"The biggest problem with tubed gear is that it typically lacks current and is bandwidth limited, both on top and bottom. The lack of current is what gives most tubed gear that "round, tubby" bass that many folks dislike. At the same time, this "added warmth" tends to "fill out" many of the leaner digital recordings that we hear. The limited bandwidth up top tends to soften the treble response, making hard, bright and edgy digital sound smoother and more listenable." [sic]
This statement is patently untrue, but is a very common misconception. There are tube amps with bandwidth to 100KHz and there are tube amps with LF cutoffs as low as 1Hz at full power. Some of these are the same tube amps. So bandwidth is clearly *not* the issue.
Similarly, lack of current has nothing to do with this either. Ohm's Law (which is inviable, BTW) reveals that a shocking (no pun intended) low amount of current is needed to drive low impedance speakers to quite high powers! The 'high current' mindset is an outcome of the introduction of large amounts of feedback in transistor amps, which is one of the major reasons that SS amps have more odd-ordered harmonic content than tubes.
In fact the issue of tube vs SS power does have to do with the rules of human hearing- which audiokinesis outlined earlier. Humans are sensitive to odd-ordered harmonics and transistors make more of those than tubes. To get around the problem you have to have a very big transistor amp so you don't come anywhere *near* clipping.
The idea of voltage rails having something to do with this is incorrect also. The voltage 'rails' merely determine how much power the amp will make- tube *or* solid state- it does not describe headroom at all. As a specification, headroom is more a function of the class of operation (class B amplifiers having the *most* headroom), but it turns out that class A amplifiers carry more authority, and for their size tend to behave as if they have 'more power'. What they *really* have is more *usable* power, and that is what this thread is all about- how much *usable* power the two technologies have.
My experience has been that in general, a tube amp will have the same amount of musical *usable* power when it is between 1/10 and 1/4 the power of a transistor amp. Variables that throw this generalization off are class of operation ( for example, a class A transistor amp will have more *usable* power), elegance of construction (don't expect a $500 SS amp to do what a $5000 SS amp of the same power will do) and the like.
Definitely muddy waters!
This statement is patently untrue, but is a very common misconception. There are tube amps with bandwidth to 100KHz and there are tube amps with LF cutoffs as low as 1Hz at full power. Some of these are the same tube amps. So bandwidth is clearly *not* the issue.
Similarly, lack of current has nothing to do with this either. Ohm's Law (which is inviable, BTW) reveals that a shocking (no pun intended) low amount of current is needed to drive low impedance speakers to quite high powers! The 'high current' mindset is an outcome of the introduction of large amounts of feedback in transistor amps, which is one of the major reasons that SS amps have more odd-ordered harmonic content than tubes.
In fact the issue of tube vs SS power does have to do with the rules of human hearing- which audiokinesis outlined earlier. Humans are sensitive to odd-ordered harmonics and transistors make more of those than tubes. To get around the problem you have to have a very big transistor amp so you don't come anywhere *near* clipping.
The idea of voltage rails having something to do with this is incorrect also. The voltage 'rails' merely determine how much power the amp will make- tube *or* solid state- it does not describe headroom at all. As a specification, headroom is more a function of the class of operation (class B amplifiers having the *most* headroom), but it turns out that class A amplifiers carry more authority, and for their size tend to behave as if they have 'more power'. What they *really* have is more *usable* power, and that is what this thread is all about- how much *usable* power the two technologies have.
My experience has been that in general, a tube amp will have the same amount of musical *usable* power when it is between 1/10 and 1/4 the power of a transistor amp. Variables that throw this generalization off are class of operation ( for example, a class A transistor amp will have more *usable* power), elegance of construction (don't expect a $500 SS amp to do what a $5000 SS amp of the same power will do) and the like.
Definitely muddy waters!