Marshall AVT Series + Other hybrid amps

[SuperJemBoy]

Hey people
I was just wondering, how much of a difference the valve/tube in the preamp makes in these amps? I heard that the louder these amps are played, the more the SS power amp has an effect on your tone. Is that true?

Thanks!

[Drew]

I've never gotten the whole "hybrid" thing... I mean, there's a single tube in the preamp. due to the nature of the cascading gain stages in a high-gain tube amp, that means you're not going to get any serious distortion out of the thing (as there's a two stage limit if both sides of the tube are for the distortion channel, or a single stage if it's for the distortion and the clean) without some significant solid-state assist. So, you're paying extra for what's essentially a solid state power amp running through a solid state pre... Either save your money and go full SS, as there's some perfectly good sounding solid state amps out there (give a Tech 21 a try sometime- damn.), or hold out until you can afford to go all tube.

-D

[AARRGGHHH]

i guess having the valve in the preamp might give you a slightly warmer preamp distortion. But it is a stupid idea imo because its the valve poweramp that gets you all the really nice tones

[SalemB]

It is my opinion so people may disagree, but...

Tube pre amp dist is usually harder and edgier than the power amp dist. It's in the power amp you get what is considered the classic Marshall tone that you only get when playing a tube amp over 6-7.

If you're playing at a lower volume than that you can just as well use an AVT or hybrid as your distortion will be generated by the preamp.