A NEW TYPE OF TUBE GUITAR AMPLIFIER

just discovered this, wanted to know if anybody knew anything about it.....




A NEW TYPE OF TUBE GUITAR AMPLIFIER

(my apologies if this has been covered before)

GAGA-50-- Advantages: All-tube, 5 pounds, 50 watts


lighter and smaller than typical tube amps & lighter than comparably powered transistorized amps

no audio output transformer or its limitations and distortions

freedom to use any number or combination of octal output tubes

widely adjustable output tube distortion vs output volume level

immediate recovery from overdrive; touch-responsive output tube distortion

drives any load and sustains dead shorts or total disconnects at full power

automatic bias and automatic idle / standby of any number or combination of output tubes

lower operating temperature, greatly extended tube lifetimes (expected)

increased reliability and stability, improved amplitude and phase accuracy

more perfect coupling of output tubes to speaker (i.e., no parasitics or saturation)

more tube-like operation of output tubes (i.e., lower current, higher impedance)

triode-like characteristics presented to speakers, even from pentodes

advanced, fully regulated, switching power supplies

no heavy power transformers, magnetics or choke filters

world power ready: plug and play anywhere

powerful, agile, innovative: brings true tone closer

full power over unmatched, wide frequency response

top-quality parts, USA made, high-end audio pedigree, experienced designers







http://www.milbert.com/guitar

http://www.thegearpage.ne...33571&postcount=42

Mod Bod


But WAIT!
 
It also comes with a Shamwow cloth! 

Call within the next 15 minutes and you get, not one, but TWO Shamwow with your order. That's TWO Shamwow and the amp for just 87 payments of...

Technology

White Papers

ZOTL Technology vs Audio Output Transformers

This paper demonstrates the electrical performance of an amplifier using the ZOTL technology versus the identical amplifier using a high-quality audio output transformer and presents these differences using oscillographs.

Electronic Devices and the Amplification Process

This paper shows how a curve tracer can be used to explore the attributes of the ZOTL technology and contrast it to the shortcomings of the audio output transformer. Also shown is how this tool can be used to optimally design an amplifier.

Patents

5,612,646 Output Transformerless Amplifier Impedance Matching Apparatus

This patent teaches the principles behind the Berning ZOTL technology that can properly match the impedance of vacuum tubes to the impedance of speakers without using audio output transformers. The impedance conversion is done with dc-dc switching converters operating at fixed frequencies well above audio frequencies. The actual voltage and current impedance transformations are done via special high-frequency transformers. This is an RF carrier system that eliminates the frequency-dependent distortions present in audio transformers, and can enable the amplifier to have a wider frequency response and be dc coupled.

4,163,198 Audio Amplifier

This patent details a hybrid tube-FET amplification stage that forms the basis of the Berning TF-10 preamplifier. An important advantage of this amplification stage is the elimination of the parasitic feedback capacitance and thus providing a stage with improved transient response.

3,995,226 Audio Amplifier

This patent describes the screen drive philosophy that has become an important part of many of the Berning power amplifier designs to the present day. The screen drive allows tubes to be operated at much higher efficiencies, much higher power output, and at greatly enhanced reliability. Whereas the patent shows transistors driving tubes, the same principles apply to presently implemented versions of tubes driving tubes. This is also known as the "enhancement" amplifier.

I just started saving again....

"more perfect coupling of output tubes to speaker (i.e., no parasitics or saturation)"

Why bother playing a guitar amp if you are not going to get to savor the parasitics and saturation in your output tranny?

Isn't this straight out of hi-fi land?

best,
mike

Yeah.... a protective case will add some weight but still... nothing like...oh... say an Ampeg head.

Where were these amps when I was gigging.....


Actually I can recall a friend of mine....another guitar player, setting around in electronics class one day discussing transformerless audio output stages....(due to weight issues with lugging amps around) ...... the teacher happened to overhear us, and made the comment ....."It'll never happen" and then went on to explain why there would always be transformers in audio output stages...... I guess that;s why he was a teacher and not an innovator..... but he sure did know his stuff about circuits of all kinds.

Transformerless output = high prbability of electrocution....no thanks!


I have been going over a lot of circuits to build my own recording head. I also want light, small...yada, yada. The one constant is the transformer output. Plus, we are talking character too, I wonder if it would be too sterile for guitar?


BTW, I'm building a Supro/Valco based 5w head with a switchable front end tube selection to go between tweed and 60's tones.

Spec, papers, and reinventing the wheel are all one thing.

What it really boils down to is how does this thing sound?

Does it sound like a 2k amp?  Call me pessimistic but I really cant see that happening.

Batsbrew,
 I saw the patent stuff before I posted yesterday. It's part of a legacy out transformerless tube output stage patents that go back to the mid seventies.
 You may even notice that I referenced the patent and it's overload protection features in a previous post in this thread.

 When these guys sell the patent to Behringer... you'll see this amp for $189.

 :-)

 google: "transformerless tube output" and you'll find that people have been trying to find a way to avoid the cost of a output transformer since the '50s.

 This generally has traction in the hi-fi crowd because they have legitimate concerns about saturation and phase coherency in output transformers. UL output transformers are big, heavy, expensive... that's three strikes against profit potential... and one can demonstrate that the transformmer could always be even more "hi-fi".

 But with guitar amps... we, you, I, a bunch of other guys... never went for that hi-fi stuff. I will only speak for myself but as a electric guitarist I knew that I wanted all the "bad" stuff that came with transformers. I can hear what I like about them.

 When I posted a picture of my Silverface collection last month the thing I was "showing off" was the availability of 5 different output transformers and there tube circuits. Each of those amp models has a different sound that depends on the tube/tranny/speaker combo to make magic.

 When I switch form the Deluxe Reverb to the Vibrolux the tone change is clearly evident... but it's not something you can duplicate with a peadl or a model. It is clearly the sound of the output stage... the tube/tranny/speaker combo.

 So, my point is... if a guy is gonna bring a transformer-less tube guitar amp to market they are gong to need more than a patent.

 Ironically I just read this book:

 Power Makers



It's really the story of the electric industry. One of the underlying themes is how patents and the exclusivity they seem to provide are used to attract investment by presenting new opportunities for expansion into a market. The history of the electrical power industry provides ample examples of how patented innovations served only to attract investment without furthering the state of the art. Exclusivity has it's allure... but the market will weed out the good from the bad.

Behringer, $189, the box will say "new and improved".

That's my small minded opinion. :-)

"oscilloscopes, are used daily, by anyone that works on circuits, amplifiers, speakers, all the stuff that an electronic musician uses.


dude, get your head out of the sand. "

Sorry, I missed this because the type is small and my eyes are old.

Just wanted to extend an invite the next time you are Tally, stop by, we'll fire up my oscilloscope and make an afternoon of it.

I don't think we'll learn a bunch about the tonal nuances of a tube amp with it.

It seems to me that research in that area was pretty much exhausted by the late 1970s... there's lots to read... but it's easy to see by the resurgence of popularity in old 1930's radio amplifier circuits that guitarists didn't think they benefited from that research.

I don't think the hi-fi folks have come to a consensus about it either. :-)

If you want to talk about sand... we can drive out to Cape San Blas. It is said to some very nice sand... I'm sure you'll agree.

all the best,
mike

"a decent bogner shiva head, is 2300 bucks.
so why do you think this price point is wrong?"

Well, If I did buy a $2300 boutique amp... I'd probably enjoy knowing that it cost that much because the parts and assembly labor justified the cost. I know what it would cost me to make a Bogner... and $2300 seems quite reasonable.

 I don't think I'd enjoy paying $2000 for a guitar amp that had $200 parts and labor while the rest went to RnD. Especially if I felt that the RnD was done specifically to create a unique, exclusive, patented product that did not actually improve the breed of the product category.

Behringer, $189, new and improved, five stars at Musicians Friend.

all the best,
mike

:-) It's all good... just talking amps with a buddy!!!

And I am thankful for the OP link... it was good reading.

best,
mike

i know i'd never buy an amp like this to sound like something else.

i think the whole idea here is, a clean slate.


i rather like that idea.

it's time for something fresh.

everything, is starting to sound like everything else to me.