Fans usually describe the tube sound as warm. There are even a few computer sound cards that include a tube or two.Īudiophiles mostly agree that tube sets sound different from transistorized solid state sets. As a result, manufacturers are stuffing tubes into every component imaginable, including CD players. As investments, five-year-old tube sets and the tubes themselves sell at gains that best the long-term stock market performance. Imported amplifiers or other components start at about $700, while American-made equipment can cost twice that or much more - for the most exotic models, tens of thousands of dollars. Boutique tube electronics manufacturers are now popping up faster than boy bands, and some mainstream audio companies are reintroducing tube gear to their product lines. The market for tube-based home hi-fi equipment is a small one, but it has grown steadily over the last decade. Vig, many audiophiles are willing to pay premium prices for weighty amplifiers with rows of hot, glowing tubes. They continue to endear themselves to hi-fi hobbyists, who love the velvety tones they produce.
Yet vacuum tubes - glass bulbs with internal elements that control electricity in much the same way that silicon circuits do in modern electronics - also have a following outside the professional recording studio. ''Tubes, particularly the older ones, have a quality that is endearing.'' Vig, who amplifies instruments and vocals with vacuum tube sets.
''The nature of the tubes sort of have an inherent harmonic distortion that fuzzes up the sound that gives it a warmth and body,'' said Mr. Vig, best known as the producer who forged the grunge sound of albums like Nirvana's ''Nevermind,'' relies on technology that was passé by the time Elvis got out of the Army: vacuum tubes. BUTCH VIG, drummer, songwriter and producer of the multiplatinum band Garbage, has a state-of-the-art digital recording studio in which two 64-channel mixing boards mesh with the computerized sound-shaping and editing tools he uses to create his lush, layered hit records.īut it's not just modern computers that give his work its trademark sound.