Posted by stratopunk on March 21, 1999 at 14:54:26:
In Reply to: Re: pignose 40w posted by Marc O'Hara on February 08, 1999 at 23:15:59:
Hey Kids!
Printed Circuit boards have gotten a bad rap, (some deserved, some not) since the 60s in the guitar amp industry. Some amp purists insist that the best amps use point to point wiring, not PC boards. There is no denying an old blackface Fender (hand wired) is very reliable and sought after. The amps that used early PCBs were not as reliable for several reasons.
1st, the commercial PCB industry was new back then, fairly crude but getting better all the time. Circuit boards are everywhere and very reliable.
2nd, Solid state amps were the ones using circuit boards. They were state of the art at the time but as everyone knows, tubes have the best sound. (Incidently, solid state amps have come a long, long way too!)
3rd, Hand wiring is labor intensive thus expensive. It lent itself more to tube amps (and still does) simply because tube amp components are HUGE! Transformers, tube sockets, large caps, etc. we're also dealing hign voltage, etc. When PCBs became widely available, there was no compelling reasons for tube amp companies to use this labor saving method unless of course, they went to solid state. Some did and lived to regret it. Like VOX for instance. They practically went out of business... but what is their flagship now? AC_30 the same amp that put them on the map in the 1st place. I believe the reissue has, yes, a circuit board! as do most Fender Tube reissues( that I'm sure). Coincidence? Why now?
4th What am I saying? PCB amps got a bad rap because they were not more reliable than their handwired counterparts WHEN 1ST INTRODUCED. Why? because the PCB industry was as new and unrefined as the solid state industry was.
5th Why am I so anal? Because I am a Printed Circuit Board Designer with 20 years experience (also a guitarist). If point to point wiring were still the ultimate in reliability or other some other design critera, then NASA, my employer, would not be regularly sending PCBs into space. Some of my work will reach Saturn in 2011.
Cheers!
SVN