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Howard DavisMember
QUOTE: “An engineer once told me that valves have the actual element of fire in them, something very real and organic. But as has been said its all down to personal taste.”
A real engineer, with education in the sciences, would be reluctant to make a statement like the above that reveals possible ignorance. I wouldn’t be caught dead saying such a thing. FIRE is NOT an actual element, but was believed to be by alchemists before true scientific research defined the elements. Fire is a process of combustion – usually a rapid exothermic oxidation – that involves several elements and compounds. Tube filaments get red hot, but do not burn unless oxygen has entered the glass envelope, in which case the tube becomes useless.
I agree 100% that regarding music and music equipment, it does all come down to personal taste.
Guitar pedal design engineering, repairs, and custom mods:
http://howard.davis2.home.att.net/Howard DavisMemberIf the distortion produced by a vacuum tube pedal and a solid state pedal both sound the same, why not choose the many advantages of solid state? I discuss these in depth on my website – http://howard.davis2.home.att.net/Tubesvs.SolidState.htm
I fail to see any “fun” in a tube going bad in an amp or pedal just as your band starts to play in a club. When reliability and predictability are essential, solid state is the way to go – these are among the many reasons why such consumer electronics devices as TVs are no longer made with tubes. And have you any idea how big and expensive a vacuum tube COMPUTER would be?
Poorly engineered CDs sound no better than some vinyl, and some well-recorded vinyl sounds better than some poor CDs, but the quality potential of CDs is far greater, especially when the masters, digital or analog, are of high quality.
I still use a film camera, but only because it has some capabilities I have not yet seen in digital cameras.
But as you said, “I guess it pretty much boils down to personal preference.”Howard
Howard DavisMemberQuote:I think tubes in pedals are used purely to get a tube distortion, which is much different than a transistor or digital distortion imo. Sure, you could probably duplicate the sound digitally, but some people prefer the “analog” sound of things. I know I do. That’s why I also use a tube amp.How does one define “tube distortion?”
To the engineer such as myself, distortion consists of harmonics (and other audible byproducts such as sum & difference frequencies) of the tones that make up the musical signal – harmonics that are generated by nonlinearities in the amplifying devices the signal is processed by. The harmonics and their relative levels determine how musical or unmusical, desirable or undesirable, the resulting sound is. Some analog solid state devices such as FETs and CMOS chips, properly used, emulate “tube distortion” so well that it cannot be distinguished from the overdrive distortion and compression generated using actual tubes.Tube amps have other characteristics, such as power supply “sag,” that some people favor. I don’t care for this, as who wants their sound to muddy up and get softer when they want to rock out loud and hard? Solid state amps with properly designed power supplies do not “sag” – you play harder and they get louder, until driven into clipping.
Howard DavisMemberQuote:The EH pedals run the tubes at full voltage, as opposed to many other tube pedals that run at partial voltage.It is a bit of a mojo thing, sure the pedals don’t have to have tubes in their gain stage, but it’s just cool and over the top. If you like the pedal, than go for it.
I use tube amps. I’m sure if I found the right solid state amp I could probably get some really good sounds too, but I just like tubes. It just feels right. I like my equipment to be big and heavy.
Hi Julian,
Low plate voltage operation of tubes causes them to distort at lower signal levels. The higher the plate voltage (within the limits of the tube), the more linear (distortion free) operating range is available. So for clean amplification you run the voltage high, and for overdrive distortion you run it low. The optimum voltage depends on the tube, the application, and the desired effect.
The people I know that like their equipment big and heavy usually have roadies to carry it around. The new XO and NANO pedals are popular because people like to be able to fit more on their pedalboards, and like the solid state pedals in the older large boxes, tube pedals take up alot of room and add weight.
Howard DavisMemberHere’s a link to my webpage “Tubes vs. Solid State.”
http://howard.davis2.home.att.net/Tubesvs.SolidState.htmIf you like tube equipment, get tube equipment – but first you should understand all the pros and cons.
Howard DavisMemberQuote:Hi, I have an old Deluxe Memory Man for repair, I would like to know, what choice I can get, for change the MN3005 chip because this chip is unfoundable or very expensive… so what alternative Chip can be used or what is the chip on the actual Memory Man Deluxe. Thanks a lot for your helpThe 3205 delay chip is made for use with a LOWER SUPPLY VOLTAGE than the MN3005, and if put into a Deluxe MM it will probably be DESTROYED by the higher supply voltage.
I can fix and if you wish custom mod your DMM – I am the engineer that designed it. I have replacement MN3005s available. Email me and I’ll send you a list of the available mods and my terms of service.
Guitar pedal design engineering, repairs, and custom mods:
http://howard.davis2.home.att.net/
Email: howard.davis2@att.netHoward DavisMemberAside from tampering such as attempts at modding or trimpot alignment, the most common way in which my customers have damaged their pedals is through reversed polarity supply voltage or overvoltage. Pedals vary as to their vulnerability, but excessive or reversed polarity supply voltage will damage most, and in some cases damage them beyond repair. Wherever possible, I now design pedal circuitry to be immune to power supply errors.
Guitar pedal design engineering, repairs, and custom mods:
http://howard.davis2.home.att.net/ -
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