Tube Amp vs. Solid-State vs. Software: Can You Tell the Difference?

Features
By published

Guitarist Darrell Braun has been serving up blind comparisons of guitars in his videos for quite some time now.

In this new video, he compares amps, specifically a Mesa/Boogie Blue Angel tube amp and a Fender Deluxe 90 solid-state model. He also throws in S-Gear2 amp modeling software just to mix things up even further.

“Can you hear the difference between a tube amp, solid-state amp, and amp modeling software?” he asks. “Take the challenge and find out.”

When you’re done, check out Darrell’s other great videos on his YouTube channel.

Guitar World Staff
Guitar World Staff

Since 1980, Guitar World has been the ultimate resource for guitarists. Whether you want to learn the techniques employed by your guitar heroes, read about their latest projects or simply need to know which guitar is the right one to buy, Guitar World is the place to look.

More about amps

“If you’ve ever wondered what unobtanium looks like in amp form, this is it”: Played and revered by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Carlos Santana, and John Mayer, Dumble amps have an almost mythical reputation. But what's all the fuss really about?

“For the price, it’s pretty much unbeatable”: Harley Benton JAMster Guitar review

How to get better at guitar – 10 proven ways to improve your playing fast
See more latest
Most Popular
Ray Aggs
“I’ve never bought a guitar and I’m quite proud of that! I always tell people when they’re learning: there’s a guitar not being played”: Meet Sacred Paws’ Ray Aggs, the dextrous Tele-wrangler inventing new chords and capturing Thurston Moore’s imagination
EHX founder Mike Matthews stands in a warehouse with his fists in the air. He wears a tan jacket and has a trademark cigar in his mouth.
“Jimi was staying at a hotel in Times Square. He had his hair set in pink curlers and we would just talk band drama”: Electro-Harmonix founder Mike Matthews on befriending Hendrix, booking Chuck Berry and the birth of pedal culture
Yves Jarvis
“I didn’t use any amps. The pedal that saved me was the Boss Super Overdrive”: How Yves Jarvis made 2025’s most exciting experimental record so far with a $50 Explorer knockoff and an unbelievably weird tuning
Buddy Guy performs onstage in London in October 1965
“Chess was cussin' when I got to the session with Muddy. But when he heard me, he just sat there with his mouth open”: Leonard Chess wanted to cash in on the folk boom, and asked Muddy Waters to bring him an old acoustic bluesman. He brought him Buddy Guy
[from left] George Harrison with his Gretsch Country Gentleman, Norman Harris of Norman's Rare Guitars holds a gold-top Les Paul, John Fogerty with his legendary 1969 Rickenbacker
“I didn’t think anybody would believe I got it from George Harrison. I figured they’d call me a liar”: Vintage guitar guru Norman Harris names the 5 most memorable guitars that have come through Norman's Rare Guitars
View from behind the camera as a man records a guitar performance
“You better be ready to prove it’s something you can do”: Giacomo Turra got exposed – but real guitar virtuosos are being wrongly accused of fakery, too
Talking Heads live at CBGB's, in 1977. On the right, David Byrne tuneshis Fender Strat, while Jerry Harrison – also playing a Strat – looks on.
“I was really broke. The only way I could get to New York to try out for Talking Heads was to take a family who were moving there in the band van”: Jerry Harrison on making Talking Heads’ 1977 debut and rejecting blues-rock to shape the CBGB guitar sound
Paul Reed Smith performing earlier this year at PRS’s 40th Anniversary concert where he played a final prototype of the new Charcoal Phoenix. It’s all on YouTube!
“What blew me away was that everyone wanted the curly maple top. People were calling, saying, ‘I’ve got to have the bird inlays’”: Paul Reed Smith on raising the Standard 24, finally cracking the noise-free guitar and why John Sykes is a tone hero
Stevie Ray Vaughan plays his #1 Stratocaster (left), Stevie Wonder sits at a keyboard
That time Stevie Wonder jammed with Stevie Ray Vaughan... and played SRV's number one Strat
Albert Collins performs at the San Francisco Blues Festival at Fort Mason in San Francisco, California on September 15, 1990
“Freddie King would ask me why I never tried using thumbpicks... I really like digging in with my fingers”: He replaced Jimi Hendrix in Little Richard's band, was idolized by Stevie Ray Vaughan, and is one of the most underrated Tele slingers of all time