We play thru tubes amps for multiple reasons.
Yeah, that blocking distortion is greeeeeeat.
There is a lot of nonsense and misunderstanding around this. Almost every published document (including Hamm) focuses on behaviour when a device is operating outside its design footprint. Hamm seems to concede that there is no difference when the gain stages (microphone preamplifiers) are not overloaded!
We also had a bunch of Allison Audio Trans-Amps Mic/line modules and ran a 48 channel fully discreet API console that had Huge transformers, a Huge PSU and could run to +40 before you 'hit the rails and could run +28 just through the EQ !!
When a rock band goes into the studio to record an album and they want a "Overdriven Marshall Amp" sound for the lead guitar do they put a Mic in front of a Marshall amp or do they feed the guitar into the sound board and apply effects? In general when I go to a live show and see the guitars playing through a Marshall or Fender tube amp and then a microphone I know I am in for a treat. When the guitars are hooked up directly to the sound system (usually wirelessly these days) not so much.
It varies and depends on the musicians. But in general, a microphone is placed in front of the guitar cabinet. DI is also sometimes used. If you watch videos of recording sessions, the guitar and bass players usually take amplifiers and cabinets into the studio. It's how they often get their "sound"
Out of genuine interest, have you found tube DACs after a digital source that bring some of the pleasant magical sauce? What Tube DACs have you at home or recommend for that blend of clarity, relaxed, warmth?Well, first of all, look at that amp. C'mon. It's really cool! Tube amps come in all sorts of designs, far more varied and IMO interesting than yet another boring, square-boxy solid state amp.
And the tubes glow! That's an aesthetic plus!
Well, I can explain why I use tube amps, which speaks to your argument.
First, lets acknowledge all the caveats given this forum's remit: A tube amp doesn't sound different from solid state just because it's a tube amp. They can sound the same. And with sighted bias, people can be imagining things with tube amps, as with any gear. (FWIW: I could identify my tube preamp vs a solid state preamp in blind testing, though I've never blind tested my tube monoblock amps against another amp).
That said, it seems to actually address your argument we would, for sake of argument, grant that tube amps could alter the sound in an audiophile's system. And with that assumed for the sake of argument: "why would you want to do that?"
So for the sake of addressing your specific concern, and with all the caveats above FWIW, here's how I see things as a tube amp kinda guy...
I look to live sound for some of the characteristics I seek in a hi end audio system. Voices, sax, trumpet, woodwinds, acoustic guitar, you name it. But I find sound through most systems sounds artificially "tight" and "squeezed" and "harder" sounding and more "spikey" in the top end. It just sounds more mechanical, and instruments sound "reductive" - lacking in richness and body compared to the real thing. I'm talking about in neutral systems as well. I blame the concatenation of artifacts or colorations, and what is also "left behind" in the process of recording through reproduction in most average sized stereo systems.
One audio manufacturer puts it "Live, unamplified music has unmistakable presence and clarity. Yet, at the same time it also sounds relaxed and warm." That captures very well the essential character I tend to hear on live music. Whether or not others here live sources that way; that's how I hear it. So I'm trying to satisfy my own impressions. And I find my tube amplification subtely nudges the sound in that direction. When compared to either solid state amps or preamplification in my system (I also use solid state), the sound gets a little richer, warmer, rounder, thicker with the tube gear. A voice will sound less artificial, more natural and dense and human. And at least my tube amps seem to do a neat trick: they add a bit of "texture" and slight forwardness to the sound that makes instruments pop out of the mix a little more and feel more present, and cymbals can take on a bit more pop out sparkle. And yet at the same time the effect is not added brightess, but actually more "relaxed" and easy on the ears.
In fact I was just listening to a jazz piece with some piano and as the piano was doing some runs spanning the keys, some of the keys were jutting out bothering my ears a bit while using my Benchmark solid state preamp. I can switch instantly to my CJ tube preamp in the chain with the press of my remote, and I did so...and everything took a step forward in vividness, the cymbals, the piano, and yet it simultaneously got more "relaxed" and easy to listen to - those piano higher notes didn't bother my ears any more. For me the character of "sounding more vivid and more there" yet not at the expense of brighter or irritating sound, is a sort of magical kinda trick that I never get tired of.
Finally, there is the issue many raise "Well IF tube amps were adding any audible coloration, then maybe it could sound pleasing on some recordings, but you wouldn't want it mucking up actual GOOD recordings, you'd want to just have a neutral chain." And I don't find that to be the case. The tube amps just do their nice thing on any recording, including the best audiophile recordings. They too will gain a bit more body and presense like anything else.
So, that's my subjective impressions and why I enjoy using tube amps.
Cheers.
And the tubes glow! That's an aesthetic plus!
None of my friends are into audio at all, and when they see my home-brewed tube amps with their outsized transformers & tubes in plain view atop carefully finished chasses, they wonder if I'm running a radio station, and why would anyone want that in their living room. Disclaimer: I am single and can have any old tube amp anywhere I want it. The charm is in the glowing glass and the fact that they are my own creations, even to the point of winding & stacking my own output transformers. They tickle my nun-handles just fine.
What's your taste based on, you or functionality?
After 50 years in the game I have settled on bringing my playback to the highest % of enjoyable playback in my room for myself. What leaves final mastering is so all over the place it's ridiculous & always has been. Many AE's do not listen to studio monitors away from work....Ive talked with many of them over the years about this.. flat...? no fun for me in that.... misery maybe..fun no.
I meant taste in a subjective or objective sense. If it is subjective then it is based on you, and if it is objective then it can be based on functionality. For example, an amplifier; it has the function of amplifiying. There is no other function to it. So the question (for me) is whether the amplifier works or not. There.Sorry I don't do tube DACs. I find a regular neutral DAC, like my Benchmark DAC2L, sounds wonderful in my tubey system
Do you mean "aesthetics or functionality?"
Ideally both. But I don't have both in everything I own. I love the combination of aesthetics and functionality with my tube amps, tube preamp, and my turntable. I get functionality from my Benchmark DAC but no pleasing aesthetics. I get some more functionality in my Benchmark Preamp, but again much less pleasing aesthetics than my tube preamp.
Yes, I tend to agree.
I meant taste in a subjective or objective sense. If it is subjective then it is based on you, and if it is objective then it can be based on functionality. For example, an amplifier; it has the function of amplifiying. There is no other function to it. So the question (for me) is whether the amplifier works or not. There.
