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In Reply to: What does 'lean sound' mean? posted by Marina C on July 03, 2002 at 16:09:27:
Lacking fullness, robustness, etc. To me, solid-state is mostly lean while tubes are rich, robust, full.... But that's just my opinion and not meant to start a solid-state vs tube war.
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Follow Ups:
IMHO, the number 1 problem for amps is getting enough instantaneous current (be it sound sources analogue stage, pre or power amp). In Tube amps, the current drawn is not strong thanks to the output transformer's primary which provides a high impedence. So it is easier to get most of the body out.For SS amps, you need to make your power supply very good (use very good or large or both electrolytics). Cost and size wise, not every SS amp manufacturer will honestly give you that. When instaneous current is insufficient, amps will sound SS like.
To me this seems to be a very strong determinent for the difference between tube and SS though I've read enough about other explanations.
However, when you have plugged this gap, SS and Tubes sounds much closer.I have both Push Pull and SE Tube amps besides SS and I arrived at the above opinion though success tweaking.
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