fluff191 said:
Right off the bat, I am simply shocked at how QUIET these things are. With the amp cranked on Channel 3 and the guitar unplugged, all I hear is just the hiss of the gain. Typically, hearing some kid of very faint noise or pop or rolling static would be expected with ant new production tube with as much gain as I dial in.
Secondly, I am very surprised at how even and dimensional these are. I swap tubes quite a bit, due to modern tubes always boosting a particular frequency or cut another or are generally hollow feeling. These tubes are not bass, treble or mid heavy. I really feel like I am actually hearing my amp for what it is. Very round and warm. Almost like you are playing inside an old log cabin or something.
There you go... straight away you can hear the *quality* in those old tubes, before you even get into the nuances of the different tones of one type vs. another.
I've always thought that it's not so much that NOS tubes sound "good", it's that new-production ones sound bad - they all sound muddy, fuzzy, indistinct, harsh or noisy to one extent or another... simply because they are less well made. It's like the difference between a plywood acoustic guitar and a solid wood one.
Sometimes I think it's a good thing that more people try it and hear the difference (because it is real, obvious and not just 'cork sniffing'), and sometimes I think it's a bad thing because it will only increase demand and drive up prices!
. No, not really.... it's all good. The only sad thing is that no matter the demand or how expensive the old ones get, it's highly unlikely that any new production tubes will reach the quality of those old ones ever again - the strict cost-no-object development and quality control that happened when they were state of the art electronics for the military, aviation and industry (audio was just a spin-off) will never come back.
I didnt think a tube that just converts power would have any effect on the tone. Tell me more!
You would think not, wouldn't you? Well it does...! I have to admit to not being 100% certain of the exact reason that it is audible, but you *can* hear it. (I know about the different voltage drop and non-linear forward resistance characteristics, but those still don't really explain why it is as audible as it is.)
NOS rectifiers are also *far* more reliable than any new-production ones - a high proportion of the failures I've come across in many modern tube amps are nothing more than blown Sovtek, JJ or Chinese rectifier tubes - and considering that they don't cost much (if any, for a lot of types, really apart from Mullard GZ34s) more, there's no point in not using them.
Power tubes are where it becomes tricky. NOS ones do make a big difference to the tone - and also the punch and presence, the difference is very audible even in a stage mix where people who haven't tried it think it won't be (in my experience, it's even *more* so than at low volume) - and in many cases the outright power output... but the supply is getting short and they are getting very expensive for most of the good types, and need very thorough testing because a failure can cause amp damage. Worse, many guitar amps run them outside even the original correct design spec, so even properly-tested ones can fail. But even as expensive as they are, they also last several times longer than new tubes so the long-term cost may still not be any higher (yet).
