[Boatanchors] RE: SS rectifiers and amplifier tone

[Dave Maples]

All: I never heard of an artificial "sag" circuit, but it doesn't surprise
me.  As was pointed out, musicians cherish the even-harmonic distortion in
the typical push-pull vacuum-tube amplifier.  Considering how much folks pay
for "tube sound" nowadays, going to low-distortion op-amp responses in the
solid-state amp must be a big issue.

It reminds me of the computer motherboard I saw a while back with an
on-board sound chip accompanied by a 12AX7.  Yes, indeedy, folks, they went
so far as to put a TUBE on a PC motherboard, along with a 300-volt switching
PS.  What a hoot.

It would be interesting to measure the transient response of the DC power
supply with the two types of rectifiers and a defined load profile (staccato
notes / legato chords)

I tend to not want the distortion; however, I'm more of a classical guitar /
folk guitar fellow...

Dave WB4FUR


Message: 11
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 16:06:28 -0400
From: jeff <jeffv at op.net>
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] various rectifiers
To: mikea <mikea at mikea.ath.cx>
Cc: "boatanchors at mailman.qth.net" <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Message-ID: <44AD6D44.9000406 at op.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

mikea wrote:
> How would going from tube rectifiers to SS rectifiers change the tome
> of an amp? It's all DC at the filter output, isn't it?

begging the group's pardon for going further off....

The tube rectifier reacts differently than SS.  If your Bassman had an
SS rectifier, it would sound (for lack of better term) quicker
responding than your tube rectifier (GZ34?).  The voltages will be
different too.  This will affect the tone, for better or worse.

The tube also introduces some `sag', which is appreciated tonally.
There have been circuits designed to reproduce sag using zeners and/or
resistors but I haven't had any exposure or experience with them.

A fair amount of guitar players use their amps as tone generators, as
opposed to devices to accurately reproduce their instruments at louder
levels.  We tend to *like* distortion, especially the more aurally
pleasing output tube distortion   [BLASPHEMY!!!!]  :)


Most here know more than I do about the actual electrons involved, so
you'll probably get better/different answers in moments.  Either that or
they'll decapitate me for deliberately distorting an amp or being one of
those audiophools who can tell the difference between cable brands just
by listening :)


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End of Boatanchors Digest, Vol 30, Issue 8
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