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OK, more than you ever wanted to know about tubes vs. transistors when it comes to audio.
Many musicians and music lovers prefer the tube sound because the harmonic distortion that tubes generate consists primarily of first and second order harmonics which are close to the frequency they are supposed to reproduce. So a 1 KHz signal from a tube amp has a fairly large 2 KHz distortion component being produced with it. This has the effect of warming the sound so that it sounds fuller than it would if it were being reproduced by a transistor circuit. Over-driving a tube circuit produces even more of these lower order harmonics so some folks really love the result. The distortion from a transistor, because it consists mostly of higher order harmonics where a 1 KHz signal will also produce 4 KHz and 8 KHz harmonic tones is more easily detected by the ear even though the amount of distortion (amplitude) is far less than tube circuit distortion. These higher harmonics are separated from the 1 KHz tone by a larger gap and your ear can distinguish them easily. This can give a harsh sound if the amp is over-driven.
The downside to tube audio stages (besides the larger distortion component) is that they must be transformer-coupled and so low frequency response suffers. What is a transformer? It is a choke (coil of wire) and chokes are more inefficient at passing low frequencies.
Told'ja. More than you needed or wanted to know.
Many musicians and music lovers prefer the tube sound because the harmonic distortion that tubes generate consists primarily of first and second order harmonics which are close to the frequency they are supposed to reproduce. So a 1 KHz signal from a tube amp has a fairly large 2 KHz distortion component being produced with it. This has the effect of warming the sound so that it sounds fuller than it would if it were being reproduced by a transistor circuit. Over-driving a tube circuit produces even more of these lower order harmonics so some folks really love the result. The distortion from a transistor, because it consists mostly of higher order harmonics where a 1 KHz signal will also produce 4 KHz and 8 KHz harmonic tones is more easily detected by the ear even though the amount of distortion (amplitude) is far less than tube circuit distortion. These higher harmonics are separated from the 1 KHz tone by a larger gap and your ear can distinguish them easily. This can give a harsh sound if the amp is over-driven.
The downside to tube audio stages (besides the larger distortion component) is that they must be transformer-coupled and so low frequency response suffers. What is a transformer? It is a choke (coil of wire) and chokes are more inefficient at passing low frequencies.
Told'ja. More than you needed or wanted to know.
