By virtue of their electrical properties, tubes generate a special waveform when they're saturated, which is why tube engineering has tremendous tonal advantages over solid state or DSP solutions, particularly for crunch and lead sounds. Tubes enter the saturation zone gradually or softly, which lends tube-driven tone its trademark yet totally unique character.
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I suppose as long as your happy with your tone from a big amp thats fine. Oh well, if i do get a big amp and need to have it at a certain volume before i can get the best tone from the tubes so be it. I dont really like my neighbours anyway and i'm sure my parents will get use to the noise :)
