I think most of us would agree that solid state amps have improved in recent years. Since they are generally cheaper, do you see a point where the market for tube amps becomes extremely small? Or will there continue to be a demand for both types of amps?
As long as there are audiophiles there will most likely be a demand for tubes in the near future anyway. I've found that the SS amps that I prefer tend to be more expensive than the tube amps I like. YMMV though.
audioaudio90 Messages: 623 Registered: October 2010
Illuminati (1st Degree)
I think there are enough tube aficionados to keep tube amps in business for quite some time. I wouldn't be surprised if the market did get a little smaller as time goes on, but not to the point where it's a niche market.
gofar99 Messages: 2049 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, I sure hope they won't die out. It is what I design...high performance tube amps. Plus musicians tend to like them. I figure they will be around for a long time. Trying not to be commercial here ... Oddwatt sales are continuing to grow every year - some one is out there buying the gear. This is a similar situation to LPs going away. With at least two new LP plants started in the past year and more than that CD plants closing the demise of vinyl was obviously false. I saw an article from 1980 a little while ago that said "buy you last turntable now" ...as they will not exist in 2-5 years. Another demise that didn't happen. So since tubes are still here and while the companies making them have changed the products are doing well.
Guys, it's already a niche market. I'm amazed that a couple of new tubes have been developed. I still like 'em though.
steve
I agree with you that solid state amps have come a long way. The modeling ones especially sound way better than they used to. A lot of players I know use them now because they're lighter, cheaper, and you can get a ton of different tones without hauling a bunch of gear around.
That said, I don't see tube amps disappearing anytime soon. There's still something about the way a good tube amp feels under your fingers and reacts when you dig in. It's hard to fully copy that, even with the best solid state stuff. A lot of guys just prefer the real tubes for recording or playing live when they can.
I figure both will stick around. Solid state will keep taking more of the everyday and budget side of the market, but there will always be people who want the tube sound and are willing to pay for it. The market for pure tube amps might get a bit smaller, but I doubt it ever becomes tiny. There's just too much history and feel tied up in them.
Rusty Messages: 1464 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (4th Degree)
Unfortunately for the DIY kit crowd for tube gear thought up and made for sale here in the US. The market has been very tough on these people. I don't know what's left of Kit audio made in the USA. But the one I used went kaputs soon from when the tariffs started. Like so many things made in the USA, it's a thing of the past.
Wayne Parham Messages: 19099 Registered: January 2001
Illuminati (33rd Degree)
I think tube amps are here to stay.
I think Rusty has a point - that business is tough - which has a huge effect on what's available. But from a technical standpoint, tube amps truly are better than solid state amps in certain specific ways.
Not knocking solid-state amps: You can make those great too, you just gotta compensate for their specific weaknesses to benefit from their strengths. They do have a lot of fantastic strengths. Size, weight and power: All those benefits can be realized from a solid-state amplifier provided you implement global feedback and ensure the amp never clips.
But tube amplifiers excel when run in certain "purist" topologies. A single-ended bipolar solid-state amplifier without global negative feedback cannot perform as well as a single-ended tube amplifier of the same topology, for example.
There are a handful of other topologies that really exploit the linearity benefits of tubes, and I think all those are here to stay because people promoting tube amps have done a good job of educating those interested in high-fidelity what these particular benefits are.
gofar99 Messages: 2049 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
I certainly agree. I have several high quality solid state devices. Two vintage Marantz receivers and one of their console amps. All are really nice and certainly well made. They are heavy. I'm sure that the one receiver is nearly 50 pounds. But....I prefer the sound of my tube gear. It is not better but has some sort of quality that I like. This argument has been kicking around from the time the first solid state amps were made. At that time they were generally inferior to the available tube amps. Now they usually measure better. If it was that easy to determine which is best life would be easy. I would have lower power bills as well. Four Oddblocks (running a total of 8 KT120s in class A), a preamp and two phono preamps are no where as efficient as one of my receivers. So I tell everyone to get and use what they like.
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