[cogman10]

The thing is, much like "perfectly white lights" you can mimic the non-linear behavior of tubes with transistor circuitry. On the extreme end you can integrate a DSP into the line to add a "vacuum tube" filter onto the sound in pre-amp.

Thinking you can't do that is like thinking all LED bulbs must be 5000k and only incandescent can give that warm glow (Which, funnily that color was chosen to mimic gas lights before incandescents).

[thrawa8387336]

LED is vastly inferior to incandescent. Only very high end LED starts to get closer, practically only used in luxury building in Middle East (Dubai) and China

[kazinator]

But when you do that, you are still holding the tube circuit as the reference model. And what you built is more complicated; it has components that have no counterpart in the tube circuit. (In the digital case, you have hundreds of millions of tiny transistors, which are switching full on or off.)

[labcomputer]

Yea, but so what? It's cheaper and easier and you get the same effect, without all the downsides of tubes, like heat, warmup time and wasted energy.

[tempaccount5050]

No one said you can't do it. There's just no reason to do it. Tube amps are basically a standard and it's what the amp repair guys know how to work on and it's easiest to work on.

[atoav]

There are real reasons to do that, even if you like tube amps:

- Tube amps need regular tube swaps. For a small guitar Combo a set of tubes (3× preamp + 2× power amp) can cost between 100 to 150 Euros. If you're a poor musician that is a factor

- Tube amps use heavy power and output transformers. If you ever had to carry an Ampeg SVT (36 kg for 300W) you will cherish the idea of a 0.25 kg 500W class D amp. If you're a touring musician that is a factor

- Tube amps are limited in terms of sound. While this could be seen both as a feature and a bug, if you want to recall the perfect settings for each song as a touring musician, tube amps are not the right choice unless you have a horde of roadies and technicians

This is why amp sims have become more popular in the recent years with people who play music for a living.

That being said, if you're in a simple band and you want the sound of a tube amp, a tube amp gives it to you pretty reliably without making you drown in options or giving you the feeling your gear is outdated every other year, since it is outdated since decades anyways. A tube amp also needs no firmware updates and requires no subscription and has less parts that can break.

[antonkochubey]

Are they perhaps “what the amp repair guys know how to work on” for the reason that they require repairs much more often? :)