JFETs and Solid State Amplification | Too Afraid To Ask

[@ScienceofLoud]

Are JFETs better than Valves? Let's discuss the science of semiconductors and the operation of transistors to determine the advantages of Solid State Amplification. Super Crush 100 Review - kzbin.info/www/bejne/fmHXqJ6qgrR2h9E How Valve Amps Work - kzbin.info/www/bejne/lWKaYXyifJ6cn8U Get your Super Crush 100: Thomann - www.thomann.de/gb/orange_super_crush_100_head.htm?offid=1&affid=367 Sweetwater - imp.i114863.net/LP2mzj This video contains paid promotion from Orange Amplification More details on how CSGuitars implements product promotion - www.csguitars.co.uk/disclosure Timecodes: Introduction - 00:00 Semiconductor Science - 01:27 Diode Rectification - 04:58 JFET Preamp - 05:45 MOSFET Poweramp - 07:51 Other Considerations - 10:04 Sound Samples - 11:42 Conclusion - 12:12 #JFET #solidstate #orange More from CSGuitars: Gain access to exclusive content at: www.patreon.com/csguitars Join CSGuitars Discord - discord.gg/csguitars Buy CSGuitars Merchandise - www.csguitars.co.uk/store Website - www.csguitars.co.uk Contact - [e-mail] ____________________________________________________________________ *Description contains affiliate links. Purchasing using one of these links will generate a small commission for CSGuitars at no additional cost to you.* Affiliate Links: Thomann - www.thomann.de/gb/index.html?offid=1&affid=367 Sweetwater - imp.i114863.net/2mGGg Reverb - reverb.grsm.io/csguitars Crimson Luthiery Tools - www.crimsonguitars.com/?ref=csguitars + Discount Code 'CSGUITARS5' for 5% OFF Gthic Jewelry - gthic.com/?aff=230 + Discount Code 'colin20' for 20% OFF Title graphics and logo by: www.studiosmithdesign.co.uk/ Join the discussion at: Facebook - facebook.com/csguitars Instagram - instagram.com/csguitars/ Discord - discord.gg/csguitars

[@Typical.Anomaly]

Dude, great video! I've watched quite a few explanations of semiconductors and your delivery, as always, is concise and entertaining. 🤘

[@stimpsonjcat26]

I have an idea for you. Take a well known tube amp and measure it's frequency output then take a solid state amp and eq its output to be the same as the tube amp. Then compare the sound. Might be tricky to match input gain though as a tube and jfet might not act the same at the same input voltage.

[@ParaBellum2024]

@@stimpsonjcat26 I have an idea. Take some decent tranny amps and some decent valve amps, put them in band situations and play through them at proper live gigs, and then decide which ones sound best, weigh the least, take up the least space, cut through the mix, etc. Top Trumps for guitar amps. Before buying my Sessionette in 1985, I owned a Marshall head and 4 x 12 cab. I have no doubt it sounded good, but it was so big and heavy that the 1 x 12 tranny combo was a no-brainer at the time. My Fender BDR is bigger than the Sessionette, but not massive.

[@Ben-yy7io]

@@stimpsonjcat26 The frequency response may be the same, but you have to measure the dynamic response from the amp. That is the key differency between valves and solid state devices, the changes that occur over time, rather than over frequency. You could potentially model the exact frequency response and harmonic content, but getting the dynamic response will be a lot more complicated. It would be impossible to replicate with a solid state amp, but potentially possible with modelers.

[@stimpsonjcat26]

@@Ben-yy7io That is the point. To control what you can and see how much difference there is in what you can't easily control.

[@MickMod]

As an electrical engineer, it's always nice when someone talking about electronics also happen to know what they're talking about. Thanks for the great videos Colin!

[@SirenaWF1]

Same.

[@Rudromukherjeenerv]

Also same

[@Dalley93]

How do you find out if someone is an engineer ?

[@NerdyCatCoffeeee]

@@Dalley93 If we don't tell you, can we even be considered engineers?

[@appaio]

I wonder what did stick in anyone’s mind of the talk in this video. I tell you: nothing.

[@agufish]

The last two seconds of the video is the only part I'm fully confident that I understood.

[@Terry3Gs]

LMAOL TERRIBLE Hunter !! :P

[@killroy123]

As an engineer, I can confidently say I have no idea what the last 2 seconds of the video mean

[@jaxonvictoria4345]

Remember when you also said “jai” fet instead of the American English way of saying it 😂😂

[@ronnienose8608]

@@jaxonvictoria4345 J as "Jay" transcends American English and British English, it's just English. The etymology of the Scottish English pronunciation of the letter would be interesting (but then I'm a bit sad in wanting to know that, haha).

[@Chirn70]

Hehe! Borderline racism! 😆

[@fuadfarooqi2304]

Dude, I'm an Electrical and Electronics Engineer and you explained this concept better than any professor ever did to us. Good Job! Cheers.

[@vadymvv]

It was the same our prophesor did explaine it. But that amount information was in one month of studying

[@09philj]

Now you've explained JFETs and MOSFETs, explaining op amps seems like a good idea of what to do next.

[@4stringz.]

I second that!

[@georgerobartes5989]

Not keen on op amps , even those with JFET structures known as the Fetzer Valve . I use J201s or BF245s to construct valve like circuitry for guitar preamps to obtain the tube sound with less fuss an smaller footprint than using an op amp for amplification purposes . Opamps too can suffer from being out of spec like JFETs and sometimes a selection process is needed to find what you need from a batch or bias them correctly , just like a valve . Want to build a compact powerful amp with valve like sound JFETs will get you there with a Power Mosfet output section at minimal expense . Unless you want to spend a fortune in copper and iron to build a bass amp that can get down to those fundamental 20Hz frequencies . JFETs and Moses are the only way to go . If you drop 20 Hz into your calcs for an output transformer for a 5W bassamp the OT grows to the proportions of a 100W Marshall or Hi Watt guitar OT about 3 times the size of the mains transformer . A lightweight valve bassamp does not exist and most designated bassamps by the big companies were converted to guitar amps despite their preamp design as inefficient OTs were fitted . The Fender Bassman for example , one of the most popular guitar amps around !

[@TedSchoenling]

op amps are just jfet or mofets built together to do amplification.

[@georgerobartes5989]

@@TedSchoenling No as they require a power supply both negative and positive directly to the device whereas the JFET works with the B+ in the circuit just like a tube .

[@TedSchoenling]

@@georgerobartes5989 I can, using dicreet componets, construct an op amp. Heck, the first op amp used tubes.. so yeah, basically an op amp is just the packaging of one or many discreet circuits... with the biasing and all the other stuff done... a TL072 can be made with off the shelf jfets if you want, and folks in the DIY community have indeed done this.. just for kicks..

[@RenzelPerez]

Being a guitar player and an engineer myself, I really appreciate technical videos like this. For the typical viewers, the video is still very informative without being unnecessarily complicated. Great work!

[@dustrider9306]

I second that.

[@mikewithers299]

I've had a difficult time trying to wrap my head around how P junctions work for years. Now it all makes sense. Nobody has helped me visualize this concept like this guy. I play guitar and love fixing my amps and other electronics but now I want to learn more🤩

[@kaushalsuvarna5156]

As a typical viewer I agree, I never understood or liked electric circuits etc. in school

[@Citizen-1a]

The transistor is definitely a contender for "Greatest Human Invention (yet)". In many parts of the world, many people own hundreds of millions of them, and very few people know what they even do, let alone how they work. Guitars, engineering, science, beer, bbq and alpacas are my favorite things!

[@mickavoidant4780]

Solid state beer might be something to see.

[@saintrhoads3375]

I only drink beer with el-34 power amp sections

[@castleanthrax1833]

I'm rather partial to llamas.

[@HaroonRahman]

There's a potentially true statistic saying that the semiconductor is the second most produced component in human history after the nail, and I 100% believe it

[@Citizen-1a]

@@HaroonRahman Well, in 2014, Forbes calculated that 2.9 sextillion transistors had been shipped, and there is no way that many nails ever got made. Also consider that nails have only been mass produced items for the last 200 years or so, and transistors already maybe for the last 50 years.

[@LouieTM]

I've owned and used a Rockerverb 50 MKIII for over a year. Last month I bought a SC100 and after just 3 band rehearsals I sold the Rockerverb. In a band situation the two amps sounded indistinguishable from each other through the same PPC212 cab. In the past I had also tried a Crush Pro 120 which didn't convince me to give up of the RV50. Although I still have 3 other valve amps, the SC100 is my No. 1 now.

[@eightfootmanchild]

I completely quit valve amps a few years ago. With such amazing solid state amps on the market today - Orange Crush series, Roland Blues Cube, Boss Katana, all the various profilers, etc - I couldn’t find any good justification for the amount of headache they cause. Solid state, and feelin great.

[@only1symo]

Yup, I have sold a mesa mark iv, Orange have nailed it.

[@AuntAlnico4]

I also had the cr120 head and it was pretty good but no where near as good as some of the cheap tube amps I have like the Peavey valveking mk1 120 watt head or even an old crate vintage club 50212 combo that I've got and both are way more versatile and tonally pleasing so I sold the Orange cr120 happily making a nice profit from what I paid for it doubling my money ! Don't get me wrong because there's a few solid state amps I've really really liked such as the orange crush mini 3 watt battery powered amp and there's the Marshall lead 12 and MG15 mini stack with spring reverb and sounds amazingly beautiful and better then my Marshall DSL 15 all tube head unit and the fender frontman amps I've always liked plus the other fender solid state amps from the 1980's sounded good so it's not hate towards solid state amps it's just I didn't like the cr120 but the 100 that you have sounds better and brighter so I could probably use it but I don't see it happening since I'm not in the market for 100 solid state guitar amp anytime soon. Keep on rocking in the free world !

[@anthonym8296]

Electrical Engineer here, really nailed it. A well designed solid state amp can definitely hold its place with valve amps. I have been preaching this information to all of my friends for a while lol.

[@GTRxMan]

Agree, up to a point. I think that solid state amps have traditionally not lived up to their tube counterparts in 'feel.' The subtle difference in sound created by picking dynamics and volume changes. Likewise, the power amp clipping of solid state has largely been inferior to the softer clipping of tubes. I think it's largely due to the market demanding tubes rather than solid state. The current generation of modeling amps, though, has made huge strides with these amps being virtually indistinguishable from those which they clone.

[@grayaj23]

The thing I find amazing about semiconductors is that, like CRTs and lasers, they were invented after someone "got over" the fundamental weirdness of quantum theory and trusted what the math was telling them. It's only by understanding the quantums at a fundamental level that the devices were even conceivable. And at the times they were first proposed, many physicists thought they were utter nonsense. "You're taking the math too seriously! Obviously that will never work, it makes no sense!" until someone went and built the f'n thing and it worked exactly how the theory predicted. Any time someone wants to get on their computer to talk sh*t about how scientists don't know what they're doing, you gotta laugh. Every time you turn it on, your PC and cellphone proves it's all true.

[@TheStrykerProject]

The 'tunneling diode'. Ha, ha, ha. Impossible! 😆

[@ike2010]

So true. Until the Many Worlds crowd comes to the table, or the String Theory crowd comes along, etc., etc. As someone with a Computer Science degree, science still ain’t perfect.

[@grayaj23]

@@ike2010 I think you're missing the point. *Interpretation* is open to debate. The theory is not. Transistors are proof. Cathode ray tubes and lasers are proof. GPS/satnav devices prove Einstein right every time we don't crash into a building.

[@hoboroadie4623]

Don't know what you are going on about but it seems like the sort of thing that works in a better brain. Not sure how I got there, Coffee maybe, but once I was wrassling with the maths around Einstein's Theory of something. Anyway, for a couple of hours I could see how the numbers were adding up to the mathematical feasibility of "time travel". Just saying, that stuff is pretty much witchcraft to the primitive mind like mine, but it is really a thing. ☝️

[@AuntAlnico4]

It doesn't "prove all of it's true" because it only proves that the science and math behind electric components because they are measurable and proudly provable but that doesn't mean everything is true in science for that one thing (measuring electric components) and not proof of the world being flat. Do you understand ?

[@CastToVoid]

It's nice to see a take on guitar amplifiers that isn't from the 50s

[@ScienceofLoud]

The rate we're advancing we'll finally be accepting 2020s amp tech some time around the heat death of the universe.

[@ChrisEck13]

Ironically, digital modeling technology is completely accepted and considered the standard in some circles today, so much so that analog technology is looked down upon by some groups, especially in the younger generation. Just like some in the older generation look down upon digital technology. Analog solid state technology just doesn't have the same kind of following as valve amps or digital modeling. There have been some really great solid state amps but because solid state amps are cheaper to manufacture in general, just about every crappy beginner amp is solid state and people sometimes judge solid state amps like they're all that little Fender 10 watt with the 6" speaker they had when they were 15. Most really bad sounding amps are solid state because they are made to be as cheap as possible but it is possible, as evidence by this Orange Super Crush, that there are good sounding and carefully designed solid state amps.

[@Lieutenant_Dude]

If you didn't know Catalinbread did exactly what you were talking about. They make a series of pedals that are recreating the circuits of famous amplifier preamps using JFETs in place of the preamp tubes. The Dirty Little Secret is their 1959 plexi pedal, the SFT is their version of the Ampeg SVT, and the Galileo is a simplification of the AC30 with a top boost in front.

[@joplast6915]

I've looked up how transistors work, but never really understood how they work in the context of amplifying your guitar signal. Your explanation was so insightful! Thank you

[@Fajitafalcon]

As a guitar player who is also interested in chemistry and engineering can you PLEASE make more videos like this?

[@RobertKeeleyTV]

Excellent video, you did an Amazing job Colin! Many engineers couldn't explain it as well. I agree JFETs do a great job substituting for tubes. The Katana Boost is a 100% JFET audio preamp and I agree, those types of circuits sound very, very good.

[@jazznotes3802]

But that’s a digital amp.

[@le_bodo]

@@jazznotes3802 He means the Keeley Katana clean boost :)

[@bpabustan]

Another winner of a video! Colin really has the rare talent of simplifying complicated topics without losing its essence and clarity.

[@silasfatchett7380]

Agreed.

[@gaborszpisjak1874]

This was the simple most educating and easy to understand explanation of what the transistors do and how. Better explanation then my highschool teacher gave me. Kepp it up Colin! Great video!

[@zedcarr6128]

Another BEAUTIFULLY produced video, Colin. As a guy who has over 30 years experience as an electronic / electrical engineer, I doff my cap in your general direction, sir. I envy the youth of today who have access to truly awesome teachers like yourself, and even with my decades of experience, I have learned a few things when your videos fill in some gaps in my knowledge, we are always learning. On the subject of valves V solid state, I can think of a couple of applications where valves will ALWAYS rule unless a new device is invented. 1: RF Transmitters. When I worked at a transmitter station in the mid 1980s a SINGLE grounded grid triode valve took 25kW of RF in the HF Band and shoved it up the aerial. Want more power? Just make the valve physically bigger, the LF Band Transmitters went up to 100kW. 2: Magnetrons /reflex klystrons. High power / low power cavity oscillators used in microwave ovens (magnetron), radar and satellite communication systems.

[@outofdinero]

The interesting thing is that solid state rectifiers help avoid power sag, but sag is part of the quality of tube amps that people like to hear, and it's even an adjustable parameter on some amp modelers.

[@larrysteinke1839]

solid state rectifiers can also allow sag easily by just adding series resistance to the first filter cap. sag is just a form of compression and it can be achieved in different ways. one of the biggest differences in solid state versus tube power stages is the damping factor. Tube power stages inherently have low damping factor which allows the frequency response to follow more the characteristic impedance curve of the speaker. Solid state power amps often simulate this effect by adding current feedback to lower the damping factor.

[@vincentl.9469]

@@larrysteinke1839 can you explain why tubes(valves) have made a comeback in Audio amplifiers that for many years were solid state? What is the gain in sound quality there?

[@larrysteinke1839]

@@vincentl.9469 do you mean for HiFi? in my opinion the benefits for HiFi are much more subtle and esoteric because they operate mainly in the linear range with minimal distortion. For guitar though it's the organic and dynamic way it compresses and distorts the signal in a way that sounds good with a very simple (but not very efficient) circuit. Tubes in HiFi are maybe making a comeback more because of fashion and aesthetics.

[@andrewpearson1903]

@@ghost_mall This may be why I've only ever seen Orange amps used in real life by metal & post-hardcore bands that use a lot of added distortion. Personally I play that high-headroom, natural-breakup, classic-rock sound that the presenter here admits is still exclusive to decent tube amps and solid states that take a bit more power to sustain that sort of headroom. I think the choice between them should be determined by the player and the style, but I have yet to find a solid state amp that works for (and furthermore is marketed towards) the music I play.

[@572Btriode]

@@larrysteinke1839 And an army of audiophools. . . . . . . . . . .

[@gulpirak]

Speaking as a bass player, I'm all in on solid state. After years of dreaming of an all tube MESA 400+, I finally got to try one - and was deeply underwhelmed and immediately went back to my Sansamp, Darkglass, and Peavey preamps.

[@KlockoFett]

I felt the same when I tried the 400+. I've come to realize I just don't like tube amps. A few that had a tube preamp with Solid state power were alright, but I've yet to find something that makes me want to move away from my GK. I haven't personally tried any of the Darkglass stuff, but I've heard it, and I've gotta admit it sounds stellar. Deepest I'd probably go is an Alpha/Omega pedal. The heads seem really nice, but not for me and where I'm currently at. Wish they were around 20 years ago when I was still raging hard instead of hardly raging.

[@paradiselost9946]

bass needs massive OPTs... and that means you have a LOT of iron... bass is the one area i prefer solidstate.

[@rossbalch]

AMT pedals use a JFET preamp design and they sound awesome.

[@mercedes260d4]

Had an E1 for awhile, did the Engl thing quite well. Highly recommended.

[@mcswordfish]

I love steam-engines. A trip to the Strathspey Steam Railway, or Summerlee in Coatbridge is a great day out. However, I'd be mental if I thought we should continue to use Steam Locomotives outwith these novelty, heritage environments. I think of Valves in much the same way. There are some environments where they are an actual necessity (I believe TV and Radio Transmitter amplifiers used them because Transistor amplifiers would melt with the power-requirements) but beyond that, it's mainly the charm, the romance, and the imperfection folk love about them. There's definitely a market for good, solid-state amplifiers (as opposed to the litany of cheap, crap ones - the sort we all owned at 15) - if I were a gigging musician, I'd strongly consider one. But, I'm a boring fart who plays the same Led Zeppelin riffs in his garage, and with the litany of pretty-damn-good, low-powered valve-amps available, I'll take a steam-engine any day.

[@ScienceofLoud]

Summerlee is quality, I love that place. Steam-engines hold that magic, and it's sweet to see people dedicated to them and still sharing in their joy, but if they kept barking in your face about how modern locomotion is garbage and inferior then you'd lose all respect for them. I do love this valves as steam engine analogy, it feels right.

[@jonathansmith3262]

I agree. I guess I never hear people argue that valves work better as engineering. Just that people may prefer the sound. I don’t think it is necessarily nostalgia though or just about quaint charm. If we are thinking functionally, yes. But we are also talking about something inherently both functional and aesthetic. So to me it’s more like having a preference for representational oil paintings over photography. Less efficient, yes. But also aesthetically different. And efficiency is only part of the point. There are reasons to use oil today that aren’t nostalgia. Anyhow thanks from St. Louis Missouri for all the good information!

[@keithm8650]

You my friend have filled a gap in my education in less than 2 mins when you described the N type and P type transistors. Thank you. Great information - great presentation.

[@joshuakincheloe]

I’m actually stunned by the quality of this amp and how good it sounds. To be honest the damn thing just sounds like grunge. It reminds me of old guitar tones from the 90s like Alice In Chains’ Jerry Cantrell‘s tone.

[@davedecker1725]

And it's a lot cheaper than a Friedman

[@BkBk-gy6vr]

@Dave Decker still won't sound nearly as good as a valve amp.

[@SDisonYT]

I can’t fathom how much research and prep goes into a video this thorough. Wow. Incredibly impressive knowledge. Thank you! I learned a ton!

[@prook2001]

Love your science videos. Great knowledge. I particularly liked the irony in this one explaining why ‘modern’ designed amps are ‘better’ (or at least designed to work sound good within the design constraints unlike valve amps) while running a 60’s reel to reel tape deck in the background when playing.

[@ScienceofLoud]

Old technology is cool. The reel to reel is a lot of fun, but it's certainly not as convenient as any modern digital recording method.

[@vincentl.9469]

@@ScienceofLoud why have tubes made a comeback in Audio/Hi Fi amplifiers? is it just an indulgence?

[@godzilla964]

@@vincentl.9469 I guess so. My dad sells these tube powered Bluetooth receivers.

[@mikewithers299]

​@@vincentl.9469I know that true "audiophiles " love their old tube amps. Think McIntosh brand and the like

[@kennyharke366]

I bought this amp and couldn't believe how much it sounds like a tube amp. Cool video, learned something.

[@raven_glass]

I keep reading and hearing how solid state amps are just as good. All I can say is after 20 years as a professional in music, the ONLY time I have walked in a room after being "WOWed" by hearing an amp (blind) was with class A valve amps. I have just never been blown away by a class D amp even when I didn't know what amp I was hearing.

[@Mazda13bRotary]

Orange is paying for these videos right now, I've seen other guitar youtubers promoting the same orange crush with a title along the lines of solid state vs valves or "is solid state better than valves now?".

[@fastacesus8499]

Agreed except this and many of the new generation SS are class A/B.

[@Gordonhermederme]

It's insane how fast musicians can educate themselves with videos like this. Thanks again!!

[@3niknicholson]

I stuck J201 fet preamps on each pickup of my strat and feed it into a diy mu-amp pedal, again with cheap and cheerful J201's and I think it sounds great.Louds of lovely second harmonic distortion when given welly.

[@jcdelas]

The engineer in me it's drooling with videos like this. I have had design a couple of amplifiers using LM1875 and TDA2040, that are similiar to the TDA7294. The real money here is in the preamp where the Orange sound come from. There are lot of similarities in the power section with the pedal baby 100. I guess is still using toroidal transformers as I didn't saw the switching mosfet and diode of the smps power supplies. In any case, there is no difference between this video and the first week of class in my engineering degree, so very very good video.

[@georgetheodor112]

Finally my prayers have been heard! A hell of thank you from a happy owner of 2 channel JFET preamp for all the info!

[@oncameramastery]

Quite literally the 'science of loud' this week!!! 😊

[@martinemesguitar]

I reached out through the void to hear a long dead metal band last night, it was a "seance of loud."

[@pirhala]

Well, here’s one dude that needs to work for orange amplification. Far better spoken than the creator of the amp itself and a convincing salesman at that! Bravo!!! Great explanation of the inner workings of the amp!

[@charliecooper5457]

Barry reminds me of those films I saw as a kid where some magical cartoon character appears alongside real-life actors and everyone acts like it's normal and never explains how the universe works.

[@stimpsonjcat26]

You don't have little characters popping up beside you? You need some help!

[@NicholasGreenwood]

Electrical engineer here. Everything presented here is on point. High five. This year I sold my 100-watt tube amp and got a digital modeler (Quad Cortex) running into an Orange Pedal Baby 100 into my 4x12 cab. The Pedal Baby is a 100-watt Class AB solid state amp and sounds incredible. My guitar rig is much more lightweight, I have so many more sound options at my disposal, and I never have to worry about taking a tube amp into a shop for re-tube/re-bias ever again. I have absolutely benefited from switching over to digital and solid state!

[@rchlclr]

It's so amazing how far amplifier technology has come even in the last ten years.

[@mickavoidant4780]

Class Ds have become small enough to fit a 200w head into a gig bag pocket.

[@pimcramer2569]

I have no clue what changed the past ten years

[@1pcfred]

@@pimcramer2569 the Chinese have completely destroyed the component market with counterfeit parts. That's one thing that's happened.

[@id3m589]

@@1pcfred you mean 50% of manufacturers moving their production to China, like Vishay, Texas Electronics, SM, BT... Also huge manufacturing like Yaego fully made in China? Also, how would you "counterfeit" a transistor? Put different amount of boron into it?

[@1pcfred]

@@id3m589 I do not know the technical details of precisely how one counterfeits a transistor. I have certainly seen examples of it though. With power transistors the die itself is substantially physically smaller. So they cannot handle nearly the power a genuine part can. Amplifier ICs which are integrated transistors are popularly counterfeited too. Those faux parts miss all of their specs compared to genuine ones. Today you can consider yourself lucky if you get reclaimed ewaste when you order something. Least then the part you're getting is genuine, even if it is garbage. I see the day coming where even those parts will be counterfeit though.

[@DELTAdarke]

Dude I've been watching your channel for like a decade now. You've come so far and I'm constantly impressed. Incredible video, mate.

[@TealScarab]

Bought a Peavey Bandit 112 for myself solely because it is a solid state amp, I’m not one to deal with the dangers and cost of a tube amp.

[@stimpsonjcat26]

I got a great deal on one so I bought it not knowing if it was a good amp or not. IMO it turned out to be an amazing amp for the price.

[@David-tx1ig]

Outstanding discussion on solid-state amps! I learned a lot, cheers! I have been carrying around solid-state amps for nearly 40 years for their cost-effectiveness, portability and reliability. I have an Orange CR-120 that I love! It's like everything from 70's guitar rock to crushing Black Sabbath saturation in a box with no tubes!!

[@TheRosswise]

I'm still jamming on my Peavey Transtube amps. It is amazing how close Peavey got 25 years ago.

[@ProCoRat]

Peavey XXL?

[@TheRosswise]

@@ProCoRat That and the Bandit

[@mikewithers299]

​@@TheRosswiselove both my Bandits, old and TT

[@halofour01]

Great video as always. The breakdown of what a semi-conductor actually is and how they work was fantastic! I played solid state amps for 25 years. (A Pearce G1 specifically) About 10 years ago I decided to finally see what all the fuss over tube amps was about. It seems to me that you can get equally great sounds out of either but the feel of a tube amp is really where the magic is. A good tube amp feels like you're playing it as part of the instrument, not just playing through it. The lack of perfect response to input means they kind of ebb and flow with your attack. It's pretty cool. These days I own a variety of both type of amps with some modeling stuff as well. It all has its place and suits a mood or application.

[@scottpeters4401]

Call it nostalgia,call it old skool,but the punch and liveliness of a tube amp and the way it relates to the speakers it’s connected to,just sounds better to me….it just does….I have a Boss TAE and a Fryette Power Station..The Boss SS power amp sounds very,very good..Does it sound better than the 50 watt tube power in the Fryette?..Hell no…not to me it doesn’t…I have tried many SS power amps,and not one sounds as good as a tube power amp….I get the advantages and convenience of SS designs,so they indeed have a place…as far as reliability,other than occasional tube changes,I haven’t run into any significant issues with tube amps….Just my opinion and take on it,but at the end of the day,use whatever amp sounds good and inspires you to play guitar,Tube or SS….

[@richardappleby9519]

Great explanation. I really liked the periodic table stuff. Doping now makes sense! Keep Up the good work Colin. Congrats for winning the Guitar build off. Ruch

[@Ben-yy7io]

One thing to keep in mind, is that even when valve amplifiers are played cleanly without clipping, they introduce a signifigant amount of harmonic distortion in each preamp stage, meaning that even with a flat eq the valve amp will have more second and third harmonic content throughout.

[@ryangunwitch-black]

That's why we like em.

[@oilcan77]

Best explanation of N and P doping I think I've heard in my 30 years of electronics.

[@jburdsinfuse]

Love the video. We went silent stage and straight to PA a while ago...the only thing that matters is how it sounds out to front of house, and I can get great tones with pedals and Helix, Iridium, or whatever amp simulator. I still have a couple tube amps, but the only practical use for them would be for studio recording...which I will literally never do. Any live playing is SS and no one knows the difference (except the guitar players in the crowd).

[@brendanm6921]

I bet even the guitar players can't tell. Most guitar players will scream at the top of their lungs about how bad solid state amps are yet they don't realise that they are used to record so much of the music they listen to by so many great musicians.

[@Ottophil]

this makes me sad. I wish everyone else had my ears

[@FiveseveNp90]

@@Ottophil Ever considered that it's not about the ears but the stuff between them? Big fan of blind tests, are ya?

[@lorez6063]

Man, your videos are just getting better and better. I love learning, and you are providing exceptional content. Thank you very much for bringing this knowledge to us.

[@MarkToast99]

God I love this channel. So much practical, usable information, completely free of charge. Also, gotta admit. Barry gave me a bit of a scare appearing out of nowhere like that. Tell him to knock first before appearing out of the realm between realms.

[@timothymallon]

As a lifelong lover of tube amps, having owned several Fenders and a Vox AC30, I recently bought an Orange Crush CR60C combo and I cant believe how good it sounds. In fact, I haven't turned on my current Fender tube amp since I bought the Orange!

[@Aditya_Paliwal_9]

That means a lot sir! : )

[@chadhuard818]

A clear and succinct summary of my entire solid state 101 course at school, just without the math ;-). Who would have thought that it takes a long-haired, metal-head scot to make these concepts approachable, much moreso than the stodgy professors at school. Keep rocking sir!!

[@felinekaiju4517]

I almost ended up getting the orange Crush Pro 120, but all the goodies with the Peavey Invective had me sold. I'm also considering getting the Fuzzlord Fet120 pedal, which can be used as a clean boost, or a classic Fet driven fuzz from the 70's, also can be used as a pre amp pedal.

[@ciddax754]

I was tought a LOT about transistors. In school in physics and later computer science. Then later at university, studying computer science and taking some classes in electronics. This was one of the best lessons about that stuff. You did, very, very well! It is a rare and precious talent to make complicated things easily understandable!

[@mal2ksc]

In computer science, you're not so concerned about the analog behavior of transistors. In fact, you're generally designing to avoid its impact. I wouldn't be surprised if analog behavior was handwaved away as irrelevant in properly functioning digital equipment, so you never really got a feel for it there.

[@garynumen13]

Well done and informative. I prefer, by and very large, simple valve amps and you suggest in the video that those of us that do are somehow confused about what sounds "good". I have never heard that articulation of the argument before. As always, are there good transistor amps - yes. Are there bad tube amps - yes. But as you also articulate throughout your video, there are "problems" in the valve amp that DO contribute to the sound and FEEL of playing the amp. Remove those "problems" and you remove some of the "magic". I don't think you will ever convince people that they are mistaken about what they think sounds "good". As a result, for most of us, not all, we will probably only ever LOVE a solid-state amp that somehow sounds and acts like a valve amp. I hope someday we get there; I really do. Maybe we will. Or maybe we can all be convinced all that music that has enriched our lives over the years didn't actually sound good or "right". 🤔

[@barbmelle3136]

Nice touch, having a reel to reel tape deck running in the background while talking about traditional sound equipment.

[@bhaskarchatterjee6510]

It's amazing how you made these electronics concepts so easy to understand. Great work buddy!!

[@thecaveofthedead]

Fascinating vid. I'm one of those people with an 18W Marshall clone with a tube rectifier. Where it has a mosfet is for power scaling so I can get that power section to drive at manageable volumes. And there's the thing: it's not just nostalgia. That sound has blown people's minds for the _first_ time they hear it since the Bluesbreaker record in 1965. Now not everyone wants that sound, that's completely fair. But those Chicago blues guys in the late '50s had the means to record their tweed Fenders clean (doing what an amplifier was meant to do) and chose to record them pushed too far and... distorting. Failing, as you call it. _They_ decided it sounded awesome when hearing it for the first time. They wanted their amps to sound on record how they did in clubs. For me, wanting the sound of a Princeton, Bluesbreaker, or Super Reverb cranked up the wazoo, a solid state _guitar_ amplifier makes no sense. Where tech can help me is to send carefully digitally modelled version straight into a hi-fidelity power amplifier (the PA) and dispense with the weird phenomenon of the guitar player alone having separate amplifier on stage when everyone else has given the job over to the biggest, cleanest amp in the room.

[@lvcifer-cloverfield]

Blimey what a great video! You explained in 5 minutes what my Professor failed to convey comprehensively in 30. Very well done

[@nylertickel2]

Fascinating video! LOVED how nitty gritty and scientific you got with it all

[@csj9619]

That's the best explanation of (JFET) transistors I've ever heard.

[@TheMiguellopez75]

Hello Colin, thank you for this excellent video! During the 90s as a beginner in electric guitar I use some solid state amps, but they didn't sounded very good; at that time I didn't even had the oportunity to use tube amps, they were very uncommon were I lived. The closest was a Valvestate, that was much better than solid state amps, specially for overdriven and distorted sounds. I used my 8080 extensively, I still have it as a practice amp. But at one point, in the early 2000s, I couldnt get the sound that I wanted from that amp, and I finally had the opportunity to play an all tube amp and it was really awesome, a real turning point. Since then I never found a solid state amp that could match the sound of an all tube amp for what I play: from classic 50s rock and roll to early 90s hard rock and a little metal. Today were I live, solid state guitar amps are mainly for begineers and still dont sound very well, specially when playing on their own, without a band. And they really suck when you put an overdrive or distortion pedal in front of. I'm glad that evolution of the solid state amps make them now equal to an all tube amp, but I havent found one that pleases me as much as an all tube amp (I havent played the SC100 in person). I really don't see the end of tube amps for electric guitar playing anytime soon.

[@inthestudy]

Honest truth? It's less because tube amps have an inherently magical sound; and almost entirely because most transistor guitar amps since 1990 are built to be budget devices. There just aren't a lot of high end transistor amps. newer than the early 1980's. Case in point the valvestate amps. The Super Crush 100 is mostly an exception here - but even it cheaps out by using things like a digital reverb module instead of say - a real spring reverb. Most of the rest today are digital modelling, which have their own compromises. I'd honestly love to see a no-compromises pro-class analogue solid state amp like a 1:1 jfet+mosfet Fender with real reverb, or maybe a Plexi built the same way. But no op-amps, no digital, no shortcuts.

[@GTRxMan]

Excellent explanation of how silicone based semiconductors operate and very enlightening as to the understanding of why germanium is used in certain cases. Have to take issue with the statement about our conditioning to the sound of tube based power amps clipping. While we initially stumbled on it because the amps didn't have enough power, it's undeniable that power amp clipping is the basis of a big guitar sound.

[@rnfr]

It’s about time we got some JFET based amps! The pedal realm has been on it for years. “Amps in a Box” circuits have been going for years in this direction but the big production manufacturers probably didn’t want to touch them due to the inconsistencies in their manufacturing. Glad to see this is changing. It’s going to change the amp world right in time for the tube shortage.

[@jazznotes3802]

Randall has been doing awesome JFET’s solid state amplifiers for years.

[@Metalbass1979]

Wow! I feel exponentially smarter after having watched this......and now really want the Orange Super Crush 100.

[@pyroguitars1296]

Hey Colin. Great video. Much of that is now in the Higher Physics curriculum. Luckily for you, I have just retired and so won't pester you to visit my school. Keep up the good work.

[@Gorbyrev]

Cool video. Ty Tabor sounds glorious through his Super Crush as he did through his Labtech L5 back in the day. Dimebag, B.B.King and many others have got great tones out of solid state amps.

[@chickencreekproductions]

I don’t understand, but I’m still mesmerised and keep looking and listening as if I actually DO understand what the heck you’re talking about. Oh, I actually got Jay-fet. I feel educated 🥳 Thanks for making this 👍

[@KeithShelley1]

7:20 I believe most of Catalinbread's "foundation overdrive" series uses JFETs to recreate the preamps of famous guitar amps in pedal form. They're some of the best overdrives I've ever heard; now I know why!

[@sarangajitrk]

Orange already makes a JFET based overdrive pedal too called getaway driver.

[@dyangordon6151]

Jfets and Mosfet are perfect for tube pre amp emulators at lower voltages and have been done for years.. Also the RAH,WHO from Catalinbread uses mosfet,not all pre amp emulators use jfet..a lot of brittish amp emulators use cascading mossfets to emulate marshall,hiwatt pre amps at lower voltages like the zvex box of rock,..I think if your using these emulators it's worth while trying these in the loop to get a better emulaton.

[@ec8107]

A couple of great discrete jfet pedals are the EQD Monarch and Catalinbread Sabbra Cadabra. The Monarch is supposed to replicate an Orange amp and the SC is supposed to be a treble boost in front of a Laney. I don't know how faithfully the replication bit is, but the pedals are great.

[@timmooney7528]

Back in the 1970's Craig Anderton wrote a book full of musical oriented electronic projects, and one of them was a MOSFET-based distortion pedal based on a CD4049 inverting hex buffer. That design became the basis for the Way Huge Red Llama. As the gain would get pushed to the clipping level, the harmonics generated more of a tube style sound.

[@Timothy_Breiholz]

Fantastic video! And you even threw in the ED joke very subtly love it!

[@imbra]

Man, this infomercial was phenomenal! You really went to town on research for this. I especially love the added datasheets, a nice extra touch. Congrats!

[@telekmetyk]

Amazing video. 100% agree with Colin that guitarists obsession with valves comes from limitation of 50s technology. Unfortunately that is the sound I love and that's why I don't mind paying ridiculous amounts of money for hand wired copies of out dated tech.

[@bcrocks3935]

You gotta be one of the smartest dudes on you tube, thanks for the info sir! Makes me want to do closer listens to solid state amps

[@MGCaverly]

Well done for producing a video of extreme quality.

[@DANCEDWAT]

I liked the Voltage Sag innuendo. Not being familiar with digital electronics, I found this quite easy to understand. Cheers, mate.

[@christophermcdonald6471]

Thank you so much for making this video! You broke everything down and made it very easy to understand. Now I understand how J-fet circuits work and why they sound so "tubey".

[@autoazure]

Loved the 'how to pronounce' J ! Letter 'H' next lol! Liked the video immensely!

[@unclefungus7395]

i’m totally sold on transistor amps now, ive got a fender deluxe 112 plus from the 90’s that sounds just as good as it’s valve counterpart for next to nothing in terms of price. next year i’ll definitely be picking up one of these orange supercrush amps.

[@lvachon]

This is a great review of semiconductor technology, better than some of my EE courses back in the day.

[@MapleAudio]

Very nice explanation which also pleases someone that understands the technical side of things. Thank you. I think what people often overlook when it comes to comparisons between valve/tube-, solid-state- and digital-amps is that we basically figured out a long time ago how to make them sound alike. The challenge comes only from the nonlinearity and often unsymmetrical behaviour of valves/tubes which is what we want to mimick. When it comes to solid-state amps you have to figure out how to incorporate und arrange diodes to achieve the sounds that you want. In digtial realms we were limited by our processing power in the past but achieved astonishing results nonetheless. With today's tools it is even easier to "build" a good sounding digital amp. The "inferior" standing of solid-state and digital amps probably comes from truly bad experiences due to poorly designed circuits and software. Fortunately a lot of people are looking behind the curtain of marketing and tube-nostalgia and discover that these "other" amps are honestly amazing. People simply have to accept that every tool serves its purpose and it comes down to personal taste, convenience, budget and many more factors which one you choose. The only thing that you have to remind yourself is: They all CAN sound good.

[@amieffects5754]

I've been working with BJTs, Jfets and Valves(triodes) for different preamp circuits. Valves just do things that are difficult (but not impossible) to reproduce with transistors (and the opposite is also true). First of all triodes are hardly linear, meaning they will create harmonic distortion as a byproduct of amplification, adding a certain amount of harmonics, even when operating in their "clean" setting (inside their clean headroom). Jfets can reproduce that a little bit. Second has to do with what happens when you use them outside of this clean region. Valves can do hard clipping (cold clipper circuit) but also very very soft clipping (the DC coupled cathode follower). To reproduce these imperfections with transistors you certainly have to go with a more complex design than with valves. There is a lot of Jfet based preamps out there. Jfets are great devices if you source the ones that are made with the consistency you need for your design (which is not an easy task), gains may vary and each will have to be biased properly. And Jfets don't really soft clip as triodes do. It's easy to soft clip in a circuit like the tube screamer where all the highs are removed post-clipping, rounding corners of the clipped signal, but valves can soft clip with an ability to retain the full frequency spectrum and that's their most liked quality.

[@mal2ksc]

But in a world with Impulse Responses, all that nonlinearity can be accurately reproduced, at the cost of some latency.

[@dsmnoisemaker]

@@mal2ksc not really, IR does not work on the dynamic domain, only on the frequency response. It's just a very sophisticated EQ. Maybe you meant tone capture technology, which effectively reproduces dynamics and freq response, but it's a snapshot of a specific setting of an amp.

[@mal2ksc]

@@dsmnoisemaker Whatever goes into a Kemper profile is what I mean, I just thought those were still lumped under the general classification of "impulse response".

[@Ben-yy7io]

@@mal2ksc modeling amps have nothing to do with jfets. It's actually much easier to get close to a tube amp sound with a modeling amp then with jfets or bjts, I'd argue it's impossible to get a valve sound with solid state components. But modeling amplifiers are a different story, they can get very close, assuming the algorithm is good.

[@CrownedWarriorBand]

A great SS guitar amp is the AMT Electronics SH-100-4R. I have been using one for a couple of years now and love it.

[@derrickmickle5491]

I am not an electrical engineer, but found this video because I want to understand how amplification works. Even though a lot of the video was over my head, I understand how JFETs work conceptually after seeing this video. Will watch a few more times to see what more I can pick up. Wanted to say "Job well done!". If you're able to explain something to the point where someone with no background in electrical engineering can understand what you're explaining, you've done an outstanding job. Maybe I'll start pronouncing my "J"s like you do, too. LOL

[@jayseb]

Thank you for this video - and great science to back it up. I've been using crush 60 for the past few weeks, and I'm really impressed and satisfied with the tones I'm getting from it - playing around that crunch channel can really get you any tone you're looking for. I had to make some changes/arrangements with my pedals, tweak a few things here and there, but this little amp is just great. Clean tones can easily be dialed in for some bluesy songs, up to the crunch channel for some heavier riffs. Honesty, back a few years I used to be kind of a cork sniffer with amps, and now after using this little Orange amp, the +'s of it far beyond beat the -'s involved with valve amps... Cost, weight, maintenance... I think you're right and ultimately, nostalgia really plays a role. And what I have found with time is that reactions from cabs really makes the biggest difference. If I really want to change my "tone", a cab is the easiest change. Cheers and keep up the good work!

[@Treadplate367]

Man! That is the best, most thorough explanation I’ve ever seen of the difference between SS and tube amps! Thank you for making this. I think a cool “follow up” could be what other SS amps utilize this JFET/MOSFET design.

[@HelloNotMe9999]

Why are teachers so terrible at explaining this stuff in such a simple and useful way? This is a more concise explanation than anything I ever got in either high school or college, and that was with an engineering focus. Well done!

[@valuedhumanoid6574]

While I love my HiWatt 200 tube amp going into a Marshall 4x12 cab, I have an A/B pedal that will switch me over to my clean tone. And that is a Roland JC120 Jazz. The absolute best sounding solid state amp made (imho) With the built in chorus and my Neunabor Reverberator MKII pedal, the tone is ethereal. The compliments I receive are many. People just can’t believe you can get that kind of tone outside a studio

[@sahanulgen7214]

Hey Colin thanks so much for deeply explaining this. I got confused in past while reading about those components but your explanation was very straightforward and easy to follow EXCEPT your Scottish accent:))) Don’t take that in a wrong way because that gives a great flavour to your channel and to be honest in the beginning it was hard to follow you but the more I watch your videos the more I became familiar with the accent and actually started to like it! Thanks again!

[@micuronium]

I’ve watched half a dozen engineering videos on this, but leave it to a Metal guitarist to explain it more clearly and concisely than any of them yet! Meh’al! 🤘

[@stuartchapman5171]

I'm not a guitarist. I've put together many PA systems and understand the whole head room thing. I play with feedback loops tape and drone synths. I do own a few guitars for generating sounds. I bought a valve amp combo, it's great fun, it's got to be turned up loud though to appreciate the gnarly sweet spots. It's also got no fx loop. I build stuff and put together a solid state power amp to run the cab, I use my large drive boost pedal selection as the preamp stage, everything after that is in effect, in the effects loop. It runs my 12" 30w cab, I think it would do a twin 12" easily, it only needs 12-18v and is the size and weight of a large pedal, say a ehx Cathedral. I put a fan in it to help with the cooling. I love it. I can turn it down to protect my ears and keep the neighbours chilled,as all the dirt is in the pedals. I still use the valve head especially for recording experiments.

[@MattstaGraham]

I just did a shootout between my AD30 and the super crush 100 I just got and I’m floored. The AD30 is being sold on Thursday and I have a back up super crush coming. 🤘

[@pir869]

As an electronics technician i have yet to find a solid state amp that can match the touch sensitivity of a vacuum tube amplifier,germanium comes close ,but saying that ,it is still like comparing a rock and a cricket ball hitting your head and saying the cricket ball isn't as hard as the rock between silicon and germanium when compared to vacuum tubes,one is a little better than the other,but in the end both still don't touch tubes for responsive feel from pick to speaker. Fets have a voltage to current control or forward transconductance (gm mA/V) as do vacuum tubes,this would seem to be the only real similarity ,and as for voltage headroom compression the fet has too low an internal impedance to drop as much voltage across itself to allow for compression,which, is when the signal tries to go past the supply rail but can't ( not as easily)due to the V/IR ,high impedance passing more signal current drops more voltage across the tube,the same power is passed so the signal gets wider due to the increase in current,hence the term used by technicians and adopted by guitarists as a fatter signal or fatter sound,the sine wave gets wider and flattens off to a less peaky signal which will reach saturation eventually but not as abruptly as ANY solid state device will,even modeled amps don't sound the same,no matter how much we want to kid ourselves . Listen to a quality vacuum tube HiFi through a good set of speakers,this was the first impression i ever got of tubes,one channel was tube the other was solid state (sony HiFi),and i built the tube side ,the first one i ever built,Pink floyds "Dark side of the moon",the tube side was amazing to hear,i actually started laughing with amazement at the difference in audio quality. Transistors do make great switches,and very high speed too,but tubes are KING when it comes to audio,HANDS DOWN.

[@s13e]

ha! love your candor and banter... one of these years when one can afford some valves I'll be stoked to hear the true tonal difference with my trusty ss amps (marshall lead and yamaha G50III)

[@ccandrew111]

i love valve amps and would never get rid of mine, but i'm absolutely blown away by the quality of Neural DSP plugins lately, been using them a tonne

[@yunamadsimackomen881]

Thanks man! Really clarified a ton about transistor and valve function in amplifying process. As owner of both a transistor and a valve amp, I agree that technology has come far in the last couple of decades, and both systems of amplification sound equally as good. However, when it comes to price, weight, and reliability, transistors definitely beat valves.

[@edwinwise6751]

Had a Marshall 100 mosfet top with a 4x 12 cab in the 80s and loved it .had a certain snarl to it

[@chrisdaviesguitar]

Perhaps you should have explained what a JFET is first? :) Back in the 80's, I was using an H||H IC100S 100 watt head with a Marshall 4x12 angle front cab (still have them both). Phil Campbell (yes, that Phil Campbell of Motorhead) was at a gig and asked me how I got my sound. Well if that doesn't prove solid state amps are good, I don't know what does.

[@pda49184]

Thanks Colin.. This detailed and informative review of SS amps may help the cause. I've been using one in my band ( classic 50's rock'n'roll), for the last 4 years. I've strayed occasionally back to valves, but soon returned to my trusty, reliable and much lighter SS amp. For gigging guitarists/bassists/keyboards, they are the way to go, (in my opinion) .

[@johnbeasley9220]

This video is why I love your content, I love the way you explain the science of guitar.

[@robertreid2241]

My band hs recorded with a Joyo Ultimate Drive into a Supercrush 100 for ages, and it sounds great! Honestly such a brilliant amp, I've never A/B'd it with a valve head but I've always loved the sound it makes

[@darwinsaye]

You’ve been recording with a Super Crush for “ages”? Didn’t it just come out this year?

[@robertreid2241]

@@darwinsaye Ah in that case must have been a CR120 - amp kicks ass regardless

[@darwinsaye]

@@robertreid2241 Yes, in all the comparisons I’ve listened to, the CR120 sounds better to me than the Super Crush. SC sounds darker to my ears.