2. amps-preamps
  3. 1031724377

Tubes Do It -- Transistors Don't.

I never thought transistor amps could hold a candle to tube amps. They just never seem to get the "wholeness of the sound of an instrument" quite right. SS doesn't allow an instrument (brass, especially) to "bloom" out in the air, forming a real body of an instrument. Rather, it sounds like a facsimile; a somewhat truncated, stripped version of the real thing. Kind of like taking 3D down to 2-1/2D.

I also hear differences in the actual space the instruments are playing in. With tubes, the space appears continuous, with each instrument occupying a believable part in that space. With SS, the space seems segmented, darker, and less continuous, with instruments somewhat disconnected from each other, almost as if they were panned in with a mixer. I won't claim this to be an accurate description, but I find it hard to describe these phenomena.

There is also the issue of interest -- SS doesn't excite me or maintain my interest. It sounds boring. Something is missing.

Yet, a tube friend of mine recently heard a Pass X-350 amp and thought it sounded great, and better in many ways than his Mac MC-2000 on his Nautilus 800 Signatures. I was shocked to hear this from him. I wasn't present for this comparison, and the Pass is now back at the dealer.

Tubes vs. SS is an endless debate, as has been seen in these forums. I haven't had any of the top solid state choices in my system, so I can't say how they fare compared to tubes. The best SS amp I had was a McCormack DNA-1 Rev. A, but it still didn't sound like my tube amps, VT-100 Mk II & Cary V-12.

Have any of you have tried SS amps that provided these qualities I describe in tubes? Or, did you also find that you couldn't get these qualities from a SS amp?
kevziek
beemer
444 posts
 
Each to their own taste! I use 33H on the mid/tweeter panels of Infinity IRS Beta. These panels voiceds with ARC tube products when the speaker was designed. With a good source, I find the 33H and Bat VK50SE preamp combo right on the money, though I have het to try any of the higher-end tube amps on my system, a friend has a similar setup with a Mac 2000 and it sounds good as well.
acuujim
207 posts
 
Lamm 1.1 mono blocks do it all
Beautiful tube bloom and air
Rock solid solid state low end authority
Fleshy mid bass texture
Imaging, soundstaging, you pick the positive characteristic
rec
328 posts
 
My first tube amp was a kit I built in the early 60's, I have had a tube amp in and out of my system since. Currently I have two amplifiers, Cary 805B monoblocks(tube) and a Jeff Rowland Model 10(ss). As wondeful as the Cary sounds, I keep the Rowland amp in most of the time. I find the Rowland the best overall amplifier I have heard in my system. In my experience the best ss amps are as musicial as the best tubes,of course they don't sound the same and they both have strengths and weakness but they are more alike then different.
phild
603 posts
 
Hey Kevziek...

I hate to break it to you, but on most recordings the instruments ARE panned into place with a mixer. Sorry. :-)

SS amps might be more accurate in that way (allowing you to "hear" the seperation between tracks). I do agree with you though...I think tube designs (done right) sound more musical and real, though I have heard some that sound so friggin' bizarre...it amazes me that people think the sounds they produce sound anything like real instruments. Still...everything is relevant. Some recordings are made using tube mics and tube preamps and others are made with SS mics and preamps, and both can sound amazing if done right.
karls
332 posts
 
I have to weigh in on the SS side when it comes to amps, not because they are all better, but because a few of them are. While I've heard very good tube amps and can appreciate their abilities, I've never heard one that could do bass so that it sounded real. The current and damping just can't handle it, and so I always end up "hearing" that it's a tube amp. It sticks in the back of my mind and won't go away, reminding me every time I hear the thump that I'm listening to a tube amp. I suppose my value system would be very different if I only listened to chamber music and vocalists, and I have no doubt I would be sitting here extolling the virtues of tube amps. SS amps, on the other hand, have gotten to the point where a few of them really CAN seem to disappear from the chain. Not many, and not until recently, but they're out there. My Ayre V-5 is the first amp I've ever owned, SS or tube, which allows me to actually say (the majority of the time, anyway) that "I can't tell it's there." And in my mind, there is no bigger compliment that can be paid to any piece of equipment.

This doesn't address the obvious and more difficult question, which is whether tube or SS preamps are better. I think tubes have a lot more going for them in a preamp, and may always have the upper hand over SS in this application.
More to discover