TUBE TRANSCEIVER AND AMPLIFIERS

[Stellasstillarat]

Will a tube rig such as Browning or sonar ect. ect. sound any better driving a tube amp as opposed to driving a transistorized amp of equal specifications? Teacnecally does a tube transceiver benifits either way? will using a transistorized amp be better matched to a transistorized transceiver, and visa versa?

 

[Atlasta]

Amps- at least good ones- will take whatever you put into them and make it louder. Clean signal in = louder clean signal out. The problem is a lot of solid-state amps are poorly made and will inject some distortion or otherwise 'color' the signal.

As to you question: Yes you can use a solid-state amp with a tube transceiver or a solid-state rig with a tube amp- we did it all the time in the old days. However tube amps need to be retuned following a significant shift in operating frequency- not an issue if you're a fan of twisting knobs!

If a person is going to run an amp behind a great tube radio such as a Tram or Browning then IMO that amp should be a tube amp. Keep it plate modulated all the way through. Bonus: An all-tube setup produces enough heat to warm up the entire radio room- a nice feature with winter approaching!

Some people spend crazy amounts of money trying to get the 'hi-fi' sound out of their solid-state CB radios. While the results can be impressive they could have approximated the same thing by simply buying a tube radio and a good microphone.

 

[Tallman]

Tube amplifiers always sound better. Audio amps sound so much better than solid state units because tube amps have a presence.
If you have ever heard a music system that was loud but sounded tinny, it was lacking presence. A tube amp will sound full and rich, linears will do that too.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

If a person is going to run an amp behind a great tube radio such as a Tram or Browning then IMO that amp should be a tube amp. Keep it plate modulated all the way through. Bonus: An all-tube setup produces enough heat to warm up the entire radio room- a nice feature with winter approaching!

You can't do that with an amp. While the radio may be plate modulated the amplifier of course cannot.

In reality plate modulated transmitters do not really sound better than other forms of modulation such as grid or simply low level plate modulation followed by a linear amplifier. Plate modulation is simple to implement and was chosen for commercial broadcasting because of the better efficiency of running the RF section class C plate modulated by a class B audio modulator. They do sound slightly better however and have a "warmer" sound than most solid state amps. it has been said this is due to the softer switch times of tubes versus transistors.

 

[RatsoW8]

I always though "warm tones" was nice for listening to some music and to big balls FM stations but not for CB or Amateur radio. It's radio man and you want to be heard AND understood. Warm low fuzzy tones are not easily understood unless you're within walking distance of the station you're talking to.

 

[Unit 194]

Tube radio equipment is great, but good luck trying to find a qualified tech. to service the equipment.