Thoughts on the small amp trend

[1big1]

i'm a quick post today because i'm off for a couple of days right now and i'm downloading upgrades for my stand alone music computer on dial up. it's sooooo slow. later. my name is dave btw.

 

[Zachman]

it's too bad that hard rockin' bands can't find a gig. they'd be busy around here.
there seems to be another trend of sorts that's just starting in the small clubs. two or three people get together with pretty much minimalist gear and play for the night. these are guys i know who were in hair bands in the 80's. they show up with a small pa.. small trap kit.. guitar maybe bass.. or keys.. and a vocalist. not sure how that's working out for them 'cause i haven't talked to them.. but i've heard some good things. yet another example of a gig where a low wattage amp with a few bells and whistles would work well.

Oh ya, for small clubs, I take a Mesa/Boogie MKIII 1x12 combo (usually), sometimes other stuff.

When BIG tone is on the menu, I'll order that up EVERY time-- w/ a BIG obnoxious Rig.

 

[MOAAH]

MOAAH you can post all your amps here or on Ann if you want. I know a few of us would be interested in what you came up with.

You sure? The last thing I'd wanna be is annoying
After all, seeing how some of the features I offered are still not and likely will not be seen on small(less than 18wts) production amps, it could be a tease.
That said, here is the EL34 amp pictured above, but with it's headshell. With the much taller tube it required a fair bit more space inside, hence the taller cab:

Kinda dig the burgundy, but black goes with my act

I just played the Jet City JCA20H about a hour ago. Pretty cool amp .... amazing for the money.

Yep, I heard it's selling for ~300. There just ain't much to compare it to in that price range. Great amp, and I predict a big future for that company.

Besides what I mentioned above, there were tons of reasons I got out of building amps. Another one was how when I started there was less than 1/2 a dozen other hand builders, and all but one only building bigger stuff. Today there are hundreds of new guys, something tells me some saw what I was doing, and thought, "Gee, if that crazy ass can do it, so can I". What none of them knew and very few would prolly admit to today, it's very hard to make money selling hand made amps.

I never was into it so much for the money, I just wanted to show what could be done. Sadly I made some real derogatory comments about how manufacturers soak you with their prices. One of them was "At Fab Enterprises we declare war on those that would have you pay more". I did not mean the little guy or great companies like THD, but I didn't specify I was talking the big guys like Marshall making shit in China but still charging the same. Soon, pretty much every amp builder out there and even more wannabes had it in for me. It was funny as hell cause I didn't really know how to type but ended up in the interwebs largest flame wars evar, they were absolutely monstrous, like several hundred postings and 100,000 views per day. They were so huge that even the owner of HC was contacting me, seems my flame wars were interfering with the bandwidth of HC! I must say thou, back then the owner was the coolest guy you could imagine, not at all like what they have there now.

Anywho, I doubt there will evar be a Fabamps2, people learned by my mistakes and IT ignorance, and so did I. What hurt the most was the outright BS, like one of my amps burning down in the Tampa Bay GC! Well even thou MF still advertises you can find a Fabamp in their store(No BS, it's in my review section on HC!!!), I've never had an amp in either MF or GC, and after dealing with them at some pretty high levels, I never will. I may sue their ass for using my name thou, I hate people who think they're above the law. Anywho, for a while it was like being back in high school, and even thou a few guys still hate my guts I have no qualms with anyone cause back then:
They were the best of times, they were the worst of times.

Here's one for the EL84 guys. 2watts of triode connected bliss. Tesla tubes, JJ EL caps, Japaneses coupling caps, American faceplate, tube sockets, solder and wire, Canadian trafos; it was like the UN in there

 

[1big1]

i remember that episode from a few years back. it was kinda sad that things went the way they did. but that's over with.. which is probably for the better imho.
having said that.. i wanna bitch about the guys who are making those hard rubber cam locks.

 

[1big1]

stephen. did you play the jet city with the matching cab or no? what does it do well? and could you use it for small club gigs?

 

[MOAAH]

i remember that episode from a few years back. it was kinda sad that things went the way they did. but that's over with.. which is probably for the better imho.

Well some folks will never let it go, but I type a million times better now, so I'm very ready for action. Plus, I have nothing to loose these days cause no one here knows what my focus is in the biz. So now I don't have to hold back, if someone wants to play AH, well I am really the MOAAHs, and luv to show my colors if someone calls me out

But Dave, I was saving a great post for ya when you got back from your downloading upgrades. I'll save it for a bit, but here's a front view of my Scamp, the one amp that could have been massed produced in China, if I didn't hate the idea of production in a communist country:

My partners are in MA, CA and IL, they still all support me if I change my mind about my business focus. But there is far more money(now that I'm into it) to be made elsewhere and with far less hassles; no one is as picky as guitar players
Many Canadians are truly afraid of anything new, including most investors. I guess that's why America is(was?) so great in business, they would take a gamble rather than stick their head in the sand. I know that's also why so many great Canadian IDs end up stateside, which is alright by me, we are all Americans, North Americans.

 

[1big1]

best of luck to you in your new endeavor.. whatever that is? i've learned quite a bit about amps since i've been visiting on-line forums. certainly way more than i knew a few years ago. it's fascinating stuff. i hardly consider myself to be someone who is in a position to pass judgement on people i don't know and products i haven't used. i still have the laymans perspective in a lot ways.. and that's o.k. too. as someone on the consumer end i try to use a product that does what i need it to do. no more.. no less.
i'm a hand. i assemble things for people's entertainment. i move gear on and off decks and load them on trucks. i don't design.. i don't program.. i don't repair something unless it poses a safety issue or someone with more authority than me tells me to do it. that's what i do.
btw.. if you've ever been on a deck with 8,400 pounds of video wall rippling like a flag in a 70 mph straight line wind it really puts things in a rather humbling perspective.

 

[stephen sawall]

stephen. did you play the jet city with the matching cab or no? what does it do well? and could you use it for small club gigs?

Yes it was with the cabinet. It was at GC so I did not go for stage volume, but feel it would be fine for a gig. I did not even try a clean sound ..... It did very good crunch and some higher gain sounds. It was not on par with a lot of expensive stuff, But I would not be afraid to use one at a gig / like a lot of amps. I did only spend about 10/15 minutes with it. I was more interested in the Mesa Electrodyne (sp?).

Like I said for the money it was great.

 

[MOAAH]

best of luck to you in your new endeavor.. whatever that is? i've learned quite a bit about amps since i've been visiting on-line forums. certainly way more than i knew a few years ago. it's fascinating stuff. i hardly consider myself to be someone who is in a position to pass judgement on people i don't know and products i haven't used. i still have the laymans perspective in a lot ways.. and that's o.k. too. as someone on the consumer end i try to use a product that does what i need it to do. no more.. no less.
i'm a hand. i assemble things for people's entertainment. i move gear on and off decks and load them on trucks. i don't design.. i don't program.. i don't repair something unless it poses a safety issue or someone with more authority than me tells me to do it. that's what i do.
btw.. if you've ever been on a deck with 8,400 pounds of video wall rippling like a flag in a 70 mph straight line wind it really puts things in a rather humbling perspective.

Well I could tell ya, but then, ahhh, not just yet. When the timing is right, I have a bad habit of talking about stuff before I'm ready to do it in a big way...
I admit when I first looked at your your pic of your work I thought it was the foundation for a new high rise. Sorry for that.
I've never played for more than a couple hundred folks, and the biggest gig I did sound for was about 5000. So no, 8,400 lbs of video equipment is beyond my comprehension and on the back of a flat deck at 70mph, well maybe if I was 30 years younger
Here's a taste of my last big innovation. It was designed a few years back for a guy doing the 4th of July celebration at the Fox theater in Bolder CO:

It has 3 channels, and a built in 3D stereo adapter.
Nothing else like it, but kinda cool for anyone wanting to play with the differing tones of 6V6, 6L6 and EL34 and have stereo with a differential center channel.

 

[blackba]

"How to know when your thread has been highjacked?" -article in the next cork sniffer magazine.

 

[1big1]

thanks for your reply stephen. the only clips that i've heard of that amp so far were the vids that olaf posted a few weeks back.. and we all know how he likes to mod things! plus he was using a 2x12 vin 30 loaded cab i believe. i'll have add that to my list of small amps to check out.

MOAAH. the guy who was crew chief on that build quit a few months later. one too many narrow escapes with calamity were enough for him.

 

[1big1]

"How to know when your thread has been highjacked?" -article in the next cork sniffer magazine.

i'm TRYING to stay on topic!

 

[MOAAH]

"How to know when your thread has been highjacked?" -article in the next cork sniffer magazine.

Once you've posted a thread it belongs to the BB and/or the public.
Anywho, I thought the thread was pretty much dead before I jumped in
Cork sniffer magazine? Where do I get a subscription?
I may also have some good IDs for articles in a rag like that

 

[Zachman]

"How to know when your thread has been highjacked?" -article in the next cork sniffer magazine.

Once you've posted a thread it belongs to the BB and/or the public.
Anywho, I thought the thread was pretty much dead before I jumped in
Cork sniffer magazine? Where do I get a subscription?
I may also have some good IDs for articles in a rag like that

 

[MOAAH]

"How to know when your thread has been highjacked?" -article in the next cork sniffer magazine.

i'm TRYING to stay on topic!

Sorry, blame it on me.
I'm a bad influence even at the best of times

 

[moltenmetalburn]

Hey Moaah have you ever built any stand alone tiny power amps?

All I see on the market are complete amps. I can't find a tiny tube power amp for guitar.

I have always wanted a 1 to 5 watt power amp. i think they would sell like hotcakes.

you could use them with your preamp, distortion pedal, pod, OR fx loop send from your big amp.

they could be made pretty small a stereo one or two of them could serve as the wet in a W/D/W etc..

wondering if you might have any schematic or ideas to share regarding this. I know it can be done and not too expensively. I love the push pull poweramp idea from the 12ax7 or 12at7.

 

[MOAAH]

Hey Moaah have you ever built any stand alone tiny power amps?

Sure have, AFAIK I was the only one to offer stand alone poweramps and hand made rackmounts...
This one was rackmount stereo 2xSE EL84

This is what it looked like with it's matching preamp, my fav 2 channel Ampeg SVT and Bogner XTC

and this one was stereo 2x SE 6V6

That big trafo inside is actually a choke.

If you want a schematic, they are mostly on my HD and not posted on line, so send me your Email in a PM and exactly what you want and I'll mail one to you. If I don't have what you want exactly, I'll design one for you to look at.

 

[blackba]

"How to know when your thread has been highjacked?" -article in the next cork sniffer magazine.

Once you've posted a thread it belongs to the BB and/or the public.
Anywho, I thought the thread was pretty much dead before I jumped in
Cork sniffer magazine? Where do I get a subscription?
I may also have some good IDs for articles in a rag like that

I was just joking around man. Thanks to Zachman for posting the link, love that cover

 

[MOAAH]

"How to know when your thread has been highjacked?" -article in the next cork sniffer magazine.

Once you've posted a thread it belongs to the BB and/or the public.
Anywho, I thought the thread was pretty much dead before I jumped in
Cork sniffer magazine? Where do I get a subscription?
I may also have some good IDs for articles in a rag like that

I was just joking around man. Thanks to Zachman for posting the link, love that cover

I know, sorry I should have put more smileys in!
Here's a few

 

[MOAAH]

I can't find a tiny tube power amp for guitar.

Haha, grew impatient waiting for your return Emial so I dug out me scanner and here ya go:

Can't get any smaller than that.
You'll have to play with the plate and cathode Rs on the first stage.
i.e., 18 to 22K and the 330 to 680R
But you can't get any simpler either.
1x 12au7 should give you close to half a watt.
If you want to shape the tone a bit or get a bit more gain tie a cap across the K R of the first stage. Up to .2 is OK, but lower maybe better for guitar.
Caps shown should be at least 300v, but higher is better if you have room.
All Rs use 1/4 watt except on the K for the PA, I'd use 2wt there to be cool.

So can you put together your own power supply?
This things so small you might wanna reverse connect 2 12v trafos at 800ma and tap into the middle for your heaters.

I love the push pull poweramp idea from the 12ax7 or 12at7.

I don't build PP amps less than 18 watts, it's a waste IMO. All my low powered stuff was SE, except briefly I made a triode connected PP EL84 amp for about 5wts.