Tubes = Warmth. Not!

Yeah, he has some gear he doesn't want to part with...

I still bet he doesn't achieve 'warmth' with them though.

So his point is still valid. Unless we wish to pick apart every detail of this video.

I bet the ones who would financially benefit from his opinions already bought his gear, and moved on with their own endeavors.

Many of those here at HR will likely benefit from someone recommending that a $3000+tube preamp may not be the end all answer to ultimate tone. I would never recommend that to any noob. But it has been asked many times in my short term here.

Nothing worse than an inexperienced musician/prodouchuh going out of their budget thinking that 'product A' is going to make the difference between shit and gold.


I for one will never condone someone spending such money before dealing with more important issues.

---------- Update ----------

miroslav said:
Is that Vintech available...? ;)
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Naw, I love that 'tubeless' beotch! :)
 
jimmys69 said:
Many of those here at HR will likely benefit from someone recommending that a $3000+tube preamp may not be the end all answer to ultimate tone. I would never recommend that to any noob. But it has been asked many times in my short term here.
Click to expand...

I would never recommend it either to a noob...but I gotta say, I don't think too many people around here would be willing to drop $3000+ on any single piece of gear, even if it was recommended!!! :D


jimmys69 said:
Naw, I love that 'tubeless' beotch! :)
Click to expand...

I'll send you a tube in exchange.
If you hold it in your hand it will get warm. :) ;)
 
miroslav said:
I would never recommend it either to a noob...but I gotta say, I don't think too many people around here would be willing to drop $3000+ on any single piece of gear, even if it was recommended!!! :D




I'll send you a tube in exchange.
If you hold it in your hand it will get warm. :) ;)
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lol! Let's play a game! :)
 
This may be old news but not to me it ain't. I'll admit I was one of those that believed the myth and I'm so glad I found that video as I am currently saving for 2 art vla 2's and an Avantone CV-12 just coz they got tubes. thinking they would help fatten/warm up the sound.
 
it's not totally a myth. Tubes in guitar amps absolutely have a different sound than solid state that many describe as warm although I personally hate that term..

But in studio gear and mics?
I agree .....Most of that stuff is starved plate designs that don't push the tube.
The only way a tube gets different than solid state worthwhile is if you push it hard ....... and then you start to get into saturation and distortion which you may or may not want in the studio and usually won't want.
 
raven46 said:
This may be old news but not to me it ain't. I'll admit I was one of those that believed the myth and I'm so glad I found that video as I am currently saving for 2 art vla 2's and an Avantone CV-12 just coz they got tubes. thinking they would help fatten/warm up the sound.
Click to expand...

Well...to tell the truth, you will actually get that with the VLAs.
I have a pair, and I've used them many times during tracking to add a touch of thickness/fuzziness/saturation to the tone....and THAT is what is usually thought of as "warmth".
They certainly did NOT add bright harmonics...as the guy in the video was implying tubes always do.
Some tube gear may, but not all.

His problem...
He was looking for punch...not warmth. A punchy tone is not necessarily a thick/fuzzy tone.

If you get the VLAs, you can also swap out the 12AT7 tubes that the newer models now come stock with...wi some 12AX7 tubes, which was what the original VLAs came with. The 12AX7 tubes have more gain, therefore you can drive the unit harder for more thickness/fuzz....though understand, it's not like a guitar amp that goes into that wide-range distorted territory that we all like for guitar...though if you slam the VLAs to their limit, they too will distort....but you don't want that. You want the more subtle saturation.

I run one VLA with a 12AT7 and the other with a 12AX7 so I can have two flavors to choose from.
 
Ooooooh....:)....I'll have to think about that.

It's not about what I'm willing to swap, it's more about having the Vintech when I can get the most use/trial out of it.

I'm all fucked up at the moment...just spent a couple of week transitioning my DAW rig to a new system, finally got back to where I was a month ago...and all I was working on prior to that, was already recorded tracks.

I've got nothing in the cue for tracking at the moment...and that's where/when I would like to try a different preamp.

I've got pres, comps, EQ, mics...though some of the rack pieces are rather large, like my Groove Tubes SuPre...it's 3 rack spaces and weighs a ton, so I think I would have to see what's not so cumbersome to ship. Some of the UPS/FedEx guys don't like to strain themselves too much! :D
I wouldn't want them dropping anything!!!
 
miroslav said:
Ooooooh....:)....I'll have to think about that.

It's not about what I'm willing to swap, it's more about having the Vintech when I can get the most use/trial out of it.

I'm all fucked up at the moment...just spent a couple of week transitioning my DAW rig to a new system, finally got back to where I was a month ago...and all I was working on prior to that, was already recorded tracks.

I've got nothing in the cue for tracking at the moment...and that's where/when I would like to try a different preamp.

I've got pres, comps, EQ, mics...though some of the rack pieces are rather large, like my Groove Tubes SuPre...it's 3 rack spaces and weighs a ton, so I think I would have to see what's not so cumbersome to ship. Some of the UPS/FedEx guys don't like to strain themselves too much! :D
I wouldn't want them dropping anything!!!
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The Vintech power supply is easily 15lbs and way bigger than the preamp. Obviously insurance would need to be purchased for the ship.

The 273 is next on my list. I need to make the power supply worth having. That's my excuse anyway. :)
 
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Shit yeah!

It's like when I put up 20 guitar wall hangers....and then saw the pure logic in buying 20 guitars to hang on them. :laughings:

Honestly though...I always thought Vintech did that intentionally.
I mean...how hard would it have been to design a single unit power supply. :D

So speaking of warm audio...I've been eyeballin' the Warm Audio Tonebeast preamp.
It's supposed to be a real color machine...nothing transparent about it at all.

Warm Audio Tonebeast
 
miroslav said:
Shit yeah!

It's like when I put up 20 guitar wall hangers....and then saw the pure logic in buying 20 guitars to hang on them. :laughings:

Honestly though...I always thought Vintech did that intentionally.
I mean...how hard would it have been to design a single unit power supply. :D

So speaking of warm audio...I've been eyeballin' the Warm Audio Tonebeast preamp.
It's supposed to be a real color machine...nothing transparent about it at all.

Warm Audio Tonebeast
Click to expand...

Looks like something fun to experiment with! I missed the price tag tho...
 
Tubes are "warming" sound if right used for it. The same with audio transformers and input's impedance (depends of source too), electronics fastness, etc. Strong and right EMI/RFI filtering/protection is adding warmth too. "Warmth" is complex understanding - less distortion (including linear and intermodulation), cut/lowered higher frequencies, musical harmonics domination, etc. Tubes have almost constant input resistance and capacitance what is very important for higher impedance sources. Solid state devices have signal's self modulation problems because input resistance and capacitance depends of incoming signal amplitude.
 
raven46 said:
This may be old news but not to me it ain't. I'll admit I was one of those that believed the myth and I'm so glad I found that video as I am currently saving for 2 art vla 2's and an Avantone CV-12 just coz they got tubes. thinking they would help fatten/warm up the sound.
Click to expand...

Don't get them because they have tubes. But I own both and they're each great pieces of kit for the price. They happen to have tubes in them. They also happen to do very well at their respective jobs, and are very competitively priced.

The CV-12 is multi-pattern, and has a very nice high frequency response. It's versatile and sounds great.

The Pro VLA II is a fantastic entry-level compressor. I doubt that you'd regret adding one to your setup for vocals or bass guitar. You'd have to at least double the price to find anything that sounds noticeably better.
 
I will also vouche for the vla. The fact that it has a tube in it is secondary to the fact that is an option compressor. That is what is cool about it. Even if it were solid state, it would be cool.
 
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