Tube Pres, SS Pres

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tkingen

tkingen

Djembes Rock
I have never used a tube mic pre. All things being equal in quality, what are the characteristics that would make you choose one over the other?

Terry
 
Solid state and tube based preamps run the gamut from crap to godlike. The only good news is if the pre is a "real" tube amp, not a hybrid, it will only suck so much just because it was more expensive to build. There are clean and colored amps with and without tubes. In other words, in spite of the hype, there is no specific sound that I would associate with tube amps or solid state amps. There are only preamps that suck, mediocre preamps, good preamps and great preamps. Every preamp has its own sound, and I can't discern a pattern regarding tubes. Most of my direct experience with tube based mic pres comes from Avalon 737 and Pendulum MDP-1. These are *great* preamps. There is no time that I would say, "Gee, I need a *tube* preamp for this track. More likely I would say, "I want to use *that* mic for this track. It gets along really will with *that* preamp. Also, when you get to a certain level of quality, it often won't suck no matter what you do. You could select Avalon AD2022 (solid state) instead of the Pendulum (tube based). Guess what? Neither one sucks. Works for me. Tubes, in and of themselves, are the single most overated piece of audio gear. Nonetheless, tubes are used in some great gear. I think the difference is more obvious in guitar amps, where high levels of distortion are often used. Not many people would use a Marshall half stack for a mic preamp, or a PA. Distortion (warmth) in mic pres is far more subtle, and it can come from components other than tubes. Usually it's a bad thing, but not always.-Richie
 
Tubes can be good for some pleasing overdrive aka distortion, typically a solid state preamp isn't going to crap out in any favorable way. With tubes you can push for it, with solid state you're pretty much clean or distorted with very little play in between. Many tube designs afford you that window, if you so wish.

That's not to say that tube preamps can't sound clean and ss can't sound harsh. I'm talking about overdrive.

My $0.02.

War
 
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