Why do some modelers have a 12AX7 tube and why doesn't the Axe?

Ugly Bunny

Ugly Bunny

Power User
My first modeler was the Digitech BP8 for my bass about a hundred years ago. It had a 12AX7 tube in it. Since then, some products/pedals have at least 1 tube. I assume this is to add that tube "warmth," right? To decrease the digital-ness of digital gear. Curious why the Axe doesn't have one. Is it because having one pre-determined/installed tube would limit things too much? Create too much heat? Just unnecessary with the level of quality of modeling?
 
Including a tube in low voltage gear is in many ways just a marketing gimmick. It's not running under conditions anything like it does in a real amp (which uses voltages of 150-500+). And in many cases a single tube is not enough to recreate the effect of multiple cascading gain stages.

A single 12ax7 can be used to run 2 true tube gain stages, but only in devices with the voltage to run them how they are in real amps. Those gain stages also can't be easily reconfigured because they're built with real hardware. And on lower voltage gear, it's much more likely running in a starved plate configuration where the same dynamics and headroom you expect from a tube running properly doesn't exist. In this mode they're essentially glorified OpAmps and only included for the "cool factor" and some implied "real tube warmth" just because the start or end of your signal happens to pass through one. They either have one and only one tube gain stage configuration they can use, or they completely model all the tube gain staging anyway and just run the signal through the tube at the end for "warmth".

So to your question, the Axe doesn't include any real tubes because it can already model a tube running under real conditions, and under any configuration it needs to emulate any amp. Rather than needing to be locked into just one. And to run a tube properly anyway would add a lot of heat and weight for no benefit. Plus, real tubes can fail, and can vary. The Axe can be consistent every time because of it's all digital modelling.
 
That reminds me of a laptop we had at work where a user spilled spiced vanilla coffee creamer all inside it. I was able to flush it out with alcohol and get the machine running again, but every time the processor got warm and the fan turned on, it smelled like fresh baked cookies.
 
mr_fender said:
That reminds me of a laptop we had at work where a user spilled spiced vanilla coffee creamer all inside it. I was able to flush it out with alcohol and get the machine running again, but every time the processor got warm and the fan turned on, it smelled like fresh baked cookies.
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Maybe that will work with the Axe box? Somebody try it and let me know!
 
tealtonerick said:
Besides, if you put a tube inside of something that is modeling a tube, as soon as you turn it on don't you get an infinite recursion forming a black hole and then everything in sight just disappears into a singularity?? I mean... that won't sound very good, will it?
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You get the guy in the sea of time that has a trumpet snout and vacuums up everything, eventually including himself.

Later, you get a hole in yer pocket, and fight Blue Meanies....
 
Joe Bfstplk said:
You get the guy in the sea of time that has a trumpet snout and vacuums up everything, eventually including himself.

Later, you get a hole in yer pocket, and fight Blue Meanies....
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But first Jack must deal with a swarm of green-eyed gooseberry demented demon dwarfs in the dreaded Temple of Kubla Kubla.

Extra special tube points to anyone who has any idea where that came from!
 
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