Tube Amp

[LateFan]

mmm…Miles & Dave….

vintage…

[keefy6]

wow, congrats

Now THAT is my kind of amp, just need some vinyl now:)

Just some fyi those mono Mcintosh 275s regularly go for 3-4K...each. There's a Hifi in Richmond, Va that has them on display.
I'll be getting both in the near future.

[Julien]

new toy



tube amp doesn't have the umph to drive them. need some solid state brute for these puppies. looking at a new Audiosource Amp or a maybe an old NAD.

[marshallnoise]

I work on tube guitar amps for shits and giggles. I am currently working on a Traynor YBA1 to Marshall Plexi conversion.

[cunninglinguist]

Nice project!
I see you used a lot of crimp connectors. You might be better served soldering all connections instead. Another good tip is to use heat shrink tubing on the leads of the caps and resistors, just to prevent any accidental shorting under the chassis.

Oh and know that those capacitors can sometimes store a nasty or lethal charge for days, so always follow proper safety protocol.

[Julien]

lil' me time with Guns & Roses/Zepplin/etc


on the crimp connectors, I did solder the wires to them.. not optimal I know.. but it makes everything look so clean at the speaker terminals :)

[Massimo]

mmmm tube amp so want

[Wh33lhop]

Sweet! I haven't noticed a difference in the sound, but tube amps look awesome lit up.

[quickervicar]

Solid State has come a long way in terms of audio quality and some can sound better than many tube amps manage to. However, I believe there is an immeasurable quality to tubes that cannot be replicated (yet): a softness in the response that doesn't fatigue my ears.

While I don't have any tube-driven hi-fi equipment (just a pair of Marantz MA-500 monoblocks at the moment) I do use tube gear when I play bass gigs. I use primarily Trace Elliot heads and have owned both their solid state AH300SMX and their Quatravalve tube version. They sound virtually identical in terms of clarity and EQ curve, but my ears just appreciate the Quatravalve more. I can't explain it, but it just feels better.

[marshallnoise]

Air moves differently with tube versus solid state power sections.

For bass guitar, I love my Tech 21 VT Bass Deluxe. Fantastic tone and feel. It's solid state but is an incredibly close approximation of an Ampeg SVT.

Guitar though, I need the tactile feedback from a tube power section. I primarily use a Champ 12 but would use a Marshall 1987x every time if the sound man could stand it.

[quickervicar]

I miss my Mesa/Boogie Bass 400+: the Marshall plexi of bassdom.

[marshallnoise]

Those old Boogie bass rigs were super pure for sure. My old bass player had a D180. Fantastic tone.

[itsonlygeorge]

I thought you were putting a tube amp in an E30... I'd love to see that.


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[itsonlygeorge]

Air moves differently with tube versus solid state power sections.

Not true. A speaker moves air in the same exact way unless it is broken. That's how physics works.

Tube amps reproduce certain harmonics that are considered more musical. Solid state amps do not emphasize those frequencies and therefore sound lacking in comparison. Different tubes have slightly different characteristics and even amp circuit designs can affect the tone and color. This is inherent to the design and properties of tube amps in general.


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[marshallnoise]

Not true. A speaker moves air in the same exact way unless it is broken. That's how physics works.

Tube amps reproduce certain harmonics that are considered more musical. Solid state amps do not emphasize those frequencies and therefore sound lacking in comparison. Different tubes have slightly different characteristics and even amp circuit designs can affect the tone and color. This is inherent to the design and properties of tube amps in general.


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Yes...I understand the physics of that. But 100 tube watts feels much different than 100 solid state watts. Ask any guitar player or bass player.

Regarding tone: Due to the analog nature of vacuum tubes, they produce positive order harmonics. These harmonics are pleasing to the ear and generally considered warmer sounding.

Transistor power amp sections on the other hand combine negative order harmonics with positive order harmonics and the perception is a colder, harsher sound.

I tend to agree with the conventional wisdom that vacuum tubes sound better when used in power amps. However, other than a tube buffer or initial gain stage, solid state is fine for signal generation.

An iPod sounds much better through a tube power amp than a solid state power amp to my ears. But, the best situation is an analog tape or vinyl with a tube power amp.

I think that a cassette sounds better than a cd. But I like what tape hiss does for the top end of a recording.