Solid State Tubes

Yeah, but can they get teh Slash tonez..?
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I remember a ad for a different Co. from NAMM show a few years ago. Wondered how those were and if they are still around. I also hope the Cliff would put his know-how of electronics to make SS pre and power tubes also, beside the modeling in the Axe Fx.
 
There's no way those things cost more than $5 in parts. It's probably just a MOSFET and a couple of resistors. For instance, a cathode follower can be replaced by a $1 MOSFET without any resistors at all.
 
plexi59 said:
There's no way those things cost more than $5 in parts. It's probably just a MOSFET and a couple of resistors. For instance, a cathode follower can be replaced by a $1 MOSFET without any resistors at all.
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Possibly, but I'm sure that they're covering development and manufacturing costs while trying to make a profit, however large or small it may be.
 
There is no "development cost", this stuff was well known for decades now. I'm just saying that anyone who pays $40 for this, when a real $10 preamp tube easily lasts a decade, is a sucker. :)
 
plexi59 said:
There is no "development cost", this stuff was well known for decades now.
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There's all kinds of this on the internet, dude; "I can do that" or "it's just this and that". I'm very sure that there is more to it than meets the eye.

"It's just blues". :p
 
Very interesting but I remain skeptical. If a solid state solution to tube amp simulation was this simple, Cliff would not have designed with a Tiger Sharc processor.
 
carloszeke said:
Very interesting but I remain skeptical. If a solid state solution to tube amp simulation was this simple, Cliff would not have designed with a Tiger Sharc processor.
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Oh, this doesn't knock any of the Axe-Fxs at all. Cliff simulated entire amps with software. These solid state tubes are not software and do not simulate amps; only the tubes (which are just glorified light bulbs).
 
prometh said:
They're tubes, but they're not glass with filaments. They're solid state, they work in a tube amp and they probably never need to be replaced. Only preamp tubes so far, with power tubes on the way
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Yes! Those are great - you can use them as V1 replacements! V1 means first tube stage in an amp design. These tubes were made to amplify the guitar signal to a serious signal - in a high gain amp design with lots of cascading tube stages, the V1 tube has to be very low microphonic and very low noise (otherwise even the little noise would be amplified by the following stages and result in a serious problem after two or three stages) That was what Mesa Boogie had in the 70s with their own Fetron Tube replacements - because most V1 tubes in the new high gain preamp design were hard to handle in terms of microphonic behavior and noise. They introduced a device called the Fetron - which was based on a high voltage JFET transistor which has almost the same characteristics as typical triode tube stage and does not affect the sound in a negative way....

Here is a nice read about the fetron devices:
http://www.listenersguide.org.uk/pdf/fetron-valve-replacement.pdf


Roberts Audio Technology does the "Retro Valves"
Roberts Audio Technology - Designs: RetroValves®

you can buy these made by the chinese tube amp manufacturer "Jet City" (with Doug Roberts and Mike Soldano as their designers)

Quality Tube Guitar Amplifiers




I'll check them out some day, this is still a great concept!
 
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prometh said:
Oh, this doesn't knock any of the Axe-Fxs at all. Cliff simulated entire amps with software. These solid state tubes are not software and do not simulate amps; only the tubes (which are just glorified light bulbs).
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I understand what you're saying prometh, I should have said something like; From an electronics point of view, these devices are something along the lines of power MOSFETS. These things are effectively morphing a tube amp into a class A solid state amplifier that can not, and probably will never possess the audio characteristics you get from the real thing. Granted, this is some very cleaver engineering. I downloaded the data sheet and the way these are spec'd out is quite misleading. They show a pinout for a TUBE, with schematic symbols for grids, plates, cathode, etc. The point is, after you replace the preamp and power tubes with these, you now have a solid state amplifier, probably not much different than what's currently on the market. I believe that no matter what they say, YOU WILL HEAR A DIFFERENCE. No ifs, ands, or butts about it!
 
prometh said:
They're tubes, but they're not glass with filaments. They're solid state, they work in a tube amp and they probably never need to be replaced. Only preamp tubes so far, with power tubes on the way:

12AX7WS Warmstone - 12AX7 Tubes Solid-State Equivalents, buy 12AX7WS, AMT tubes

I wouldn't need them, but pretty interesting.
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They're not tubes... they're transistors inside a tube shaped container with enough electronic glue to provide a compatible pin-out. This is basically a converter for your amp's tube preamp to turn it into a solid state analog preamp. Putting it into a tube shaped container will not make it sound any different than if the same SS analog ckt was laid out on a PCB. Super dumb, IMHO. You're better off with an old Rocktron Chameleon and a Tube Power amp rack rig if you want an SS/Tube hybrid rig, IHMO. At least you have something that was designed to work as an analog SS device from the ground up rather than retrofitted.

I remember a ad for a different Co. from NAMM show a few years ago. Wondered how those were and if they are still around. I also hope the Cliff would put his know-how of electronics to make SS pre and power tubes also, beside the modeling in the Axe Fx.
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Try 2009... Youtube search "WattGrinder" the idea was retarded then, too. At least these guys added LEDs for that tube glow. LOL.
 
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If you want to mimic a tube you have to do it in the digital domain. That's why the Axe works.
 
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