As you’ve seen, we’ve recently been introducing Deluxe versions of our standard products that include mods many of you have been requesting for years. We’re always listening to what you have to say! You are our North Star, and customer requests fuel much of our product development. We are happy to oblige, offering more options, while maintaining our traditional bread and butter products that so many rely on daily.

But, to be clear, there is one idea we will never subscribe to when it comes to mods on classic designs…

Throwing a bunch of random circuits representing different processors into one box and expecting them to homogenize into a single, cohesive front panel topology is a fool’s errand. Simply put, this is NOT the same as getting all these different processors in their own chassis, with correct circuitry around them, i.e. power supply, output amplifier, etc. And advertising that watered down versions of various processing circuits crammed into one box is the same as each individual original design is, well, disingenuous, if not preposterous, and likely a marketing “scam” designed to take your dough and leave you unsatisfied. It’s cool for manufacturers to do something different, they just need to advertise it for what it really is, rather than claiming the magic box will give you everything you ever desired, like a genie in a lamp. For people like us that go to the ends of the earth seeking out NOS obsolete parts in the name of authenticity, the distinction could not be more clear when we see products like this in the market.

For a moment, think about the stuff you buy everyday; do you find yourself reaching for the all-in-one shampoo and conditioner? Probably not, this type of product is generally found at the cheapest motels. Or, my favorite analogy, would you buy all-in-one peanut butter and jelly in the same jar? Usually these products are advertised as being the same as their standalone counterparts, when everyone knows they are inferior. The core ingredients and preparation simply aren’t up to snuff. (“Can’t play that tough guitar solo? Put a bunch of choruses into a medley, it’s the same as the full song”, NOT). 

I’ve mentioned it before, but I want to give this one prime example: throwing three (or four) 1176 revisions into one chassis and using only one ratio bank, (or one output pot, which is spec’d differently for each rev!) makes you ask the basic question - which 1176 are you homogenizing all these circuits to? Every single ratio control utilizes a different set of resistors. A few people reading this have likely built Hairball Audio’s kits and have seen the table of different resistors you stuff into each different revision. This is common knowledge to anyone building an 1176. The Rev F and Rev G are using a 100kΩ potentiometer instead of the 250kΩ pot used in the Rev A and Rev D. So which one is it in this “all revs” edition? Maybe a switch to choose between four different main PCBs to give you all four revs? Not likely. If it sounds too good to be true, folks, it is. And, to boot, a Sowter transformer made in England is not the same as a Cinemag from LA, who also happened to make transformers for UA later on. Completely different vibe. 

Note to brands proffering misleading ads: please embrace this and say so. It’s very misleading to say a classic American made compressor is 1:1 with the original when the iron spec/materials are completely different.

We get emails weekly asking if we can rework these haphazardly manufactured products to work properly, or worse, asking if we can make something like it?! The answer is a hard NO, we can’t fix a bad design. We won’t bring any modern, still-in-production designs across our desks either - that is an ethical line that we won’t cross. It’s best to build your castle on rock, with solid designs that are tried and true, and then add useful everyday features that don’t take away from the sonic integrity of the circuit, because in the analog audio world, everything you add takes something away. For us, it’s paramount to spend our time and effort sourcing rare NOS parts and making the finest audio gear as close to the original vintage designs as possible. Authenticity, along with your requests, is our North Star as well.

So if you’re wondering where the line is with us, there it is :)

Cheers!

Chris