Solid State for Rock and Tubes for Jazz, Yes or No


I love Solid State for most music but I do think Tubes are great for Jazz and Classical. Maybe we should have one each!
donplatt
If the tube amp is happy with the load, IME you won't find a transistor amp with more slam. You don't need a super low output impedance to control 15" woofers either! Its all about how the amp interfaces with the load.

more:http://www.atma-sphere.com/Resources/Paradigms_in_Amplifier_Design.php
"You don't need a super low output impedance to control 15" woofers either!"

No, but isn't damping factor the right (though still not perfect) spec to help predict relative control potential before buying? Damping does depend on output impedance, right?
I listen mostly to rock, and haven't found any solid state amp that makes me as happy as a good tube amp. Bass isn't all there is to rock - rock benefits just plenty from tonal accuracy, and to my ears a good tube amp excels at accurate tonality.

On a good tube amp, guitars it can sound like there are guitar amps in my room - I love that!
Mapman, I don't know how many times I have dropped this link but here it is:
http://www.atma-sphere.com/Resources/Paradigms_in_Amplifier_Design.php

In short, damping factor has little to do with getting bass, in fact if you have too much that is worse than having too little. And by too much: let's put it this way:

There are no speakers made that need an amplifier with a damping factor of over 40.

Its that simple- all speakers made are overdamped (not enough impact in the bass) if the amplifier has a damping factor of over 40! If there were no 4-ohm speakers, then there would be no speakers that needed over 20, the 40 figure only applies to 4-ohm speakers (because 'damping factor' is measured relative to 8 ohms).

I know this is hard to digest and believe for some who have become enamoured of the numbers on a page, but that will not change the reality. You don't need an amplifier with a high damping factor to play really good bass.

Let me give you an example. Sometimes I don't have an amplifier at home, because quite often I am playing a demo amplifier anyway. If that is the case, I have a set of adaptors that plug into my interconnect cables so I can use my preamp to play the speakers. You read that right: my **preamp**. Yes, its pretty gutsy, and can actually play a 16 ohm load which is what my speakers are. Yes, it is limited in volume but it sounds fine- no lack of bass at all. My speakers have dual 15" woofers. Point made??