How much tube it too much?

  • Thread starter Thread starter timboZ
  • Start date Start date
OBTW.....I'm using a a Cathode Ray Tube monitor.. :D :D :D


But seriously is that overkill.
 
ENIAC (′ē·nē·ak)

(computer science) The first digital computer in the modern sense of the word, built 1942-1945. Derived from Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator.

yes answers.com rocks!
 
mshilarious said:
Your DAW runs on ENIAC? That kicks ass :cool:
Click to expand...
Old school, baby! :D

Though it's a little sluggish with convolution reverbs. Render times are about 27 months per track... :p

G.
 
Make sure you video yourself recording then put it on YouTube.

Seriously what does it sound like? Does each level of tube add to the wide frequency spectrum or just reinforce the same areas of the sound? Could it be your signature tone?

Fitness for purpose – if it makes the sound you want then keep the chain as tubatious as you like. I can not see how it would do any damage if all you electrics are sorted – also save on heating in the winter. Only rules no hum, no clip – the rest is just a matter of taste.

No skool, like the old tube skool!
 
timboZ said:
I use to run one of these back in the day.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/54/UnivacII.jpg
http://www.gwdg.de/gwdg/standort/museum/ran/ran7/u1100_stu_gr.htm
Click to expand...
I never did the Univac, but I did start out on the IBM 370 (later IBM 4341) back in college. Those were the last of the days when computers looked like computers :).

As far as computers and audio, there the start was when my buddy and I designed and built a homemade control interface between the RS-232 port on a TRS-80 Model 1's expansion interface, an ARP 2600, and a Sequential Circuits Model 800 sequencer.

G.
 
Whatmysay said:
Seriously what does it sound like? Does each level of tube add to the wide frequency spectrum or just reinforce the same areas of the sound? Could it be your signature tone?
Click to expand...

On a serious note, replace tube in your sentence with transistor. They are just the two devices we have to amplify, there is not necessarily anything special about either one. Except one is far less efficient than the other, but that doesn't matter too much for small-signal stuff.

Which makes me think, when is somebody going to invent a new amplifier? And when are LETs going to be commercially available :confused:
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
As far as computers and audio, there the start was when my buddy and I designed and built a homemade control interface between the RS-232 port on a TRS-80 Model 1's expansion interface, an ARP 2600, and a Sequential Circuits Model 800 sequencer.
Click to expand...

The Trash 80, eh? I guess technically I started fooling around with the tone generator on an Apple ][, and I played with speech sampling rountines even though I didn't have the tape deck, just the floppy drive. When we scored the Apple GS, I had a very simple sequencer program for that, you could drag & drop notation and play it back with a small selection of samples, which were much more primitive than the synths of the day (1987). I mean it was nothing like a DX7. I don't recall if it supported MIDI or not :confused:
 
Robert D said:
This is the most totally tubular thread ever. :cool:

Make sure to wear tube socks while recording.
Click to expand...
And that tube top.
 
mshilarious said:
The Trash 80, eh? I guess technically I started fooling around with the tone generator on an Apple ][, and I played with speech sampling rountines even though I didn't have the tape deck, just the floppy drive. When we scored the Apple GS, I had a very simple sequencer program for that, you could drag & drop notation and play it back with a small selection of samples, which were much more primitive than the synths of the day (1987). I mean it was nothing like a DX7. I don't recall if it supported MIDI or not :confused:
Click to expand...
All of which was way ahead of what we were doing with the Trash, which we were doing around the '79-'81 time period. All we were doing was using the serial interface to send source and/or control voltages to the ARP and the SC800. Control was provided by a homebrew BASIC program we wrote for sending voltages to the 232 port. It was *very* rudimentary, but man was it fun to mess with :). We later expanded the 232 control engine to the point where we built a "network protocol" (I use the term VERY loosely) where we were able to send messages and data between our 80s (he had one, and I had one) via their 232 ports.

But to get back on topic...

MSH put it exactly right. There is nothing special to worry about just because the majority of gear in your signal chain uses vacuum tube technology instead of solid state technology. As long as you have good gain structure in your signal chain, all should be just fine with no more or no less worries about overloading a particular type of coloration than you would if you had no tube gear. OTOH, if you don't keep your gain structure under control, you'll have potential unwanted effects regardless of whether you're using zero tubes or a million tubes.

G.
 
timboZ said:
A tube amp miced with a tube mic into a tube pre followed by a tube eq and a tube compressor. :confused:
Click to expand...

I think when you mic your anal tube is when it's too much
 
SouthSIDE Glen said:
MSH put it exactly right. There is nothing special to worry about just because the majority of gear in your signal chain uses vacuum tube technology instead of solid state technology. As long as you have good gain structure in your signal chain, all should be just fine with no more or no less worries about overloading a particular type of coloration than you would if you had no tube gear. OTOH, if you don't keep your gain structure under control, you'll have potential unwanted effects regardless of whether you're using zero tubes or a million tubes.
Click to expand...

Well I wasn't exactly right. The physical properties of tubes and transistors are somewhat different. Put simply, it's easier to screw with a tube because there are more parameters. You can change their performance by modifying plate voltage or filament current. Changing bias can alter the sound in a major fashion. Whereas a transistor acts more like a switch in that if you move too far outside safe ground, you just get clipping, or no sound at all.

Having said that, one would hope that the tube circuit designs would tend to operate the tubes within the parameters necessary for linear performance. But that doesn't always seem to be the case in low-end gear.

And I'm going to maintain plausible deniability on this issue :o :D

PS My Apple ][ experiments would have been c. 1983-4. By that time one didn't need to write a network protocol, because 300 baud modems were commercially available :p
 
How much tube is too much tube?

Well the importance of tube is always 2nd on my chain..








The number one importance is cowbell.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top