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Tube amps and a Stradivarius

I was mixing an orchestra in a church and the conductor who was my friend wanted me to hear one of the musicians play their Stradivarius violin for me back at the mixer. The sound was so beautiful it seemed like there was already reverb on it. I was brought to tears simply because of the beauty and I'd never hear such an instrument before.

Tube amps are not technically as accurate as solid-state but they sound more musical, I would submit that they sound that way because of the ring of the tubes just like the reverb of the Stradivarius violin. I believe the vibration of the sound from the speakers excite the tubes and there is a pleasant reverb effect. In mixing vocals there is an important effect in the reverb processor called pre delay and that time delay before the reverb is actuated in the processor is like the time delay of the speakers making the tubes ring. Thoughts?

128x128donavabdear
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donavabdear OP
500 posts
 

Do you want the sound to be accurate or sound cool. There are objective engineering philosophies that clash between flat and good when it comes to sound. The best answer to me is to have the goal of putting the musician in your listening room playing the instrument but then the Stradivarius comes in and says wait you can't design magic. Form will follow function if we demand designers produce accurate equipment and speakers ultimately the end result will be more musical. It is so tempting to add all the flavorings to music and movie that was unintended simply to make the experience more exciting. Is that wrong?

donavabdear's avatar
donavabdear OP
500 posts
 

Also if you think tube amps are more accurate you are simply fooling yourself. I use tube amps (hybrid) in my 2 Channel system but I know they are not more accurate they sound better and more musical than SS amps but the audiophile community needs to know the difference if this community is to make a difference in the future of equipment.

knotscott
918 posts
 

I don't care so much whether it's described as accurate or musical, but find that good tube gear does a better job of revealing the other components in the chain, which I simply find useful in building a system that reveals the recording, and that's basically my end game....I want to convince myself I'm there, and experience it.

invalid
1,180 posts
 

Triodes are more linear than transistors, which can also make them sound more realistic than solid state.

dekay's avatar
dekay
5,541 posts
 

My tube amps (mono blocks/preamp), CD player and TT are all located outside the listening room (hall closet with a solid door) and the speaker cables run to the listening room through tiny (< 1/4") holes in the speaker wall.

I've also had the tube mono blocks in the  listening room (seeing if short speaker cables made a difference).

In previous settings I've had tube amps in & out of the listening room though I've always tried to keep the TT and preamp/phono preamp isolated (closet or other room).

Never noticed added space/reverb with in room placement, but all my setups since 1976 have used smaller speakers played @ low/medium SPL's.

However, I've experienced slightly microphonic signal tubes in guitar amps that definitely alter the sound.

As long as they were not feeding a reverb tank I actually preferred the sound of them when used with lean sounding Fender amps and guitars using single coil pickups.

 

DeKay

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