differences between tube and solid state designs

Keneallyfan,

What you point out also explains the fascination with cables more often found with tubed gear...of course with a high output impedance even the speaker cables begin to play a role in modifying the sound coloration...

SS amps tend to be flatter in their frequency response when coupled with a speaker - no question about this - SS gear wins hands down!

For those who prefer tube coloration there are other options such as an EQ, however, a tube will also clip nicely producing pleasant harmonics which is another feature that tubers love and which only a tube EQ could deliver. (no real SS alternative for creating that tube sound...at least not widely available yet)

One of the world's top mastering engineers uses a set of tube gear designed by his brother to add a bit of warmth or tube sound to lean mixes....this engineer has a veritable list of who's who that use him. So I am not knocking tubes in anyway, besides for those who play electric guitar....tubes are absolutely essential for the type of distortion they create.

Newbee,

I didn't mean that tubers were trying to fix or flatten tube sounds by changing cables etc... all I meant was that tubes tend to accentuate these changes whilst SS gear often makes these kind of changes almost inaudible.

Therefore people with tubes tend to have a different view of cables and interconnects than people who use SS amps.

Neither is better, to each his own...but it does explain how two people can have almost opposing opinions about certain cables and speakers.

As I mentioned, one of the world's top mastering engineers uses tubes...many studios also use tubes on microphones as they soft clip rather than hard clip... tubes are also a must for electric guitars...tubes are extremely important in audio applications, their coloration is both pleasant and more effective than SS amps in certain applications. IMHO, it is only in overall accuracy, especially at higher power levels and with a wider variety of loads, that SS amps have an edge.

I agree with you, whilst SS amps do differ, on the whole, with SS gear you tend to get what you get; speakers and room characteristics tend become the dominant variables in an all SS setup.

Jea48,

Agreed, many love that tube sound....and changing ics and speaker cables on SS gear is not very likely to achieve teh same.