separks wrote:The Eiclone is one of my two major focuses for 2010 (a phono stage is the other). One tendril of the Ike will be re-tooling a design using the Rev A boards and probably 1625s. The other tendril is a bit unfocused, though Ikezillas remain a possibility. What do the guitar amp guys want?
It sounds like a lot of guys have good and more informed opinions here that I have. So, take the rest of what I have to say about guitar amps with a grain of salt. ; )
First, I don't play guitar - I have a few friends that do; they're in a band together; somewhere along the line I became their sound guy.
3 or 4 of the guys in the band have heavy metal backgrounds. The guitar player used 100w Marshall heads through one or two 4x12 cabinets and the bass player used an Ampeg SVT Pro with six 10s for their early part of their career. Now that they're older family guys - they're finally learning to play with the volume set lower than 11.
The (much younger) lead singer/rhythm guitarist is playing through a Mesa Boogie Lonestar Special 12" combo - he loves that thing. The lead guitarist played his first gig through a Fender Tweed Deluxe last weekend and he was actually OK with it.
The bass player tried using some 20-pound 15" digital amp thing - it had plenty of volume but sounded flimsy, so he's not buying into the 'less is more' concept just yet.
So where could Ike fit into this? Here are a few thoughts...
- A nice 15-35w all octal all tube amp
- Generally setup to be a head (using a stock sized Hammond or similar chassis)...but someone could certainly make it a combo if they wanted to.
- It's REALLY nice, as a sound guy, when the guitar players have a Lead Boost foot switch. Incorporating that would be amazing. Have a rhythm gain and a lead gain...it could be as easy as toggling the same input signal through two different attenuators or it could be as complex as having an additional gain stage to get more distortion. I really don't know how Lead Boosts are normally integrated, but certainly someone here does.
- In addition to a Rhythm and Lead gain, then have a master volume...duhh, right?
- Taps for a tone section would be great. No need to incorporate them on the board, but just have traces on the board to a screw terminal pad that allows the builder to insert a passive tone stack...easy-peasy (says the guy that is not designing anything.) ; )
Now here's some pie-in-the-sky stuff that would be awesome, but perhaps way outside of the reach of this project...
- Multiple power settings (like the previously mentioned Lonestar Special). If the amp had a high and low power setting, like 15w/30w or 20w/40w, that'd be awesome. Take a pair of P-P power tubes out of the circuit and have the remaining two do the work. But, I assume that would require a multi-tap transformer and a lot of messy signal and HT switching.
- Diode or tube (Weber Copper Caps??) rectification selection
- Input tap for spring reverb tank..?
- The ability to build a bass or guitar amp from the same board with different components...even crazier -> same amp that's switchable between bass and guitar. Ok, that might be impractically hard and not very valuable...
- Hi-Z or Line level output...
So there's a laundry list of things that would be really neat in a mini-head. After writing that all out, it seems like the amp I've proposed has far too little in common with Ike for that to be a realistic starting place. This may also include features that are too boutique or specific for things a sound guy - not a guitar player - want in an amp.
As for the phono-amp PCB: I'll buy one.
Drew