My apologies. Appears I was typing my answer when you added your edit and I didn't see your edit. In fact, when I read your reply I was wondering why the anger? So I started at the beginning. Then realized I missed your edit with the ripple study. Very interesting post and thanks for sharing it. My apologies for responding with the general off-the-shelf reply. I’ve become guarded and stand-offish when commenting on reddit. In fact, you referred to r/guitar – perfect example. My stock reply is a result of running up against unpleasant experiences like those on r/guitar (as you pointed out) that turned out to be flamers, trolls or whatever just looking for a web fight or other sociopathic reasons. A few years back I was on r/guitar seeing a lot of disturbing "discussions" about modding amps, and a red light went off in my head because of some of the abortions I used to see brought in my shop by guitarists who attempted mods. Background. I used to have an humble electronics repair shop I invested in with funds I got after separating from the Air Force. I had my dream job - I was self-employed repairing music gear. Unfortunately, I was forced into chapter 13, largely because Mesa, Carvin, Peavey and occasionally Fender and some boutique models screwed me on reimbursements for warranty work (and some policy changes - Mesa being the hardest hit on me). However, I made very little money in non-warranty repairs and that killed me. Anyway, I guess all that was on my chest as I read these mods and it compelled me to write a lengthy sort of expose’ piece on advising guitarists against modding, and listed about 18 common things to do and not do as a tube amp owner - including controversial topics like, “modding,” "recapping" and "re-tubing" the last 2 as a scam to fleece consumers. I even posted reasonable comments like: "...if you really must mod your amp, take it in to reputable tech and get a 2nd opinion." I posted it feeling pretty good about myself, thinking, "Man, everyone will appreciate my effort to save them money and heartache." Holy shit was I laughably wrong as hell! I got whipped, beaten, tarred and feathered and sent out on a rail. I was dumbfounded. That was before I understood how the hive mind worked. However, I never made that mistake again. So, now I try and keep comments short. So, full confession for you as to why I came off avoidant, and apologies for causing hard feelings. We're both on the same page technically. I didn’t mean to convey that ripple reduces sag. I said, “…tube rectifier with near-zero ripple” as apposed to “completely zero.” I’m thinking I’m talking to an EEE student. Coming from a very schooled background, we are taught that PS’s should be isolated and absolutely stable – including current and voltage detection to avoid even minute ripples, spikes or surges (forward or reverse) so as to accommodate sensitive microprocessing components. (I got the same type education.) However, guitar amp theory flies in the face of modern conventional electronic theory (which makes it so cool). Even the history behind the 5F6-A is fascinating. The reason Leo Fender chose the 6L6 was because of the consensus of its being the cleanest tube of its time – even challenging pentode circuits of the day, and its popular beam tetrode characteristics were not even fully understood. It’s almost as if Leo’s amps alone proved the cleanliness of the beam tetrode. However, rock music came and with it a desire for something incomprehensible for the 60s – something referred to as “desirable distortion.” And, it was far more than “clipping.” It was proven that there was much more to this desirable distortion, because solid state circuits could clip, but sounded terrible. Something else was going on and Jim Marshall stumbled onto it because beam tetrodes were hard to get in the UK. So, Jim used pentodes in the almost-same 5F6 circuit layout. Jim produced that thing Pete Townsend wanted – desirable distortion. To this day I still love the notion that there were 2 words electronics engineers never expected to use together “desirable distortion.” So, a tube amp has a certain poetic dynamic in its design. It must be precisely imperfect to create desirable distortion. My personal take is that it starts with the power supply – a solid foundation that behaves predictably, yet outside the parameters of what we normally regard as absolute stable. Rock n’ Roll needs wiggle room to get dirty. My 2 cents.