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Actually Worse ! Tone contorls.... atleast Solid state one ;-) dont add tons of distortion !

I am a tube pre amd a solid state power amp guy. The best of both worlds.

Some SET amps act like tone controls, due to the output impedence of the amp. But most modern tube amps have a small interaction with the speaker load which can cause a minor chnage in the frequency response. But just moving your speakers around can have a greater effect on the response.

Closer to the truth is that both solid state and tubes cause some disortion getting from A to B. This nonsense that tubes are equilizers because most modern amps don't use feedback to reduce distortion is absurd. Feedback mearly removes certain distortion properties, leaving behind the most offensive modes usually in a manner which smears real detail and rythmic snap. And then there is distortion due to clipping. This is where tube amps distort the wave form in a manner similar to the way a piano soundboard distorts the reverb of undamped strings, amplifying even harmonics more naturally and in a more pleasing manner. The harmonic disortion of solid state electronics is at a lower level but presents itself in a more musically damaging and relevent manner. It seems like the best way to avoid distortion in both devices is to use them each in the manner they operate best. Solid state manufactures (save McIntosh) don't want to do this because it means only using transitors for current delivery and using tubes or certain (probably pricier) transitors for what they are good at, linear voltage amplifiers. This means only 5 watts of low distortion output or (cha-ching) output tranformers. That means that $10k amp may even have to contain a few grand in parts (the king covers his privates and leaves the prominade). And some wonder why High-End is losing it's luster?

There is "something" about tubes that is sorta magic, but also sort of an "illusion". Their creamy smooth mid-ranges, their rolling off hard at the high frequencies, their "muddy" but somehow satisfying low end. No, I don't suspect they are reproducing the "input signal" as "faithfully" as do solid state amps. But, are they somehow capturing the "magic" and "romance" of music? I have owned tubes, don't like the hassle and issues. But, that said, I like 'em - uh, bigtime!!!

It strikes me as irrelevant. There is no part of the recording, mixing, pressing, and playback process that does not impact the tone and other sonic characteristics of the recorded music. The ultimate test for me is determining which amplifier (and which other components in my system) work in a way that most effectively recreates the original musical event within the parameters of my listening room. I don't make a conscious analysis concerning accuracy—if I find myself swept away by the music, I know it's right. If I find myself critiquing bass or high frequency performance, it's not right. Having listened to endless combinations of solid state and tube amplifiers with countless speakers, I ended up with Conrad-Johnson Premier 8A tube monoblocks. Are they really just tone controls? Who cares? They sound magnificent. Perhaps a solid-state amplifier is more "accurate", but that may not be an advantage. If the first 9 stages of recording and processing leave the music signal deficient in some way, and the solid state amp accurately reproduces the deficiency while the tube amp changes the tone in a way that corrects some of the deficiency, who is ahead?

Rather depends on the circuit in question, and under what conditions it is operating.

Some people can't hear... .

I say yes. But it is a bit more complex than just irregular frequency responses. It is also the higher harmonic distortions and lower dampening factors that mellow the sound. Tubes are just more colored.

They act as amplifiers.

i've never heard a tube amp that sounded as good as a fine solid-state. An SET amp probably couldn't drive my speakers either. Sure, they may sound good with the right gear, but it isn't because of neutrality

I don't agree with Mr. Burwen in that he states a "main reason" for what others like and tries to justify his reason with some simple facts. We have replaced our solid state pre-amp, phono pre-amp and amplifier with tubed componets and found the tubed componets all "quite pleasing". I believe there are componets that are best suited for those who listen to componets, and there are componets for those who listen to music. For example, "tone" as heard from an equalizer and tone as heard from a tube amp.

Some amps probably do act as tone controls, especially older push-pull varieties. SET (single ended triode) amps with well designed output transformers can accurately reproduce a full spectrum, and with amazing speed and delicacy. My high-powered solid-state rig actually has a warmer sound than my SET rig. I prefer SET for its purity of tone, accuracy, speed and overall natural sound. Of course, every piece of equipment to some extent is a tone control. Now that amps lack bass and treble controls final tweaking of the sound frequently occurs through cable swaps.

TUBES ARE COOL

Tube amps have more distortion and other characteristics that cannot be duplicated with equalizer settings. Therefore they are not a glorified equalizer. I'm not a big tube fan, but I'm not against anyone wishing to listen to their music through a tube amp. To each his own.

No. Maybe an amp with coloration that's different from solid state coloration, but an amp nonetheless.

and what glorious tone controls they are!

and i love them

not JUST glorified EQs, but yes they typically perform some type of spectral alteration as well as dynamics alteration. but that is not to say that they don't also avoid some alterations that solid state amps do.

Depends on what you buy. Some brands have gone for nuetrality, good imaging and other strengths of a tube circuit. Other brands, notably, SET's, have gone for a particualar flavour, and can be accused of acting as tone controls. However this is also true of various solid state equipment as well. This was well demonstrated a few years back by Bob Carver when he voiced his Sunfire amp, to sound like a popular tube amp of the time. The bottom line is the customer can get the voicing on a product that they desire, whether it is tube or solid state. Caveat Emptor.

Not only are some of them glorified equalizers, they are damned expensive glorified equalizers. Really, $100K+ for an amp? Even I can't justify that and I don't have a significant other to answer to. That said, I'd really like a pair of Atma-Sphere OTLs.

Well-designed tube amps - such as those from Quicksilver, Music Reference and Macintosh - will work with a wide variety of speakers without causing audible frequency response problems due to impedance mismatch.

I would not call them tone controls but "tember controls"

Mr. Burwen's comments sound like sour grapes from a solid-state enthusiast. Such a sweeping condemnation of a proven audio technology by someone of Mr. Burwen's position in the audio engineering community is certainly dismaying, to say the least. However, vacuum-tube audio products almost always convey a convincing sense of the essence of the musical experience. This capability can almost certainly be attributed to the fact that most vacuum-tube circuits are substanially simpler than their solid-state counterparts; it would be quite difficult to argue that an audio signal is better served by passing through a more complex topology and additional components. Solid-state audio gear benefits from efforts to achieve a similar level of circuit simplicity; Nelon Pass' Aleph and SuperSymmetric XA-series amplifiers are exceptional examples of inherently simple solid-state topologies that yield musical attributes shared by many vacuum-tube products. One shouldn't focus on the technology employed; rather, we should be be concerned with how a given implementation of technology supports the musical experience.

as a guy hwo own and build many valve amps (mostly OTL's), I can siad that they are glorified but not equalizers at all. Bernard Le-Forge blf@postmaster.co.uk

I think "damping factor" has the most effect. If solid state amps had a lower D.F. or a variable control, that would allow a comparison. And then there is the "order level of distortion harmonics" and the hiss and grain modulation. Thermal hiss sounds different from silicon junction hiss.