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Why tube rectification?

This question is directed at the distinguished members of the forum who design and build tube amps or those who have knowledge of tube amp design. All the tube amps I own/have built us two diodes for rectification. Diodes are cheap, compact and last the life of the amplifier in most cases. Examples include the Dynaco ST-35, the Decware Zenkit1 (which is basically a Decware SE84) and the Elekit TU-8900. All reasonably well respected amps. Yet many of the more expensive amps go with tube rectification, which obviously involves the downside of another tube, more power, more space.

These two competing solutions both supply the basic power to the audio tubes and output transformers, so only indirectly interact with the sound signal. I have not read anything that explains what tube rectification brings to the party. But it must have some upside to offset it's obvious downsides. If I changed over one of the above amps to tube from diode rectification what would I be likely to  hear?

bruce19

Showing 1 response by bigkidz

bigkidz
3,427 posts
 

In our opinion, done correctly, tube rectification sounds better in our designs to our ears.  In repairing components, we find that not using tubes was a short cut and cost savings.  Once done right, it can be glorious. All designers who use tube rectification in our opinion, again, does not make the sound that we achieve in our designs, Lamm included.  Not to say they sound not as good, but you have to hear the differences when compared to each other.

@whart - agree with your findings, but those units can be upgraded to achieve the sound you prefer.
 

Happy Listening.

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