In my opinion the new tube gear sounds more like good solid state rather then the warm fuzzy sound of yesterdays tube components so why hassle with tubes any more?
Why don’t tube amps sound like tubes anymore?
When I hear the latest tube amps I’m more reminded of what a solid state amp sounds like than what I remember a tube amp once sounded like. I say that, with most tube amps I hear today, but not all. Gone seems to be the lush tones, warm glow and natural harmonics I used to hear. What I hear is more of a thoroughbred, faster, sharper sound when I listen to a modern tube design today. Then why use tubes?
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erik_squires8,881 posts05-24-2020 1:31pmIf you ask me, it's the almost universal switch to the use of Wima caps. LOL, I never though of it, but they are in just about everything new and older (not ancient). They sound great, close tolerance, and last just about forever.. Regards |
hiendmmoe Why don’t tube amps sound like tubes anymore? I found with many of the tube amps I owned (especially remember a pair of 100w switchable ultralinear/triode/pentode monoblocks 4 x NOS 6550 GE mil spec each amp I had), "and improved the sound" on over many months with better interleaved output transformers better caps, getting the tubes to work in the more linear part of their curves, power supplies etc etc. The "better I made those tube amps and others sound and measure", the closer they got to the sound of "great high bias solid state amps", the rest is history for me with tubes, never again. Cheers George |
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