how close in sound can a tube and ss amp sound ?
"But so far no-one is acknowledged as having found a means of causing a transistor amp to actually sound like a tube amp." I agree for the most part, but see The Carver Challenge for an exception. I believe Carver marketed an amp based on results of this challenge, but that seems to be the end of it. |
I wouldn't expect most people to have clipping on SS amps of say 100 watts or more, unless listening very loudly, inefficient speakers, etc. Admittedly, many tube amps and almost all SET amps are smaller than this. So, while tube amps may clip more gracefully than some SS amps, they are also more likely to clip. So I tend to think that whatever causes the different character of SS and tube amps, it isn't clipping behavior. I'm especially confident as it relates to my own experience, because this difference is obvious at whisper levels and is similar at normal levels . . . |
I think it's true for most of us as well. However, a consideration - especially for a tube amp, where watts is not quite so cheap - is how badly do you need to avoid clipping? If an amp clips very gracefully (i.e., it only gently compresses the loudest dynamics and sounds good in the process), then it might not make financial sense to buy an amp powerful enough to never clip. My solid state amps are all large enough to easily stay in the linear range, but I do have a couple small tube amps that I probably drive into clipping on the very loudest peaks. Nevertheless, the nature of these amps is apparent even at very low volumes, so I don't think their clipping behavior explains the "tube sound". If we were discussing guitar amps, the story would be very different, since distortion is intentional there. |
