Nik is truely a great guy.

[Randy Magee]

Whatever the case, I would hate to see Mark leave the forum... he has been extremely helpful to me and provided encouragement when I was having problems with my amp. I'm sure there are others that feel the same.

[MCK]

Whatever the case, I would hate to see Mark leave the forum... he has been extremely helpful to me and provided encouragement when I was having problems with my amp. I'm sure there are others that feel the same.

+1000. Absolutely the same here. Time to delete this thread, have some beer or whatever is your favorite beverage and go on building amps.

[johnnyreece]

Whatever the case, I would hate to see Mark leave the forum... he has been extremely helpful to me and provided encouragement when I was having problems with my amp. I'm sure there are others that feel the same.

Agreed. We should have a "Mark is truly a great guy" thread.

[Reeltarded]

Mark doesn't want us kissing his ass. He know's how we feel about him.. at least I am pretty sure.

If there is something we don't know about.. you know I have moments... so.

[Structo]

I'm at a loss here.

First of all the OP read like a shill for Ceriatone.
We sort of frown on that, no matter what the brand.

Back it up with technical details and a review.

But, it appears some people back peddled on their comments and deleted some things.

I as a moderator did not delete or edit anything in this thread.

And to Mark Fowler, don't get your undies in a twist.

We're all friends here, talk to me man.

[LeftyStrat]

I deleted my own comments. There's enough negativity in the world already, and I don't want to add to it.

[rdjones]

Whatever the case, I would hate to see Mark leave the forum... he has been extremely helpful to me and provided encouragement when I was having problems with my amp. I'm sure there are others that feel the same.

Agreed. We should have a "Mark is truly a great guy" thread.

Mark is much more important to this Forum than any Ceria fanboi.

rd

[rdjones]

For what it's worth I have used Nik's layouts for reference and to help other people so we can see the same thing while we talk more often than not..

I see where Mark could feel snubbed, but Mark I think Andy sees the Dumble thing as the main event. All the Dumble goes down here and Nik does share the psuedoclassic circuit stuff but hides anything he doesn't want us to know where he got it.

"His" amps, ya know... just sayin', and I never really truly considered it til this minute. I never cared much about "those" amps..

Moral, ethical and political correctness aside, Ceria simply publishes too many dumb layout mistakes and risky safety code violations.
They are clearly geared for an area that has very lax codes.

Ceria has pretty much singlehandedly devolved amp building away from the ability to read a proper schematic toward 'layout only'.
Newcomers should be being encouraged to refer to a schematic as much as a layout.

rd

[JazzGuitarGimp]

Newcomers should be being encouraged to refer to a schematic as much as a layout.

rd

Completely agreed. When I look at some of the documented amps in the Dumble Files section, I am just mystified by the absence of schematics. Maybe I am just 'old school', but I cannot imagine building an amp from just the layout. For me, the schematic is the king of documentation.

[johnnyreece]

Mark doesn't want us kissing his ass. He know's how we feel about him.. at least I am pretty sure.

If there is something we don't know about.. you know I have moments... so.

Sure, I just wanted to throw it out there. It is nice to feel appreciated from time to time (as opposed to patronizing; that's not what I was shooting for). I mean, if Nik at Ceriatone (who I've never spoken with, nor really seen on the forum being helpful) gets a shoutout, the person who made 99% of the comments in my build thread (as well as many others) deserves a nod.

As someone who's not a pillar of this community (and, let's face it, probably never will be), it's sad to see someone leave who is. Especially over a thing like this.

[jelle]

Like I mentioned in another thread, I chatted with Mark via Facebook and he just needs a break. After 8000 p osts I can see why. He'll be back.

[vibratoking]

..Newcomers should be being encouraged to refer to a schematic as much as a layout. ...

Amen, PRAISE THE LORD!!! I am amazed at the focus on layout compared to schematic. It is very telling IMO. A while back I started making a schematic of a SSS that was being 'created' via a Visio layout drawing. Not one person mentioned that it was useful. I actually think it was invisible. I was very surprised. Also, the layout became a moving target without any communication of the changes. I got tired of asking about changes and/or hunting and searching for them, so I threw in the towel since no one seemed to care anyway. Somwhere out there is a SSS schematic that is 98% complete. At this point, I hope no one actually bothers to look at it or be deceived.

[johnnyreece]

Like I mentioned in another thread, I chatted with Mark via Facebook and he just needs a break. After 8000 p osts I can see why. He'll be back.

Good news. Thanks!

[mhartman]

Amen, PRAISE THE LORD!!! I am amazed at the focus on layout compared to schematic. It is very telling IMO. A while back I started making a schematic of a SSS that was being 'created' via a Visio layout drawing. Not one person mentioned that it was useful. I actually think it was invisible. I was very surprised. Also, the layout became a moving target without any communication of the changes. I got tired of asking about changes and/or hunting and searching for them, so I threw in the towel since no one seemed to care anyway. Somwhere out there is a SSS schematic that is 98% complete. At this point, I hope no one actually bothers to look at it or be deceived.

Just so you know, I appreciate your schem. I have an iPad full of SSS resources that I found around here (photos, layouts, schems, notes, etc.) that I used to design/build my SSS based amp -- your schem was one of the documents that I went back to often. In fact, I had my PI/CF setup like your schem originally, but ended up changing it the SSS02 version eventually (I had it working after some messing around to get the power tube bias in line). I apologize that I didn't provide any feedback -- I didn't find your document until the thread where you posted it was somewhat old. Thank you for your contribution!

Also, as to Schem vs. Layout -- I find them both useful, especially if they both contain all of the relevant info. If I have a proper layout with all of the voltages, that is just as good as a schem to me (maybe a bit slower, but it still works).

On another note, I don't want to fan any C-Tone flames, but I enjoyed building the 2 C-Tone kits that I built as my first two builds. It was a paint by number experience, but it got me going and gave me the confidence to learn about amps and to experiment (especially because they didn't sound as good as I wanted until I tweaked on them a bit). I'm beyond that phase these days, but it was a good experience for me.

[FUCHSAUDIO]

[/quote] Can't possibly be. That would involve taking Andy serious. [/quote]

Well, since the OP, seems to be a newbee lets cut him some slack.

Those of us who have been here since the beginning days of covered wagons recognize the irony in the statement that Nik's such a swell guy for sharing his documentation. His ?

The point being overlooked here is simply that information was freely available here for years, and information was taken and enjoyed by many. While a majority here were hobbyists, some were (or became) "professionals", myself included. Therein the sticky wicket rests. There was plenty of information that was also given by many of these people like Brandon, Allyn, Shad, Gil Ayan, Scott Lerner, Billy Yates, myself and others.

Unfortunately, for Nik it was (and perhaps remains) a free engineering supermarket, used to build a company. He gave back nothing in return. That's the whole thing in a nutshell.