Why do i like tube amps

[Tom-s]

I'd like to start a topic on this one.
Why do "we" listen to tube amps anyway?
They measure "bad" but sound good. Why?

Found this article called "Do your ears decive you" to start with.

Edit: if anyone has more good material on this question? Please share!

 

[Doc B]

Ah, the old "where K is some constant" ploy. That one got me an A in my oral presentation in senior physics lab at Berkeley.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

They measure "bad" but sound good. Why?

You just have to change what you measure!

 

[Natural Sound]

Interesting subject. However I choose not to think about it too much. I analyze a lot of data in my profession. When I get home I just want to put on some headphones or cozy up in front of my speakers and enjoy the music. My enjoyment level is greater when listening to vacuum tubes. That's all I really need to know.

That said, here is an interesting piece.

https://www.kenrockwell.com/audio/why-tubes-sound-better.htm

 

[Deke609]

This paper is interesting: Russell O. Hamm's "Tubes Versus Transistors - Is There an Audible Difference?" from 1972.
http://www.butleraudio.com/tubesvstrans1.html

The discussion of how tube and solid state differ in the production of harmonics is fascinating and may have something to do with why many of us prefer tubes.

 

[Tom-s]

Possible the best video about the basic principle of tubes i've seen in a while: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-JzxX75oYc

 

[Deke609]

That was great. Highlight: how to understand the vacuum tube in terms of monkeys with slingshots at 8:59.

 

[Tom-s]

Last week i stumbled upon some video's about the fabrication of current production tubes. Now that i've seen how much of an art this is, my appreciation for a good valve grows even larger!

Audio tubes: youtube.com/watch?v=8n4WVRKkmww

Nixie tubes: youtube.com/watch?v=wxL4ElboiuA

 

[Jameson]

That’s bonkers. I assumed they had some sort of mass production capabilities. Is it just that manufacturer doing this by hand, or did machines to mass produce tubes just disappear once the demand dried up?

 

[Paul Birkeland]

I assumed they had some sort of mass production capabilities.

Mass production for tubes=lots of hands.

Is it just that manufacturer doing this by hand, or did machines to mass produce tubes just disappear once the demand dried up?

Here you can see some larger scale tube manufacturing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIBceKSvtcM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U70-VcmiUM0

You'll note that the first video doesn't look that different than the KR video, but the second video is totally different.

 

[Jameson]

That’s really interesting. The second video was more along the lines of what I thought it’d be like, but it’s still a more manual process than I anticipated. Thanks for sharing those.

 

[Tom-s]

That’s bonkers. I assumed they had some sort of mass production capabilities. Is it just that manufacturer doing this by hand, or did machines to mass produce tubes just disappear once the demand dried up?

In this video about Mullard you see the ECC82 production being mostly done by a machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GgWIlvyEL8

 

[Doc B]

I love how you can tell that the women in the old factory films went and had their hair and nails done the day before filming.

 

[mcandmar]

I am always in awe of the automated machinery they used, they would have had an army of mechanical engineering geniuses to design and maintain that plant.