• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Korg NuTube- anyone seen this?

#21
Are they the same as Nuvistors? I have a hunch that they may possibly be very different.

Many years ago, I learned about Nuvistors from my dad, who was designing for Northrup and JPL during the great space race. It was from that work that I gained appreciation for how wide the voltage curves could be, and the choice of operating voltage went hand in hand with other parameters in a semi-linear scaling. In aerospace, there were a lot of "off-sheet" tricks that the old engineers used to do things that were "impossible", and do them well.

Now I'm not quite sure how we got close enough to Mars to get the good Mariner data... my dad was on the navigation engineering team (attitude controls)... he gets lost regularly and he still won't stop to ask directions ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: wyrtti and webmonster
#22
I wonder what the lifespan of these will be. There's a good chance we'll still be able to get replacement 12AX7s in 30 years time, but I'd be wary of buying an amp that uses proprietary valves which may well become unavailable when that product line is retired or Korg next has a re-organisation. I've spent enough time trying to find unobtainable 70's ICs to fix my old keyboards that I'd rather my amp didn't suffer from the same phenomenon.
Of course, the same could be said of some of the parts used in Class-D modules, but those should at least be replaceable on a modular basis.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Alixinchains
#31
fdeck said:
I love how, in the comments section for that article, everybody is in love with it, but nobody has ever heard one.

This is why solid state will never replace tubes. ;)

Somebody on another forum suggested that it's a similar technology to a vacuum fluorescent display.
Click to expand...

I used to work for a company called Futaba that makes vacuum flourescent displays. It looks very similar. The company history of Futaba is that the founder scavenged aircraft shot down in WWII and reverse engineered US vacuum tubes. They eventually became a VFD manufacturer. If you have a factory stereo that has a glowing green display or a factory PRNDL that glows green, chances are Futaba made it.
 
#32
Vox announced some guitar amps shipping with these

vox-mv50-970-80.jpg
 
Last edited:
#34
I for one, can't wait for the *Korg Nutube* amp vs. SVT CL, Class D blah blah....

It'll be just like when class D hit the affordable market, with all the misconceptions about digital amps, which watts are better, and so on.
 
#35
Ethereal Thorn said:
I really dont like that these are being direct monted to the circuit board 30k hours or not i still dont like that i cant replace it myself
Click to expand...

The patented a special anti-vibration holder clip thing.
To sell to tube markets they have be rollable ;)
30k hours is the "service lifetime", and as anybody knows that doesn't mean it stops passing sound then, it just doesn't meet the original spec.
 
#36
seamonkey said:
Vox announced some guitar amps shipping with these

vox-mv50-970-80.jpg
Click to expand...
Yep, says shipping in April and says "first of the nutube amps". I got a flyer on them yesterday. I would have preferred one that had all 3 of those tones instead of 3 different amps.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Alixinchains
#37
bebass said:
Yep, says shipping in April and says "first of the nutube amps". I got a flyer on them yesterday. I would have preferred one that had all 3 of those tones instead of 3 different amps.
Click to expand...

Those hyper mini guitar amps are getting cooler by the minute. Peavey, Orange, and now box are on board. I think Orange is the first I've seen doing what they do. They won't make me sell my valve junior, but if the 112 they're designing to pair it with looks good I might pick one up.

I'm going to ask a question that is going to make me look stupid. Doesn't darkglass use similar tech? I was under the impression since they call a lot of their stuff "microtubes". I mean, they could just be using solid state and using the name as a marketing term, which I'm now inclined to believe. I'm just a bit confused, is all.

That being said, it's pretty cool stuff.
 
#40
NoiseNinja said:
But will they be good for playing nu-metal?
Click to expand...
I nu it would so I ordered one (rock version). Gonna try it through a 110.
...But I also nu I would play more electric blues through it than nu-metal as I nu I was ignorant about playing guitar nu-metal and nu this was just a nu joke.
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back