Honestly people putting their name in then deciding not to buy doesn't bother me at all, everyone that was chosen and decided not to buy so far has been very cool about it, and I certainly understand things like needing to divert gear money to other expenses, especially around holiday time.
But you're actually describing what I kind of want to do anyway. I did a couple amp designs this month where I used carbon comp resistors and large film caps but put them straight onto the board instead of messing with turrets. They don't look as cool, but they sound just as good, they take way less time to build, and I can fit more components on the board that way. So if I did handwired models with the higher voltage and the same upgraded components but left off the turrets and did typical UV printed finish instead of wood faceplates I could see it being the sort of thing I offer continually instead of every six months or so. Prices would be a little higher than the typical SMD models, but they would be less than these limited edition runs because they take a lot less time to put together.
So the question is, do I switch EVERYTHING over to handwired and raise prices a little (probably $20-40 depending on model), or do I continue with SMD as my main thing and do handwired as a case-by-case occasional thing?
I apologize, I remember reading your post and thinking "oh, solid question, I should answer that" before getting distracted by something shiny.
The Slampegg circuit is inherently lower output than the others, I think it's safe to say it's the lowest output of any of my preamp pedals. Solid-state boost is a great, efficient way to bring the level up, and I actually considered (pronounced "tried but it didn't work") adding a solid-state boost to the inside of Slampegg that could be switched on or off. I'm obviously incredibly biased, but a tube boost beats a solid-state boost every time. Space Heater would do an excellent job, and it has one of the hottest outputs of my preamp pedals. With the gain turned down it does a nice clean boost without coloring the sound too much, but as you bring the gain up it adds more of its own character. Space Heater wouldn't really replace Slampegg as they each have their own thing that they do very well, but I guess in the sense that both do a mid-gain overdrive, it really depends what you want. If Ampeg-ish grind is what you want, Slampegg is it and Space Heater is not. Space Heater can get a nice grind, but it's not very Ampeg-ish.
