Tube Pre Amp are they good with all genres?

Sumerian

Does tubes pre amps sound good with all genres does they pick and choose?

I know they sound great with Jazz but How they sound with pop/ hip hop?


i am mostly Jazz (40%)/Pop(40%)/country(10%)/Hip Hop(10%) and i hate heavy metal, i am more of a bass guy with a nice mix of treble

thanks in advance for all replies

mhardy6647

The tubes cannot tell what kind of music they're amplifying... a good (active) preamp will sound good no matter what it's amplifying and no matter what active components (tubes, transistors, dilithium crystals) it is using to do the amplification.

Fine sounding examples of both - dollar for dollar, I think it's easier to get really fine sound from vacuum tubes than transistors (told you I was parsimonious!)... but the cost-effectiveness is somewhat dependent on loudspeaker choice, too!

zingo

Good equipment will sound good with any well recorded music. Beware that bad recordings sound even worse on good equipment, and sometimes are even unlistenable.

mhardy6647

zingo wrote: »

Good equipment will sound good with any well recorded music. Beware that bad recordings sound even worse on good equipment, and sometimes are even unlistenable.

Well - I'd say "yes and no" - Quad ESLs, for example, don't tend to accentuate the problems of poorly mastered recordings; Lowthers -again, for example - do.

I'd opine that what we don't want to do is scare folks into thinking that by the time they finish 'upgrading' that the only things they'll be able to listen to are Jacintha, Diana Krall, and Jazz at the Pawnshop ;-)

aboroth00

Some tube preamps lean toward solid state sounding, tight bass, extended highs or leans toward the tubier side which is looser bass, bloomy mids and less extended highs. So depending on which one you choose to go with, it might blend with one genre or another. It's really subjective after all.

Timothy Smith

I went through a slew of SS preamps like Forte, NAD, Sumo, Citation, Adcom, Luxman etc. and they all sounded different from each other. Some were very good like the Forte and Sumo.

Finally tried some tube preamps in my various sytems like Antique Sound Labs, Eastern Electric, Counterpoint. Now all of my sytems have tube preamps or a tube integrated amp in the case of my Cayin TA-30. They all sound different too.

Whenever I try going back to SS, I end up switching back to a tube pre, even if the amp is still SS.

Another nice thing about tube pre's is that you can experiment with changing the sound by swapping tubes to see what sound you like without buying new/different equipment. This is especially important for me since most of my equipment does not have any tone controls (bass, treble, loudness, filters etc). Simpler usually sounds better to me.

Usually better sounds better on all genres, but if the recording is crappy it sounds crappy on a more "revealing" system.

On the other hand, everything sounds super good on a Sparkomatic 8-track and dash speaker in a rusty 1974 Plymouth Duster when you have been drinking and you are a teenage guy and are with a teenage girl who is wearing a tube top and has one of those "Farah" hairdos and is wearing perfume that smell like Skittles (allegedly).

amb426amb1

On the other hand, everything sounds super good on a Sparkomatic 8-track and dash speaker in a rusty 1974 Plymouth Duster when you have been drinking and you are a teenage guy and are with a teenage girl who is wearing a tube top and has one of those "Farah" hairdos and is wearing perfume that smell like Skittles (allegedly).[/QUOTE]



Still have my 74 Duster... not a speck of rust on her. As for the wife? lets go one piece and no perfume! Seriously I have to get into this tube pre amp stuff to see what ts all about. More money please...

skrol

Well I hope that Duster still has a Kraco graphic equalizer with the lights that dance up and down with the music.

erniejade

Omg I had one of the kraco eq's with jensen triax 6x9's. Lol. Memory lane

amb426amb1

skrol wrote: »

Well I hope that Duster still has a Kraco graphic equalizer with the lights that dance up and down with the music.

No Kraco in this one. All restored with original OEM one dash speaker Chrysler transistor solid state AM. Cant even hear the radio over the engine. Wouldn't even think about flipping the optional back seat down for any late night gravel road stuff... I would never get back out

tonyb

aboroth00 wrote: »

Some tube preamps lean toward solid state sounding, tight bass, extended highs or leans toward the tubier side which is looser bass, bloomy mids and less extended highs. So depending on which one you choose to go with, it might blend with one genre or another. It's really subjective after all.

This is true. All depends....associated gear included. This is also why you need to tube roll, which can add additional costs to owning a tubed pre. A cary slp 05....your not going to be throwing cheap tubes in that and expecting great sound....everything is relative.

The benefit of a tubed pre is that you can to some degree taylor the sound to your taste by tube rolling. A SS pre, you get what you get and can slightly change the sound with different associated cables.

pitdogg2

erniejade wrote: »

Omg I had one of the kraco eq's with jensen triax 6x9's. Lol. Memory lane

and a mullet way down to there

Timothy Smith

pitdogg2 wrote: »

and a mullet way down to there

I remember guys just sitting 6x9 speakers with giant magnet assemblies (Kraco, Spark-o-matic, Jensen if you were rich) on the back shelf behind the rear seat with wires connected to them so they didn't have to cut holes in the package shelf. If you slammed on the brakes the wires would rip out and the speakers would become missles and fly forward and hit passengers in the head....good times......

tonyb

The best part of those days is having a girl sitting on the console up front. Shifting was always a pleasure and you made sure you had a reason to keep shifting.

Has nothing to do with pre amps though....lol

SCompRacer

I have experience with both tube and SS systems. I'm also live and let live, buy and keep what you like. My fav tube gear were those with the lowest distortion. They didn't roll off the highs as much, have soggy bass or excessively fatten up the mids. Sometimes I accepted poor bass and rolled off highs just for a nice mid range. I think tube gear should be sold with a spectrum analyzer chart which measures across the entire frequency range and shows the types and amounts of distortion present. Once you see what you hear visualized, it could mean more informed buying once you "found the sound" you like or wish to try another. This is not an attempt to bash tube gear, just total truth in what you may experience with some brands of it.

Tony, that kind of talk brings up memories of parking and drive in theatres.

dromunds

I had a '67 Dodge Dart GT with an 8 track and Jensen 6X9's in the rear shelf. One good thing about 8 tracks, they would loop continuously, which it did for about three hours on Led Zeppelin IV while I was making out with a cheerleader. Heaven I say, Heaven.