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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 1 response by ghdprentice

ghdprentice
6,488 posts
 

I will have to agree that the Stradivarius is a singular instrument. I have been stopped dead in my tracks by it’s sound while walking by a TV with really low end sound.

I have also had the privilege of hearing quite a few Stradivarius’ in close proximity. I also, over the last 50 years of being an audiophile have slowly migrated to an all tube system (see my system under my UserID). Attributing the fidelity of tubes to a single parameter is probably over simplifying thing. I appreciate the thought, but tubes with good electronic design can create a better gestalt of the music than solid-state, but that is because of myriad of reasons. I am sure some folks can come up with the top six reasons. But micro phonics is probably not one of them. 

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