Do valve amps need to be played at full volume?

[SpiralTrance]

Hi can someone tell me do vavle amps need to played at high levels to get the magic valve sound everyone raves about?

 

[Andre Marc]

Hi can someone tell me do vavle amps need to played at high levels to get the magic valve sound everyone raves about?

No. Not from my experience.

 

[SpiralTrance]

No. Not from my experience.

Ok thanks. Just that i've been reading that when valves are pushed hard and distort it adds harmonics that sound musical compared to clipping on solid state amps.

 

[Andre Marc]

Ok thanks. Just that i've been reading that when valves are pushed hard and distort it adds harmonics that sound musical compared to clipping on solid state amps.

For Hifi that does not fly. However, for guitar amps, that is true. But two totally different applications.