dmccombe7 Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 (edited) Are valve amps affected by heat and humidity and does that affect your tone. Had problems getting my usual tone from the Handbox WB-100 last night. Room was extremely warm, hot and sweaty if that makes any difference to an amp that runs hot with valves anyway. It sounds ok on the vids that have appeared but sounded a bit odd and i had to cut the mids and treble a bit in an attempt to get a decent fuller sound. Tried my Marlowe and my P bass and both had that odd tone as if it was being overly compressed. I do use a compressor but it sounded same with it off plus i only have the compressor just clipping the higher volume notes due to my enthusiastic playing on some bits of songs. Maybe it was down to a lack of volume and i was trying compensate by playing harder and using EQ rather than turning up and leaving my EQ as normal ? Dave Edited June 18, 2023 by dmccombe7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 The air itself could be responsible for tone changes, as it is through this medium hat the sound travels, and air density affects this, compounded by humidity changes. I doubt that the electronics of the amp would be affected (we use full-fat valve amps, and have done for decades with no such issues...). Just my tuppence-worth. Douglas 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggaebass Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 I’ve never noticed any difference of the sound in either my valve amps in the heat 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mykesbass Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 I think @Dad3353 may have the answer here. Someone with better than my very old Grade E physics A level may be able to shed more light on this, but sound travels faster in hotter temperatures, and I'm pretty sure this would be more noticeable in the higher frequencies. You probably sounded great out front. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 We notice the weather changes in our practice room. Always set up the same way. But the biggest factor is soft furnishings. The other week the drummer bought his cases into the room and that massively altered the acoustics. Maybe in hot and humid weather people are wearing less clothes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveXFR Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 It may effect the point at which the valves start to overdrive very marginally but as has been shown in many experiments, valves don't effect tone. Could be the air density in the room. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted June 18, 2023 Author Share Posted June 18, 2023 7 minutes ago, SteveXFR said: It may effect the point at which the valves start to overdrive very marginally but as has been shown in many experiments, valves don't effect tone. Could be the air density in the room. That's interesting. Towards the end of the gig i tried turning the gain down just a notch and upped the master and it did improve so you might have answered the question Steve. Dave 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taunton-hobbit Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 Heat & humidity can affect loudspeakers, usually made out of paper (of some sort) - I've had this with my reggae sound rig. 😎 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted June 18, 2023 Author Share Posted June 18, 2023 2 hours ago, taunton-hobbit said: Heat & humidity can affect loudspeakers, usually made out of paper (of some sort) - I've had this with my reggae sound rig. 😎 Didn't think of that. I had assumed it was the amp. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveXFR Posted June 18, 2023 Share Posted June 18, 2023 39 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said: Didn't think of that. I had assumed it was the amp. Dave Speakers have far more effect on tone than amps 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.jpg.479e4b8ac1d6260ac96cab0b087238e1.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.