CharlieSpleen wrote:Con Artists only if people gullible and order the "options". Seems most people at this forum order standard tubes without the optional testing. Unfortunately we need Internet Suppliers like Tube Depot, Doug's Tubes, Etc. We don't live in Russia or Romania where we can drive to the tube factories.
But the attempt is to mislead people, for money....that is either a con or at a minimum fraud. How can you trust anything they say if they are willing to be so casual with facts?
Actually, most tubes made are available in the US and few other places. No one imports tubes into Russia. Svetlana, the largest tube maker does not have a distributor here and they can't even use their own name they have been building tubes and light bulbs with longer than any other company because New Sensor took it from them in court, and under which name they sell any sort of tube they can get dirt cheap. They certainly are not Svetlana made tubes. There are not many tube amps here so people who have such amps mostly get tubes when they visit Europe. The old Soviet era amps used tubes that are not used in any western amp so there is still a lot of old stock. Combined, tube production is greatest in China and range in quality from worst to best. The big problem is knowing what you are getting when buying the familiar names that are sought after since the new production scattered around is in no way connected to the old standards. There are some honest tube importers who actually do manufacture some of their own tubes in their own factories, Ruby comes to mind.
Since there is such variation between individual tubes with the same name on them, a better way to get a desired sound is to attack the problem directly and adjust the circuit parameters to accommodate the tubes that are available. The diffuser is a perfect example of using smoke and mirrors to solve a preference issue. It certainly appears that hobbyists tweak their amps with add-ons and mods randomly hoping to correct a taste difference. It reminds me of the people tacking on JC Whitney gadgets hoping that only of them actually does give 100 mph as promised and stop the broken rings from burning oil. It might account for so many people unhappy with their sound, any mod is a case of no free lunch, you give up something to get something but usually you do not know what you loose, and attribute the effects as another thing to get the mod and gadget treatment.
If someone is serious about their sound they will determine what the goal is, and where they currently stand, then quantify the current and goals. Without a yardstick you can't tell when you are getting closer in any objective way. A more scientific method would be quicker, more satisfying of the goal and reproducible. The snake oil method pushed by the hucksters is intended to separate the maximum money as possible from the customer and have no measurable proof of results. They are counting on the fact that we can't remember sound characteristics for but a very brief period although we remember our impression of the sound longer. But impressions depend more on variables unrelated to the equipment, and more related to mood, environment, slight differences in volume and the most important one; the person testing providing the feedback mechanism. If the player is playing and listening, his feedback loop includes hearing, and adapting with pressure and technique changes on a micro level. Those playing variables make any player<> evaluator less than worthless. Using a standard reproducible sound source such as re-amping, seems to prove this user in the feedback loop situation is very misleading and inaccurate.
The OP was complaining about spikey sounds. That is usually much more related to playing technique and guitar setup than electronics..unless there is a gross problem like parasitic oscillations which are VERY easy to spot and resolve the proper way, in the defective circuit, not by subbing in low mu or high interelement capacitance tubes. But he is going to attack the problem by seeking a duller electronics sound, that will adversely impact his other sounds. A better solution would be to attack the problem at the source than hoping $250 in blind-fold-dart tosses with mods.
But everyone on the forum tells him ".. its the tubes..." without hearing the problem, or experiencing his technique applied to a piece of music. Are all guitarists this gullible and believing in witchcraft/magic and fairy dust?
Others suggest a diffuser without hearing the issue or even know what the diffuser is even doing or why. I might just be used to more professional players, but this seems just bizarre that so little interest is shown in finding out what the problem really is, just thrown money at it hoping that something camouflages the symptoms. The "I don't know anything about it but I will know it when I hear it" mentality is never going to cut in a competitive world of music.
