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RE: General tube amp restoration question

Posted by Russ57 (A) on November 19, 2016 at 10:25:27

In Reply to: General tube amp restoration question posted by airtime on November 19, 2016 at 07:13:58:

"Let's say you are restoring and upgrading a tube amp. Is your goal to make it sound a clean as possible. By that I mean balanced, no distortion, new parts and a razor sharp square wave."

IMHO the entire audio chain should be concerned with reproducing what went into it. By this I mean we should be able to record what we play, play that recording back and record it again.....repeat process over and over...and have it sound the same, and look the same on a scope, after several generations. So I vote for clean. BTW, the limiting factor is typically the speakers.


"With all things being equal like iron, tubes, etc... where is the difference between a good restoration and a "good" modern tube amp. Again I'm talking about a good modern amp with good iron."

I think it is hard to have a level playing field. How do you compare western electric to any present day offering? That WE amp was never sold, only leased. WE invented the high vacuum tube and loudspeakers. It was an engineered "package" and top quality, relibility, and long life were goals.....not cost or looks. They made and controlled all aspects and never had to worry about sales and cost. There just isn't anything close. And yes, I would put up one of their complete sound systems from the early 1900's against anything made in any time period (might even say the same about early RCA).

Now if we move forward, to say the 60's and later, matters are quite different. IMHO these tube amps all suffered from the same basic problem....how to get as many watts as possible from as small/pretty a package as possible. If one has a different design goal they can all be easily bettered (with perhaps a few exceptions). New amps are forced to use current production tubes which limits things a lot. I also doubt transformer design is quite the art it once was. Many parts are loads better though and circuit design has evolved. We can also use solid stae parts.

Now I would like to ask you something. What would it take for you to consider building your own amp from scratch? A regulated power supply....CCS loads for the tubes....a fairly simple circuit with limited distributed/local feedback loops....well, I think you would ditch your lust for vintage in a hurry (in all fairness there are a few vintage amps that are of great design and somewhat beyond a home builders prowess).

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