Newer tube desgins (ala Korg Nutube, BluGuitar Nanotube 100, ect)

deathbyguitar

Power User
I'm deeply fascinated by the new kinds of of tubes that some companies are using in their amps these days. BluGuitar has some sort of mini tubes in their pedals and Korg has the Nanotube stuff which I've heard good things about. Iv'e seen some other companies over the years with similar tube-replacement tech using their own mini triode designs. Seems that these kinds of things are usually paired with Class D power amps. I have to wonder if this could be a way forward for non-modeling amps, although I haven't gotten the chance to try any yet. But damn I'm really curious to see where this kind of stuff could take us.

I dream of one day having something that's completely analog and responsive but a lot smaller and lighter than your traditional tube amp, maybe even paired with neodymium speakers. To hell with Marshall stacks of yesteryear, I wanna see what forward thinking ideas can do for the future of the instrument. Hell, could you imagine if Fractal made an analog, non-modeling amp with such tech? I'd sell my only kidney for one. That or a Dual Rectifer with a similar design.

Your thoughts?
 
It seems to me that mini or nano tubes will have a niche place in analog designs, maybe in some microphones and preamps, but particularly in distortion pedals, akin to FET transistors, opamps and diodes. The biggest advantage of mini tubes is that the entire audio circuit can be low voltage: so smaller, cheaper, less heat, lower noise, etc. Gone is the requirement for 5kg transformers and 300 volt plate voltages. However, AFAIK, these tubes are used primarily to generate characteristic tube harmonic distortion, and the primary gain staging and amplification in these circuits is done by opamps, or discrete Class A designs, with Class D employed for a power amp when needed. If the interactive nature of components and impedance loading of the speakers can be replicated in a low voltage design: sign me up for a DIY kit building a pint sized point to point mini-Tweed Twin or Plexi. However, given the Moore's law diminuation of DSP costs, it seems more likely that a classic guitar amp and effects collection eventually emerges as an ASIC chip, rather than low voltage tubes finding much traction.
 
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