A better amp Prototyping platform

[Ron Worley]

Austin-

Start by researching how old school computer manufacturers did things- I remember working on a DEC PDP-11 (I AM old) that had a cool rack structure... There were also some very straight forward prototyping rack systems available (and presumably still are) that would give you some food for thought.....

Again, also look at what the avionics and Mil Spec worlds are doing- they have bullet proof racks that lock the cards, and their connectors use edge connector not only for data buses and low voltage signals- Power supply voltages, coax signals, etc have bid discrete connectors that are part of the design. Google "ARINC 600" and you will see what overkill looks like!

Ron

[Jana]

I'm not afraid of connectors, I use a lot of them in my amps... input/output jacks, tube sockets, pots (yes, they are connectors of a sort, the wiper connects to a point on the resistance trace), power/standby/impedance switches.

But when you say, "A better amp platform," that is bound to ruffle some feathers. An alternative yes, but better? I don't think so. A lot of amps built today use connectors/ribbon cables, etc. in the internals. It speeds up manufacturing, reduces costs. But better? From the accountants perspective, yes.

Some people like the Cyber Twin and the ability to reconfigure the amp as just about any fender amp ever made and then some. Midi ports, effects programming, enough features to satisfy even the most hardcore techie. A decent amp for what it was meant to do and the target audience. Same goes for the plethora of other reconfigurable/modeling amps.

But remember the forum you are on. Did you not expect that there would be some resistance to the claim that this is a better amp platform? You are blaming us for not jumping up and down with joy because of the idea. Maybe you need to be clearer about just what it is that this idea is supposed to accomplish and the advantages of it.

Tell me, how is this better than the amps that I handwire?

[austinb]

Thanks Jana
I didn't think about that aspect. I changed the subject line.

[chromaticdeth87]

um let's see, I don't have thousands and thousands to spend on R&D for a new amp. A virtual and hardware based "breadboard" system would really solve alot of problems not only for homebrewers, but major manufacturers. What makes this idea better than your handwired amps, uh, because they are YOUR handwired amps, that's apples to watermelons in my opinion. I don't want someone's amp, I don't want another marshall/fender/vox/soldano I want an amp design that I can play around with all day long and still not have to have someone else build it for me. The connectors in my opinion are the analytical approach to the situation at hand, the more esoteric response is that this is a great idea because you could use any number of methods to achieve, it's more a case of what is the most economically feasible and most accessible for amateurs. It's just like some one prototyping a car, not everyone wants a name brand one, so If I create a virtual or even barebones model of one in reality then I'm halfway to building and creating my own. It is not that I don't appreciate hardwork and handwiring, but I see no need to do it when it's about to be 2009 and tube amps have been around since the 40's and we still haven't found a better method then plug, solder, listen, desolder, plug, on and on and on and on for prototyping. It's just like google is making chrome open source, well it's time that amps got more "open source" it's time to let creative minds and hands work in a less tedious and stressful manner in the world of tube amps. It's a natural instinct to resist change, but it's really past due for a development like this.

I'm not afraid of connectors, I use a lot of them in my amps... input/output jacks, tube sockets, pots (yes, they are connectors of a sort, the wiper connects to a point on the resistance trace), power/standby/impedance switches.

But when you say, "A better amp platform," that is bound to ruffle some feathers. An alternative yes, but better? I don't think so. A lot of amps built today use connectors/ribbon cables, etc. in the internals. It speeds up manufacturing, reduces costs. But better? From the accountants perspective, yes.

Some people like the Cyber Twin and the ability to reconfigure the amp as just about any fender amp ever made and then some. Midi ports, effects programming, enough features to satisfy even the most hardcore techie. A decent amp for what it was meant to do and the target audience. Same goes for the plethora of other reconfigurable/modeling amps.

But remember the forum you are on. Did you not expect that there would be some resistance to the claim that this is a better amp platform? You are blaming us for not jumping up and down with joy because of the idea. Maybe you need to be clearer about just what it is that this idea is supposed to accomplish and the advantages of it.

Tell me, how is this better than the amps that I handwire?

[Structo]

ok ok ok

Hitting the submit button over and over doesn't make it post faster.
It just creates multiple posts.

[Jana]

I only needed to read it once.

Personally I LIKE my handwired, single channel amps. Pure signal path, minimum wire lengths, components chosen carefully, parts laid out for maximum tone/minimum noise. Each amp sculpted with a definite character in mind. I really don't care if my amp is not what you want. I really don't care if the music world devolves to a plug and play guitar hero scenario.

I suppose because my formal education is in the arts and humanities, not engineering, I don't see the process of building an amp as a series of discreet, finite calculations to be carried out. I don't look at a "Red Canna" and wonder how to model that, reproduce it on shiny calendars. Instead, I wonder about the spiritual energies that O'Keeffe was trying to convey.

I do art, not science. Sometimes science is used in the creation of art, but not at the expense of art.

Do what you will, I don't care.

[chromaticdeth87]

sorry for the triple post server got me. not intended to say that three times, and I'm not here to make enemies. Jana I agree with you really simplicity is best, and believe me I HATE GUITAR HERO, it's like tony hawk's pro skater made everyone believe they could skateboard, not true. I am a jazzcore/ experimental player and I hate top forty radio crap, but this has nothing to do with it. The cyber twin is shitty, and so is line 6's stuff, but I implore you look at the new revalver mkIII, really it's free to try and there is no usb key to mess around with, but spend one hour tweaking their vox model and play around with the transformers and tubes and even the mu's inside the tube, it's amazing and it actually changes how the amp sounds inside the software, I love it, and I know what a real vox sounds like, and whilst not as alive revalver nails it. Technology is getting better every year, and more and more people can jump onto making tube amps. I don't care about modeling and I wasn't saying I didn't like your amps it's really just that more people should be able to design and play their own, and on the art spectrum why would you just use a mass produced paintbrush made out of synthetic plastic bristles, when you could create your own whatever size, shape, length, bristle number, and material? That's all I'm saying, an amp won't make you an artist, an amp can't make you sound like jimi hendrix or EVH, only practice and hardwork, and love. It's like the Derek Ferwerda stuff being posted, don't seek to imitate, seek to find the sound in your head. Jana even you can agree that if you are prototyping a one channel head, wouldn't the means to play around with voltages, resistors, caps, and transformers without having to go and buy, or even risking frying some of the components, virtually in an endless configurable environment be advantageous?

[Jana]

I do design and play my own, have been since 1981.

It's that sound in my head that I have been chasing for decades that has driven me to create a single channel amp that does it all, from butt spanking country clean to ZZ Top, all controllable from the volume knob on a guitar. That has been my goal for a long time and I achieved it. I don't know that I would have gotten there if it hadn't been for all the screw ups along the way. It is those experiences that taught me what I needed to know to get to the next level.

If the revalver does all those things, then, well, doesn't that already achieve what the original poster seeks to do (before we hijacked the thread and went off on our own tangent)?


It's nice to hear that others have that "sound in their head." Lol, I thought it was my medication needing adjustment.