what makes vacuum tubes the better choice for some application (most notably an amp for music) over more modern options?
In: Engineering
it used to be a different sound that was harder to achieve in solid state amps (typically the alternative to tube amps). Now though we’ve gotten really good at being able to emulate stuff. Instead of spending 4x as much on an equivalent tube version of a solid state amp, you can buy a pedal that creates that same “sound”.
IMO,
Instead, what it’s become is kind of a call back to tradition and the “classic” way to build amps, similar to buying older cars. Some people like the concept of being able to see the tubes lit up and creating the sound coming out of their amp.
It’s kind of the same concept as just plugging your guitar into a computer and plugging your headphones in. You can get virtually any sound and effect you want by doing that with software and time. A lot of guitar people, though, want the feeling of actually having all of that amplification/speaker equipment in the room with them that they can actually feel. The sound being pushed, the heat from the amp, etc.
Another thing is people want the amp that created the sound on a specific album/song. Most of the guitars Kurt Cobain used were super cheap or pawn shop guitars. About 10 years ago, you could track these down used for a few hundred bucks. Then they started getting popular in the indie scene. Now the same guitars that used to be $300, are almost $2k cause everyone wants to copy their idols. I think people buy those amps because it gives them hope that they can create something similar.
For me it’s almost strictly a nostalgic motivation to buy tube at this point. It was the first quality amp that I bought and eventually sold. At this point I really want another one but not really because of the tubes but rather so I can get what I used to have.
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