I guess I was always destined to be a geek. One of my childhood memories was the seemingly omnipresent tube testers in hardware stores, and as far as I can remember...everywhere else, too! Of course, back when I was a kid, vacuum tubes were still common, but on their way out. Do you remember them?
Fast forward to today.
You may not realize this, but vacuum tubes are STILL going strong in certain industries. In fact, new equipment is created every day using vacuum tubes in the music industry. Guitar players in particular, are OBSESSED with them.
Every single one of my guitar amplifiers, as well as some of my outboard equipment, are vacuum tube designs. There is just something magical about those glowing glass tubes (beyond the fantastic sound!)
The picture below is the tube array in my Fender Blues Junior 15 Watt guitar amplifier. This is one of two guitar amplifiers I use every single week at my church in our contemporary music band. The other amplifier is a 100 Watt, all-tube, Paul Rivera designed Twin Reverb. Sweet!
Words cannot describe how great these amplifiers sound!
