Thunderfunk Bass Amplifiers, Руководство пользователя, Страница: 3 / 22

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Digital Amps
We don’t do digital for one reason. Analog sounds better! What you’ll notice in digital amps is the
lack of a “Th” in the “Thump.” So you get “ump, ump, ump” and the low end bubbles along. Now
when you take a solo, it may sound good, but go back to a low bass line, and you’ll disappear on
stage. And a studio player told us that he was using a popular digital amp from Italy, and in the
headphones he heard a chorus! Is it possible that they put a digital effect into the amp to “beef it
up?” It’d be easy to do. And a third reason is these amps are made with parts and circuits that are
impossible for the average repair shop to handle. That’s why repairs usually require replacement
of the amp. That’s not very convenient for a professional player.
♦
CAUTION -- Ears are your most important piece of equipment, and cannot be replaced.
♦
Use common sense. DO NOT operate at high volume levels or at levels that are uncomfortable.
♦
If you ever experience any ringing in the ears, your body is telling you something: TURN DOWN.
♦
If you suspect hearing loss, consult a health care professional.
A Few Secrets Behind The Thunderfunk Tone
Thunderfunk Bass Amps are pure op-amp and transistor solid state designs – made famous by
such classic designs as the Acoustic 360, and the AMP BH-420. They use the largest high-quality
power transformers that can be packed into two rack spaces. Half the weight of the amp is the
power transformer, and it is conservatively controlled by 1200-watts worth of power transistors
in the TFB800-B2.
Other key elements of the amp’s tone are a whopping amount of power supply filter capacitance,
so dynamics are maintained and distortion reduced even at the highest volumes and lowest fre-
quencies. A competitors’ amp might sound good in the store at low volumes, but falls apart when
pushed.
And the biggest reason is we use high quality film and silver mica caps providing a punchy mid-
range, and a sweet high end that even makes piezo tweeters sound good. Other amps try to save
money by using electrolytic caps in the signal chain. The problem is that type of cap changes its
value with frequency. They’re made for power supply filters that run at a constant 60 or 120 Hz.
So when you design a filter you pick values to keep the delay through the filter constant across
the frequency range you’re interested in. If the values you design for are always changing with the
frequencies going through the filter, you get a confused phase-shifted signal that is the cause of
the “I can’t penetrate the room” syndrome, similar to having woofers out of phase.