Cool Paper circa '72 from AES On Yube Vs. Solid State

[Derrick]

From Preservation Sound:

In this 1972 AES Journal paper, Russell Hamm delivers a quasi-scientific study and analysis of the difference between tube and solid-state microphone pre-amps. This paper confirms what most recording engineers seem to realize intuitively: solid-state and vacuum tube amplifiers operate equally ?well? (read: musically-pleasing) when operated totally clean. However, tube microphone pre-amps offer 15 ? 20 db more acceptable semi-distorted headroom on transients, while only showing a 2-4 db actual increase in electrical output over this range. I.E., as Hamm states, tube microphone pre-amps can be extremely effective compressors. There?s more to it than that; read the piece and draw your own conclusions. Click here to read the fourteen-page article:

http://milbert.com/Files/articles/TvsT/tstxt.pdf

[floid]

"Tube circuitry makes a definite audible difference in... applications where there is an electromechanical interface."
Reminds me of something Michael Joly posted somewhere about why changing microphones alters the result much more dramatically than changing preamps.
Actually, a lot of this is almost verbatim what I've read elsewhere - could it be The Source?
Preservation Sound is a great site.