Hand Wired Amps: Convincing myself

There are several trends which are very hot right now in the Guitar amp world(much different than the bass amp world, believe me).  The big names are scrambling to make cost effective versions of both of these trends.  One of the trends is the "lunch box" tube amp.  Lunch box amps are very small compared to what people think of when they think of tube amps.  They are also low wattage designs meant to sound like their big brothers at much lower volumes.  People realized you do not need 100 watts... like ever, unless you're pro-touring venues without PA support.  This is not the trend this post is about. (pictured: a lunch box amp compared to its big brother, with almost 50 pounds weight difference)

Hand wired is another trend.  It has been around longer, though a lot of it was due to boutique snobbery.  A lot players rejected it because it is SO cost prohibitive.  Nowadays  though, with the realization that you can live fine with sub-30 watt guitar amps, some more cost effective hand wired amps are coming to market, putting in reach of people that are reasonable, and not gear-snobs themselves.  Let's start with the easiest way to explain what they are; Visually.

That is a printed circuit board, a marvel of 20th century tech.  It is clean, easily mass produced, and works really well.  Its the familiar green board you see on almost all electronics these days, from the cheap 2 dollar radio to the expensive $1000 smart phone.  What could possibly suck about it?  As you can see, those components are TINY.  Also, they are linked by the printed circuits.  If something burns out, you have a risk of it burning parts of the board out, severing more connections and generally making a mess of things.  Also, you need someone familiar with the workings of circuit boards to get any repairs done, and that's a more rare kind of specialist.  Many times you scrap the whole board and start over with a fresh new one, which is not cheap compared to how cheap the manufacture cost is.

That is a hand wired 18 watt Marshall clone.  Look at it for a bit.  Notice how things are connected with mostly wires and how things are larger, and you can tell individual parts from one another.  The cost to manufacture this sort of hardware is at the higher end of amp manufacturing spectrums.  You need someone that knows what they are doing, and they have to do each piece by hand.  The benefit to consumers is that you do not need a degree in electrical engineering to work on them.  This is hobby level stuff and there are many "do it yourself" home kits for these kinds of amps.  Many vacuum cleaner repairment would know enough about electrical work to be able to work on these amps.

That is the benefit that is starting to convince me that I may want to go this route.  I despise having to send something in for repair work.  I hate negotiating prices, I hate the moving target that is an estimate, and I hate that I can't really tell the quality of the workmanship.  Hand wired amps allow for all of that to be in the open.  Whatever they use to fix the thing can be readily bought online, and easily price matched.  Its the same components that go into anything electronic of this type.  Also, it is not inconceivable that I would be able to do the repair work myself eventually.

The reality check is that its not 100% positives.

While Hand Wired is said to be more reliable, what they mean is that an amp tech can have it repaired and fixed faster.  If you're going to be moving around with the amp, chances are a PCB amp will be more reliable due to literally less wiring.  Hand wired amps are typically heavier too, while being less complex.  You can get certain bells and whistles added that more "modern" designs have, but it will cost you.  Cost is another one.  For what is "basic" in today's amp world, you will be paying over $1000, and that's just a head; no speakers.  I have gotten used to digital reverb in my amp head.  I could use a pedal, sure, but that means I would want an effects loop now too.  Those are all cost added luxuries to hand wired amps.

I can see why people like hand wired amps, and I can also see why they are way more expensive.  In the end though, since I'm not keen on owning a million different amplifiers, I think I need something a bit more modern.  Its just a bonus that means it also comes out cheaper.  I may be spoiled, but I want my emulated lines out, I want my built in digital reverb, and an effects loop is almost mandatory.  I have never been one for being a "60's cave man".  On the bass side of things I tend to stay top of tech in the class.  The guitarist of me has given in to the fact that I need tubes, but the bassist in me won't let me give up what I'm used to.

A Funky Family Tree and day 47

Oh hey, that amp is in Rocksmith.

Oh neat.  That looks kinda similar.

Wait, that one looks like way similar.

Ok.  I see a pattern here.

Hey! That one looks differen.... oh wait.  No it doesn't, they just use sliders on the top.

So what is going on here?  Well, what we have here is the legacy of a man named Russ Allee.  Mr. Allee helped create one of the first "serious" solid state amps that were meant to replace tube amps with bass.  You see, a very long time ago an obscure bass player by the name of Paul McCartney plugged directly into a recording console and made this beautifully clear bass tone.  His band, called The Beatles, became huge and people loved this tone, and so extremely tight and clean tone became acceptable for bass.

The Acoustic series of amps came along and were adopted by a couple of famous bassists, namely Jaco Pastorious, that wanted that clean "direct into the console" sound in a live setting.  Russ Allee designed the pre-amp section that you see comes down to us through time in other amp designs.  They are all connected to him.  Russ worked with Steve Rabe to create the AMP420.  Steve Rabe later started the company SWR and designed the SWR SM-400.   He added to and changed the design by incorporating tubes.  Steve wanted to do some new cabinets, ones that would take advantage of the new super precise solid state amps, so he hired David Nordschow to help him design them.  Nordschow later went on to create Eden amps(the first amp listed up there).  The Eden World Tour camps were their second set of designs, which he had consultation with... Mr. Russ Allee.  Eden took the original designs of Allee, but added the newer parts that SWR had, namely tubes in the pre-amp.

Well what about the Gibson and the Thunderfunk?  Well AMP was bought by Gibson, and with its design Gibson made the GB440 that is pictured up there.  This, however, was not a long lived line, they boxed up all the old backstock and parts and put them in a ware house where a man named David Funk bought the building and the rights to everything in the building.  He would be surprised to find all these parts to amps, and being an amp expert himself, decided to put them together and sell them.  He changed and improved the components and created the Thunderfunk.

Thanks to Ivan Mike and various other Talkbass alumni for schooling me in the pedigree of my favorite amp.

Day 47

It is a funny thing.  Somehow if I'm playing metal, I can be responsible with the volume.  I know I miss the "feel" of the deep bass during a palm mute, but I know I'm still doing them.  Blues, well that's pretty simple to do quietly, lowering the volume on my amp actually helps me get a less driven sound.  Crunch tones are no so dependent on volume, the whole point of the solid state pre-amp section of my Marshall was to make sure you can get lots of crunch at bedroom levels.  I should not have to care about volume for Crunch. I tune in the ACDC crunch though, and I can't help but crank the volume up.  I guess its the 10 year old that always wanted to play Highway to Hell in me or something.

We're getting to the home stretch now aren't we?  That day 60 is creeping up.  I can also see reader fatigue, I can tell how many views and all that.  It has lasted longer than I thought.  I am lucky in that I knew from the start that this blog was done for me.  So even if my views go to zero, I still will continue this because it keeps me responsible, it keeps me playing, and it keeps me writing.  Still, I hope someone out there reads my little history of the tech blogs and my guitar profiles and maybe finds something interesting in all of this for themselves.

I have so many plans for after Day 60 that I feel like I am losing out on the "now".  I do have a sort of creeping thought that maybe I'm not utilizing Rocksmith as much as should, but I have to remind myself that it is a tool, and it is not like I'm stagnant.  I'm still using Rocksmith every day.  Jam sessions are a must for me to keep interest.  I play around with the tone designer, trying to match tones to songs that aren't in the game.  Guitarcade, come on, that stuff is fun even if you're not learning guitar.  I guess I'm just hoping for that next "breakthrough" to happen.  I understand that those "breakthroughs" come slower and farther in between as time goes by, but I guess I'm just an optimist... which isn't really a descriptor of me usually, but yea.