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What Solid State Gear Sounds Most Like Tubes?

onepixel

onepixel

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I don't have much experience with tube gear. And I've been eye balling a number of vintage and new tube amps. But I'm not sure if I'm ready to go down that road just yet. Especially to do it right, it means way more stuff. I still have to thin out what I have.

So is there a combination of SS gear that will approximate the sound of tubes?

Thanks,
Carl
 
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Everybody has heard different gear and has different ears, etc. I can say that I've heard some S/S gear that sounds more tubey than others but none of it really sounds like good tubes. If you have some good s/s amps and would like to try the tube sound, then see about a good tube pre. That can be a pretty happy marriage and you won't have to change speakers, amps or anything else.

If you really want to stay with s/s, then I'd have to say that Mcintosh is about the tubiest s/s that I've heard. I also thought that the Blue Circle gear that I heard at AKFest was pretty impressive without a lot of the typical s/s harshness (to my ears).

I hope that you hit on the right combo.
 
I started down the tube road. I have an HH Scott tuner and amp. I got the tuner working but the amp has a hum that I am chasing. I picked up a tube receiver, bought some output tubes for it and it worked. Sort of. No FM.
It appears to be a very expensive endeavor. The HH Scott tuner has nice sound through an SS amp. I am going to attempt to rebuild the Scott amp to see if I will continue in the tube direction. It seems if you get into tube gear you need to GET into it. Good luck if you do. The help in the tube forum is great. I have a feeling I will stick with transistors. But I will keep the HH Scott tube gear, if for no other reason than to say "ya, I got tubes". :D

Rob
 
Bedini is a very "warm and fuzzy" (in a good way) sounding amp. (25/25 150/150 as examples) I think Threshold, and again, Mac fall into this catagory.
 
Some say mosfet amps sound like tubes. Some say the tube sound can be had with tube power amp, and the rest of the gear SS. Others say a tube preamp with SS power amp gives a good "tube sound".
 
I'd agree with jc on the Blue Circle SS gear. I haven't heard it at home yet (I will soon) but heard several pieces at the AKfest's over the last few years and consistently liked it which for me means it's kind of tube-like. If I had to use SS, something tells me the BC sound would best suit my tastes over anything else.

I believe getting into tube amps should be done by first getting comfortable with some tube friendly speakers so the idea of starting with a tube pre-amp to get a taste makes a lot of sense to me. When I first tried tubes I was using power & current hungry DQ-10's where putting a tube pre in front of the arc-welder amps I was using was a major step up. Eventually I found a big tube amp that worked with those speakers but in hind-site I would sure have liked to have gotten to the tube-friendly speakers I now love first, it would have made amp sampling a lot more fun and much cheaper.
 
I believe it's physically impossible for ss units to sound like tube sets and I have run a number of tests.

When I toss a tube set down the cellar steps they all sound something like pink ... pink... pink ... pong.

SS sets on the other hand sound like punk ... punk ... punk ... plop.


Has this settled the debate?


Regards,
Jerry
 
Thanks guys!

I'm learning and finding out there is a lot to consider in doing it right. With my SS gear I sometimes blindly tried a myriad of combinations which was time consuming but yet fun. I want to minimize my mistakes with tubes because of the expense.

Last night I was experimenting with a Marantz Quad with Thiels (fronts) which are clear, well defined and has a great soundstage and ADS L-780 (rears) which are warm and bass heavy. I was playing Jazz in quad but had it set up like 2-channel so I could mix the speakers sound. For the lack of better words all I can say it was real juicy and as close to tubes that I've come to so far.

I have a couple of speakers that are pretty efficient. But I'm always hearing certain types of speakers (horns) sound the best with tubes. But I don't want to go there yet.

A tube pre-amp sounds like a good start. Any recommendations?

Cheers!
 
onplane said:
I believe it's physically impossible for ss units to sound like tube sets and I have run a number of tests.

When I toss a tube set down the cellar steps they all sound something like pink ... pink... pink ... pong.

SS sets on the other hand sound like punk ... punk ... punk ... plop.


Has this settled the debate?


Regards,
Jerry
Click to expand...


Reminder to self: Never send any units to Jerry for testing ever...
 
I thought my Musical Fidelity A3^CR pre and power sounded pretty tube-like. My theory is, it's the choke regulation.

And I've heard that Mosfets can sound tubelike.
 
Vintage Macintosh SS came the closest, to my ears.

Vintage Marantz SS tried too hard too, and ended up sounding like it was IN a tube, not driven by them.
 
onepixel said:
Last night I was experimenting with a Marantz Quad with Thiels (fronts) which are clear, well defined and has a great soundstage and ADS L-780 (rears) which are warm and bass heavy. I was playing Jazz in quad but had it set up like 2-channel so I could mix the speakers sound. For the lack of better words all I can say it was real juicy and as close to tubes that I've come to so far.
Click to expand...
Marantz stuff(older stuff) sounds quite tubesque, thus is the reason I like it.
Although nothing can replace tubes, some receivers and amps like marantz stuff sounds very much like lower end tube stuff.
Sherwood is somewhat tubesque as well. I haven't heard any other brands that are close enough to qualify however.
I believe my HK-230A sounds like cheap-o tubes a little as well.

But Marantz is the closest to tube-like you can get without spending a second mortgage(mcintosh ss)(IMHO!)

pmsummer said:
Vintage Marantz SS tried too hard too, and ended up sounding like it was IN a tube, not driven by them.
Click to expand...
Maybe use some q-tips to clean your ears... :thmbsp:
 
Another comes to mind: Henry Ho's H2O amps. The cleanest, sweetest amps I've heard in a long time. They just DO NOT get in the way of the music, unlike tubes IMO. Yes I like the sound of tube amps, but thats the thing, I know it's doing something to the sound.
 
The better the tube amp the less tubey it tends to sound. Very good amplifiers have no charecteristic sound at all. This is true of tube and solid state. For musical production like in electric guitar, the tube sound is desirable. The musician uses the tube distortion and overdrive as part of the sound he is trying to create.
 
Mcintosh autoformer coupled amplifiers do the best job that I've heard, look for a used MC-2200 or 2205 for a relative audio bargain. The highs are close, and the bass hits pretty hard unlike most tube setups. I've got some MC-240's and an 8-B I rotate through my system (8B now) but when I want really solid, extended bass, with most of the tube color; the MC-2600 gets the nod.

I've owned an MC-2200 as well, that's why I'd recommend it.

Mike
 
This post is a good read!

My humble experience is earlyier Sansui and Marantz sound more warm and tube-like, but at the end of the day, it's still far removed from the real tube sound.
 
Good Question

And the answer is...Sansui. The Sansui engineers tried to capture their tube gear sound in their early SS designs. My Sansui 3000A (1968) receiver is said to sound like Sansui's tube gear but I haven't listened to it in many moons. But I remember it sounding very warm and laid back. I'll be dropping it off at CDFixer's this Sunday for repair and should have it back by the end of the month. :music: I bet a Sansui AU-9500 would be closer to the tube sound as well. How does your AU-555 sound compare to some of your newer vintage gear?
 
thedelihaus said:
This post is a good read!

My humble experience is earlyier Sansui and Marantz sound more warm and tube-like, but at the end of the day, it's still far removed from the real tube sound.
Click to expand...
Indeed, i forgot my old sansui sounded really warm as well, as opposed to the 70s sansui that is sharp and bright.
 
Marantz does have that warm sound and Sansui to a degree. But I'm not sure how close to tubes they sound without a direct comparison. AU-555 is pretty warm sounding but also seems a little tired. Since it's nearly 40 years old I'm not sure if its just old caps or something else. The tubes while not exactly accurate sounds more lush and juicy.
 
I have a few (the 4000, 331, and 551) Sansui receivers that sound "warm". But I'll take real over warm anyday.
 
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