I've posted in the past about why I prefer hand wired amps to circuit board amps. I find that hand wired amps are a little more 3D, and a little sweeter. While not everyone hears it, many players do. Despite the argument often made that hand wired amp fans are making this stuff up to fulfill some kind of nostalgia or snobbery, read and watch a little further into this post, and one might reach a different conclusion.
Caveat: 'Prefer' doesn't mean I dislike circuit board amps - in fact, I'm a fan of many of them, and there are circuit board amps I'd buy and have bought without a second thought.
However, my experience with hand wired amps over nearly a half century has led to a preference for hand wiring, and my PRS CAD amps are proof of the pudding. So were my Two-Rocks, vintage Fender, etc.
The other day I heard a very nice Blackface sounding amp, made by Tone King, a Mark II version of their Imperial. And I thought, "Hmmm...that's pretty darn nice." I remembered hearing the amp in its original version and not being all that impressed by it. So I made a mental note to check them out.
Last night I went to the Tone King website to scour up info. I found that they changed the circuitry on their Mark II by hand wiring the boards. There were links to some demos, and those demos linked me to this YouTube video, where designer Mark Bartel, for 20 years a builder of circuit board amps, tells the interviewer:
"With the hand wired construction, you just get a little more depth and a little more dimension to it...with the hand wiring it hangs with you a little more, if you lay back, it lays back with you, and if you push ahead, it pushes ahead with you, and it's just got a little more organic quality." Fast forward to about 1:49 for the quote.
That video was linked to more videos which led to this interview of Randall Smith of Mesa, talking about how the placement of components and wires makes a difference in the sound of the amp. While he prefers circuit board amps for consistency, something that is very important to him, he says this:
"I don't want to trash point to point, if you're only going to build one or two or something, it's the way to do it." Fast forward to about 10:10.
I'm pretty sure his dig about building one or two amps was exaggeration, but the point is that the man known for designing and advocating circuit board amps essentially agrees that hand wiring an amp is a way to reach a different result.
Now, to equate "different" with "better" is not something I'm advocating. Quite the opposite. Personal preferences in instruments are valid no matter what and better for me is not necessarily better for you. That's why I use the word, 'different.'
My preference is not a religion. And circuit board amps do have the advantage of a lower price and great consistency. Some designs, like a Mark V, don't even lend themselves to hand wiring, they'd be too complex and prohibitively expensive. So I'm not saying that everyone who has a circuit board amp should ditch it and run out and buy hand wired. Enjoy what you have!
What I AM saying is that it's a good idea to try the hand wired amp, or the hand wired version of an amp, and see if you like it what it does for your playing and tone.
One last thought to leave you with:
In the 60s and early 70s (that's as far back as I go with amps and such), we'd line a bunch of amps up, try them out, and pick the one we thought sounded best, because they were all a tiny bit different. It was like picking the right guitar out. You'd run the racks, find one or two that stood out, and A/B them over and over, maybe come back a day or two later, and you'd finally settle on one that you thought was the best of the bunch. It would be uniquely yours, and it would be just a little different from everyone else's.
Since we all interpret sound slightly differently, and since many of us want to achieve a unique tone, I'm not sure that a little but of inconsistency is necessarily a bad thing!
Caveat: 'Prefer' doesn't mean I dislike circuit board amps - in fact, I'm a fan of many of them, and there are circuit board amps I'd buy and have bought without a second thought.
However, my experience with hand wired amps over nearly a half century has led to a preference for hand wiring, and my PRS CAD amps are proof of the pudding. So were my Two-Rocks, vintage Fender, etc.
The other day I heard a very nice Blackface sounding amp, made by Tone King, a Mark II version of their Imperial. And I thought, "Hmmm...that's pretty darn nice." I remembered hearing the amp in its original version and not being all that impressed by it. So I made a mental note to check them out.
Last night I went to the Tone King website to scour up info. I found that they changed the circuitry on their Mark II by hand wiring the boards. There were links to some demos, and those demos linked me to this YouTube video, where designer Mark Bartel, for 20 years a builder of circuit board amps, tells the interviewer:
"With the hand wired construction, you just get a little more depth and a little more dimension to it...with the hand wiring it hangs with you a little more, if you lay back, it lays back with you, and if you push ahead, it pushes ahead with you, and it's just got a little more organic quality." Fast forward to about 1:49 for the quote.
That video was linked to more videos which led to this interview of Randall Smith of Mesa, talking about how the placement of components and wires makes a difference in the sound of the amp. While he prefers circuit board amps for consistency, something that is very important to him, he says this:
"I don't want to trash point to point, if you're only going to build one or two or something, it's the way to do it." Fast forward to about 10:10.
I'm pretty sure his dig about building one or two amps was exaggeration, but the point is that the man known for designing and advocating circuit board amps essentially agrees that hand wiring an amp is a way to reach a different result.
Now, to equate "different" with "better" is not something I'm advocating. Quite the opposite. Personal preferences in instruments are valid no matter what and better for me is not necessarily better for you. That's why I use the word, 'different.'
My preference is not a religion. And circuit board amps do have the advantage of a lower price and great consistency. Some designs, like a Mark V, don't even lend themselves to hand wiring, they'd be too complex and prohibitively expensive. So I'm not saying that everyone who has a circuit board amp should ditch it and run out and buy hand wired. Enjoy what you have!
What I AM saying is that it's a good idea to try the hand wired amp, or the hand wired version of an amp, and see if you like it what it does for your playing and tone.
One last thought to leave you with:
In the 60s and early 70s (that's as far back as I go with amps and such), we'd line a bunch of amps up, try them out, and pick the one we thought sounded best, because they were all a tiny bit different. It was like picking the right guitar out. You'd run the racks, find one or two that stood out, and A/B them over and over, maybe come back a day or two later, and you'd finally settle on one that you thought was the best of the bunch. It would be uniquely yours, and it would be just a little different from everyone else's.
Since we all interpret sound slightly differently, and since many of us want to achieve a unique tone, I'm not sure that a little but of inconsistency is necessarily a bad thing!
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