Here’s the cover article I wrote for the August 2021 issue of Premier Guitar magazine, discussing basic principles of tube amplifier operation. The tubes, transformers, speakers and other components consume the large majority of power, converting it into heat, not sound. Less than 1% of the power going into a tube amplifier exits as sound. Of course, they can still be quite loud. Also explained, why isn’t an amplifier rated at 30 watts of power twice as loud as a 15 watt amplifier, or for that matter, why aren’t two equally powerful amplifiers twice as loud as one.
To help explain a few things I created illustrations. diagrams, and took a close-up photo of the inner workings of a vacuum tube.
