Warming up to the idea of tubes...

Right. music reproduction.

"Sing Child" from Heart - Dreamboat Annie sounds killer thru my tube setup. I had never heard this cd till I picked up your DCC mastering version. The guitars are in the room.

thanks,
axis

 

Hey, you're not part of that evil axis that W keeps talking about, are ya?

TP

 

NOT evil

axis-of-tubes


a peaceful coalition of people throughout the world listening to tube and non-tube equipment .

Disagreements? Work 'em out.

axis

 

I have to play contrarian again. Dimebag Darrell (Pantera) plays solid state (or did). I think Tony Iommi has (or does). And one of the Hellecasters, although I can't remember which one. John Frusciante played a crappy Boss MG-10 (I used to have one of those) on Blood Sugar Sex Magik.

Edit: OK, I have found no evidence that Iommi ever played SS. The Hellecaster in question is Jerry Donahue.

Steve, I'm just giving you a hard time.

 

Duh.

I left off two more good examples:

Ty Tabor's classic guitar tone came from a Lab L5 (SS).

BB King ussed the same model amp.

 

Funny, in retrospect I realize I was listening to tubes as a little kid. My record player had to warm up for about a minute before it would work and I could see the light glow through the front cloth grill. And my dad had a hi-fi tube system he built himself. After decades of being lost, I've found the sound again.

 

I moved into tubes when I picked up a pair of mint McIntosh MC-30s at an estate sale. If I told you what I paid for them, you'd hate me .

I built a glorious system around them: Wright-Sound's wonderful WPL-10V tube preamp with phono and line stage (only $800!), a Music Hall MMF-5, a pair of Magnepan 1.6QRs, and plenty of LPs to keep me in Analog Heaven forever. It's my first hi-fi system and I love it.

And yes, even though the Maggies are a bit underpowered by the MC-30s, they still make magic. And I bought the Maggies after auditioning two pairs of high-effeciency Loth-X horn speakers, too.

 

Can't argue with you about the Macs not giving the Maggies much dynamic drive, but I will say this: I know the Macs are feeding the Maggies magic, because when I put my ears right next to the Maggies I can hear the dynamics -- the Macs just don't have enough juice to push all of the dynamics out of the speakers and to the sweet spot on my couch.

It drives my cats nuts, too -- whenever I play my Ornette Coleman "Shape of Jazz to Come" LP (Atlantic reissue) they pace around the Maggies looking for the musicians. And they don't do that with CDs, either <g>.

But their midrange presence is rich enough to drown in, thanks to the Macs. I've heard 1.6QRs driven by Naim and Linn power and fed with Linn and 47 Labs digital sources, and even though the Maggies are more dynamic and detailed with the SS and digital, the *presence of tubes* just isn't there.

I'll take human presence over digital detail any day, no questions asked.

 

Angel:

Sorry it took so long to see your response to my pp 2A3 project.

I figured if Steve could use a PP 300B amp in remastering than I'd want to see what a PP 2A3 would sound like. I might go for a single ended 300B afterward. And then a homebrew PP 300B. And on. And on.

The journey is the reward.

 

Gee...

Gee, I feel lucky to be able to hang around with such a classy bunch of people who like MC-30's and Wright Sound gear.

 

I'm glad because among some of my immediate friends I'm being called "the triode snob."

 

I remember when my dad bought us a all-in-one Panasonic solid state system with all of 25 watts and bass reflex speakers, etc. back in the late 70s. I was convinced that it was super. Then I bought a pair of Radio Shack Mach 1's and an NAD 2000 solid state 100 watt per channel amp with 400 watt peaks. I was always telling my dad how super the system sounded, etc. Sure it was loud...but he stuck by his mono, home built in the late 50s 30 watt tube amp that drives an Electro-Voice Patritian
http://community-2.webtv.net/KerrB/VINTAGETUBEAMPHORN/page4.html

Speaker system (no fancy case like shown in the picture-- that is NOT my dad's actual one that is shown, but one like it)

He used to play me 78s and 33s and I had no idea just how good it really sounded because my ears weren't registering what they were hearing. NOW I understand. I have seen (or heard) the light!

 

I discovered the quality of tube sound in the mid 60s after getting a Delco Wonderbar tube radio out of an abandoned/junked c.'55 Cadillac Sedan DeVille. Hooked it up in my bedroom with a power supply from my slot car track and a couple of speakers. Used a coat hanger for an antenna. I was used to the transistor radio in my Uncle's '63 Chevy Impala, but when I got that tube Wonderbar going man it kicked-ass over that tinny transistor sound.

Been tubes for me ever since. I also have 5 tube guitar amps, gotta' be tube with those.

 

Now that you brought up that angle...find me a solid state radio that can pick up AM like an old tube one. The AM radios they make today-- even with the popularity of talk radio-- are just horrid in their ability to pick up stations.

And back to my dad who plays bass. He has been offered lots of cash for his 1962 model Ampeg bass amp with a 15 in. speaker. It's the classic box where you undo the clips and turn the amplifier part over and store it inside the box. When you get to the job you unscrew the bolt that holds the wheels on the bottom, flip over the amp and plug it in. Incredible sound!!

 

Dough, your Dad has a cool amp! It sounds like it may be the B-15-N model from your description. Very popular amp, here's a quote from one of the books I have on guitar amps regarding that model, "B-15s...are getting hard to find, owners just don't want to give them up." He can probably relate to that quote.

I haven't been keeping up with AM sets in a while but if I come across something with great reception I'll let you know.

 

Can anybody recommend an integrated vacuum tube amp for use with Thiel CS.5 loudspeakers? These have a low impedance/high current requirement, so perhaps tubes wouldn't be a good match. Thoughts, please.

 

I use a tube preamp with a sweet sounding Class A high current solid state amp. Gives you some of the tube magic and great control and drive.

 

Joseph,

The more I look into this, the more I'm leaning towards keeping my SS amp and replacing my SS pre-amp with a tube pre. I'm afraid that a tube amp would not drive my Thiels properly. The following article offers some interesting comments on the tube pre/SS amp lashup:

http://www.soundstage.com/noisy04.htm#tube_vs_ss

 

Dreamcatcher,

The article says in part:
Tube -"Con" arguments include: tubes have to be replaced periodically (6 months to 2 years is common for preamps, 1 to 4 years is common for amps). . .

I suppose there are designs that overly stress tubes like this, but you also see lots of vintage amps that are 40 or 50 years old with original tubes. I wouldn't have anything to do with an amp that ate tubes twice a year. There are tubes in tuners that are probably good for a hundred years.

Depends on the circuit designs, how much the tubes are used, and at what volume the amp is played.

 

I'm a guitar player also. Had a solid state 80 watt amp. My band
mates were always tellling me to turn it down. I wondered why, I'm not that loud! Well to make a long story short, my buddy brought a small tube amp for me to play through. Guess what, nobody told me to turn it down that night.

After that I got a '65 Fender Bassman head, a '59 Fender Champ & and a Clark Beaufort ('59 fender Deluxe repro) and I never missed that 80 watt piece of crap.

I began to think how would a tube stereo amp sound. I did some research on the net and I bought a Dynaco SCA-35 intergrated amp.

Wow, all I can say is:

Once you've heard tubes, you'll never go back!

Joe