IMHO, tube preamps are good for all types of music. I listen to various styles including jazz, blues, dixieland and heavy metal. A good tube preamp will reproduce the full spectrum of audio. The reason many solid state AMPLIFERS do better bass than tube AMPLIFIERS is because almost all tube amplifiers use output transformers and they can be the limiting factor for bass. Tube preamplifiers on the other hand do NOT usually have output transformers since they drive high impedance loads.
Tube preamp for techno and other bass-heavy music?
I was wondering what the general opinion is on using a tube preamp (with a solid state amp) for techno and other bass-heavy music. The music I listen to has a decent amount of material in the 20 Hz - 40 Hz range, but also some instrumentals and vocals as well (e.g. ATB is one of my favorite groups).
Are tube preamps reasonably good at handling this kind of music? If so, are there any particular brands I should be looking for (or any to avoid)?
Are tube preamps reasonably good at handling this kind of music? If so, are there any particular brands I should be looking for (or any to avoid)?