The pedal is used to try to mimic the sound of a vintage tube amplifier.
Usually this involves using a circuit topology similar to that used in tube amplifiers.
This use is still relevant today because tubes and tube amplifiers continue to be produced for niche markets.
This was a 50-watt tube amplifier with a single 15" speaker.
He goes on with self-glorifying statements like, 'I made my first tube amplifier in 1957'.
And besides, that matching doesn't buy you anything anyway except lower distortion - which, in a tube amplifier, is not what you're looking for.
The tube amplifiers he now stocks are priced up to $40,000.
Original overdrive occurred when players first cranked their tube amplifiers up to 10.
Thus, the noise figure of tube amplifiers increases with frequency.
FT-101 is a set that combines a solid state transmitter, receiver and a tube final amplifier.