I passed on a new on sale DSL40 for $800C - that amp is now on sale for $1200C (+50%, wayy beyond the general inflation rate) - now I have no interest whatsoever at today's price - typical story for most amps at various price tiers - prices have gone so high, I just don't see the value any more when modellers and cheap power amps can get so close at much less $. The thing is though, modellers need amps to feed on since we want models of real world amps (I know someone will say "but the generalized amp models are awesome", which is true, but its the models of real world amps that generates the most excitement (ie reaction to the recent Revv models).
 
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Fro68 said:
Tube availability will be the death of tube amps.
Tube amps will be around as long as there are reasonably priced tubes out there.
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All tube amps have a particular voice. So as long as tube amps stick around there will be a need for many guitarists to have more than one (several?). Whether or not tube amps are around will not change the demand/market for a combo with good modeling tech inside. Look at the success of Positive Grid's Spark which is just a practice amp. Now scale that up to something gig-able and I'm not sure who would keep buying tube amps - some measure of purists I suppose. That means the market will shrink and the choices will narrow.

I own 6 really nice tube amps. The only time I play them now is a grab and go for certain gigs. If I had a suitable alternative grab and go combo with Fractal tech inside I would start selling them and maybe keep one for old time sake. Modeling isn't yet a panacea mostly due to the unique dynamics of analog tubes. But at least with FAS it is close - give it a little more time and I'm not sure you will feel the difference.
 
Still a great market for classic cars even though they are a pain to maintain, expensive, impractical etc.

Plenty of people still enjoy film cameras even though the corner drugstore doesn’t develop or sell film

Tube amps are going to be around for a long time.

Heck, might see an uptick in popularity from the generation who grew up on modelers just like analog synthesizers, reel to reel tape etc has gotten popular again.

Modelers are way more practical, better for live gigs et al., but it’s still more fun to have a real amp at home, IMO.
 
lqdsnddist said:
Still a great market
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lqdsnddist said:
Plenty of people
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They are a tiny fraction of the market for modern cars and digital cameras. So yes just like those tube amps will become niche and the manufacturers will shrink dramatically - just like analog synths and reel to reel tape and manufacturers of film for traditional cameras and vinyl records and CDs.

People were stockpiling kodachrome film because they knew it was not going to be produced any more. I do the same thing with tubes for my amps now.

That is a textbook sign of a dying market and future obsolescence.
 
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Time to roll out a FAS combo amp. FM3 guts, 500w class D, and a coaxial 12” speaker with a 6 switch controller. Global basic amp control knobs that can also be used to edit on the screen. Inputs for pedals etc. A digital combo but better than the rest.

Tubes will stick around for awhile but eventually they will be phased out as generations die off. As long as there is a market, someone will make tubes. When production is no longer profitable, that will be the end.
 
skolacki said:
Time to roll out a FAS combo amp. FM3 guts, 500w class D, and a coaxial 12” speaker with a 6 switch controller. Global basic amp control knobs that can also be used to edit on the screen. Inputs for pedals etc. A digital combo but better than the rest.
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Cliff I hope you are listening! That is almost exactly how I would spec it with an option to link a 2nd FRFR 12 inch cab for stereo and XLR outs for FOH of course.
 
Greg Ferguson said:
The tube manufacturing industry took a major hit because the manufacturing process is not eco-friendly, but there is word of some new ones opening. We’ll have to see how they affect the industry.

As an official member of the “old rocker generation” I have no intention of going anywhere in the next decade, so this poll is premature.
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Actually, the hit came from NATO countries finally retiring all of their outdated (tube) equipment and updating to solid state technology (this was in the early/mid 1980s). The biggest user of vacuum tubes at that time was the military, and when they ceased to be a customer there wasn’t enough demand to keep tubes in production. And due to environmental regulation, it is too cost prohibitive to manufacture them in the USA for the minuscule guitar amplifier market (which is not even a fart in a hurricane when compared to the modern consumer electronics market).
 
I still think you will have amps but they have to evolve what your starting to see is a shift from the big heads to more compact heads that can be used in multiple scenarios like quietly at home through phones
Or direct into your DAW , at a band rehearsal or a larger live venues

HK was the first to do this really
With integrated effects , Redbox
Multiple amp voicing , but now you have Synergy ,Revv Mesa all starting to embrace the onboard IR recording and reactive loads to allow silent practice
 
Randalljax said:
I still think you will have amps but they have to evolve what your starting to see is a shift from the big heads to more compact heads that can be used in multiple scenarios like quietly at home through phones
Or direct into your DAW , at a band rehearsal or a larger live venues

HK was the first to do this really
With integrated effects , Redbox
Multiple amp voicing , but now you have Synergy ,Revv Mesa all starting to embrace the onboard IR recording and reactive loads to allow silent practice
Click to expand...

Basically, people are now expecting tube amps to offer the same features and versatility as modelers. I do believe we have come full circle...
 
Frodebro said:
Basically, people are now expecting tube amps to offer the same features and versatility as modelers. I do believe we have come full circle...
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Ya I think so , and as much as modellers have certain things that have become “table stakes “ like IR loader , scribble strips etc. I think tube amps now are facing that as well

It’s gotta be compact , and it’s got to be able to go FOH or direct to my DAW , and it’s got to be versatile multi channel clean , crunch Hi gain

I suspect you are going to see more of this , it started with Lunch boxes but now I think players want more
Bigger tubes like 6l6 instead of el84
And reverb power scaling etc etc
 
I don’t think tube amps are going anywhere. I’ve been hearing the doomsday predictions since the late 1970s. I guess people will keep predicting their demise until it eventually comes true, when/if ever that is. Modelers are great, I love them and use them. No Axe to grind there (pun intended). But seriously, this is electric cars saying gas cars have no future… probably true, but not a reality you’re likely to see anytime soon.

This subject is much like “guitars are dead” debates. The discussion comes and goes, but the guitars just stay and stay. It’s really ok if both amps and modelers survive, as the only conflicts between them are the ones we make up.

Were I to venture a prediction, I’d say a merging of the technologies is the future. That’s already taking its baby steps now, and will only get better.
 
Rex Rox said:
Cliff I hope you are listening! That is almost exactly how I would spec it with an option to link a 2nd FRFR 12 inch cab for stereo and XLR outs for FOH of course.
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2x10" coaxials with a 150° inverted V baffle to throw the sound around a bit....
 
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