Why do we tube lovers love tubes?

[aborgman]

A properly designed OPT will give you 20Hz to 20K Hz without breaking a sweat. The fact that a lot of tube bass amps have poorly designed iron is not the problem of the topology.

Paul

Mostly a cost issue.

Especially as power levels rise.

...but that "poor design" is a big part of the sound that people like.

 

[aborgman]

the SVT tube power amp easily does 20Hz-20Khz flat as indicated by TrueRTA frequency sweep tests that i have performed.

20-20KHz flat at < .1% THD was the spec called out.

I'd like to see an SVT do that, even if you bypass the preamp completely the power section won't.

 

[johnk_10]

have you ever measured one?

i'll post the graphs for you.

 

[aborgman]

have you ever measured one?

i'll post the graphs for you.

No, but if it can put out rated power flat 20-20KHz - at less than .1% THD, I'd be absolutely astounded.

 

[johnk_10]

what i'd like to know is, who cares about .1% distortion on a bass amp?

 

[JimmyM]

what i'd like to know is, who cares about .1% distortion on a bass amp?

lol! no doubt! hell, i think most bass players had no idea how prevalent bass distortion was until soloed tracks started popping up. like i don't think anyone knew jamerson's tone was so distorted until rick suchow came up with those soloed jamerson tracks. or mccartney. and that soloed track of "with a little help from my friends" that you have sounds like a youtube video!

and yet, even though it doesn't do <.1% thd, the svt is the most clean and most dynamic amp i've ever played.

 

[jastacey]

Who cares ..... just send me that dirty sounding SVT !!!!

 

[NecroticImbecil]

If we didn't, we wouldn't be tube lovers.

 

[gbarchus]

The Eden website rates the (discontinued) VT300 at <.2% distortion.

Since it's made by the same company and looks very similar to the Eden, I wonder what my (discontinued) Sadowsky SA200 specs out at for distortion. According to the owner's manual the frequency range is 10Hz&#8211;40Khz (-3dB).

Gale

 

[JimmyM]

the vt-300 is made by koch? wow, that's a step up from when they were using fame/smarvo. but its 40 lb weight makes me think they're using an smps instead of a power transformer, so i'd expect the similarities to end with the name koch. still could sound excellent, though.

 

[vin*tone]

The Eden VT300 .... not the E300T which came out later.

They have a history of .... um .... "refreshing" or rebadging other companys' designs

Why didn't they badge the Smarvo one Nemesis beats me.

 

[JimmyM]

i should have known that eden would be stepping down in quality and not up. oh well, not my problem...always hated eden anyway although i have a feeling i'd like that koch amp.

 

[BB-414]

I just became a "tube lover" recently as I got my hands on a 83 Craaft BC-120 - 120 watts from a nice quartet of 6550 or EL34 at a weight of about 37 lbs.

Before I got that certain amp I've been playing SS and hybrid amps and wasn't really satisfied because I simply didn't get the tone I imagined in my head out of them.

Last Thursday I played the amp on stage for the first time and it really gave me a good feeling since I had "my tone" and was able to fill the stage with it (open air).

Don't know if my rant is of any interest, just wanted to write down my experience with an all-tube amp.

 

[aborgman]

what i'd like to know is, who cares about .1% distortion on a bass amp?

Probably no one - in fact, most people like the distortion.

I'm not saying the distortion and compression inherent in tube amps is bad - in fact I like it, it's very euphonic generally... just pointing out that there is more of it than what you'll see in an SS amp.

 

[fretno]

 

[gbarchus]

Here's the Sadowsky naked:

...compared to the Eden:

Having owned two SVT amps and two Sunn amps and now BOTH of these, I'd say they respectfully belong to the same club.

 

[gbarchus]

Notice the huge toroidal transformers and yet only weigh 40 lbs.

Gale

 

[BigMac5]

Tube love here too, SVT-2PRO/810. I love the sound but the rig is too big and heavy to take everywhere speacially when you have to carry that up stairs. Many times I take an SVT-4PRO/15E because it's easier to transport.

It be nice if I could use the 2PRO with a 8ohm sealed 410 cab.

 

[PolkaHero]

Notice the huge toroidal transformers and yet only weigh 40 lbs.

Gale

Where's the iron? SVT trannys rule, baby! Heavier transformers = Heavier sound

 

[rodl2005]

you know rod, i said this once on here when i first started using my svt again and people reacted like i was nuts, but the truth is audiences are way more sophisticated than they used to be and can actually hear bass a lot better than they used to be able to when i first started in the 70's. better home stereos and music that features bass a lot more are the reasons.

and yet, musicians love to think of themselves as geniuses and treat audiences as if they're morons. yes, there are some audience members who are morons, but they're certainly not the norm. for every audience member who's a moron, there's one who's as sophisticated as anyone up on that stage. most people fall into a happy medium between the two, though, and while they can't tell an svt from a hartke kickback, they can tell when the mix is bad. and they can tell when you have disdain for them. so treat your audiences with respect and as if they're smarter than you, and you won't have any problems.

Oh Yeah!! For Sure Jimmy!!

I'm NOT meaning "non-muso" audience members to be dopey at all, just saying these are regular Joe's who could honestly tell me that the bass was FAR punchier & they could feel it in their chest!
What you say above is 100%. Treat 'em with respect & U got it right!!

Well they 'got' that the tube amp was far more 'palpable' (??) feelable, ummmm YA know- they liked the tube amp's sound better- theyMUST be OK!!