Note sustain and volume

psyx

Hey guys

Now it's a well known fact that tube amps work better with high volumes, especially due to power amp distortion. Yesterday I noticed something on my triamp... On all of the channels, when I lower the volumes to household levels, the notes tend to dry up and die much sooner than at volume. The amp was definitely not loud enough to give proper power amp distortion, but the effect on note sustain and bloom is amazing!

Anyone else noticed this before?

GuitarDoge

This has to do mainly with resonance in the cab as well as the room, and the fact that the speaker/s which are designed for much louder volumes is not accurately reproducing all the higher and lower frequencies at low volume. So it's not just the power amp ?

ezietsman

Yeah it could be just the fact that you can hear the notes for longer at higher volumes. (see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher–Munson_curves). Every amp in the world sounds better turned up to some degree (even modellers, profilers and other amps without valves in them) because of the fletcher-munson 'effect'. Louder volume means you can hear the bass and trebles better.

The other thing that can happen is that the speaker is perturbing the strings, causing positive feedback and hence sustain.