Valves, like speakers, are one of those critically important components that nonetheless often gets overlooked when seeking to make gains in tone. If you use a solid-state amp or a digital modelling device, of course, then you don’t need to worry about these rather antiquated bottles of vacuum and voltage. But for the rest of us, a little more understanding of what makes valves tick can help you get even more from your rig – and who better to guide us through the subject than Adrian Emsley, the man who designs Orange’s formidably good-sounding combos and heads?
While small triode valves such as the ubiquitous 12AX7/ECC83 control gain, EQ and other functions in the preamp section of your amp, Adrian explains, it’s the big tubes in the power stage of the…
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Guitarist (Digital) - 1 Issue, January 2019