NuTube Pedals and Amps... Is this tech taking off? Is it actually needed?

Rabs

Wow that's expensive (£239) but I think that's just because its a new technology.. Its interesting that pedal makers are getting involved with this new approach....

If you haven't seen what a NuTube is, its a replacement for old glass tubes which some think will start becoming harder to get (so they say) so thus why they are looking in to new tech. Still too early me thinks...

This is the NuTube vid

And the new Tube Screamer that uses one

rlw

If it works, the more open minded users will buy it.  Meanwhile, the Luddites won’t.

Flink_Poyd

Players who value tubes are getting older and older, as they die off they'll become less relevant and new tech will take over. All Hail our computerised overlords!

MattP

Flink_Poyd said:

All Hail our computerised overlords!

I read that in the voice of your avatar!

Jez6345789

Awful presentation 
but it’s probably going to be used more in the future just becauseit it can be easily surface mounted and part of modern production .

the acid test is if it can sound as good or comparable 

ICBM

It strikes me as a needlessly difficult and expensive way to force a technology into a different use, so I suspect it's more of a marketing opportunity to sell to people who think that anything with a valve in it is inherently better, than a real technological breakthrough. Its characteristics are so different from a normal valve that really the only thing it has in common is a vacuum. I'll keep an open mind but the demos I've heard of the Tube Screamer with it in don't sound great.

It reminds me of Clive Sinclair's pocket TV - which most of you younger than me won't remember at all... it actually used a miniature CRT tube, with the screen at right angles using some clever trickery to bend the electron beam round the corner. It worked, but it was fairly pointless because the picture was too small to be seen clearly even with some extra trickery with a lens in front of it. Within only a year or two LCDs had overtaken it completely.

Musicman20

They seem pretty decent in the mini Vox amps, but incredibly expensive in the TS pedals.

Do we even NEED a tube 'replacement'?! Surely the next steps are already being taken in the digital world with the Helix etc?

Phil_aka_Pip

Musicman20 said:

They seem pretty decent in the mini Vox amps, but incredibly expensive in the TS pedals.

Do we even NEED a tube 'replacement'?! Surely the next steps are already being taken in the digital world with the Helix etc?

You mean using millions of transistors to do what one valve does?

Sassafras

Can't see the demand for big glowing glass bottles dying out anytime soon.

guitarfishbay

Personally I’m only interested if the tech can work the same way a valve poweramp does.

I think there are already great sounding non valve preamps, both solid state and digital, but through a guitar cabinet a valve poweramp still sounds best to me and has the most pleasing dynamic response, especially at higher volumes. High powered SS can sound good too though and be significantly lighter. I have no idea if it’s possible to design something that sounds like a valve power section at the weight of an SS but will be very interested when that tech arrives.

Phil_aka_Pip

guitarfishbay said:

I have no idea if it’s possible to design something that sounds like a valve power section at the weight of an SS but will be very interested when that tech arrives.

They've been trying for years

stickyfiddle

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Musicman20 said:

They seem pretty decent in the mini Vox amps, but incredibly expensive in the TS pedals.

Do we even NEED a tube 'replacement'?! Surely the next steps are already being taken in the digital world with the Helix etc?

You mean using millions of transistors to do what one valve does?

Of course, but those same transistors can be used for any number of other things when applied in something like a Helix