This video is sponsored by Skillshare. Click here to explore your creativity and get 2 free months of Skillshare Premium Membership: skl.sh/csguitars5 Rectifiers are vital for your amplifier to operate correctly. While most amplifiers today feature solid state rectification, there is still a big deal made of Valve Rectified amplifiers. But what exactly is a rectifier? Is there a difference between valve and solid state rectification? and what does it mean for your sound? Let's dig into this Too Afraid To Ask episode to find out. More from CSGuitars: Gain access to exclusive content at: www.patreon.com/csguitars Buy CSGuitars Merchandise: www.csguitars.co.uk/store Website: www.csguitars.co.uk Contact: colin@csguitars.co.uk
@@BeckyYork That is a shame. I also try to avoid adverts or people requiring financial income, which is why I don't go see movies at the cinema, open a newspaper, access the internet, go grocery shopping, step outside, or breathe.
Maybe if you didn't use adblock I'd earn enough that I wouldn't have to embed sponsor ads directly into my videos. You enjoy your ad free existence, good luck with that.
@@ScienceofLoud Maybe if you got like a more interesting sponsor it would be better, every youtuber has skillshare, dollar shave club etc etc, if you had a more interesting sponsor like a haggis company or something it would be better.
Welcome to the world where some companies see the benefit of advertising on social media and others don't. Skillshare wants to work with me because what they do is relevant to what I do: it's education. Our demographics align and they can see a return on their investment. A haggis company would have no interest in advertising on my channel because: 1. My channel has nothing to do with food. 2. Over 40% of my viewer base is in America where there is a ban on importing haggis. It would be a financial waste of time for them. Also, the reason you are seeing a lot of similar sponsors is because you are watching a lot of similar content. They are targeting channels with similar demographics.
"so don't fuck around with this shit if you don't know what you're doing" I need this on a shirt, it would answer many questions in engineering asked by customers. For the love of God Colin! I need this!!!
Always heard about rectifier lag, nodded my head, and pretended like I understood. Now I can nod my head and pretend with greater confidence. Thanks for the lesson
I just had to pause your video to tell you that the little black and white prompt for the ad in the corner was a nostalgic throw back to my childhood. It's that sort of attention to detail that will keep people coming back. Bravo.
Colin, I hate to correct, but for the safety of others, AC voltage is always more deadly than an equivalent DC voltage value. The parasitic capacitance of the human body allows more AC current to flow through it (putting your organs at risk), and the rapid cycling forces muscles to contract, making it near impossible to let go. I've been caught with around 200vDC in amps before, and while it hurt, it (obviously) didn't kill me, and it wasn't too hard to let go. Comparatively, depending on frequency, it only takes around 10-20vAC for your body to start freaking out. Any higher than 50vAC, and you're looking at a bad time.
I'd love to see you make one of those kit amps you can buy, like a clone of a plexi with all the components, you just need to put it together, could be a good way to show off some of the mods you can do too.
I have a dual rec roadster. I use solid state on all high gain channels and tube on my clean channel. Tube just adds that charm in the dynamics on a clean sound, which you don't get when you're highly compressed with distortion. Really gives a different feel that only the player can actually notice.
Because essentially every popular high gain amp out there is based on the SLO. It's a really remarkable design, and arguably the first to really get high gain "right".
This is the best video "EVER", teaching the end user about tube and solid state rectification. You should be very proud. If the Academy gave out Oscar's for instructional/educational videos in guitar technology, this would have taken home the prize.
Colin, Awesome TATA, thank you. Your colloquial explanation of sag was the best I’ve encountered in my 53 “revolutions around our solar core”. Right on.👊🏻
The biggest pro to tube rectifiers is how it affects the longevity of the components of the system. Because the tube rec introduces the voltage to tubes gradually rather than instantaneously, the tubes will last longer. Since there is sag when you try to push the amp too hard with a tube rec, it again raises the longevity of the tubes in the system. I have a 1964 Wurlitzer Electric Organ that uses tubes for oscillation. All the tubes are original and still work fine; it has a tube rec. It also doesn't have a standby switch which also prolongs tube life. Also have a 1958 Magnavox Stereorama console that also has a tube amp. Amp still works great with original tubes; no standby switch and uses tube rectification.
Mate, EXCEPTIONAL (!) exposition of tube amplification as applied to electric guitars! Especially explaining attack and sag (compression). So many guitarists do not understand why tube amplification has a different and (mostly) more desirable tone. And even though digital effects and digital amplification have come a long way, it cannot compare to the sound of a high end guitar played through a totally analog signal chain, terminating in a tube (valve) amplifier. Well, that's my opinion anyway. Cheers for this video
Great explanation, you can really hear the sag in amps like the 5E3, but if you're not playing Blues or early Rock 'n' Roll, it may not be what you're after
Great video Colin. Thanx for doing it. Your comments about Rectifier valve sag reminded me of a show I went to years ago to see a well known Aussie pub rock band "The Celibate Rifles".... Their guitarist used a Mesa Dual Rectifier and I felt, from the sound I was hearing from the audience, that his rig wasn't properly biased or something, as every time he 'dug in' the volume wouldn't respond in a corresponding way....It was my first time hearing a Dual Rectifier live & it didn't impress me with the lack of dynamics heard. It might well have been the valve rectifier sagging....
Thanks mate, very good explaination of tube rectification and the terms Sag and Tight in relation to tone. Very helpful indeed as the term Sag in relation to bottom end tones has always confused me. Mostly, and i am not musically biased, i hear this as bad thing in relation to metal players who usually give me the wrong advice in regards to amps because we want different tones from an amp. it also helped me understand why i prefer tube rectifying amps such Fender 68 amps etc.. Cheers and thanks again for posting this.
Hey Colin, love the content keep up the good work! 😊 My suggestion for a potential "too afraid to ask" episode would be eq utilization. For instance, I have an active bass. I have a couple pedals with eq on them(not talking about actual eq pedals). My amp has eq. Do I just use the eq on my guitar since it's closer? Do i use the one on my amp because it is more powerful? Do i use one individually and set the rest flat? Do i use them in combination? Like setting the eq a certain way on the guitar, then setting an eq that comes after distortion and then finally on the amp... I knew there are mo hard and fast rules and I should do what sounds best to me, but was just hoping for a little more info on the plethora of options available. Thanks 😁
Hi Colin, thanks for your channel and the excellent informative videos. Got a TATA for you: could you do a video on preamp pedals, their uses, and comparison to actual amp preamps? Thanks
I have a 12AX7driven pre-amp overdrive that I built. I actually put it between my guitar and my Digitech RP50, and then the RP50 sends to the amp. Makes for some really cutting, sharp, hard distortion sounds.
I think you stated that rectifiers are responsible for the higher voltage after rectification. It's actually the capacitors that do this. The voltage rating of a transformer is RMS which is the average voltage. The peak value is 1.412 (square root of 2) times higher. When the caps smooth the voltage it increases towards the peak voltage. With silicon rectifiers (and probably valve ones too) they actually are responsible for a small voltage drop. Just thought I'd share. Also in high power power supplies they use MOSFETs as rectifiers. Turning them on for half the waveform. Almost no sag or power loss, but need to get the AC zero crossing right or bang goes the MOSFET. Great video.
Valve rectifiers have a much larger voltage drop than silicon diodes. Voltage is dropped across the valve's internal 'anode/plate resistance'. As more current is demanded by the power tubes, more voltage is dropped, resulting in 'sag'.
Hey, thanks Colin. I was just wondering about this, after years of playing guitar - and I thought "I wonder if CSGuitars...?" Yep. You've done it. Thanks for touching on my TATAs. 🤘
Enjoyed the old school advert warning :-) It would've been really helpful to hear the difference between an amp using valve rectifiers and an amp using SS rectifiers though... Even just a few power chords might have been enough...
Sound samples would be utterly meaningless without an amplifier that has switchable rectification options. I don't have one of those. Using two different amplifiers would result in two different sounds and it would be impossible to isolate what was the rectifier and what wasn't within the sound. It would be completely contrary to the scientific process.
I’ve always liked Lee Ritenours tone and I often see a Mesa Rectifier behind him. I think I know why. And I think this helps explain why I like my solid state Bass amp.
All the Mesa/Boogie amps have tube rectifiers. The Rectifier series does still have the solid-state option as mentioned and apparently only recommends the tube rectifiers be used for EL34s, not 6L6s.
I know this would be a longer video or series, but I was wondering if you could do a series about an amp schematic breakdown where you highlight different parts of the schematic (e.g. Preamp, Poweramp, Power Section, etc...) and explain what they do or how they color the signal.
Rectifiers can DIRECTLY affect the sound in the analog signal path. As the rectifier switches on and off the sudden changes in current result in RF noise generation that is both radiated & conducted into the analog signal circuits & produce a glariness to the sound. Early solid state rectifiers with slow reverse recover time were especially bad sounding compared to tube rectifiers. The newest fast soft recovery rectifiers cause 20 times less RF noise and with proper snubbing circuits are a vast improvement upon vacuum tube rectifiers. Vacuum tube rectifiers are now obsolete for audio. If you want to make the power supply sag, just switch in a resistor. FYI, the first rectifiers were the commutators on DC generators.
Slight correction: U.S. normal wall socket voltage is 120v not the old 110v. Which is why some vintage amps don't always work right without modification in the states. 🎶🎸
well the Peavey 6505 and 5150 have 4 1n4007 diodes just in the high voltage section alone and 4 1n4007s in bias and low voltage rectification supply and it sounds kickass I also like triple rectifier amps.
To be honest with you, as someone into electronics I came across this video by chance and was ready to just laugh at this. I totally stand corrected and my hats off to you on a great explanation of SS vs tube rectifier response. Spot on!,,But I still use tubes..lol
Nice video man, as a amplifier nerd and Master Electrician / Power electronics technician I had to repeatedly push my glasses up the bridge of my nose while snorting uncontrollably during this video. 😃
By the way, other than the internal resistance of a tube rectifier causing sag under current demand, the "sag" also comes from tube rectifiers having limits on capacitance - with the best performing one in guitar amps, the GZ34, having a _hard_ limit of 60uF for the first stage and others being considerably below that (the 5U4GB Mesa uses in their amps with tube rectifiers, like, well, Rectifiers has a limit of 47 uF, and the ubiquitous 5Y3 used in old Tweed Fenders and others is around 33uF). A smaller reservoir capacitor value (i.e. the input filter cap of the power supply) will sag a lot more. Think about the difference between a Marshall Super Lead and a Soldano SLO (or for the sake of it, a Peavey 5150). The Soldano is stiffer, firmer in its response for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is using four 220uF caps in series-parallel for 220uF of input stage filtering and reservoir.
David Fuller, It is also worth noting that output tubed have a higher impedance at lower plate voltages, and so as the voltage sags momentarily when the amp is pushed hard, the interface and transfer function from the tubes through the transformer to the speaker is going to also be affected. A loss of some speaker damping seems likely. This is probably another reason why tube rectifiers affect tone and why many people prefer it that way
The other major notable use of rectifiers is in, big shock, standard ATX power supplies. Computer parts expect near-constant +12V, +5V or rarely, +3.3V. While this is *much* lower than an amp, it's still significant enough to cause a fire. Just ask NZXT.
I have a pretty easy Tata for you How exactly does guitar wiring work? Im currently interested into doing a partscaster and I want to do some custom wiring but I don't fully understand each component of the guitar and how the pickups connect from piece to piece
My Silvertone 1482 uses a 6X4 (well, the tube is 6X4WA... not sure what the "WA" is). The wattage on this amp is inconsistently published, but I'm safe to say it's under 25 watts. I have this routed through a load box into the Pod Go instrument input, effectively making my amp both a bedroom level cabinet as well as a big-honkin "drive pedal" in front of the Pod-Go (all of which is "yummy"). As for the caps... I thought one day I might try my hand at building a tube amp, but decided against it: "Step 1: make sure you bleed the caps or you might die". I decided to not approach step 1.
Hi Colin. And with an 3-phase power supply system the voltage ripple gets even smoother due to the fact that the 3 phases is 120 degrees mutually displaced.
Great Explanation. Having real world experience for over fifty years ( Yea I'm that old, but still at my peak ) I have found that solid state rectifiers have the ability to take tremendous wear and tear and continue to function very well. I have rarely seen a solid state rectifier fail in the field. Good Amps in an industrial environment must endure vibration and shock. If your hauling your amps around for gigs and practice, that's an industrial environment. Solid state is the way to go. Of coarse there are always exceptions. Play more Bitch Less Peace out From Nashville Tennessee where Guitars and Amps are a way of life.
Speaking of rectifiers, specifically those solid-state w/e IN 1004's etc: If you ever need to hack down a 12v power supply( like a PC supply or wrong sized wall-wart) to feed 9v pedals, you can put 4 of those in series with forward junction and they will drop a nice 2.8V and can flow 1 amp. Since PC power supplies already have 12v and 5v, you can run most of a studio's extras from one source. just have to splice on the connectors you want to use. (and add a switch or jumper from green wire to any black ground on main-board connector for turn-on). just some rectifier stuff that is a lot safer to fvck around with, haha. have a great day.. PS i'm a low power guy: "Give me TTL or give me death" (TTL=transistor transistor logic, the original 5V digital standard) so i'm of the opinion that i'm not touching EITHER SIDE of a hot rectumfryer tube. i'll leave that up to those other studs.
It's surprising that people do remember the valve rectifier Marshalls as well, but they started phasing out GZ34 rectifier as early as 1966 in JTM50. Only ~4 years after the first Marshall. JTM100 from 1965 had a solid state rectifier from the get go already.
Dear Colin, a possible future TATA: if my amp is equipped with an effects loop, should I put all my pedals in the loop, or are there some I should keep between the guitar and the amp? Thanks mate. Keeping it loud. -Ty
Would you be able to talk about powering different centre polarity AC and DC pedals and how you could power pedals like big muffs without blowing them up by using the wrong polarity
Super interesting stuff! so I guess a rectifier is to an electrical current as a laser is to light? So, theoretically, regarding the whole valve/solid state. From how you've explained. it seems that a solid state could emulate a valve amp perfectly and easily? cause its just like faking a sag? Also i like the zebra sign before the add ;)
