all-tube guitar amplifiers are a good example of two principles- ONE- capturing tonal details that bring out the "woodiness" of the instrument, and TWO- being able to accurately reproduce the wide dynamic range of the instrument- i.e.- going from softly strumming or picking to "digging into the strings"- tube amps have the capability of letting you hear the contrast between soft and loud effortlessly. i started out with an (admittedly inexpensive) 120 WATT stereo solid state amplifier which had alot of excellent features as well as two 12" drivers, but the tone of my les paul seemed a bit flat and totally lacked the body you get from acoustic guitars. i took it back a few days later; the store thankfully allowed me to exchange it for a FENDER TWIN REVERB (all tube-25W/100W switchable). i plugged in my guitar, and as the amp warmed up the most INCREDIBLE SOUNDS came out of the speakers. the amp screamed and cried; it could sound sweet and nice or tear your head off (in a good way!) with anguish and pain. even though i'm only an amateur player, everyone in the store seemed to stop what they were doing to listen to the wonderful sounds coming out of my guitar. i was more than satisfied to say the least. of course the amp had the typical noisy "tube rush"- the solid state amp had no such issues- but i was now a "guitar god" and i could stand next to a mountain and chop it down with the edge of my hand. this was all at the 25 watt setting, too. MY POINT IS, the fender delivered emotion and tonal colors, and sounded "real" when going from soft to loud. the solid state amp sounded alien like the guitar was made out of a "plastic compound" instead of mahagony.
