Has the Bluguitar Amp 1 died before it got going? Nah!

steamabacus

The other thing that Thomas said is that the micro valve is sourced from the remains of the Russian space programme (which caused a good deal of the production delays while the supplies were confirmed) and so should be pretty much indestructible - which, seeing as they are soldered to the board, is a good thing.

ThePrettyDamned

ThePrettyDamned

^ lots of talking in German (sadly, I don't speak the lingo) but the sounds he gets vary from pleasant if a little smooth (I don't really 'do' smooth...) through to very good indeed. 

WANT. 

firepaulmusic

I made a very un-pro first impressions video and also some footage from our gig on Saturday with the amp. I've forgotten my Youtube password at the moment, it'll come to me.....hmmmmm

monquixote

Ooo can't wait

firepaulmusic

Oh no don't get too excited, I can't take the pressure ;-)

monquixote

Help Thomann have got a B stock one!

firepaulmusic

B stock already? That's a result....

Jeremiah

So are those valves going to be impossible to replace if they do blow up? I assume there are only limited numbers of them still available and they aren't making any more so eventually they will have to stop making these amps.

firepaulmusic

I know I'm no Phil X but it'll give you at least some idea...

firepaulmusic

Out on Saturday night with my band Daytona. First gig with the BluGuitar Amp1. I loved the feel and tone of the amp, it worked well with my fx in the loop and my BB Preamp pedal was excellent as an extra boost.

monquixote

You're only making me want one more

Is that an Anderson?

jpfamps

steamabacus said:

monquixote said:

I'm pretty sure the power section is Class D.

When I spoke to Thomas Blug about it he said the valve was definitely part of the power amp - the grunt comes from a class D section but the valve is involved in a way that hasn't been done before. To me, it sounds reminiscent of how the Vox Valvetronix technology was described (and those early blue grille Valvetronix amps do sound good) but I know @ICBM has said a lot of Vox's description is a little disingenuous. Maybe one of our techie types will get to see a schematic at some point and shed some light.

I still can't really believe that the Amp 1 is as loud as an old 100W Marshall though - but who actually needs that these days, anyway? If it can match a 30W valve amp, that should be enough for most.

I would be interested to see how the power amp works. I can't immediately see how a valve can be incorporated into a class D power amp.

There are some power amp topologies I've seen where a power valve's current delivery capacity is enhanced by SS circuitry, but it's not obvious to me how this could be done with a class D power amp.

Using an out-of-production valve in the circuit is probably not ideal, although it's quite possible that if you've chosen a valve with no other current application there is effectively an inexhaustible supply of them. Regardless, it's very unlikely that they are RoHS compliant.

Nevertheless, this looks an innovative product, and if it does well I anticipate Behringer will soon have copy of it!

bingefeller

Sounds damn good to me @firepaulmusic.  

monquixote

The manual mentions the micro valve and says that given that it's a mil spec valve and the way it's being run it's not expected to fail within the life of the product which is why it's soldered.

firepaulmusic

monquixote said:

You're only making me want one more

Is that an Anderson?

I'm still excited about the amp and haven't even looked at eq'ing the channels differently yet....

The guitar is an Anderson Cobra S, very versatile and plays really nicely too.

jpfamps

monquixote said:

The manual mentions the micro valve and says that given that it's a mil spec valve and the way it's being run it's not expected to fail within the life of the product which is why it's soldered.

It's soldered because it's designed to be soldered, ie has flying leads rather than pins that fit in a socket.

monquixote

I guess they could put it on a little daughter board if they expected it to be replaced frequently.

jpfamps

monquixote said:

I guess they could put it on a little daughter board if they expected it to be replaced frequently.

Would be as easy to unsolder and replace.

Cabicular

can somebody with one of these tell me about the recessed FX pad switch underneath

Do you really need a screwdriver to get it I can't dfind a piucture ?

Can you use it without a speaker load? (ie as a preamp or a recording front end)

Thanks