No Eric Johnson for 15 years...not easy.
- ...
- 71 posts total
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 |
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?? |
- 71 posts total