Class D - What's next?

[HeavyJazz]

At some point the market will morph into something new. Or even old. Any guesses? It took some years for class-D to catch on. In part due to quality, but also unfamiliarity.

The bassist keeps getting smaller and lighter while the guitarist just tucks a laptop under their arm. At what point does the consumer start getting curious for the "real thing?" Or will it be the "next thing" - where the bassist wips out the ol' dumbphone and plays virtual bass uke through the nearest available PA?

 

[JimChjones]

At what point does the consumer start getting curious for the "real thing?"

That's easy to answer: never.

 

[ctmullins]

Trends are cyclic. Peg legs vs bell bottoms, columns vs cantilevers, liberal vs conservative. We are currently in a bit of a retro craze, in which a significant portion of our community is obsessed with vintage tech. But not everybody. There will always be a faction who embraces the latest tech, regardless of fashion trends.

Umm, what was the question again?

 

[Jim C]

Cyclical:
There was music with melody lines / then there wasn't
People like to hear live original music on the local level / now they don't
Musicians strove to create an original sound and become better players / now not so much
Amps used to be used on stage for quality monitoring or because no FoH / in ears may replace them in the future

 

[DoctorZee]

Microcabinets perhaps? Developing a way to get a great sound out of a single 8" neodymium driver? Also, IEMs for audience with personal volume controls. Like silent disco, but less gimmicky.

 

[Hundred proof]

That's easy to answer: never.

So true ... imitation is the new "real"

 

[Low Class]

Nuclear powered amps will be next.

5000 watts in a 1.5lb package. No power cord required. You might see yourself glow after each gig.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

My money is on Class E.

 

[filmtex]

Microcabinets perhaps? Developing a way to get a great sound out of a single 8" neodymium driver? Also, IEMs for audience with personal volume controls. Like silent disco, but less gimmicky.

You may be on to something. As (we) baby boomers get older and older and our hearing gets worse and worse, IEM’s for audience members might just be the thing. Imagine sending 6 or so discreet feeds, (stereo drum feed, bass feed, vocal feed, guitar feed, like the mix feeds we use now,) and allowing audience members to create their own mix based on their preferences and/or hearing shortcomings. Or even bypass that for one of a few pre-mixes. The technology is there I think.

 

[96tbird]

Microcabinets perhaps? Developing a way to get a great sound out of a single 8" neodymium driver? Also, IEMs for audience with personal volume controls. Like silent disco, but less gimmicky.

They already do get great sound from 8” cabs. What they don’t get is large volumes of air moving and they never will: physics is physics.

Until we can create force fields from a little box, micro sound manipulation is a dream. there cannot be much more you can squeeze from a cone driver. We’re already at the limit.

You either want a stage monitor or you don’t. In a small venue big cabs are often way too much and IEMs are very useful. I ln huge spaces IEMs and digital are great because you need a wall of cabs to fill the space so better to just go that way and let the PA do the work and maybe a few drivers to feel it if you want. In medium spaces a typical rig is cool, but not necessary if you monitor as above but you have to be in control of your levels or you ruin the mix.

It all comes down to preference. I like to feel the bass. It would be off putting if all I feel is the drums. But a lot of us began playing before Commodore 64 was a home computer, so we’re jaded, but to slam new tech is just silly. The yourh have so many options that work so well. Go with what serves you.

To answer the OP force fields generated from your phone is the next quantum leap. Never be as cool as streaming electrons across space in a vacuum tube and piping into a paper driver though: it’s charming.

 

[Passinwind]

At some point the market will morph into something new. Or even old. Any guesses?

Easy. Unamplified acoustic music. But of course that market has never actually gone away.

 

[agedhorse]

I guess the obvious question is "what do YOU want from new technology"?

 

[Jeff Scott]

...bassist keeps getting smaller and lighter...

No all of them are.

My money is on Class E.

Why go backwards? We already have Class G and Class H...................

 

[Father Gino]

IEM? How quaint. Get with the future! ICCMs are coming. In your cerebral cortex monitors. No buds, no knobs, no wires. Straight to the cortex is where it’s at! Musicians don’t even need instruments, they just will the sound they want. Hell, the audience doesn’t even really need the musicians, they simply hear what they desire. Don’t need the venue, members of the opposite sex or the liquor either, just dial in what you want.

Welcome to the future. We’re looking for people who like to live in tubes

 

[micguy]

Also, IEMs for audience with personal volume controls. Like silent disco, but less gimmicky.

That’s actually been done - in at least a couple of variations.

 

[frankie5string]

Lol! Hate to break it to you, but I don't think anything coming out in the future of music tech is going to be geared to (you) baby boomers.

Tech will develop based on whatever current users want. They won't buy what they don't want.

Unless you are talking about assisted living... ;-)

You may be on to something. As (we) baby boomers get older and older and our hearing gets worse and worse, IEM’s for audience members might just be the thing. Imagine sending 6 or so discreet feeds, (stereo drum feed, bass feed, vocal feed, guitar feed, like the mix feeds we use now,) and allowing audience members to create their own mix based on their preferences and/or hearing shortcomings. Or even bypass that for one of a few pre-mixes. The technology is there I think.

 

[LT131]

I guess the obvious question is "what do YOU want from new technology"?

A super amp that corrects mistakes, always sounds perfect and influences the promoters to pay the bassist better. Screw the others, let them get their own super amp.

 

[shoot-r]

I guess the obvious question is "what do YOU want from new technology"?

A Mesa Subway head that sounds "exactly" like my old Mesa Carbine M-6....Hope....Hope....Fingers crossed!!!!

 

[Charlzm]

At some point the market will morph into something new. Or even old. Any guesses? It took some years for class-D to catch on. In part due to quality, but also unfamiliarity.

The bassist keeps getting smaller and lighter while the guitarist just tucks a laptop under their arm. At what point does the consumer start getting curious for the "real thing?" Or will it be the "next thing" - where the bassist wips out the ol' dumbphone and plays virtual bass uke through the nearest available PA?

The next revolution in bass? Nobody will play it any more.
This may take some time to come to pass. Hopefully I won't see it in my lifetime.

 

[Arthur U. Poon]

I guess the obvious question is "what do YOU want from new technology"?

For me that would be a Class D amplifier that sounds identical to an all tube amplifier. Right now, IMO the Aguilar TH500 gets pretty darn close, but not 100%.


And, I haven't tried the amps you've designed for Mesa, yet.