Tube Amps With Good Bass Qualities

*nature

From the perspective of someone who listens to a lot of electronica, i have yet to hear a valve amp that can bring the fear factor in the sub bass.

I listen to a lot of electronia too. I started in 1972 when I heard Tangerine Dream on the local radio station! Since then ambient and electronia has always been an important part of my LP collection. Infinity Project put out an amazing LP called 'Mystical Experiences' that has some nice bass tracks, the second LP by Global Communication is great in that department and of course the usual suspects like Massive Attack, Future Sound of London, Forest Swords and so on- I'm always in search of the next best bass drop (but with some substance in the music, not just 'unce unce unce unce' for an entire record side...
My speakers go to 20 Hz no worries- and I've yet to hear a solid state amp that makes the bass as well. So much has to do with the amplifier/speaker interface though as I pointed out above. If you want a tube amp to play bass properly, then it should not be put at a disadvantage! A lot of people seem to want to make a tube amp fall flat on its face by subjecting it to a load for which it was never intended. This IMO is simply a waste of time and money- you want a tube amp to play bass then make sure you've done everything to allow it to do so and you will be rewarded.

 but the weight of the sustain doesn't match what a solid state leviathon can do.

This is so correct, all you have to do is play some sustained organ or similar to immediately hear the difference, and not just on subs, but on inefficient hard to drive floor standers too, and the winner is the one that tries to rearrange your innards.

Cheers George

all you have to do is play

Paula Cole -  Tiger

Sheesh. I can play that thing and it shakes the building. Easy. Just design the amp so it can't drain the power supply. Its not that hard- and its not rocket science.

Yeah- I can feel my guts moving, and the cuffs of my pants. It has nothing to do with tubes or transistors and everything to do with how well the amp can drive the speaker.

So how many tube watts does one need to drive a 3 way speaker with a flat frequency response rated at a minimum of 50W and can go down to about 33hz ?