Tube vs SS, which is better for the ears?

Dinky88 · 2015-02-25T11:22:53+00:00

Hi there. Ive damaged my ears about 2 years ago and now suffer from chronic tinnitus and experience pain in my ears most of the time. I can still play guitar but ive got to play on low volume and I cant use too much high end. I do have special earplugs that helps alot and i can crank a amp up pretty loud if im wearing them. Im thinking of getting a valve amp again. Would a valve amp produce a softer sound than a decent solidstate amp? Its difficult to explain, but Ive heard that a valve amp can be more pleasing to the ears. I can get a valve amp but they are obviously more expensive than SS amps. Any help info would be greatly appreciated!

Dinky88

Squonk wrote
Dinky88 wrote ??? whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat??? Insert what and hang what?
This isnt a joke to me.
Dont respond with garbage just because you want your post counter to go up.
Sorry man. I wasn't poking fun at your condition but rather posting what came in to my head when I saw the heading!

its cool man sorry man ive had a hard weak with my ears and it made it extremely painfull for me to listen to music or play guitar and i was just in a bad mood, cant help it man, tinnitus messes you up like that, sorry man.

Dinky88

studmissile wrote "More pleasing to the ear" has to do with tone rather than your medical condition.
Keep the ear plugs in and regardless of ss or tube, take care of your ears.

Believe me i always wear the plugs man!! There is no other option.

Dinky88

proze wrote If you're sensitive to high frequencies and large amplitude, I wouldn't imagine the source of the waveform matters much as long as those criteria are taken into account?

Out of interest, what happened?

I played guitar without pluggs for a few years with a drummer, the one day we had a jam and at the end of the day my ears felt kinda weird, like a pain in it, next morning it was gone so I picked up a pair of drumsticks to jam some drums as I used to play drums now and then any way, I hit the crash and my head exploded, ears was buzzing and screaching like crazy, i had unbearable pain, could stand my own voice. Whent to the doctor and he gave me steroids so that i dont loose my hearing, been almost 4 years now since and i still have very loud ringing and buzzing in my ears and pain, the pain goes away sometimes, usually gets worse if im stressed or depressed and if you have this crap going in you get stresses and depressed alot. its their , forever.

Dinky88

Chabenda wrote
Dinky88 wrote ??? whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat??? Insert what and hang what?
This isnt a joke to me.
Dont respond with garbage just because you want your post counter to go up.
That's a bit harsh isn't it? Not impressed.

I did apologize, so did he, if you were me you would have felt the same, cant tell me otherwise till you know what its like being like this.

Dinky88

Airguitar wrote The real difference between the sound from a tube amp vs. a solid state one has to do with the way the amp responds to transients, ie. fast changes in the wave form or signal being amplified.
Valves tend to compress naturally when they are subject to overdriving. This also happens when they are being fed an already overdriven signal, although not as much.

Here's a solid state vs. tube amplifier being subjected to overdriving or "Clipping" - so called because it looks like someone took a pair of scissors and "clipped" off the tops of the waveforms.

When a valve is overdriven, its inherent natural compression tends to round out the sharp, clipped edges of the waveform, making this clipping sound more musical and less brittle and harsh.

Valves (The British way of saying "tubes") are natural compressors and have a relatively slow response to very sudden chnges in amplitude.

Now think about how this affects your ears. A sharply clipped waveform at the speaker translates into a very harsh movement of air generated by the speaker compared to when the corners of the clipped wave are made nice and smooth by a tube. All of this results in smoother, creamier tone, less brittle and harsh than solid state.

I'm a sufferer of tinnitus, though apparently not as severe as yours, and I don't play electric guitar through SS amps any more, as I find that the tube amps are far less jarring on my ears.

awesome! many thanks!
Very very helpful!
Will def then get a valve amp!
rather pay more then save and do more damage!
There is hope for tinnitus tho, i keep an eye on the medical side of it every now and then for a few years now, hopefully in 4 years time there will be medication available that can repair the damaged cells in your ears that causes the ringing/buzzing, and I hope it will cure the pain as well.

Thanks again.

Dinky88

Norio wrote
Dinky88 wrote Dont respond with garbage just because you want your post counter to go up.
Yes that is very harsh. Watch it.

Sorry man, wasnt very nice I know. I did apologize.

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