Unless you started playing electric guitar in the 50’s or 60’s, almost every electric guitar player starts their journey with a solid state amplifier. Some then move on to tubes, others to modelers, and some stick to solid state. Regardless of where you started or ended, no one can doubt the impact of a tube amplifier.

Of course, there are vintage iconic amps from Fender, Marshall, Vox.. The modern, more suped up, renditions of Friedman, Dr. Z, Matchless... are tight contenders for incredible tone. Now if that weren’t enough to deal with, the ever impressive engineering and innovations of the modeling amplification companies like Kemper, Line 6, Neural DSP, and Axe FX have developed ways to harness this tone into ones and zeros, making it nearly impossible for an audience to notice the difference.

But which type of amp is more budget friendly? Are tube amps more dynamic? Is it easier to dial in a modeler? Which type is preferred, vintage or boutique? Which modeler is doing it best?  And are tube amps dead?

Well we will discuss this, and more on this group therapy session with Jason, on the Tweed couch.