Still trying to understand everything... :)
I read about volume and tube amps. Where you get gradual distortion once the tubes reach a saturation point. So the louder you get, the more natural distortion you get.
My question is this. Are there tube amps with both a master volume for the speaker, and a power-amp stage volume, to allow the tubes to reach saturation at lower volume? (I'm mostly thinking about combo amps here)
Does it work well, or is it a waste of time to consider?
There are two kinds of people in this world:
Those who think there are two kinds of people in this world, and those who don't
You're asking something that's not really quite possible if you're asking what I think you're asking.
Yes, you can get master volume amps that let you overdrive the early stages of the amp (so called "preamp") into distortion while keeping the output or power stage at low volume. They're quite popular.
What's typically being referred to today by the buzzwords "tube saturation" is distortion produced by overdriving the output (or "power") stage of a tube amp, which by definition only occurs at maximum volume.
Some people who insist they always have to have that particular tone but can't tolerate the volume of the cranked amp spend money (sometimes as much as on the amp) on power soak devices to absorb the power from the cranked power amp and put out a lower volume signal to the speaker or tapped off at line level to a smaller power amp to be cleanly amplified to the desired, lower level.
Others just turn the amp down, enjoy the "preamp" distortion of their master volume amp if they have one, and recognize that there's a proper time and place for everything including big cranked amps.
:D
If you like to keep 'em cranked, bear that in mind when you're buying amps. Smaller is nearly always better.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
If you like to keep 'em cranked, bear that in mind when you're buying amps. Smaller is nearly always better.
And even a small 5W tube amp (like the Epi Valve Junior) can get very loud! Don't know how loud the 5W Champ 600 gets; these two are probably the lowest power tube amps commercially widely available ..
--vink
"Life is either an adventure or nothing" -- Helen Keller
