A couple of weeks ago I took a gamble on a vacuum tube amplifier. The first valve amp that I have ever heard. This was partly down to something Cno had replied to on one of my previous posts a good while back about tastes changing with age. Cno's quote was "As I said in another thread, I think the midrange is where the magic happens...and strongly believe, that if every demo had a Valve amp as part of it, many more people would choose one. I have lost count of the number of times on here, that someone tried a Valve Amp for the first time and were gobsmacked at the difference it made."This had niggled me ever since.
I don't quite know how Shanling amps stack up against the likes of the more common brands.
all I can say is that I'm a tube convert.
wow!
I'm gobsmacked at the difference it's made.
I have been listening to the Zutons this morning. It's like a totally different album. Everything just sounds so right and believable. horns and trumpets have a deep,detailed wrasp and richness to them. Strings on guitars just reach out, acoustic strings are organic. electric guitars sound so believable as you pick up the sound of their tube amps that the guitars are plugged into. All the ss amps I have owned never gave me that. Vocals have a whole new human emotion to them. i do think that there is a trade off from that snappy drum beat that ss amps give you.In the whole scheme of things though I believe the sacrifice well worth it.
I always envisioned warm, rich airy and dreamy with being slow and lazy sounding. this isn't the case there is still lashings of detail,speed, depth and width. When all the instruments are all playing and then suddenly stop it's not pin drop silent. You get a low ambient level noise or sense of electrical charged decay in the air of that ciese of energy, picture lightning strike and humidity that go hand in hand. Wind instruments bring out that realism as if when you were a kid and you'd get that blade of grass between the tips and Base of your thumbs. That satisfying reedy rattle.
I am not trying to gloat or put down anyone's kit or say anyone is wrong if they have heard both ss and valve and prefer ss.
I just trying to tell my findings.
And highlight the good sides of this forum for the knowledge and helpfulness of the Cno's and other regulars that post.
I don't quite know how Shanling amps stack up against the likes of the more common brands.
all I can say is that I'm a tube convert.
wow!
I'm gobsmacked at the difference it's made.
I have been listening to the Zutons this morning. It's like a totally different album. Everything just sounds so right and believable. horns and trumpets have a deep,detailed wrasp and richness to them. Strings on guitars just reach out, acoustic strings are organic. electric guitars sound so believable as you pick up the sound of their tube amps that the guitars are plugged into. All the ss amps I have owned never gave me that. Vocals have a whole new human emotion to them. i do think that there is a trade off from that snappy drum beat that ss amps give you.In the whole scheme of things though I believe the sacrifice well worth it.
I always envisioned warm, rich airy and dreamy with being slow and lazy sounding. this isn't the case there is still lashings of detail,speed, depth and width. When all the instruments are all playing and then suddenly stop it's not pin drop silent. You get a low ambient level noise or sense of electrical charged decay in the air of that ciese of energy, picture lightning strike and humidity that go hand in hand. Wind instruments bring out that realism as if when you were a kid and you'd get that blade of grass between the tips and Base of your thumbs. That satisfying reedy rattle.
I am not trying to gloat or put down anyone's kit or say anyone is wrong if they have heard both ss and valve and prefer ss.
I just trying to tell my findings.
And highlight the good sides of this forum for the knowledge and helpfulness of the Cno's and other regulars that post.
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