Scott Henderson Discussion

[icarusi]

Hi Scott, good to meet you in Manchester. Just noticed your comments re Class A amps and have always avoided Class A amp 'sound'. Any amp I used with an A>A/B control always ended to the A/B end, but i recently got a VHT Special 6 Ultra head which sounds unlike any Class A amp I've tried. Much more 'rocky' and hooligan sounding. It has a simple power scaling which seems to assist in sounding more A/B-like. The full schematic is included with the d/l pdf manual and it seems like a very modded Champ:-

http://www.vhtamp.com/manuals/VHT-Special6-Ultra-Manual.pdf

I tried some other VHT amps, and they had a very 'Wayne Krantz' type sound, which I liked, but I couldn't dial it out. I was expecting the Ultra to be similar but it was tonally more versatile. It has a lot of gain from a single 12AX7 and 6V6.

I'm now thinking typical Class A sound is more to the amp designer's intent and Class A/B typical sound is more down to asymmetrical distortion than A vs A/B (if the A is designed for more asymmetry).

Obviously A/B is more suitable and efficient for that sound at gig levels but for recording there's probably some asymmetrical Class A designs which will compete with twin-triode A/B or 2xeEL84/2x6V6 A/B o/p designs for similar tones.