65Amps... The Producer

[Mars Hall]

Wondered if anyone here has heard about this amp. It suppose to be designed around the use of "new production" tubes. Listening to the clips it sounds quite good. They don't talk much about the circuit design, other than it uses EL34's with a low voltage/high current vs high voltage/low current design. Specially designed transformer set by Mercury. Their saying it's the all inclusive amp great cleans, great overdrive. Boasting 25 year life expectancy of current production tubes in this amp.

Let me know what you builders, tweakers and tone junkies think about their claims, especially about this "low voltage/high current design. If this is the "end all be all" in amp design, why hasn't it already been done or has it?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0OLm2OWDHQ[/youtube]

[Gaz]

Last time I checked transistors were low voltage/high current devices, not tubes. Maybe it's actually a solid state amp, and the tubes are just for show

[noworrybeefcurry]

The producer is 100% a tube amplifier. I had talked to Dan Boul, 65 amps president a while back about their power scaling circuit in most of their newer production amps and he only gave me a very brief explanation about it. But they supposedly drop the plate voltage and bring up the current-he never specified, but i believe they mess with the tube bias when the plate voltage is dropped. I would bet money that its the same concept here.

[joey]

Oh, It's the same as any power scaling circuit, such as some that the Hall brothers and KOC offer. when you drop the screen, and plate voltage, you have to bring up the idle plate current (i.e bring your control grid voltage more positive) so you can be biased appropriately, other wise when the scaling is set to the lowest voltage point, you will be very coldly biased if you were to keep the same potential on the control grids.

That being said if the the question of whether or not the concept of low voltage, and high current for general operation in valves is a unique concept, the answer is Hardly.