Bottlehead Forum
Bottlehead Kits => Legacy Kit Products => Quickie => Topic started by: earwaxxer on April 19, 2013, 11:12:45 AM
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Tube 'magic' observations... Paul McCartney - Ram. An album that I have loved since its release. Early memories of course being vinyl. I have never been happy with the CD master until it was recently remastered. Thats another topic, but I do have some observations that may be useful to others that are familiar with this masterpiece.
Since I have the Quickie back in the circuit, and after some A/B comparisons I can now pick out some specific reportable observations that I can attribute to said tube kit. Specifically to this album: 1. The song 'Ram On'. The Ukulele or whatever it is, sounds much more complex than what I have in memory. The resonance of the instruments body is clearly heard, and what that resonance contributes to the sound. The lower note strings also seem easier to pick out. Its not just a scratchy sounding funky little instrument. 2. Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey - the part where the British voice comes in over the microphone - That voice has always sounded (I think correctly so) somewhat limited in fidelity and size, like it is coming in over a small speaker, or intercom. With Quickie in play I did notice that the sound was different from what I remember. All good, but definitely different. Bigger for sure, as if the sound was not coming from a small speaker buy clearly a bigger speaker with possibly limited range and dynamics of the mic/amp.
More observations hopefully will be coming. Cheers -
eric
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Since we are reporting Q updates, I will say two things about mine. The Telefunkin tubes are a clear winner in the Q. Next is that Herbies tube dampers are a good buy for the price. I get a little better bass and less edge. I still agree with 'E', saying the tubes need all of the damping they can get. I am still using Sorbo feet and it seems fine. interestingly, there is even a little ringing that can be heard from my Nordost IC's when tapped.
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Ram - that brings back a lot of memories. My sister and I would listen to that on vinyl way back. I bought an old vinyl edition at a flea market and was really looking forward to spinning it. After cleaning it up and giving it a go, I found out there was a terrible skip right through the middle of side one.
You've just reminded me that I need to keep looking for another one.
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Hey Randy - looks like you are in luck - The Ram album is available in Vinyl now since the remaster.
http://www.amazon.com/RAM-Paul-McCartney/dp/B007L96VHY/ref=sr_1_1_title_2_lp_?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1368327681&sr=1-1&keywords=paul+mccartney+ram
Other observations re. above tube sound. I'm trying to put my finger on it, but its very hard to explain. The tube sound is more like 'music', is the best I can do. I recently did some more comparisons, with and without tubes in the chain. As before, I was open minded to going with whatever sounded better. I'm not one for DSP sound manipulation such as surround, equalization, and other 'special effects' that are supposed to make music more appealing. Those techniques always seem to make the music sound plastic and, well, altered. I will go out on a limb and say that the tube sound 'effect' has to be the most perfect equalization algorithm there is. Is that due to the 'harmonics'. Could be.