Re: Tubes in Pre-amps: your expertise and honest opinion.

[Richard Sales <richard@glasswing.com>]

There's a company called, I THINK, 3D Audio that sells a CD with all of the different pre amps and mics recorded in a pristine environment so you can HEAR the sound of each pre and mic.  That way you can listen and make your own discoveries & judgments.  I don't think a bad tube mic pre is better than a quality solid state (SS) pre.  Millennia makes some very nice no tube pre's.  Lots of folks do.  And if you have a tube mic many folks say it's best to run it into a SS mic pre.  That's what I'm doing right now with my big tube mic and it sounds great. 

I have a little (relatively cheap - $600 USD) Chameleon mic pre that's modeled after the old Neve and it is amazing.  No tube.  I have a Summit mic pre with tube that's wonderful too.  The Chameleon is more transparent, clear.  The Summit is fatter.  Also have a Daking 4 channel no tube (modeled after the old Trident mic pre's) that's somewhere in between!  Just to confuse things...

I haven't bought the 3D Audio CD but I've heard it's a mind blower because some of the cheaper mic's and mic pre's sound as good as or better than some of the very expensive ones.  Might be worth investing in if you're shopping for stuff.  That way you're making a very educated decision based on your ears.  There's lots of opinions out there but each is tailored to the individual's needs and tastes... or what they're selling.

Ah!  Here's the link:

http://www.3daudioinc.com/

richard sales
glassWing farm and studio
vancouver island, b.c.
800.545.6846
250.752.4816
www.glassWing.com
www.richardsales.com
www.hayleysales.com
www.blueberryfieldsfarm.com
On 2-Jan-07, at 8:31 AM, margaret noble wrote:

> Hello List,
>
> I recently purchased a cheap tube pre-amp by Art for
> my autoharp. I couldn't believe because it seemed to
> sound as good as if not better then my Presonus
> pre-amp (which has no tube).
>
> Now, i have heard it to be widely accepted that many
> prefer tubes because they create a warmer sound. So i
> read a bit to see if i could understand why?
>
>
> I think in my most basic primitive grasp of the
> concept "tube" that the benefits are due to tube
> circuitry whereby a small distortion spectrum results
> which causes added harmonics???????<--am i on
> track????
>
> But, as read further i learned that the main benefit
> comes from DH-Set "SE" configurations and that the "PP
> (push-pull)" configurations do substantially less of
> this "warming effect"????
>
> so, i am wondering then, do all current technology
> tubes sound better/warmer then non-tube preamps? or
> are there only certain tubes that do this? 
>
> how would i know technically (besides listening) if i
> have a SE tube or a PP tube from specs in my manual
> that read "Tube Type: 12AX7A hand selected"?
>
> I am just trying to decode this mystery so i don't
> dogmatically accept audio theory without knowing why.
> Any and all input would be great! 
>
> THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR TIME! :-)
>
>
>
> Margaret Noble
> Audio Artist 
> http://www.myspace.com/margaretnoble
>
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