I have no idea where this* came from, I was rooting around on an old PC and pulled it over on a flash drive to this one.
The information is interesting to the extent that the biggest thing tubes have going for them to guitar players and listeners aurally,["TONE!"] is the oft-discussed "even-ordered harmonics" that tubes enable, when pushed to breakup into saturation and on through levels of distortion. The prevailing wisdom is that tubes rock because they enable the "even ordered harmonics" (2, 4, 6, ...)through, thus the distortion is often described as more "musical / chimey / pleasing-to-the-ear". The clipping which old SS distortion rendered was "odd ordered harmonics" (3, 5, 7, 9,... )
Over the years, MOSFET technology and circuit design has taken great leaps to mimic this tube sound / tone. Some great stomp boxes have come out that don't utilize a pre-amp tube, like the Fulltone Full Drive II and GT-500 (utilizing a wah inductor). I understand that Dave Moore, a regular contributor to AGA has been working on his own production and as time marches forward, boxes with and without a tube will continue to proliferate. There's so many marketing and production variables between the inventor and the consumer's ear, but in the end, you decide what you like best and the next guy decides what he likes best. It's great there's no "right" ONE *WAY*.
Regards,
mvm
http://tinyurl.com/32j32m
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* ON HARMONICS
Musically the second is an octave above the fundamental and is almost inaudible; yet it adds body to the sound, making it fuller.
The third is termed a quint or musical twelfth. It produces a sound many musicians refer to as "blanketed." Instead of making the tone fuller, a strong third actually makes the tone softer.
Adding a fifth to a strong third gives the sound a metallic quality that gets annoying in character as its amplitude increases.
A strong second with a strong third tends to open the "covered" effect. Adding the fourth and the fifth to this changes the sound to an "open horn" like character.
The higher harmonics, above the seventh, give the tone "edge" or "bite. Provided the edge is balanced to the basic musical tone, it tends to reinforce the fundamental, giving the sound a sharp attack quality. Many of the edge harmonics are musically unrelated pitches such as the seventh, ninth, and eleventh. ***Therefore, too much edge can produce a raspy dissonant quality***.
Since the ear seems very sensitive to the edge harmonics, controlling their amplitude is of paramount importance. The previously mentioned study of the trumpet tone shows that the edge effect is directly related to the loudness of the tone. Playing the same trumpet note loud or soft makes little difference in the amplitude of the fundamental and the lower harmonics. However, harmonics above the sixth increase and decrease in amplitude in a1most direct proportion to the loudness. This edge balance is a critically important loudness signal for the human ear."
Community
. He did tons of research on on neurochemistry, etc. One day, as a young man we were in my car somewhere around Philly and I was a rockin' out to some James Gang or Buddy Miles tune. He asked me to turn it down and reluctantly, I did. Then he said, almost under his breath, "I think your neuro chemistry changes as you age, especially when it comes to music". I did'nt have a clue as to what he meant- today, I have a better feel for it... there's some stuff that makes me wretch these days...but I hear Joe Bonnamassa or Popa Chubby cut loose and man, I'm all ABOUT the volume UP...maybe we guitar players are just wierd that way...
mvm age, 51!
