“Engineers and musicians have long debated the question of tube sound versus transistor sound.”
From the AES Journal, in the form of a paper first presented in 1972, Russell Hamm delivers a quasi-scientific study and analysis of the difference between tube and solid-state microphone pre-amps. Click here to read the fourteen-page article. This paper confirms what most recording engineers seem to realize intuitively: solid-state and vacuum tube amplifiers operate equally ‘well’ (read: musically-pleasing) when operated totally clean. However, Hamm reports that tube microphone pre-amps offer 15 – 20 db more acceptable semi-distorted headroom on transients, while only showing a 2-4 db actual increase in electrical output over this range. I.E., as Hamm states, tube microphone pre-amps can be extremely effective compressors. There’s more to it than that; read the piece and draw your own conclusions.
This month on Preservation Sound Radio: nine side-filling tracks from 1970 thru 1986, all from…
This month's show airs Tuesday 2.20.24 at 8:30PM -11:25PM EST on WPKN 89.5 FM in…
The first Preservation Sound Radio program of 2024 will air Tuesday January 16 at 8:30PM…
As aired 8:30PM-11:30PM 12.19.23 on WPKN 89.5 FM Bridgeport. Enjoy. PSR DEC2023 sequence 1. Click…
Tonight 11.21.23 8:30 PM EST: special advance broadcast of the P/S Winter 2024 Mixtape. Catch…
Here's the tracklist for the 2023 Preservation Sound Summer Mixtape, to be broadcast 8:30PM EST…
View Comments
The later article Hamm wrote, "Transistors Can Sound Better Than Tubes", is MUCH tougher to find. I wonder why.
Nothing evil here: "The later article Hamm wrote, “Transistors Can Sound Better Than Tubes”" is published in the AES Journal, it's just not free (5 $ for AES members, 20 $ for non-members). Go to "http://www.aes.org", then to "publications", then "AES E-Library", enter "Hamm", and search.
No, I'm not going to pay $20 to AES for a forty year old article. I'm sorry, I'm not now and am not going to join AES, especially since their conventions are nothing but a phat toob mic pre fest anymore. Nothing but overpriced recording gear. No speakers, no amplifiers, no nothing anymore.
Copyright duration needs a trimming back. Badly.