AMPLIFIERS & GAIN...a need to know Post DUMBED DOWN to GAIN FOR IDIOTS!
NOW YOU ARE OVER BEING INSULTED
LETS GET STARTED :-)
LETS GET STARTED :-)
OK ..OK ...I will keep it simple
THIS IS JUST NEED TO KNOW STUFF
GAIN STAGES
preamp /power amp /transformers /speaker
Cheer up it took me days to figure out what was going on with the all tech info of over bloated bull!!!
PREAMP
The pre is the part of your amp you plug into with all those lovely knobs that do stuff.
The MASTER VOLUME is NOT part of it..
The MASTER VOLUME is NOT part of it..
The MASTER only turns the power amp up & down
The preamp is the first stage that can cause distortion,.
The preamp is the first stage that can cause distortion,.
Saturation=Dirt a clean sound is pictorially this /\ the point means clean..turn it all the way up and it looks like this / \ with it's head chopped off because it banged its head because the amp ran out of HEAD ROOM ...in short it ran out of power it needs to get any louder.
No headroom means distortion. So the more you crank the more you chop off the top the dirtier the sound.
The treble goes first then the lows. The mids get fat because nothing else is left
The end of headroom means simply the end of GAIN or how loud the pre can get since what ever signal is left is at full ...you get compression.
COMPRESSION
Think about it...when your amp is clean ...you strum a chord and it fads away. If every bit of your signal is as loud as it can go the loudest part of the guitar's signal gets squished down in volume and what remains is now just as loud but not squished. In short the sustain is not longer then how long your chord rings out clean ...it just means the ringing out part is forced into getting as loud as the squished bits that got turned down because they ran out of juice. So Compression means all the guitar signal even the half that is naturally fading away is at the same level
Or think of it this way the guitar signal goes in volume from 0 to20 and..if the amp is on 10 the the whole input is halted at 10. So anything over 10 ...like 20 is turned down to 10. This means no part of the signal can be lower then 10 or higher then 10.
It sounds Ok because the soft notes have a whisper type of sound and the louder notes have a shouting type of sound...although every note is the same loudness...your brain hears a whisper as a whisper a shout as a shout.So the overall sound seems 3 dimensional when volume wise it is as flat as a pancake.
Or think of it this way the guitar signal goes in volume from 0 to20 and..if the amp is on 10 the the whole input is halted at 10. So anything over 10 ...like 20 is turned down to 10. This means no part of the signal can be lower then 10 or higher then 10.
It sounds Ok because the soft notes have a whisper type of sound and the louder notes have a shouting type of sound...although every note is the same loudness...your brain hears a whisper as a whisper a shout as a shout.So the overall sound seems 3 dimensional when volume wise it is as flat as a pancake.
If you do not get this ... read it again. Because what happens next (thank God) is similar
POWER AMPLIFIER SECTION & FEEDBACK NETWORKS
We will ignore all the bull with this. Oversimplified epistol...when the amp starts moving the signal some signal gets bottle necked by the speaker and the signal feeds back. This feedback distorts the sound. Amps like Fender and Vox try to reduce it. Amps like Marshall do not. LOL
The method to fix it is called Negative Feedback. A cuircut is designed into the amp that looks at when that bottle neck is about to happen and turns the input down so just the right amount of input can get across the bridge from the amp to the speaker.
The method to fix it is called Negative Feedback. A cuircut is designed into the amp that looks at when that bottle neck is about to happen and turns the input down so just the right amount of input can get across the bridge from the amp to the speaker.
The speaker is just too crude a tech to not cause this feedback. The feedback between the the amp and speaker is called DAMPENING
It is no brainer to see less feedback at any point means clarity...and as you know clarity means lots of HEADROOM.
SO WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN
Well for a guitarist you choose how much BAD is GOOD
You could have an amp that lets some feedback happen but not overdue it.
You could have an amp that lets some feedback happen but not overdue it.
For a Bass player... he wants the best Negative Feedback control and then he wants sh@t loads of power so no bass frequencies are sucked up.
Plus if 500 watts is necessary to be heard over the highs and mids...then 1000watts means he has lots of head room because the input from the pre need only push for half the power...hence lots of headroom.
Plus if 500 watts is necessary to be heard over the highs and mids...then 1000watts means he has lots of head room because the input from the pre need only push for half the power...hence lots of headroom.
TRANSFORMERS the power boosters.
So transformers are your friend and your enemy. If they are under powered they
SAG (or run out of headroom/power) when you hit a chord hard
They tend to recover quickly so if you hit softer they clean up.The right amount of this loss of power can sound cool.
Another side effect that only happens with power tubes is that the power amp and speaker cause a 'pumping' action that you do not hear but feel when you hit a chord hard. This 'feels' good to the player..the player gets the emotional sensation of power. The player feels he is setting off a cannon ball from a cannon with every strike of a power chord. It gives the player an incredible confidence...this feeling makes it easier to play his best It is the MAIN reason players prefer tube amps..
SO THAT's IT...
PEDALS & AMPs ...teamwork!
Pedals are designed to feature some or all these elements. Like the SUPRO DRIVE it even has a tiny underpowered transformer for more authentic sag sound. .Different transistor have different distortion characteristics. Germanium are warm but a bit mushy... a lot of low end spludge.
Silicon clip off the top so clean it turns into a square wave...in short A FUZZ wave. Real tubes have a rounded top ...not square or flattened off ...this keeps the distortion smooth warm even creamy. The FET transistors have a square wave BUT the corners are rounded off so they can fake being a tube better then all others.
Pedals do like headroom in an amp. They are designed to give you (in most cases in the last few years) the perfect distortion .Creating your own on top of it is not good especially if you have a lot of pedals. Too many variables muddy the sound.
Even the best made clean tube amp makes even order harmonic distortion. In short think of the whole sound producing an octave higher sound blended with the basic sound. Naturally this is going to fatten up the sound. So tubes in spite of their deficiencies sound best. To do this even one power tube can make a big difference. A couple of amps are now designed with a nano power tube put between the pre and transistor power amp which fakes out the ear and the pumping feel of playing a tube amp.
A hundred watt power amp can be really small and weigh in at 2 pounds, Expect more companies to do this. Especially as it is a lot easier to get headroom for pedals and still keep a real tube sound.
They can be made cheaply as well. Expect a box you can throw in your gig bag with 3 way EQ and a master volume with 50 watts of power for about $300.00 USD in the near future. Even using stereo will soon be quite feasible with these better cheaper amps.
There will be small open back cabs with neodymium speaker magnets with a single 10" or 12" speaker. The cabs could be made in a high tech plastic or aluminum and be only the diameter of the speaker and perhaps 10 inches deep. The whole thing could weigh in at 8 pounds or less.
SO UNDERSTANDING THIS GETS RID OF ALL THE BULL ...HYPE
...and VOODOO Science
What is really cool is that most of the guys designing the original tube amps were often amateurs.
They learnt as kids to make a radio in the 30's thru to the 50's and did a lot of trial and error. Even the few engineers that got into it would cheat to keep the costs of making it down.
NO COMPANY WANTED DISTORTION ON PURPOSE. So creative players took what they got.
They played acoustic guitar parts thru these amps. This did not sound good so they learn to change how and what they played and in the end they use the deficits as assets.
Hence electric guitar Rock sound was born.
Now really high quality parts are used deliberately to create a GOOD-BAD design. LOL
We pay thousands for what to an audiophile listening to near totally distortion free amps is total garbage. LOL
SAG (or run out of headroom/power) when you hit a chord hard
They tend to recover quickly so if you hit softer they clean up.The right amount of this loss of power can sound cool.
Another side effect that only happens with power tubes is that the power amp and speaker cause a 'pumping' action that you do not hear but feel when you hit a chord hard. This 'feels' good to the player..the player gets the emotional sensation of power. The player feels he is setting off a cannon ball from a cannon with every strike of a power chord. It gives the player an incredible confidence...this feeling makes it easier to play his best It is the MAIN reason players prefer tube amps..
 |
| KA-BOOM!!! love that pumping!!!! |
SO THAT's IT...
PEDALS & AMPs ...teamwork!
Pedals are designed to feature some or all these elements. Like the SUPRO DRIVE it even has a tiny underpowered transformer for more authentic sag sound. .Different transistor have different distortion characteristics. Germanium are warm but a bit mushy... a lot of low end spludge.
Silicon clip off the top so clean it turns into a square wave...in short A FUZZ wave. Real tubes have a rounded top ...not square or flattened off ...this keeps the distortion smooth warm even creamy. The FET transistors have a square wave BUT the corners are rounded off so they can fake being a tube better then all others.
Pedals do like headroom in an amp. They are designed to give you (in most cases in the last few years) the perfect distortion .Creating your own on top of it is not good especially if you have a lot of pedals. Too many variables muddy the sound.Even the best made clean tube amp makes even order harmonic distortion. In short think of the whole sound producing an octave higher sound blended with the basic sound. Naturally this is going to fatten up the sound. So tubes in spite of their deficiencies sound best. To do this even one power tube can make a big difference. A couple of amps are now designed with a nano power tube put between the pre and transistor power amp which fakes out the ear and the pumping feel of playing a tube amp.
A hundred watt power amp can be really small and weigh in at 2 pounds, Expect more companies to do this. Especially as it is a lot easier to get headroom for pedals and still keep a real tube sound.
They can be made cheaply as well. Expect a box you can throw in your gig bag with 3 way EQ and a master volume with 50 watts of power for about $300.00 USD in the near future. Even using stereo will soon be quite feasible with these better cheaper amps.
There will be small open back cabs with neodymium speaker magnets with a single 10" or 12" speaker. The cabs could be made in a high tech plastic or aluminum and be only the diameter of the speaker and perhaps 10 inches deep. The whole thing could weigh in at 8 pounds or less.
SO UNDERSTANDING THIS GETS RID OF ALL THE BULL ...HYPE
...and VOODOO Science
What is really cool is that most of the guys designing the original tube amps were often amateurs.
They learnt as kids to make a radio in the 30's thru to the 50's and did a lot of trial and error. Even the few engineers that got into it would cheat to keep the costs of making it down.
NO COMPANY WANTED DISTORTION ON PURPOSE. So creative players took what they got.
They played acoustic guitar parts thru these amps. This did not sound good so they learn to change how and what they played and in the end they use the deficits as assets.
Hence electric guitar Rock sound was born.
Now really high quality parts are used deliberately to create a GOOD-BAD design. LOL
We pay thousands for what to an audiophile listening to near totally distortion free amps is total garbage. LOL
Wow! So much information and every bit of it helpful! Bookmarked for reference. Will have to re-read the second half a couple of times.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you wrote I never know if my readers want this stuff. I feel a little basic tech is important because it lets you make better choices when buying any guitar gear whether it is pedals amps or guitars.
ReplyDeleteI also think the best tech can be just a need to know thing. Because if understand it you can use it in a practical way.