Transformer

[Bill Hart]

I don't know the Mercury, but if it does what hifi would do, which is limit the generation of harmonic distortion relative to input volume, it would limit the dynamic interaction and "feel" of the amplifier. Not a good thing in a guitar amp. There are times when - you know this if you're a guitarist - when we may want a bit more headroom. I've spent most of my life playing Deluxe Reverbs, and in some rooms they don't stay "clean" (a relative term in this context if their ever was one) quite loud enough. I've used tube choices, speakers and extension cabinets to adjust that a bit. I suppose you could get affect that with a transformer as well, but damn...that would be the hard way. But an amp that doesn't "give" when you play hard or turn up the guitar's volume - an amp that is "hifi" is not desireable in the electric guitar world. If it was, solid state would rule. So I can't imagine that the goals of a replacement transformer in a Vibrolux have anything to do with what you want transformers to do in a hifi amp.

Most electric guitar players think the ultimate is an old amp that's on the verge of death, not one with a high-end transformer replacement .

Personally, I've moved on. I've still got an old Deluxe, but I don't gig with it anymore. I use a digital modeling amp. The thing "gives" just like a tube amp and has a ton of models in it. Does it do BF Deluxe exactly like my BF Deluxe? It's really close. And it weighs maybe 30 lbs and gives me a BF Deluxe, BF Twin and Vox AC-30 TB right there, in the foot pedal.

Tim

Yep, i hear ya, and i understand why a lot of players like small amps overloading into a mic'd PA or studio mike.
Didn't mean to derail the thread to talk about guitar amps, just thought it might be an easy example of aftermarket transformers, since it was the first one that came to mind, albeit not in the hi-fi realm. At some point when i get time, i'll look at what Mercury claims to be the sonic advantage of using their transformers. Back to our program?
Thanks Tim.

 

[Keith_W]

Does this mean that as long as the power transformer provides sufficient power for the amp's design without humming or vibrating or creating excess heat that it has no effect on that amplifier's sound?

Don't ask me, i'm not an amp designer

Some believe that transformers also clean up the AC current more effectively. How much of an effect this has depends on the quality of AC current in your house in the first place.

Otherwise, I have no opinion on the subject. I don't know enough, sorry.

 

[Soundminded]

There are some oddities at times with transformers for example making mechanical noises, vibrating and such when another unit like them would not. As far as changing the sound directly, the most likely answer is that it cannot.

This answer astonishes me. In an industry where every element has been scrutinized to death even insofar as putting speaker wires on tees, what could be more important than a power transformer? No audio component can be better than its power supply and no element in a power supply is more critical than the power transformer. In most circuits and especially in power amplifiers, the power transformer is by far the most expensive single component (except for output transformers in tube amplfiers.) A much larger transformer (higher volt-amp rating) with the same output voltage will have a lower series output impedance and provide more power and faster than a smaller one. If a manufacturer gave only one specification for an audio amplifier, I'd like it to be the weight of the power transformer. The second most important thing is the size of the power supply filter capacitors. Even in my HK Citation 11 when the power supply filter capacitor failed, I replaced its 1000 mfd cap with a 2400 mfd cap and I think it sounds better (can't be 100% sure, didn't do an A/B.)

As for output transformers, they are the single worst element you can put an audio signal through, even worse than a vacuum tube. Distortion from these transformers comes from eddy current losses, hysteresis losses, series impedance, non-linearity of the magnetic core circuit. core saturation among others. The best amplifiers will have the best transformers. Solid state amplifiers (except for early McIntosh) and OTL tube amplifiers reduce distortion, improve clarity especially at high frequencies, improve bass response, and increase the amplifier's control over woofers by eliminating output transformers. The lower the source impedance the better.