RE: Vintage Audio Equipment
May 11, 2021 at 2:25 pm
(This post was last modified: May 11, 2021 at 2:26 pm by HappySkeptic.)
Tube amps tend to sound better close to clipping, and they excel at micro-detail at low volume.
They also add 2nd-harmonic or 3rd harmonic distortion that some find enjoyable, though I don't except in small doses. Fortunately tubes can be free from higher-order distortions, particularly at low volumes. On the bad side, they have poor damping factor, which can give a "tubby" bass on some speakers, and a low input impedance that can affect frequency response on capacitor-coupled or high output-impedance preamps. They also change their sound as the tubes age.
I'm not a tube guy.
They also add 2nd-harmonic or 3rd harmonic distortion that some find enjoyable, though I don't except in small doses. Fortunately tubes can be free from higher-order distortions, particularly at low volumes. On the bad side, they have poor damping factor, which can give a "tubby" bass on some speakers, and a low input impedance that can affect frequency response on capacitor-coupled or high output-impedance preamps. They also change their sound as the tubes age.
I'm not a tube guy.
