Evolution of the Tube Guitar Amp
The guitar amps of today, although in many cases are quite different to their predecessors are still based on yesterday’s philosophies and in order to meet the needs of today’s musicians have gone down new conceptual and technological paths.
Here is brief outline the tube amp evolution through the decades. The photo below is of a 70’s Gunn 100 Classic amp made in Papatoetoe, Auckland, New Zealand. As a contrast the internals of a modern day 100-watt tube-based amp with modelling made in Germany circa 2015. This amp is no bigger than 3 effect pedals that you can put in your gig bag compared to the back breaking all tube amps of decades gone by.
Mind you for the die-hards that listen with their eyes are still made the heavy back breaking amps, albeit still, utilising yesterday’s philosophy with today’s technology.
The story of the electric guitar officially started way back in the late 1920s, but it wasn’t established as a popular instrument until the early 1950s
The Volume Necessities of the 1950s and 60s
In the 1950s it was necessary for guitars to be heard over the bands and orchestra of the time, so the main purpose of the first vacuum tube amps was volume. But then in the 60s the distorted tones of guitars were eventually discovered and this radical by-product of those tube amps paved the way for a new genre of music we know today as rock.
However, with the absence of the PA system in those days, the only way and the source of guitar sounds at concerts was from the onstage amps themselves and it was because of this that the key feature of those amps in the 60s was volume.
Features & More Features of the 1970s & 80s
With technology moving along at a great of knots and emerging digital technologies in particular was making it possible to design and build amps with programable features and manufacturers were delivering these to the market for the first time. Together with this, in the 70s and 80s guitarists were demanding more and more features and more from their amps.
Multiple channels, effects loops had become the new standard in amps. Overdrive channel, distortion, clean, compressed channels were amongst some of the common channels.
However, with this huge deluge of features, digital and otherwise it wasn’t long before the guitarist struggled to make any actual good use of many of the features, they lacked convenience.
The 1990s, Advent of the Modelling Amp
When the digital modelling amps were first introduced during this period, they offered a bunch of settings and pre-sets, the only problem was they sounded terrible and were not convincing tone wise.
This saw a return back to the tried, true and faithful virtues of the tube amp, the traditional types such as the Plexi and Tweed. There was renaissance as guitarist sought and desired that more individual tone. Because of this many of those traditional, classic designs were upgraded to multi-channel designs with control features to make them more usable.
Then the 2000’s
The 2000’s had arrived, the turn of the century was here, the millennial bug was threatening. In guitar amp world there was a clear trend towards a much smaller and portable amp. Loading up the van with tones of gear, much of its weight in the guitar amps was not every guitarists dream.
More transportable amps began to appear. These were the so-called lunchbox amps. They were more often than not limited to just the one sound. If you wanted a clean or a heavy sound, these small amps were just not cutting it. They lacked the tone, headroom, dynamics and boldness of the bigger brothers.
30 watts maybe adequate for the living room, but reached their limits on the big stage, at open air gigs and even in the practice room where their sound just becomes muddy and struggles to fill the space. There are times when you just needed the power reserves of the big 100-watt beast.
Bring on the Powerful All Tube Amps
Bring back the big tube amps that just want and need be played loud. Yet, in many situations, they are just plain too loud, and congest the stage sound. It’s not long before everyone, the band, the sound engineer and the crowd just end up being unhappy with the result.
Nevertheless, many guitarists don’t want to compromise on the fat, warm sound of a heavily driven tube amp. There are number of solutions and Van Halen had his. The traditionalist’s solution of a full-tube amp, are amps with Powersoak technology. A Powersoak enables the guitarist to push the amp into saturation while restraining the volume to more tolerable levels.
Flaws of the PowerSoak
However, due to flaws in the PowerSoak philosophy, this also meant a loss in sound quality. The power reduction doesn’t just reduce the volume, but technically also the power amp’s current feedback, which leads to a flatter, less lively tone.
To address this problem, manufacturers found it necessary to develop new power reduction philosophies and technologies that doesn’t compromise sound quality.
Many of today’s guitar amplifiers are still based on the philosophies of yesterday. But in order meet the millennial and beyond musicians’ needs, manufacturers have had to go down completely new technological and conceptual paths.
Here is one manufacturer’s take on that completely new technological and conceptual path:
NANOTUBE ™
For decades, tubes have been the “sound makers” in guitar amps. However, every type of tube used up to now has had weaknesses, such as heat build-up, sensitive mechanics, short lifespans and – from an electronics viewpoint – their bulky size. While American technicians settled on semiconductors, their Russian counterparts re-examined and optimised the proven tube technology instead, to develop a completely reliable, shock-resistant tube to use for their space travel programme. These sub-miniature vacuum tube tubes were reduced in terms of size and weight, and consequently were more mechanically stable and noticeably more resistant to microphonics.
Sub-Miniature Vacuum Tube
The sub-miniature vacuum tube is characterised by its lower noise levels at high input resistance and lower internal capacitance. This results in outstanding musical properties. It is clearly superior to conventional tubes in efficiency, energy consumption and reliability. Thanks to its mechanical strength, it can be constructed without a socket. It is firmly soldered in place, which eliminates any contact problems with the tube sockets. In comparison with classic tubes, sub-miniature vacuum tubes are almost “indestructible”, and require no maintenance. This tube is rock ‘n’ roll and is ideal for hard use in strongly vibrating loud speakers or stage floors. It is the most technically advanced tube technology on offer today. However, until now, the sub-miniature vacuum tube has never been used in guitar amps. When it came to market, the zeitgeist – the spirit of the age – was different, with huge 100-watt tube amps in fashion.
MASTER: power range of the amp
BluGuitar® relies on Nanotubes™. This means only using selected vacuum sub miniature tubes that fulfil our extremely high standards. The Nanotubes™ works in the power amp and gives AMP1 ™ 100 Watts of character, punch and the assertiveness you would normally only get from a large 100-watt full tube amp.
The Nanotube lifespan: The Nanotubes™ tube is a Russian creation, which – among other things – is used in the aerospace and aviation industries. The specification requires 97% of all Nanotubes™ tubes to have triple the lifespan of a standard ECC83 tube. In addition, AMP1 ™ uses the Nanotubes ™ at a slightly lower operating voltage, doubling the lifespan again.
This guarantees NANOTUBE ™ an extremely long lifespan, and for this reason is constructed without a socket. It should even outlive you!
Please contact us for technical support and repairs on BluGuitar products
www.musicelectronicsrepair.co.nz
