No, a guitarist doesn't give a shit about THD and doesn't listen to an amp with an oscilloscope. A guitarist cares if it sounds good, so crank a valve AC30 so it is loud but sounds good and put a decibel meter in front of the amp, then repeat with the transistor AC30, loud but sounds good, the meter will read louder on the valve amp. Not perception, not semantics, louder.sizzlingbadger wrote:Symantics...
If they are both putting out 30W the tube amp is not louder. Tube amp is only louder when you push it beyond its 30W and into distortion, hence it seems like it can go "louder without distorting" but in reality it can't.
But yes I do see what you mean, it could be confusing to describe it that way.
Just because a nineteen forties thermionic technician figured out a way of building reliable amplifiers with glass bottles doesn't mean the language and assumptions used are useful for discussing what's going on aurally.
If you don't hear the distortion, even though your oscilloscope does, it doesn't matter. Unless of course, you are a nineteen forties thermionic technician.