Banana Jack Amp Kit - No-solder Amplifier Kit on Kickstarter

[The Dude]

[Gerry Rzeppa]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]30580[/ATTACH]

Keep in mind that I didn't bring the subject up. I was talking about guitar amplifiers; and even that only in response to others. I'm just trying to insure that the presentation of facts in this thread is balanced; that readers get both sides of the story.

[Randall]

IMHO, calling that a clip of a decent sounding amp is all we need to know about this. That may possibly be the worst sounding tube amp I have ever heard at any price. I don't think we have much to worry about here.

[gui_tarzan]

There's a long hilariously stupid one about comparing electronic theory to plumbing.

I remember that thread. I lost interest in it after the first few posts he made about it.

[The Dude]

Gerry,

I wish you no ill will and commend you for coming up with an idea (however poorly executed). Respectfully, the problem is that the safe and useable version of this idea has already been done. SEE THIS LINK. Sans that, if someone is interested in actual building, a real amp kit is a far better option than simply stacking up pre-built Jenga blocks to build an amp that has little use either for gigging or learning. I'm not the forum police, so go about your business as you see fit. That said, it should be apparent that your audience is not here. Just my $.02

[Gerry Rzeppa]

Respectfully, the problem is that the safe and useable version of this idea has already been done. SEE THIS LINK.

That's a great implementation of a very similar idea. Too bad it's no longer on the market. If we get enough funding, the commercial version of our product will probably end up somewhere in between where it is now and something like that. Keep in mind that Kickstarter is for ideas in seminal form, in search of funding for further research and development -- not "ready for prime time" commercial products.

...it should be apparent that your audience is not here. Just my $.02

Ya think?

[gui_tarzan]

Gerry, most entrepreneurs start out with wacky ideas. But exposing someone to high voltage like that is just plain irresponsible. As someone who tore apart tube radios in the early 70s to see how they ticked, I am surprised that I didn't hurt myself or even worse by rooting around in there not knowing what I was doing.

[g1]

Keep in mind that I didn't bring the subject up. I was talking about guitar amplifiers; and even that only in response to others. I'm just trying to insure that the presentation of facts in this thread is balanced; that readers get both sides of the story.

Gerry, I would not normally bring that kind of thing up. But it is painfully obvious you are here as an entrepreneur, rather than a guitar amp guy (if you were a guitar amp guy, I don't think you would be promoting the whole "greenie" version of electronics).
So I think any of your other entrepreneurial endeavors are relevant.
But really, I just thought it was a funny 2 word review, like the 2 word review of the Spinal Tap "Shark sandwich" album.
Most of the guys here are here because they love music electronics.
You seem to have come here to turn this thread into some kind of info-mercial (minus the info ) .

[gui_tarzan]

Gotta disagree with you G, he's contributed a lot of information. Excuse me while I strap in and grab some popcorn.

[Gerry Rzeppa]

Gerry, I would not normally bring that kind of thing up. But it is painfully obvious you are here as an entrepreneur, rather than a guitar amp guy (if you were a guitar amp guy, I don't think you would be promoting the whole "greenie" version of electronics). So I think any of your other entrepreneurial endeavors are relevant.

Okay, relevant it is. I'm not sure what you mean by "guitar amp guy", but I would think a guy who builds custom amps like those below (from my "Coppertone" line) would qualify:

















Some of those are tube amps, some solid state. Here's an unsolicited review of the one with the big green speaker from the guy who bought it, sight (and sound) unseen (and heard):

"There it is sitting outside my door. No knock on the door or doorbell ring. Thanks UPS! I open the carefully and creatively packed box. Inside are the aforementioned swimming pool noodles and red rubber balls. My son will be happy with those! It appears to have arrived safely with the exception of one copper elbow fitting becoming separated on the base. I popped the pipe back in without incident.

Yep, She's pretty to look at!. A real work of art. But how does she sound? I plugged in the extra long power cord, plugged in my ESP Vintage Plus Strat loaded with two single coils and a JB Humbucker into the hi-gain input and flipped the power switch on. I gave her a couple minutes for the tubes to get warmed up and started dialing up the volume to about 5. I strummed through some open and barre chords plugging some accent notes. First impression was "nice!". I switched through all of the pick up configurations. There were no bad tones. I crank the volume a little more to about 7. This is where she starts to come alive! This is sounding phenomenal. Warm, responsive, and articulate sweet notes are filling up my apartment. This is when I started smiling Smile I play through several chord progressions and lead runs and it just sounds fantastic! Then I crank the volume to 10. I wasn't expecting this. The amp turned into a full naturally overdriven beast. At this point, the amp was actually too loud for my apartment. The tone did get a little too bright for my liking on 10 but that was quickly remedied by trying out the Lo-gain input.

Do you know why this amp doesn't have any tone controls? Because it doesn't need them! It's got a pure, unmolested tube driven tone and it's magic to my ears.

Not that i was skeptical buying this amp without any possible way of hearing what it sounds like, but It was a bit of a gamble. A gamble where I definitely came out a winner. Gerry, you outdid yourself on this build and I couldn't be happier. Feel free to use any part of my review as an endorsement to your future builds. I have been playing and buying various guitar gear since i was 14 and I'm now 46. After over 30 years, I know good tone when I hear it, and I am hearing it!

Thanks for the great amp. I will treasure it for many years to come."

If you're interested, you can read the complete saga of the construction of that amp here:

[The Dude]

I now understand the comparison to plumbing.

[Gerry Rzeppa]

Won't speculate on the obscure reasons which might be behind this but definitely making this product is not one of them, for the very good reason that even U$39000 is ludicrously not enough to produce a new commercial amp...

We're planning on one of three possible outcomes for our Kickstarter project:

1. It doesn't get funded, and we move on to something else.

2. It gets funded at the specified amount and my wife, my son, the neighbor kid and I spend the next six months putting together the 100 amps that we owe the backers in our garage workshop. Then we move on to something else.

3. It gets way over-funded (like a million dollars, as Kickstarter projects sometimes do) and we farm the whole thing out to somebody who already has a factory, engineers, etc. Then we move on to something else.

Note that all three plans end with "move on to something else". I'm an R&D guy, not a production or management type. Not going to spend my waning years doing things I don't enjoy.

[Gerry Rzeppa]

IMHO, calling that a clip of a decent sounding amp is all we need to know about this. That may possibly be the worst sounding tube amp I have ever heard at any price. I don't think we have much to worry about here.

The recording (which I made on a laptop computer with the built-in mike) doesn't do it justice. It sounds much better in person. But see the review of one of my other creations (in blue, a post or two above this one) -- I know good sound when I hear it.

[Alan0354]

I don't worry about you getting sue or the production cost. I only worry about the innocent people that might get killed by your "Lego" amp.

[Gerry Rzeppa]

Yeah, it does look neat, just not for the stated purposes. Good learner setup, although I'm not sure how much real learning about tube amps could happen without the user understanding something of what goes on under the plexiglass.

The real learning about tube amps does indeed happen when the student (a) reads Kenn Amdahl's book (supplied with every kit) and goes on (b) to study the insides of the modules in light of what he's read; that's why they open up (like the book, without tools). The life-size schematics and the write-ups that go with them explain each and every part in simple but complete and consistent terms.

The advantage is that the different sub-circuits (preamp, power amp, rectifier, transformer, etc) are not just conceptually separate in the documentation and on the schematics, but are physically separate in the modules themselves. This makes the whole amp eminently approachable -- just nine modules and a bunch of banana cables; and each module equally approachable -- with less than a half-dozen discrete components in each.