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PharaoRamsesII OP t1_j9ygd4o wrote

Reply to comment by croakjob in Ouch by PharaoRamsesII

The tubea are the predecessor of the transistor which is nowadays used to amplify signals. They glow not for the purpose of glowing. Its just a byproduct

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croakjob t1_j9ygujf wrote

Sounds very retro, dope.

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Lithominium t1_j9yw24i wrote

It also sounds good

Maybe not better, thats up for debate, but it sounds good

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SarcasticOptimist t1_j9zdebh wrote

It's why they're in guitar amps. Nice even harmonic distortions make "warm" sounds if done right.

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GeckoDeLimon t1_ja0le9y wrote

A very different thing in a guitar amp. There, the preamp tubes, power tubes, power supply and speaker are all an extension of the electric guitar, much in the same way a bell mute does to a brass instrument.

If our goal in playback is pure reproduction of the recorded signal with as little distortion of that signal as possible (either linear or non-linear), then solid state is where it's at. The likes of Sansui & Yamaha had that pretty much sealed by the early 80s.

If you like the look and/or sound of tubes, that's perfectly fine. They do look hella cool and that can be enough, but we ought not kid ourselves that a tube playback stage is a step toward greater accuracy. Very, very, few are.

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Silver-Ad8136 t1_ja0sanp wrote

Accuracy isn't always what you're after. I wouldn't want to have a dinner date under 2000 lumens of 6500k light @95 CRI.

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Kawai_Oppai t1_ja2d31k wrote

But I would expect the restaurant to have provided a good ambiance that I don’t need to alter and change to enjoy.

When my food is plated and brought out I expect it to be good and ready to eat. I shouldn’t need to call the waiter over and re-season the meal or get different condiments or anything like that.

And a tube amp is exactly that. The artist has created sound and ‘perfected it’ to their vision and then people distort this sound through an imperfect amplification process.

Solid state plays back that experience the artist created.

Then if I’m being really honest on the subject, a tube amp isn’t necessary at all with a good DAC with different filter options. Sharp, slow, nos etc type of playback.

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thms0 t1_ja31tha wrote

>Solid state plays back that experience the artist created.

The sound engineer created.
And sometimes they don't even think about it and use low tier recording material. Or have bad engineers.

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Silver-Ad8136 t1_ja3qhje wrote

It's sort of hard to second guess the engineer studio. All the EQ in the world and the HE1 won't turn old recordings of The Great Gildersleeve into Avatar 2 in Atmos

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thms0 t1_ja6ncxd wrote

Well I meen the "master" then. The guy that puts all different records into one.

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Silver-Ad8136 t1_ja3rusu wrote

I guess I see it more as...you went over to Guga's and he made you one of his A5s, and you whip out a bottle of HP sauce. So, sure...it's "wrong" but it's also pretty delicious.

I'd also note, you hear partially with your eyes and 100% with your mind, so if glowing tubes and a VU meter and more boxes and cables, that hot, static smell...appeal, no you can't get that with software.

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SarcasticOptimist t1_ja0r191 wrote

Definitely. It's why my setup is solid state and largely clinical (and tbh most of the time I'm using studio monitors).

But if you want warmth rather than analytical you don't mind certain kinds of distortion being added.

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Silver-Ad8136 t1_ja0sihw wrote

Indeed, you seek out a sort of AM radio sound. That's more-or-less what "warm" means

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9vjunkie t1_ja2v6iu wrote

You should see the back of my Mesa when it’s hot!

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SarcasticOptimist t1_ja869sq wrote

Man those pre Gibson Mesas are historic in a good way. Hope you never need to sell them.

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BGBobRob t1_j9zdr71 wrote

All I do is take pictures of mine in low light conditions, with long exposure.

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Jontun189 t1_j9zx6tn wrote

Not necessarily even good; 'different' I'd say. I never did vibe much with my Bottlehead Crack + Sennheiser 6XX which are almost universally lauded among those who have tried the combo as being a pairing bestowed upon the audiophile community by God himself (of course I'm exaggerating but really, they came highly recommended).

I much prefer the sound of solid state, but undeniably there is a difference between the two; not bad, not necessarily good, just not to my taste. Weirdly though I can totally understand why people like the pairing.

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thms0 t1_ja31xuq wrote

Did you try without the "Crack" ? Cuz IIRC the crack is meant to make it sound less tubey?

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Jontun189 t1_ja32r3s wrote

Made it stock crack first, stuck with that for a while and then did the speedball upgrade after. IMO the speedball upgrade strips all of what I like about the 6XX away and makes it pretty clinical. Cool if that's what people are into but I'd rather buy specific headphones for that application.

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therealsteelydan t1_j9yjye9 wrote

i didn't even know they glowed

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kvthai t1_j9zg1dc wrote

Yup! There’s literally a heater inside of it that is used to make it function. That heater will glow orange/red.

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MM1ck t1_j9zj3xv wrote

Room lights down low, close up of one of my 6SN7GT tubes

https://imgur.com/a/Xj1kgsn

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PharaoRamsesII OP t1_ja7q8cl wrote

https://imgur.com/a/aikp0hF

​

Here is the very amplifier you see broken up there - before it broke.

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MM1ck t1_ja82oqt wrote

Got to admit, for technology that's 100 or so years old it still looks amazing.

A little nostalgic for me though, as I remember my granddad putting on the "gram" and it not working right and him saying "got to roll them damn valves again"
Then going in to the back of the cabinet amongst the orange glow rolling them around in circles. The gram sprung back into life, like magic.
I was only 6 or 7 at the time and now 50 years later I still use them today ☺️

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