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Tube amps and a Stradivarius

I was mixing an orchestra in a church and the conductor who was my friend wanted me to hear one of the musicians play their Stradivarius violin for me back at the mixer. The sound was so beautiful it seemed like there was already reverb on it. I was brought to tears simply because of the beauty and I'd never hear such an instrument before.

Tube amps are not technically as accurate as solid-state but they sound more musical, I would submit that they sound that way because of the ring of the tubes just like the reverb of the Stradivarius violin. I believe the vibration of the sound from the speakers excite the tubes and there is a pleasant reverb effect. In mixing vocals there is an important effect in the reverb processor called pre delay and that time delay before the reverb is actuated in the processor is like the time delay of the speakers making the tubes ring. Thoughts?

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Showing 2 responses by dekay

dekay's avatar
dekay
5,366 posts
 

"Also if you think tube amps are more accurate you are simply fooling yourself."

You have very strong opinions about tubes, considering that you seem to have ZERO stated knowledge on such.

Also, your OT premise is laughable, IMO.

 

DeKay

dekay's avatar
dekay
5,366 posts
 

My tube amps (mono blocks/preamp), CD player and TT are all located outside the listening room (hall closet with a solid door) and the speaker cables run to the listening room through tiny (< 1/4") holes in the speaker wall.

I've also had the tube mono blocks in the  listening room (seeing if short speaker cables made a difference).

In previous settings I've had tube amps in & out of the listening room though I've always tried to keep the TT and preamp/phono preamp isolated (closet or other room).

Never noticed added space/reverb with in room placement, but all my setups since 1976 have used smaller speakers played @ low/medium SPL's.

However, I've experienced slightly microphonic signal tubes in guitar amps that definitely alter the sound.

As long as they were not feeding a reverb tank I actually preferred the sound of them when used with lean sounding Fender amps and guitars using single coil pickups.

 

DeKay

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