Solid State vs. Tubes - What if Transistors came first?


What do you guys think?

If transistors came first, and then decades later tubes were invented, would we have any tube amps we would call high end?

Wouldn’t they all fail to reach the height of performance and transparency set by transistor amps?

Best,

E

P.S. I love Conrad Johnson. I'm just wondering how  much of our arguments have to do with timing. 
erik_squires
I think I earlier mentioned I was in school with one of Lee Deforest’s grandsons. He often quoted the old man’s last words: “Tubes suck.”  ⚰️
This has officially gone silly, so, let me set all of you straight on something:


Pineapple and pepperoni pizzas are wonderful things. 


You are welcome.

E
Sorry man, but vinyl is the absolute most compressed and limited medium on the market.
I run an LP mastering operation if that’s any help here. You are incorrect about LPs on a number of counts. Specifically with LPs vs CDs, **usually** the CD is more compressed! The reason has nothing to do with the capabilities of either format. Its has to do with cars. Because CDs are expected to be played in cars, they are compressed. LPs have no such expectation, and generally have less or no compression whatsoever.
When we do an LP project from a digital master, it is for this reason that we try to get the master file that was made prior to CD mastering.
Regarding your bass comment about the middle of the LP, the statement is entirely false. Mastering houses don’t do that. Now there is this thing about out-of-phase bass, which is something that can show up in a multi-mic’ed recording but so far I’ve found that you don’t need to apply processing to get around that problem- you just need to spend time sorting out with test cuts how to get around the problem, which might be greater groove depth or cutting the overall modulation slightly- a 3db reduction is half the modulation in the groove.
IOW, I think you are confusing the things that people do to take shortcuts with the actual capabilities of the medium itself. The two are quite different!
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Still have yet to hear a solid state amp of any type that can keep up with the tube amps I have at home. Most of them I’ve heard just don’t want to play bass impact right!
The reason that the tubes/transistor debate has raged as long as the internet is simple- tubes aren’t bad nor are they obsolete. People don’t buy them because they want something antiquated. They buy them because there is less perceived distortion, although most people will tell you its because they are more detailed and smoother, which is the same thing.
Specifically with LPs vs CDs, **usually** the CD is more compressed! The reason has nothing to do with the capabilities of either format. Its has to do with cars. Because CDs are expected to be played in cars, they are compressed.

When CD's first came out, there were several measurements showing greater compression, and less channel separation between CD's and vinyl. There's even an interesting blog post somewhere showing how Thriller got more and more compressed with each re-release. Not a result of the medium. 

However, it doesn't have to be that way, and some of this has cooled off, but this varies by industry. 

Listen to Trombone Shorty on CD for an example. :) 

Best,

E