5 ms·

Because psychology.

by dboreham 4y ago

Because psychology.

onion2k 4y ago
Aka marketing.
- retrac 4y ago
  I think that's far too cynical. Is it (just) marketing that keeps actual pianos being built? A keyboard with a good software synthesizer attached is, I think, objectively, a better instrument these days. Greater dynamic range, never needs to be tuned, you can swap in any particular timbre you prefer, whatever. So why build an actual piano? With the electric guitar, the tube amp is part of the classic form of the instrument, as it was known for half a century, and first came to be played. It's the physical instrument present on most of the classic recordings and which older players learned to play with. This quest for authenticity, or whatever you want to call it, is surely psychological, and often, in my opinion, a bit silly. Marketing often plays on it, for sinister marketing reasons, sure. Still, when it comes to pianos (or violins or trumpets or whatever), making and using period-accurate instruments, in the way they were made historically, and played historically, is both rather popular as a hobby/art, and also a serious academic field. Why would the electric guitar be exempted?
  - feet 4y ago
    Most electronic pianos can't replicate the reverberation of a full body grand or upright, that isn't an equivalent comparison. When it comes to audio quality from amps, it's replication of a signal which is pretty cut and dry from an engineering standpoint. If your amp is altering the signal, it's generally just bad. Modern solid state amps can also distort the signal of electric guitars just the same as tubes
    - retrac 4y ago
      > from an engineering standpoint Yes. The class-D amp I got for $20 runs circles around anything that can be done in tube technology, just in terms of fidelity. But a musical instrument is not viewed purely from an engineering standpoint. Using your piano example, the material you build the piano frame out of affects its resonance. Early pianos, not steel-framed, sound different. Even if we can capture this with a synth some day, the art of piano-making, the tools, physically making the musical instrument, will be an art and science worth preserving and practicing. Same is true for the electric guitar. And so part of that art and science, will involve tube amplifiers. Just as the study and making of pianos, involves the study and making of making wood vs. bronze vs. iron vs. steel frames. Even if most of us piano players just play on an electronic keyboard most of the time.
  - hulitu 4y ago
    > A keyboard with a good software synthesizer attached is, I think, objectively, a better instrument these days. Greater dynamic range depends on the DAC's resolution
john-radio 4y ago
Not really. Tube amps provide certain sound effects that electric guitarists consider desirable - tone, a little bit of drive/distortion, and I think a little compression. So you can plug an electric guitar into a regular old PA system and it will make some sounds, but it won't have that desired tone and the listener might not think that it sounds very good. You can compensate for that by putting an effect pedal in the middle the simulates the sound of a tube amp, and of course the solid state amplifiers that professional guitarists use these days have that effect built right into them so that they sound good out of the box, but notice that the question has now changed from "why do people use a tube amp" to "why do people use real tube apps when simulated versions are possible"? The tube amps that people use are well known and well liked, and while it's certainly true that there are solid state amps that sound good, these days, too, it's not like they are categorically better than tube amps in any way (yet?)
- dboreham 4y ago
  You can emulate the distortion from tube circuits digitally. But the thread was about "audio" where extreme distortion as used in electric guitar for artistic purposes, is not the goal. Basically they're saying "my clean sounding tube amp is better than your clean sounding solid state amp". That's known to be bogus and never supported by blind testing.

Because psychology.

onion2k 4y ago

Aka marketing.

retrac 4y ago
I think that's far too cynical. Is it (just) marketing that keeps actual pianos being built? A keyboard with a good software synthesizer attached is, I think, objectively, a better instrument these days. Greater dynamic range, never needs to be tuned, you can swap in any particular timbre you prefer, whatever. So why build an actual piano? With the electric guitar, the tube amp is part of the classic form of the instrument, as it was known for half a century, and first came to be played. It's the physical instrument present on most of the classic recordings and which older players learned to play with. This quest for authenticity, or whatever you want to call it, is surely psychological, and often, in my opinion, a bit silly. Marketing often plays on it, for sinister marketing reasons, sure. Still, when it comes to pianos (or violins or trumpets or whatever), making and using period-accurate instruments, in the way they were made historically, and played historically, is both rather popular as a hobby/art, and also a serious academic field. Why would the electric guitar be exempted?
- feet 4y ago
  Most electronic pianos can't replicate the reverberation of a full body grand or upright, that isn't an equivalent comparison. When it comes to audio quality from amps, it's replication of a signal which is pretty cut and dry from an engineering standpoint. If your amp is altering the signal, it's generally just bad. Modern solid state amps can also distort the signal of electric guitars just the same as tubes
  - retrac 4y ago
    > from an engineering standpoint Yes. The class-D amp I got for $20 runs circles around anything that can be done in tube technology, just in terms of fidelity. But a musical instrument is not viewed purely from an engineering standpoint. Using your piano example, the material you build the piano frame out of affects its resonance. Early pianos, not steel-framed, sound different. Even if we can capture this with a synth some day, the art of piano-making, the tools, physically making the musical instrument, will be an art and science worth preserving and practicing. Same is true for the electric guitar. And so part of that art and science, will involve tube amplifiers. Just as the study and making of pianos, involves the study and making of making wood vs. bronze vs. iron vs. steel frames. Even if most of us piano players just play on an electronic keyboard most of the time.
- hulitu 4y ago
  > A keyboard with a good software synthesizer attached is, I think, objectively, a better instrument these days. Greater dynamic range depends on the DAC's resolution

john-radio 4y ago

Not really. Tube amps provide certain sound effects that electric guitarists consider desirable - tone, a little bit of drive/distortion, and I think a little compression. So you can plug an electric guitar into a regular old PA system and it will make some sounds, but it won't have that desired tone and the listener might not think that it sounds very good. You can compensate for that by putting an effect pedal in the middle the simulates the sound of a tube amp, and of course the solid state amplifiers that professional guitarists use these days have that effect built right into them so that they sound good out of the box, but notice that the question has now changed from "why do people use a tube amp" to "why do people use real tube apps when simulated versions are possible"? The tube amps that people use are well known and well liked, and while it's certainly true that there are solid state amps that sound good, these days, too, it's not like they are categorically better than tube amps in any way (yet?)

dboreham 4y ago
You can emulate the distortion from tube circuits digitally. But the thread was about "audio" where extreme distortion as used in electric guitar for artistic purposes, is not the goal. Basically they're saying "my clean sounding tube amp is better than your clean sounding solid state amp". That's known to be bogus and never supported by blind testing.