0
Shopping cart
0
Cart is Empty

Can transistors really sound like tubes?

“This is not even a topic for discussion as far as I’m concerned… there is no substitute for tube electronics in the hearts and minds of pros.” – Ritchie Fliegler, Vice President of marketing, Fender Musical Instruments Corp.

Fliegler has hit the nail on the head – given the subtleties in guitar tube amp circuit design and the fact that tubes and transistors are radically different technologies, transistors certainly do not sound like them – there is no substitute for tubes. But, it’s perhaps more interesting to ask, “Why would we even think that transistors could sound like tubes?”. I reckon it’s down to the same people who once had me believing that margarine tastes like butter – it’s ‘them’, the marketing people.

A solid-state transistor, FET or digital stompbox that could accurately emulate the tone and feel of a tube amp would be a very desirable thing for musicians and manufacturers too as their marketing team can tap into all that fantastic tube marketing kudos, warmth, clarity, richness of tone, etc without actually needing to understand the idiosyncrasies or having to deal with the expense and hassle of hot, high voltage, thermionic technology. It’s a win-win situation for them – the ease of solid-state manufacture means bigger profits, however it leaves the poor musician seriously short-changed on tube tone.

But don’t panic: there is a simple solution if you want tube sound – use tube gear! Effectrode have worked with this fabulous glass bottles for decades, we understand what makes good tube tone, and although we don’t claim to have all the answers, one thing’s for sure – if Effectrode builds a ‘Dumble’ style preamp then it will have tubes in it. Or if we build an LA-2A style compressor, it too will have tubes (and photo-optical gain attenuator) and rest assured that our designs will be the result of years of meticulous research and development to authentically capture these great circuits in pedal form with absolutely no corners cut, period.

To find more about the fabulous tone of tubes then do take a look at Eric Barbour’s excellent article, The Cool Sound of Tubes

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Cookie	Duration	Description
_GRECAPTCHA	5 months 27 days	This cookie is set by Google. In addition to certain standard Google cookies, reCAPTCHA sets a necessary cookie (_GRECAPTCHA) when executed for the purpose of providing its risk analysis.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement	1 year	Set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
JSESSIONID		Cookie used to allow the Worldpay payment gateway on the website to function.
machine		Cookie used to allow the Worldpay payment gateway on the website to function.
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
wordpress_logged_in_		Users are those people who have registered an account with the WordPress site. On login, WordPress uses the wordpress_[hash] cookie to store your authentication details. Its use is limited to the Administration Screen area, /wp-admin/ After login, WordPress sets the wordpress_logged_in_[hash] cookie, which indicates when you’re logged in, and who you are, for most interface use. WordPress also sets a few wp-settings-{time}-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface.
wordpress_sec_	1 year	Provide protection against hackers, store account details.
wordpress_test_cookie		Test to see if cookies are enabled.
wp-settings-	1 year	WordPress also sets a few wp-settings-{time}-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is your individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize your view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface.

Cookie	Duration	Description
_ga	2 years	The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_gid	1 day	Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.

Cookie	Duration	Description
mailchimp_landing_site	1 month	This cookie is used to keep track of newsletter sign ups and client emails at checkout, Mailchimp utilises cookies to store information captured from user input for remarketing purposes.
mailchimp_user_email	1 month	This cookie is used to keep track of newsletter sign ups and client emails at checkout, Mailchimp utilises cookies to store information captured from user input for remarketing purposes.
mailchimp_user_previous_email	1 month	This cookie is used to keep track of newsletter sign ups and client emails at checkout, Mailchimp utilises cookies to store information captured from user input for remarketing purposes.
mailchimp.cart.current_email		This cookie is used to keep track of newsletter sign ups and client emails at checkout, Mailchimp utilises cookies to store information captured from user input for remarketing purposes.
mailchimp.cart.previous_email		This cookie is used to keep track of newsletter sign ups and client emails at checkout, Mailchimp utilises cookies to store information captured from user input for remarketing purposes.

Shopping cart