AUDIO
TUBE , OR NOT TU-BE , THAT IS THE QUESTION | Jeff Hawley
Photo : Thomas Jackson , TyneSight Media
Alongside questions of whether to use the overunder technique when rolling cables , whether higher sample rates sound better , and whether coffee or tea is the better go-to beverage lies another proverbial question for the ages — tube or solid state ? Ask your guitar playing buddies on stage about which sounds better and you ’ ll likely be in for a fun discussion . Classic amps of the 1950s and 60s largely sported an array of glowing tubes , while you won ’ t spot artists like John Fogerty far away from their trusty solidstate rigs .
Recording studios and even live sound systems often include some rackmounted outboard tube preamps for color and ‘ grit ’ somewhere in the signal path . Guitarists may even add a tube-powered pedal or digital emulation of a tube circuit to their pedalboard layout . The answer as far as which sounds better may not be binary — why not have both in your sonic arsenal ?
EVEN AND ODD HARMONICS Without going too far into the weeds on the math and physics of how these two methods work , it is probably safe to say that the sonic differences that we perceive mainly have to do with even and odd harmonics . From the the fine folks over at TheTubeStore :
“ Distortion is one of the key selling points for tube amp lovers . Solid-state amps do not seem to distort as musically as vacuum tube designs . The primary reason is that when you drive tubes hard the distortion comes on gradually and presents itself as gradual compression that blooms into distortion . The high voltage supplied to vacuum tubes ensures that the output of the device seldom exceeds the voltage that runs it . Solid-state amps use lower voltage supply rails to operate and the output can exceed the supply voltage . When that happens , they do not start to compress and gradually clip . They simply cut off the output signal at that level . Sine waves become square waves immediately and the sound is not pleasant . Solid-state distortion in its pure form sounds something like bees in a tin foil bag . Not the best for musical instruments and completely unacceptable for home audio enthusiasts . The nature of clipping and distortion also affects the harmonic content of the output signal .”
That makes sense to me , especially when we think about how this harmonic content might be visualized — sine waves becoming more like square waves more readily with many solid state designs . Here is the really important part of the equation :
“ But the main reason both musicians and audiophiles alike love the sound of tubes is their even-order harmonic distortion . The primary difference is even-order versus odd-order harmonic distortion . Perhaps a lesser-known type of distortion , harmonic distortion of tubes is what fills out the sound and adds warmth . Without getting too technical , all amplifiers
118 April 2024 Subscribe for Free ...