Date:         Sun, 27 Aug 2006 22:23:01 -0400
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         steven c <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Can 78s sound better than LPs?
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Roger and Allison Kulp" <[log in to unmask]>
> These were on Victor,if I recall.I have stated,earlier,how great I think
the early "scroll" electrical Victors,and Viva-Tonal Columbias sound.I
wonder if it could have something to do with the earliest tube gear,these
things were recorded on. Anyone,who has had the pleasure,of hearing a good
turntable,through a single-ended triode amp,of the period,or a good amp,made
for Depression-era movie theatre use,can tell you how good this stuff can
sound.No,I don't own any of this gear,but I used to know an equipment
dealer,who did,and let me play some of my records using it.
> Roger Kulp
>
I suspect that part of the reason for the quality sound of the initial
electric
recordings (which I can verify as well)...is because the early engineers
tended
to record as much bass as possible, since bass was what the earlier acoustic
recordings lacked. Playing a "V.E." or "Viva-Tonal" recording of a pipe
organ
can rattle windows (etc.)!

As far as tube amplifiers...they seem to sound better, and there is a reason
for that. Tubes don't cut off sharply (creating pseudo-square waves) when
they
hit saturation or cut-off...they simply become gradually less efficient, so
the resultant signal distortion produces "warped" rather than "flat-topped"
waveforms. As a result, a tube amplifier, when overdriven, sounds much more
pleasant than its solid-state "cousin!" In fact, as a harmonica player (or
h.p.-wannabe) I seek the overdriven, distorted sound that was characteristic
of many forties/fifties harmonica recordings...when one's gear was whatever
had been available at the neighbourhood pawnshop the morning of the
recording session!

If you overdrive a solid-state amp, you get "square(ish) waves"...which
have a "squanky," irritating sound. I have a forty-buck solid state amp
I use occasionally as a practice amp...so my comments are based on
experience more than theory!

As far as re-creating a triode amp, that could be a problem! 12AX7's
are still available for initial stages...but most of the "power tubes"
currently available are beam-power pentodes of the 6*6 (6V6, 6L6, usw.)
sort...or TV-set horizontal-output tubes, also generally pentodes!

Dunno where one might find 2A3's...

Steven C. Barr