mark1101 Posted July 24, 2003 Share Posted July 24, 2003 To the panel, I have heard that tube amps have a "natural compression". Is this true? Does the amp actually reduce the dynamic range as it gets louder? Is the key to use the least power as possible? What's the deal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwm Posted July 24, 2003 Share Posted July 24, 2003 I dont believe there is actual compression as such, but tubes when driven to the clip point clip in a more benign fashion (they dont brick wall). This could be referred to as soft clipping, so in this sense there is some limited "compression". This characteristic allows a good 25 watt/channel tube amp to "sound like", in terms of headroom, a 40-50 watt solid state amp. They clip in a sweeter more euphonic fashion, that and the larger amounts of even order harmonic distortion give them their characteristic "warmth". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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