What is Zinky Thinking?

[Chuck H]

Who needs to worry about Zinky-Thinky with <US> around? Sheesh!

Justin

While I fully agree... He earned a lot of cred with the Prosonic topology. What a great amp! And tweakable too. But the basic topology and design produces excellent cleans and distortion character. Aspects of that circuit have been borrowed and/or copied ever since it was devised. I guess what I'm saying is that reverence is justified and maybe he even gets a pass for the odd, weird design.

[Justin Thomas]

Mine's still for sale... cheap!

The two Zinky-designed amps I've owned/played were both amazing. I tried a Tone-Master once and wasn't thrilled, but that was also before I got over my fear of LOUD. But I still consider it an honor that my first tube amp was a Prosonic. Spoiled from day one.

Weird or not, the guy's amps sound pretty damn good - for what they are. And I kinda hafta respect the quirkiness of it all.

Edit: to Bob, about the VK trem: Yes, my Concert has the "Harmonic Vibrato." I guess what I was getting at was that the VK's trem had a "quality" to it - smooth, round, a little belt. Most of the roach trems I've tried had that choppy helicopter sound to them. The VK almost sounded like a spongy bias-wiggle to me. My Vibro-Champ has a very smooth rise and decay, too. There's just "something" "underneath" the trem in the VK I played. That's what I meant.

Justin

[bob p]

I think the Zinky amps were also specifically voiced for specific speaker/cabinet combinations. There are lots of reports of people trying to substitute speakers/cabs and making the amps sound like ass. The ToneMaster has a reputation for this -- crank it into the V30 4x12 and it's magical, not so great with everything else. My impression is that cranked speaker tone is a significant part of the TM voicing. To get the TM into the sweet spot you really have to push the V30 into speaker compression. It's a 100W amp that's designed to be played at 100W on stage, not to be throttled in a bedroom, a basement, or a practice space, or heaven forbid -- cranked into a load box.

When the TM was introduced The Gear Whore Band (Aerosmith) toured with it, and they even convinced Jimmy Page to tour with it, citing improved reliability over the Marshalls. I think that these guys all have in common that they drive their amps pretty hard on-stage. Maybe this explains why the shadetree players don't think the amps sound as great. When I heard one cranked at the HoB in Chicago, into an original TM 412, it knocked my socks off.

It's too bad that so few of the Zinky amps survived in production. Fender really had some winners there -- VK, TM, DP, PS are all highly revered amps. I'd like to get my hands on a PS 22W but the world is wise to them. They always cost more than the 60W version. And if I want to get a VK my only option is to pay $1500 for a used one in BF cosmetics or to roll my own Blondie. I'm thinking about rolling my own with the phase-shifting vibrato. The biggest hurdle will be fitting it all into a single chassis.

[Justin Thomas]

I'd like to get my hands on a PS 22W but the world is wise to them.

The amp you seek does not exist. You are thinking the S(uper)-S(onic) 22W. The Prosonic is 30/50/60W switchable (by ad specs - I didn't measure). And by most accounts, the Prosonic is better.

A friend may still have a '95 issue VK for sale for $1500, and my Prosonic is for sale if you want a Zinky-Fender...

Justin

[bob p]

looks like i got my "sonics" confused. oops.

[tubeswell]

I think the Zinky amps were also specifically voiced for specific speaker/cabinet combinations. There are lots of reports of people trying to substitute speakers/cabs and making the amps sound like ass. The ToneMaster has a reputation for this -- crank it into the V30 4x12 and it's magical, not so great with everything else...

I recently tested a Tonemaster through my Dual Showman Reverb cab loaded with a pair of jbel D130F (Orange frame). It sounded amazing.

[bob p]

I'm guessing that you cranked it? I think that's an amp that really hits the sweet spot when it's unleashed.

[tubeswell]

I tried it clean and dirty. It sounds amazing both ways. With 2 x D130F it sounds best clean, and sounds even better with a 6G15 reverb tank in front and a Jazzmaster with stainless flats.

However, when it came in it wasn't working (the IC caps were all bulging). Changing out the e-cap on the bias pot was an especially frustrating PITA (since the pot is located underneath the main board, and the board has to be lifted out to access the pot.

[tubeswell]

I'm wondering if they're expecting you to choose the fat option on one channel but not the other, use the volumes to adjust levels, and then go channel hopping for lead and rhythm.

But why wouldn't one merely put the relay switch on the Ck series resistor (R19)? (Or is there something else I'm not seeing about the difference in the relay switching arrangement between Vol A and Vol B?)

(Edit: Nevermind - I get it now - 'fat/'thin' selectable volume'. I can picture the conversation he had with whichever guitar guy he was asking about 'what feature would you like in a guitar amp?' or something to that effect)