Author Topic: Will KT88 SE convincingly play Metallica on an appropriate set of speakers? (Read 4889 times)

romymartinez · « **on:** Mar 01, 2008 at 12:12 PM »

Or Deep Purpple, Aerosmith, Journey, Black Sabbath:

romymartinez

iceman90a · « **Reply #1 on:** Mar 01, 2008 at 12:18 PM »

not speaking directly for a KT88 SE, but a SET amp driving appropriate speakers can rock

qguy · « **Reply #2 on:** Mar 01, 2008 at 12:57 PM »

Depends on the the amp... the tube is only one component on the amp, for rock music you would want a "Fast" amplifier so anything that sweet in character like the vintage scotts wont do it for rock..

My advise is to get an amp that really excels in one thing ..sweet music or rock music .. rather than having an amp thats 50/50.. in my book an amp that 50/50 is no good, since it can't do anything "perfectly" you would end up looking for something else

docsialu · « **Reply #3 on:** Mar 01, 2008 at 01:15 PM »

Quote from: qguy on Mar 01, 2008 at 12:57 PM

Depends on the the amp... the tube is only one component on the amp, for rock music you would want a "Fast" amplifier so anything that sweet in character like the vintage scotts wont do it for rock..

My advise is to get an amp that really excels in one thing ..sweet music or rock music .. rather than having an amp thats 50/50.. in my book an amp that 50/50 is no good, since it can't do anything "perfectly" you would end up looking for something else

I agree with this, make 2 set ups, one for sweet music another for rock,

Ctlim · « **Reply #4 on:** Mar 01, 2008 at 09:41 PM »

actually it could work. a good sounding system after all, is a good sounding system.

it would depend on the versatility of the speakers used as well.

alexg · « **Reply #5 on:** Mar 20, 2008 at 07:59 AM »

Quote from: ctlim on Mar 01, 2008 at 09:41 PM

actually it could work. a good sounding system after all, is a good sounding system.

it would depend on the versatility of the speakers used as well.

I totally agree. A well designed and good sounding amp should be able to reproduce any kind of music.

Weng! · « **Reply #6 on:** Mar 20, 2008 at 08:29 AM »

Quote from: qguy on Mar 01, 2008 at 12:57 PM

Depends on the the amp... the tube is only one component on the amp, for rock music you would want a "Fast" amplifier so anything that sweet in character like the vintage scotts wont do it for rock..

My advise is to get an amp that really excels in one thing ..sweet music or rock music .. rather than having an amp thats 50/50.. in my book an amp that 50/50 is no good, since it can't do anything "perfectly" you would end up looking for something else

just like the singers.

michael buble' does not sound well singing a metallica song and so does james heatfield singing buble's song

Ctlim · « **Reply #7 on:** Mar 20, 2008 at 10:06 PM »

after much convinving from my uncle that is visiting from the US, i pop'd in a 50 cent cd on my tube set-up.... and the results... OMG!!! ..... IN DA CLUB!!!!

muypogi · « **Reply #8 on:** Mar 22, 2008 at 10:26 AM »

Get a versatile tube amp. My pp amx kt88 can play most types of music. Classic rock sounds pretty good. Medyo flabby lang yung bass pagdating sa rap songs na may heavy synthesized bass.

alexg · « **Reply #9 on:** Mar 25, 2008 at 09:29 AM »

Audio aficionados have this opinion that tubed gears are for jazz and vocals.

They forgot that rock started on tubed guitar amps so I don't see any reason why rock or metal for that matter will not play correctly on a tubed gear. Up to now, guitarists still prefer the sound of tubed guitar amps.

A "well designed tubed amp" (including the DHTs like 2a3, 300B) can reproduce Metallica on a well matched speakers.

My SE KT88 and my 6080 parafeed amps, matched with a high sensitivity speaker (fostex) on horn enclosures play Def Lepard and Metallica with no problem.

If the bass sound flabby or the highs are shrill, the designer should go back to the drawing board and redesign the amp.

aHobbit · « **Reply #10 on:** Mar 25, 2008 at 10:13 AM »

any decent amp with the appropriate speaker will always work to the design goal you wanted to accomplish. Of course, the number one challenge is : what speaker would that be?

a good sounding setup will always be good sounding, - with different genre of materials? This is just ideal, paper concept. There is just no cure-all set-up.

What's best, therefore, is something you have to define yourself. If a 50-50 is best for you, or a 2 set-ups each working 100% perfectly for you for every selected genre.

At the end of the day, it is all just personal preferences. Not all guitarists prefer tube amps! And all of us, vary in some degree, how we want to hear things from our set-up.

How about a set-up that you can vary any time of day, depending on your mood and depending on your genre to play?

qguy · « **Reply #11 on:** Mar 25, 2008 at 10:22 AM »

Quote from: aHobbit on Mar 25, 2008 at 10:13 AM

How about a set-up that you can vary any time of day, depending on your mood and depending on your genre to play?

One option is to look for a tube amp that can take several types of tubes.....

alexg · « **Reply #12 on:** Mar 25, 2008 at 11:36 AM »

To some extent you can vary the sound of tube amps, even same kind of tubes of different brands.

Or as qguy noted, get an amp than can use different tubes.

I play vocals and jazz with EL34s, orchestral/instrumentals with KT88 and rock with 6550 on my SE amp.

So to answer the original question of Romy:

Quote from: romymartinez on Mar 01, 2008 at 12:12 PM

Or Deep Purpple, Aerosmith, Journey, Black Sabbath:

romymartinez

Yes an SE KT88 can convincingly play Metallica on an appropriate set of speakers.

We will try it with your Fostex 167e on a "Half Chang" enclosure. Horn speakers are "fast."

With my setup, a Fostex 127e on an iBIB enclosure, metallica plays convincingly, as well as vocals and jazz. (just tube roll with different brands and kinds, from EL34, 6L6, KT88 and 6550).

romymartinez · « **Reply #13 on:** Mar 25, 2008 at 11:52 AM »

Thanks for your comments guys.

I guess the weak link in the system are my speakers. I'm at the moment using a 60s Jensen 8" full range sealed bookshelfs which are relatively easy to drive and senstivite enough for a 6wpc tube amp to sing but does not produce enoggh slam for heavy metal. But for 60s/70s blues rock (i.e., Rolling Stones, Credence Clearwater Revival, Steve Miller Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd) they sound great.. Santana's 70s music sounds superb. And of course, they sound great on jazz and vocals.

The rest of my system: Denon DCD-1610 (10kg monster CDP from late 80s), Foreplay 3 inspiered 12au7 preamp, EL34 SE / 6080 parafeed power tube amps, DIY ICs, generic speaker wires. All tube amps borrowed from who know who..

Funds permitting, I'll upgrade my speakers soon. My Fostex fullrange drivers are itching to find their home on "appropriate" cabinets.

romymartinez

aHobbit · « **Reply #14 on:** Mar 25, 2008 at 06:56 PM »

since you are into fostex, better start with it. either go transmission line or the folded horn (iBIB nga ba yon?) - it can reinforce your sub in the proper corner placement - then add extra sensitive tweeter later (so you can series a resistor to avoid the amp seeing it) to help in the upper portion if the full range alone sound deficient in the high freq in your ear - and it has no issues with your 6W amp!

romymartinez · « **Reply #15 on:** Feb 09, 2009 at 10:25 AM »

Postcript:

Your right Sir alexg. KT88 SE convingcly played heavy metal when paired with this Fostex FE167E in Half-Chili Chang enclosures.

Big thanks!

romymartinez

iceman90a · « **Reply #16 on:** Feb 09, 2009 at 11:34 AM »

Rock on!!!

odyopayl · « **Reply #17 on:** Feb 10, 2009 at 02:48 PM »

Quote from: romymartinez on Feb 09, 2009 at 10:25 AM

Postcript:

Your right Sir alexg. KT88 SE convingcly played heavy metal when paired with this Fostex FE167E in Half-Chili Chang enclosures.

Big thanks!

romymartinez

Holy Cow Nice Pair! However, for me I want some ROCK! I need a Good Pair of Solid State Amp and a good speakers paired with a very Good Subwoofer! This is how I enjoy Rock Music!! Actually Rock Music are most enjoy on Live performance! I wan't the feeling of live audience while listening to Rock with the some Sa- Mi_ Light and it should be Friday Night!!!!ofcourse! A visual effect will be Fun! Now I am collecting Concert BD which I think now a days a good investment!

I want SE set-up for none fatiguing vocals! or what they call easy listening......a mids to die for......

Just me!

romymartinez · « **Reply #18 on:** Feb 11, 2009 at 04:58 PM »

Quote from: odyopayl on Feb 10, 2009 at 02:48 PM

I want SE set-up for none fatiguing vocals! or what they call easy listening......a mids to die for......

With sensitivity of 94db, the Fostex seems loud enough for me when paired with the 13 wpc SE amp

Sound character of the SE amp depends on tubes plugged in. For 'easy listening' NOS Siemens EL34 sounds nice. But with NOS GE 6550 the sound is anything but polite/malambing. It's brusking-brusko bagay sa rock. With re-issue Gold Lion KT88, it strikes a nice balance between the two sonic extremes. Still have JJ KT77 re-issue and Tungsol 6550 re-issue to try on.

accastil · « **Reply #19 on:** Feb 11, 2009 at 05:37 PM »

yes it would...just a bit different from how it would sound using SS amps.
how u would interpret the difference youll hear really depends on your criteria and listening preferences.

some would find it lacking the low end, others would find it sounding a little slow on the tempo...among many other varying impressions.

normally it would sound a "bit" slower on tubes with a slight recession on lows as you would try to compare it with SS. but then again, this is very much dependent on the gears in action here. some tubed amps would really surprise you as they could sound as agile and ballsy as good SS amps too. conversely, other SS amps would also lack the agility and low end punch of other good tubed amps.

there is only 1 sure way of finding that out though.....LISTEN

edrel sison · « **Reply #20 on:** Feb 18, 2009 at 03:32 PM »

congrats romy for finally nailing that fostex! great setup!

romymartinez · « **Reply #21 on:** Feb 23, 2009 at 10:48 AM »

Quote from: edrel sison on Feb 18, 2009 at 03:32 PM

congrats romy for finally nailing that fostex! great setup!

Sir Edrel,

Thanks!

Mukhang napasubo ng husto dito si Sir Alex.

Regards,

Romy

camoteque · « **Reply #22 on:** Mar 06, 2009 at 07:41 PM »

Quote from: alexg on Mar 25, 2008 at 09:29 AM

A "well designed tubed amp" (including the DHTs like 2a3, 300B) can reproduce Metallica on a well matched speakers.

i agree. no problem listening to rock with matched systems. i am playing dire straits right now with my 2a3 amp at not more than a watt of power. more powerto spare using these speakers.

larry