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What the ....? Shuttle & headphones

#21
Aragorn35016 said:
Hey horse, I work in a IPC class 3 work enviroment (radar design primarily) so I know a quality piece of electronic equipment when I see it and yours is it! Id love to look at the inside of my shuttle to see your layout but I dont want to risk voiding my warranty! Congrats to you guys for designing such a great piece of gear!
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Mmmmm... radar. You know how to talk dirty to us engineering types ;)

Tell you what Aragorn, with the power disconnected (usual disclaimer... duh) go ahead and pop the hood and take a peek at the future of our industry. Your warranty will remain in place. You will also immediately recognize some of the technical features which are hidden from usual view that seperate this product from the rest of the marketplace.

A couple things to point out... double sided mill spec glass-epoxy laminate PCBs w/ fully plated through holes, threaded metal bushing controls, multipin wire harnesses between PCBs, sockets for all IC's, heavy gauge all aluminum chassis for starters.
 
#22
You know, I tried my Shuttle with headphones once, and was not pleased with the result. That said, I was using little ipod earbuds. I figured they actually sound really good with deep bass on my ipod - they should be ok with a bass amp. Maybe the earbuds were a poor match. Or maybe my expectations were too high. Or maybe my playing just sucked. Hehehe
 
#23
agedhorse said:
Mmmmm... radar. You know how to talk dirty to us engineering types ;)

Tell you what Aragorn, with the power disconnected (usual disclaimer... duh) go ahead and pop the hood and take a peek at the future of our industry. Your warranty will remain in place. You will also immediately recognize some of the technical features which are hidden from usual view that seperate this product from the rest of the marketplace.

A couple things to point out... double sided mill spec glass-epoxy laminate PCBs w/ fully plated through holes, threaded metal bushing controls, multipin wire harnesses between PCBs, sockets for all IC's, heavy gauge all aluminum chassis for starters.
Click to expand...

Who's talking dirty to who now :) Unfortunately, Im not an engineer, I'm a tech turned logistics planner. I used to do alot of semi rigid cable layout, class 3 board building (by hand) and cable/wiring harness design and assembly and still occasionally do trouble shooting on returns. (You'd be amazed at what the customer can do to a product, no wait you probably know exactly the kind of damage a customer can do out "in the field":)). I cant wait to open the unit up now! Quality PCB that sounds like its not "commercial grade" and the fact that you used sockets for all you IC's makes me think you definitely designed your stuff with serviceability in mind!
 
#24
A little off topic, but a good story nonetheless, I once received a unit in for repair and it had a funny bulge in the top of the chassis. When I opened it up, it was full of Monster type wire. Somebody tried to rewire the chassis with the stuff. Of course it wouldn't fit any connectors or even in the chassis! The soldering job was horiffic and there was no way it would have worked.

For the record, everything we make is serviceable. We still support the very first bass amp we manufactured way back when and have the parts in stock. It's part of our culture.
 
#26
I love using the aux in and the headphone out. In fact I use it that way the majority of the time I practice. I was a bit surprised when I first got the Shuttle though, that the speaker outs still work with the headphones in use. The other combo amps I've had all cut the speaker when you use headphones.

I'm curious as to the logic of this. Is the reason so the user has maximum flexibility and can use the headphones and cabs at the same time if they choose (although that seems odd)? Or is there another reason?

Thanks.
 
#27
ashtray said:
You know, I tried my Shuttle with headphones once, and was not pleased with the result. That said, I was using little ipod earbuds. I figured they actually sound really good with deep bass on my ipod - they should be ok with a bass amp. Maybe the earbuds were a poor match. Or maybe my expectations were too high. Or maybe my playing just sucked. Hehehe
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earbuds and good quality cans are two VERY different animals. Just like there are good quality speaker cabs and cheap ones....the same holds true for earphones.
 
#28
Horse and Has Been let me know if this is not cool and Ill pull these down ASAP but I took a few snaps of the inside of the shuttle. And Ill not get into all the details of why I think its good, but in generality I love the modular fashion in which it is designed, (specifically the fact that you dont have to unsolder anything to pull out one of the modules) the socketed IC's (which are really good quality parts) and the wiring is very tidy!

B]

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Made with bits of real panther that way you know its good....
 
#31
Ive seen some fear going around lately about the new smaller generation of amps being unserviceable and in essence a throw away product. Im tellin ya I see no black magic in this amp. Even if it were to go out of warranty and if you are a do it your self kind of person most of the parts in it can be found at newark and digikey. (I know I checked!)
 
#32
We stock parts for all of our units. Serviceability is an important part of the professional equipment experience. There's WAY too much throwaway type gear being sold into this market IMO. It does nobody any good in the long run.
 
#34
agedhorse said:
We stock parts for all of our units. Serviceability is an important part of the professional equipment experience. There's WAY too much throwaway type gear being sold into this market IMO. It does nobody any good in the long run.
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I suppose you stock completed pcb's for replacement not individual devices (ic's etc.)? Since you have through hole boards (other the the power supply bd.) it makes it much easier for individual device replacement thus reducing costs. What we ran into at my place of work was obseleted through hole parts becoming more and more common due to surface mount becoming the norm. I also see you have some of the ic's socket mounted, good design, solderless replacement.
 
#36
BassScum said:
I suppose you stock completed pcb's for replacement not individual devices (ic's etc.)? Since you have through hole boards (other the the power supply bd.) it makes it much easier for individual device replacement thus reducing costs. What we ran into at my place of work was obseleted through hole parts becoming more and more common due to surface mount becoming the norm. I also see you have some of the ic's socket mounted, good design, solderless replacement.
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Except for class D power amp PCB's, everthing is easily repairable (for a real tech) at the component level. We stock the parts at the component level.

Regarding obsolete parts, I am very careful to choose parts that have a long, successful production history and multiple manufacturing sources so that obsolete is not an issue. The only part that is obsolete in our entire legacy line is the National LM391-100 which we stlll have plenty available. That's over a 15 year span.
 
#37
agedhorse said:
We stock parts for all of our units. Serviceability is an important part of the professional equipment experience. There's WAY too much throwaway type gear being sold into this market IMO. It does nobody any good in the long run.
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I'll tell you...after reading a thread about someone buying a used amp from one of your competitors who shall remain nameless, and a part went out in his amp and they charged him $415 to replace an entire board, this is definitely a factor to consider when buying a micro-amp, and a major selling point for GB. I think it's something you should play up more in your advertising.
 
#38
JimmyM said:
I'll tell you...after reading a thread about someone buying a used amp from one of your competitors who shall remain nameless, and a part went out in his amp and they charged him $415 to replace an entire board, this is definitely a factor to consider when buying a micro-amp, and a major selling point for GB. I think it's something you should play up more in your advertising.
Click to expand...

No kidding! After reading the advertising, the Shuttle sounds like it would be a just another good amp. Owning one and finding all the details like servicability and the very real quality of the features is quite a happy surprise.

I think it's bit hard to describe just how good this amp really is. If I were writing the ad copy, I'd have a hard time getting all the right adjectives for this thing.

BTW - it's probably old news and been done to death on other threads, but the Shuttle tone is absolutely amazing. It fits my particular playing style and concept of "perfect tone", well....perfectly!
 

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