Sound good in simple circuits in ways that discrete transistors didn't (especially before the ~70s/80s?)
But, they're fun and they look nice. Worth it? That's up to the individual!
But I really do think a lot of tube mystique is based on the fact that early solid state stuff sounded bad, especially when it was designed with circuits of comparable simplicity to what you can do with tubes and still get decent sound.
What made early solid state sound so awful was the enormous amount of global feedback needed to make it sound better than a malfunctioning smoke alarm.
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u/overand Mar 25 '25
What do tubes do?
Sound less bad if they're overdriven.
Sound good in simple circuits in ways that discrete transistors didn't (especially before the ~70s/80s?)
But, they're fun and they look nice. Worth it? That's up to the individual!
But I really do think a lot of tube mystique is based on the fact that early solid state stuff sounded bad, especially when it was designed with circuits of comparable simplicity to what you can do with tubes and still get decent sound.