Hi all... I've been a long time contributor to the MEF, but this is my first post here, and I've been thinking about this subject a lot lately.
You can copy the transfer function of a tube as closely as you like, with circuits of ever increasing complexity, but what I'm wondering is: How close does it really need to be?
It seems to me that all a "tube simulator" needs is a gradual, soft clipping characteristic that starts with low-order harmonics, moving to higher-order as you push it harder. It shouldn't hang up from saturation effects, and it should draw "grid current" so that you can have duty cycle modulation.
I don't think any finer level of detail than that really matters. It might change the "flavour" of the tone a little, but it won't make the difference between caviar and cr@p.
Thoughts?
Hi Steve,, Hold onto that thought,, as it's a faily good grasp of reality.

Yep it's all just so over rated.
I've spent years building my own gear and quite fankly it's more smoke and mirrors than fact.
There are just so many viariables that it becomes damn near impossible to even establish what
even constitues a good amp Sound/Tone in the first place.
Whether you build with Glass or Sand if you are chasing exact Sound /Tone /Dynamics then there is a lot you need to know about how circuits work to extract the effect you want.
IMHO, whether it's Valves or Transistors
Tone shaping all the way through the circuits becomes super critical if you want stunning results.
This includes Pup's and speakers as well.
Having built some reasonably complex circuits systems even a soaked tubepoweramp running back to line and reamped via a SS poweramp.
It's a toss up between my very simple SS setup and the vastly complex tube hybrid setup.
When asked which one sounds better. I use both depending on how much gear I wish to carry to a gig.
If you are interested my old school analogg SS system is here;
http://www.ssguitar.com/index.php?topic=1446.0The demand now is for every possible sound all in one neat box but it's all just gimik stuff
if you happen to be a *Real Working Guitar player* you end up realising you only need 2 maybe 3 basic tones/sounds and the rest is how good you can play.
What may sound stunning in the gararge at home may fall well short when used live at a venue.
Half the time my fellow musicians don't know if I'm playing through valves of SS gear.
In a Live stage gig very few in the audience would even know.
You asked for thought's on the subject well that's mine.
BTW, What's *MEF* stand for?
Cheers, Phil.