Tube rectifiers have high voltage drops with current draw (voltage sag), require filament current, generate heat, are limited in the filter capacitance they can drive, and fail frequently. Alternatives to tube rectifiers are pure solid state or like Weber Copper Caps, tube rectifier-like solid state rectifiers. These are less limited than tubes, use less power, generate less heat, can drive larger filter capacitors, drop less voltage and may last the lifetime of the amplifier. Fat One Replicas use these instead of tube rectifiers to take advantage of these qualities. Fat One Originals use solid state rectifiers to take advantage of the their even better performance.
With guitar amplifiers there is lots of moving and bumping around, and in combos the tubes share the same air as the speaker(s), so there is sometimes a lot of moving air. With most guitar players, you can imagine there is usually a lot...
Some vintage amplifier replica customers like tube rectifiers’ voltage sag so we offer the option of using Weber Copper Caps, or rectifier tubes and wire the amplifier to accept both. We really like that the Weber Copper Caps don't mimic the short life characteristic of tube rectifiers. Owners can always pop in tubes later if they want since we provide filament wiring.
