howdy.
just wanted to share news about a piece of equipment i recently purchased for my son.
it is a THD Univalve pre amp/power amp.
here is a picture:
it's real function is as a 15 watt guitar amp, TUBE AMP, NOT SOLID STATE....admittedly not too exciting for a site devoted to high power bass amps, but in it's secret identity it is a monster piece of gear.
it has one 6550 power tube and two 12AX7 pre amp/driver tubes, and herein lies to secret to it's amazing potential.
the THD has what is called a dummy load. this means that, unlike most tube amps, you can use it as a pre-amp WITHOUT ANY SPEAKERS ATTACHED!
further (and i admit i don't really understand how it works, but it does), it has the ability to either be used as a pre amp for a true power amp or as a pre amp stage before a guitar or bass amp. in this case, my son uses an acoustic B450 combo bass amp.
the thing functions flawlessly, without any hiss or noise at all! it is amazing.
Now, for the truly jaw dropping aspect.... this amp/pre amp has the ability to self bias with almost any power tubes or pre amp/driver tubes! just plug and play. want to try a combination of a kt88 power tube with one 12 AX 7 and one 12AU7 pre amp tubes? just pop the tubes in and away you go.
admittedly we won't be using the power tube swap feature because we are using it just as a pre amp, but the thing can take about 20 different power tubes and the same number of pre amp/driver tubes: 2 12AX7's no problem....2 12AU7's.... 1 12AX7 and 1 12AU7, any combination at all, ... still no problem.
just plug and play.
I popped it open and found the pre amp tubes were an old RCA tube and one no-name chinese tube, both 12AX7's. who knows how old the RCA tube is! 30 years? no idea but they have not been made in decades. (we bought the unit used from GC) I swapped the no-name chinese tube for a groove tube 12AX7, and, obviously, left the RCA tube right where it was. the sound, again, is just fantastic.
we love it and it sounds great.
let me know your thoughts.
