Question - Cab Sims Theory?

[motterpaul]

I am going to reply to myself and take something back. I thought I had read someplace that tube rectifiers give a wider frequency response - (more bass & treble). But I can't find that anywhere now -

I was just reading the Soldano article (Rockett, I am sorry, but you reference the article in your post but I honestly could not see where you linked to it).

Anyway - the article says "In my opinion, all amps should have solid state rectifiers. I don’t believe there are any really good rectifier tubes on today’s market and, even if there were, why use them? The technology is obsolete; they are horribly inefficient, and far more expensive and troublesome to build into an amp."

I agree - but I was wrong in stating that "fuller fidelity" was why Fender probably chose to use them. I do not know why they chose to use them.

BTW: I am not a Fender amp user. I know a lot of people are, but for some reason (partly because of my style of playing) I never bonded.

Anyway - rectifiers aside, I still say that output tubes and the performance of any amp at full volume is a moot point in this day & age.  I say use 6L6s in all modern amps - because they have more headroom and cleaner fidelity - just like the bridge rectifier. YMMV.

(Edit: I actually use a new form of the Sovtek KT66 which is biased close to a 6L6 in my Marshall DSL, and I think it sounds great, but my 2204 has EL34s since you do not get much gain from the amp without them).

Sovtek KT66

[rocket88]

i did not say 6L6's were only used in clean amps, what i said is that those tubes are what contribute to the typical fender clean tone. you can swap nearly any tube, if the pinout is the same as another, or if you change the socket, or if you use an adapter. by changing the output tubes you will very much change the tone of the amp. example, switching kt88's or 6550's for el34's in a marshall. the kt88's will tighten the amp up so to speak and make it sound more hifi, and break up later adding headroom for lack of a better explanation. case in point zakk wylde and andy summers both use 6550's because of the added headroom and tightness to the sound, this is why zakk wylde's distortion comes from his pedals not the amps.

instead of reinventing the wheel on explaining the tonal characteristics of certain output tubes, i'll just leave this.

the nature of the fender tone is due to the output tubes and assorted components, not rectifier tubes. this means the "full fidelity" sound you are describing. the rectifier material does not have an effect on that, it affects.

you bring up changing the speaker in a marshall cab to a jbl (fender type speaker) and sounding bad. there's a lot to speaker design and cab design you need to understand. when you change speakers you have to look at their frequency response and match it to what you're amp is going to do. for example, if you put a speaker designed for a bass amp into a guitar cab, you're likely going to loose a lot of the top end, as basses don't have the same high end requirement. what material the magnet and cone are made of has a massive effect on this. additionally, the design of the cab plays  a major role in the sound you're going to get out of it. is it an opened back or closed back? are there internal baffles or not? if there are where are they placed, how are they shaped? i could go on and on. you're overly simplifying it.

just saw you're comment about the soldano article. when reading an article you ignore when people give their own opinions on things, and i linked it specifically due to the explanation as to how tube rectifiers and solid state rectifiers effect the tone, as for his opinion on which is better i take it with a grain of salt. each type will effect the amp differently due to how the material effects the current, nothing more. as for which i think sounds better or you or frank or orange or soldano is all a matter of opinion and no one is more right unless there's a specific reason. for instance, if you want a high gain amp, like a soldano, you're going to want a solid state rectifier as it tightens it all up preventing a spongie bottom end. if you want a vintage sounding bassman, you're going to want a tube rectifier to add that spongie vintage goodness.