Tube Amp
Just a little something for those that don't put actual experience in as a guide and only believe what they read;
Why use a tube amp?
Musical instrument amplifiers are fundamentally different from hifi or stereo amplifiers. Where stereo equipment is and should be as completely distortion and coloration free as humanly possible to design. Musical instrument amplifiers on the other hand have always had limitations, distortions, and coloration that musicians have exploited to make their music more expressive. It is that exploitation of defects for expressiveness that has come to be what we expect in the sound of a guitar amp. As a group, both musicians and audiences expect the kind of sound coloration that tubes add. A musical instrument amplifier is properly viewed as an extension of the guitar, bass, harmonica, etc. that is plugged into it, not merely something to make the instrument louder.
Are Tube Amps louder than solid state amps of the same power?
Yes and no. If you put a power meter on the output of a tube amplifier and a solid state amplifier that have been matched for total output power, then the meter will read almost exactly the same power for equivalent drive conditions - so in this sense, the answer is no, they are not louder. However, if you LISTEN to the two amps, you'll find that the tube amp does indeed sound louder to your ears, in opposition to what the meter is telling you. Why?
It's tied up in the sensing instrument - that is, your ear. The way the human ear works is that it is very sensitive to the harmonic content of a sound. A tube amp is less linear (that is, has more distortion) at signal levels below clipping than a solid state amplifier. The distortion will increase slowly, and then more rapidly as the amp starts to clip. In fact, the distortion increases so gradually and is of such a benign nature that the onset of audible distortion has no easily defined threshold. The solid state amplifier on the other hand has no such gradualism. It is almost perfectly non-distorting right up to the point that it clips, and then it clips HARD. It's easy to hear the threshold.
This sudden onset of distortion is also composed of relatively harsh sounding distortion, not like the subtle second and third harmonics of the tube amp. The human ear hears the sudden harsh distortion as clipping and harshness. It interprets the low order distortion of the tube amp as a louder sound, not as distortion. In effect, the tube amp fools the ear into thinking that its early distortion is more loudness. They therefore sound louder or more powerful than the actual measurements show are really there.
Advantages
Verylinear (especially triodes) making it viable to use them in low distortion linear circuits with little or no negative feedback.[3]
Inherently suitable for high voltage circuits.
Can be constructed on a scale that can dissipate large amounts of heat (some extreme devices even being water cooled). For this reason valves remained the only viable technology for very high power applications such as radio and TV transmitters long into the age when transistors had displaced valves in most other applications.
Electrically very robust, they can tolerate overloads for minutes which would destroy bipolar transistor systems in milliseconds.
Withstand very high transient peak voltages without damage rendering them suited to military and industrial applications
Generally operate at applied voltages well below their maximum capability, providing long life and reliability
Softer clipping when overloading the circuit, which many audiophiles and musicians subjectively believe gives a more pleasant and more musically satisfying sound.
Why use a tube amp?
Musical instrument amplifiers are fundamentally different from hifi or stereo amplifiers. Where stereo equipment is and should be as completely distortion and coloration free as humanly possible to design. Musical instrument amplifiers on the other hand have always had limitations, distortions, and coloration that musicians have exploited to make their music more expressive. It is that exploitation of defects for expressiveness that has come to be what we expect in the sound of a guitar amp. As a group, both musicians and audiences expect the kind of sound coloration that tubes add. A musical instrument amplifier is properly viewed as an extension of the guitar, bass, harmonica, etc. that is plugged into it, not merely something to make the instrument louder.
Are Tube Amps louder than solid state amps of the same power?
Yes and no. If you put a power meter on the output of a tube amplifier and a solid state amplifier that have been matched for total output power, then the meter will read almost exactly the same power for equivalent drive conditions - so in this sense, the answer is no, they are not louder. However, if you LISTEN to the two amps, you'll find that the tube amp does indeed sound louder to your ears, in opposition to what the meter is telling you. Why?
It's tied up in the sensing instrument - that is, your ear. The way the human ear works is that it is very sensitive to the harmonic content of a sound. A tube amp is less linear (that is, has more distortion) at signal levels below clipping than a solid state amplifier. The distortion will increase slowly, and then more rapidly as the amp starts to clip. In fact, the distortion increases so gradually and is of such a benign nature that the onset of audible distortion has no easily defined threshold. The solid state amplifier on the other hand has no such gradualism. It is almost perfectly non-distorting right up to the point that it clips, and then it clips HARD. It's easy to hear the threshold.
This sudden onset of distortion is also composed of relatively harsh sounding distortion, not like the subtle second and third harmonics of the tube amp. The human ear hears the sudden harsh distortion as clipping and harshness. It interprets the low order distortion of the tube amp as a louder sound, not as distortion. In effect, the tube amp fools the ear into thinking that its early distortion is more loudness. They therefore sound louder or more powerful than the actual measurements show are really there.
Advantages
Verylinear (especially triodes) making it viable to use them in low distortion linear circuits with little or no negative feedback.[3]
Inherently suitable for high voltage circuits.
Can be constructed on a scale that can dissipate large amounts of heat (some extreme devices even being water cooled). For this reason valves remained the only viable technology for very high power applications such as radio and TV transmitters long into the age when transistors had displaced valves in most other applications.
Electrically very robust, they can tolerate overloads for minutes which would destroy bipolar transistor systems in milliseconds.
Withstand very high transient peak voltages without damage rendering them suited to military and industrial applications
Generally operate at applied voltages well below their maximum capability, providing long life and reliability
Softer clipping when overloading the circuit, which many audiophiles and musicians subjectively believe gives a more pleasant and more musically satisfying sound.
Source: BRP Panasonic UB9000, CDP Emotiva ERC3 - Display: LG OLED EVO 83 C3 - Pre/Pro: Marantz 8802A - Amplification: Emotiva XPA-DR3, XPA-2 x 2, XPA-6, Speakers, Mains/2ch-Focal Kanta No2's, C-LSiM706, S-702F/X, RS-RTiA9's, WS-RTiA9's, FH-RTiA3's, Subs - Epik Empire x 2
Cables: AudioQuest McKenzie XLR's/CDP/Amp, Carbon 48/BRP, Forest 48/Display, 2 channel speaker cable: Furutech FS Alpha 36 12AWG PCOCC Single Crystal (Douglas Connection)
EXPERIENCE: next to nothing, but I sure enjoy audio and video MY OPINION OF THIS HOBBY: I may not be a smart man, but I know what quicksand is.
When I was young, I was Superman but now that old age has gotten the best of me I'm only Batman
Cables: AudioQuest McKenzie XLR's/CDP/Amp, Carbon 48/BRP, Forest 48/Display, 2 channel speaker cable: Furutech FS Alpha 36 12AWG PCOCC Single Crystal (Douglas Connection)
EXPERIENCE: next to nothing, but I sure enjoy audio and video MY OPINION OF THIS HOBBY: I may not be a smart man, but I know what quicksand is.
When I was young, I was Superman but now that old age has gotten the best of me I'm only Batman