Tung-Sol.com:: FAQs What are soft, hard, and medium rated tubes?

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FAQs

Question:
What are soft, hard, and medium rated tubes?
Answer:
When power tubes are matched, they are frequently classified by the distortion and break-up characteristic. The most common method is to refer to the tubes as Soft, Medium, or Hard.

Soft tubes reach saturation and break-up quicker. These tubes have lower plate current (Ip) and transconductance (Gm) matching numbers. They are preferred by blues guitarists for the break-up and sustain they provide.

Hard tubes have the highest amount of clean headroom before break-up and distortion. These tubes have high plate current (Ip) and transconductance (Gm) matching numbers. They take longer to reach saturation and are preferred by jazz, country, and bass players. Hard tubes are also used by guitarists who rely primarily on effects pedals to generate distortion.

Medium tubes fall in between soft tubes and hard tubes. They exhibit good headroom, but will break up and distort when pushed. These tubes have plate current (Ip) and transconductance (Gm) matching numbers in the middle of the range. Classic rock guitarists and players who play a wide variety of styles generally use medium rated tubes.

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