Why do i like tube amps

Tom-s · 2115

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Offline Tom-s

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on: October 11, 2018, 08:36:04 AM
I'd like to start a topic on this one.
Why do "we" listen to tube amps anyway?
They measure "bad" but sound good. Why?

Found this article called "Do your ears decive you" to start with.

Edit: if anyone has more good material on this question? Please share!



Offline Doc B.

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Reply #1 on: October 11, 2018, 09:16:16 AM
Ah, the old "where K is some constant" ploy. That one got me an A in my oral presentation in senior physics lab at Berkeley.

Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
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Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #2 on: October 11, 2018, 09:29:57 AM
They measure "bad" but sound good. Why?
You just have to change what you measure!

Paul "PB" Birkeland

Bottlehead Grunt & The Repro Man


Offline Natural Sound

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Reply #3 on: October 11, 2018, 12:50:22 PM
Interesting subject. However I choose not to think about it too much. I analyze a lot of data in my profession. When I get home I just want to put on some headphones or cozy up in front of my speakers and enjoy the music. My enjoyment level is greater when listening to vacuum tubes. That's all I really need to know.

That said, here is an interesting piece.

https://www.kenrockwell.com/audio/why-tubes-sound-better.htm



Deke609

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Reply #4 on: October 12, 2018, 07:13:28 AM
This paper is interesting: Russell O. Hamm's "Tubes Versus Transistors - Is There an Audible Difference?" from 1972.
http://www.butleraudio.com/tubesvstrans1.html

The discussion of how tube and solid state differ in the production of harmonics is fascinating and may have something to do with why many of us prefer tubes.



Offline Tom-s

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Reply #5 on: October 31, 2018, 05:43:44 AM
Possible the best video about the basic principle of tubes i've seen in a while:



Deke609

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Reply #6 on: October 31, 2018, 06:21:41 AM
That was great. Highlight: how to understand the vacuum tube in terms of monkeys with slingshots at 8:59.



Offline Tom-s

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Reply #7 on: February 23, 2019, 12:19:56 AM
Last week i stumbled upon some video's about the fabrication of current production tubes. Now that i've seen how much of an art this is, my appreciation for a good valve grows even larger!

Audio tubes: youtube.com/watch?v=8n4WVRKkmww

Nixie tubes: youtube.com/watch?v=wxL4ElboiuA



Offline oguinn

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Reply #8 on: February 23, 2019, 03:20:36 AM
That’s bonkers. I assumed they had some sort of mass production capabilities. Is it just that manufacturer doing this by hand, or did machines to mass produce tubes just disappear once the demand dried up?

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Offline Paul Birkeland

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Reply #9 on: February 23, 2019, 08:10:53 AM
I assumed they had some sort of mass production capabilities.
Mass production for tubes=lots of hands.
Is it just that manufacturer doing this by hand, or did machines to mass produce tubes just disappear once the demand dried up?
Here you can see some larger scale tube manufacturing:



You'll note that the first video doesn't look that different than the KR video, but the second video is totally different.

Paul "PB" Birkeland

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Offline oguinn

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Reply #10 on: February 23, 2019, 09:41:36 AM
That’s really interesting. The second video was more along the lines of what I thought it’d be like, but it’s still a more manual process than I anticipated. Thanks for sharing those.

Jameson O'Guinn

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Offline Tom-s

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Reply #11 on: February 23, 2019, 10:50:54 AM
That’s bonkers. I assumed they had some sort of mass production capabilities. Is it just that manufacturer doing this by hand, or did machines to mass produce tubes just disappear once the demand dried up?

In this video about Mullard you see the ECC82 production being mostly done by a machine.




Offline Doc B.

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Reply #12 on: February 23, 2019, 11:50:10 AM
I love how you can tell that the women in the old factory films went and had their hair and nails done the day before filming.

Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President For Life
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Offline mcandmar

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Reply #13 on: March 07, 2019, 11:57:26 AM
I am always in awe of the automated machinery they used, they would have had an army of mechanical engineering geniuses to design and maintain that plant. 

M.McCandless