A very good example of psycho-acoustic-effect.daydreamer wrote:
Solid gold and silver flutes are perceived to be better sounding when players can see them, but in blind tests flutes of the same construction method (pearl concert series for example) cannot be consistently differentiated from the normal nickel silver alloy types that cost $1000 vs all gold at $20,000.
My non-musician first wife could distinguish between tube and SS organs without any trouble. And these electronic organs weren't being pushed into distortion. She could tell if our son was playing SS or tube guitar amps even when clean from another room in the house.daydreamer wrote:
I would bet good money that there are many SS amps that would fool us in blind tests. Alot of the sound is they way it is played, so a good player will hear that the amp has too much attack, or not enough compression for their liking and adjust the way they are playing to suit.
I might go as far as saying that a good many SS amps which cost bigger bucks played clean and not past the limits of their headroom might pass or might be harder to distinguish from tube amps on certain type of music in some instances, but as soon as some dirt or preamp distortion comes into the equation, I would disagree.
Solid state amps distort differently from tube amps. Tube amps tend to compress the signal more before clipping the signal and the overtones have a different spectrum. SS amps go from clean to suddenly into distortion with mostly odd numbered harmonics which sound harsher to the ear.
Attempts to emulate tube distortion softer clipping aspects with circuitry hasn't been so successful.
However how many people (excluding us Beatle fanatics) were aware when SS amps were playing solos (not always by George) on the Beatles LPs (starting with Revolver)? Or even earlier, Nowhere man was played by both John and George on Fender Stratocasters rather than their regular instruments?
As to belief is a strong item in Psycho acoustic effects, I had one individual argue with me at length over who played the first solo on the Beatles Long Tall Sally cover, either live or recorded. He was convinced that it wasn't John on a Rickenbacker, in his ears he distinctly heard a Gretch! He still couldn't accept it when one video the camera man stayed on George (during the 1st solo) who was obviously playing the rhythm part for the lead break.
(And then again Cranberry Sauce became I buried Paul, at the end of Strawberry Fields.)
A well designed amp is like a well designed tool to a point. What the artist achieves tonally has to do with a number of factors, the most important one is how he plays.daydreamer wrote:
At the same time, a well designed amp just makes everything easier so it is really a case of, A) what does the player want to hear B) which amp helps him/her get there.
Robben sounds like Robben whether he is playing through his Dumble (domestic concerts) or when he is playing through Fender Twins (most overseas concerts). Eddie Van H sounds like himself (even when playing an acoustic guitar) which sold alot of amps for Marshall and Peavey.
It's the old what sounds better riddle, $100 guitar through a $3000 dollar amp or $3000 guitar through a $100 amp? With all do respect, the former sounds better in most cases.
Some artists need the window dressing but would sound just as fine on Nickel Silver.daydreamer wrote:
Some people need 20K all gold flutes. Some don't. But if they can play well, the rest of us won't care.
On the other hand I was invited to play a $30,000 harpsichord during an intermission at a small gathering by the owner who was performing duets with a Flute player (his instruments of choice were made of wood). He was a fine keyboard player, but I sort of embarrassed him unintentionally as my technique produced a far better tone than his from the instrument. After a few pieces there was quite a crowd starting to assemble. I politely thanked him and then diplomatically praised the quality of his instrument (which was very good) and asked him to demonstrate for the crowd the different stops.
I did sound much better on a more expensive instrument than my own less valuable one.
Best Regards
Steve





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  ) and the same tones unaltered, and they could consistently tell them apart. I dunno what they were hearing, but the gist of it was that 20khz is way too low to double for sampling rate.
 ) and the same tones unaltered, and they could consistently tell them apart. I dunno what they were hearing, but the gist of it was that 20khz is way too low to double for sampling rate.