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Tube Power vs Solid State Power

I continually hear Tube power is more powerful than Solid State Power. IE; “A 20 watt tube amp’s power is like a 60 watt Solid State Amp’s Power” and so on… Is this true ???

I always think of the “What’s Heavier, a pound of Feathers or pound of Rocks story?” A pound is a pound right ? 
Maybe someone could offer some thoughts and explain if this is true or not. 
Thanks
flasd
phcollie's avatar
phcollie
342 posts
 
Watts are Watts as a standard of measure. But add a speaker and the game changes.
Hard to view a amplifier in a "vacuum".  Most I see are connected to a wide variety of speakers with many different demands.  ;)      Oíche Samhain
sns
3,570 posts
 
Power supplies within amps have great impact upon watts ratings. All things being equal, amp with superior PS will have superior micro and macro dynamics.
larryi
4,186 posts
 
Tube amps tend to be optimistically rated such that an amp rated at 40 watts will only output that amount with quite a bit of distortion; in that sense tube amp watts are less, not more than solid state watts. But, tube amps distort more gracefully (mostly low order distortion), and they tend to compress (not get proportionately louder) rather then sounding harsh, so one might be tempted to push them closer to their rated power.  To me, great sounding tube amps sound more alive, particularly at lower volume levels, than top solid state amps, so one is satisfied with playing at a lower power level.  Hence, the tube amp tends to sound more powerful than its rating.
bigtwin's avatar
bigtwin
1,306 posts
 
I found this short article to be very good.  


https://www.caryaudio.com/2018/06/04/vacuum-tube-vs-solid-state/
russ69's avatar
russ69
3,569 posts
 
If solid state amps had the same power supplies as most tube amps, you would not see much difference. There are very few low power solid state amps with big power supplies so it's hard to compare.  
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