Amplifying Materials: Tubes, Transistors, and Transduction

Description

In his foundational study of sound reproduction, The Audible Past, Jonathan Sterne stresses the importance of transducers, devices that ‘turn sound into something else and that something else back into sound’ (p. 22). Transduction is also essential to the history and development of amplification technologies; and much of the work of transduction, in turn, has depended on the successive technologies of the thermionic valve, or vacuum tube, and the transistor. One could well divide the entire history of amplification technologies along the lines of ‘tube’ and ‘transistor’, and yet this history has been far from linear. Especially in the sphere of electric instrument amplification, tubes were not strictly replaced by transistors. Rather the divide between tube and solid state amps has remained fundamental and an ongoing point of distinction and discrimination, with the sound of tube amps often cast as most desirable in its perceived ‘warmth’ and ‘fullness’ relative to its solid state counterpart. Drawing upon patent documents, print and visual representations of amplifier technology, and original interviews with amp technicians and musicians – including Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine – this presentation aims to historicize the tube/solid state divide. I will first explore the different material dimensions of these two core amplifying materials, and second, will examine how the distinction between tube and solid state technologies can shed light on broader processes of defining musical value through what Fink, Latour and Wallmark have called ‘the relentless pursuit of tone’.

Period	4 Feb 2026
Event title	Research Colloquia in Music
Event type	Seminar
Location	Glasgow, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	National