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Single-Ended Tube-Based Guitar Amplifier, Joseph (Joe) Linn

Electrical Engineering

Since the advent of the transistor, the vast majority of designers and manufacturers of electronic devices have abandoned the vacuum tube. Compared to transistors, tubes are orders of magnitude larger, more power hungry, more expensive, less reliable, and dissipate much more heat. In short, transistors are superior devices for almost all applications. Despite this fact, many makers of high-end audio and instrument amplifiers continue to base their designs on tube technology.

Given all of their shortcomings, the obvious question is: Why bother with tubes? Proponents of tube-based audio amplifiers cite a certain “warmth” that tube circuitry lends to the sound …