Posts Tagged ‘amp’
Friday, September 10th, 2010
TubeSync technology
TubeSync streamlines with the amp’s circuitry to constantly test and monitor the amp without altering the fundamental amplification process, tone or sound. It eliminates the need for bias current matching, increases tube life by micro-adjusting the bias on each tube, predicts tube failure and can, in the event of tube failure, even run the amp at half power, preventing catastrophic amp damage.
The result is an amp unhampered by many of the problems associated with conventional tube amplification allowing musicians to enjoy classic tube sound quality without the frustrations.
These are just some of TubeSync’s unique features:
- Eliminates the need for bias current matching of output tubes
- Micro-adjusts the bias on each tube to ensure its full potential is realised
- Assures reliability
- Maintains optimum performance
- Increases tube life
- Reduces quiescent power consumption
- Sets tubes at their optimum temperature as soon as you power up
- Detects tube failure and prevents catastrophic damage to amp
- Switches out faulty tubes and runs amps at half power until tube can be changed
A new industry standard
TubeSync technology has now been incorporated in new amp designs from some of the world’s most prominent amp manufacturers. Hiwatt, famed for their legendary reliability, was one of the first OEMs to recognise the potential of TubeSync for further enhancing the reliability and performance of their amps. KBO Dynamics continues to work with the industry’s biggest names to raise the bar in tube performance and reliability, creating a new industry standard in amp design and manufacture.
Introducing the Bias Engine
The Bias Engine is the hardware that encapsulates TubeSync’s unique technology. Fitting the Bias Engine is a straightforward procedure, with all necessary components supplied within the retrofit kit. It is stipulated that the Bias Engine is fitted by an accredited technician.
 The Bias Engine is sold as a part of the TubeSync Professional Amp Upgrade Kit containing:
TubeSync Bias Engine Hardware
TubeSync hardware is wired straight into the amp’s circuitry. The Bias Engine is a very compact component that can be incorporated in both point-to-point and PCB wired amps.
Tube fault LED indicator harness and amp chassis LED plate
The Bias Engine is wired to 4 LED indicators that permanently illuminate when the tube is faulty and ‘flash’ when the tube needs to be replaced. The LEDs sit on the amp chassis, surrounded by the LED plate.
Wiring harness and mechanical fixings
The wiring harness, bundling all necessary wires and connectors, completes the kit along with a full set of mechanical fixings for securing the Bias Engine.
TubeSync Bias Runner software
Improving amplifier biasing methods, servicing and fault diagnostics
Interfacing with Bias Engine hardware, our Bias Runner software has been designed to allow OEMs and professional amp technicians to interrogate the status of an amplifier, alter bias settings, perform field diagnostics and configure the amp for best performance, further adding value to your services.
Bias Runner is easy to install, offering full fault diagnostics, enabling tube biasing with and without audio present, either collectively or as individual tubes. It is the perfect tool for warranty provision and servicing, providing a database of hardware serial numbers and storing amplifier parameter settings for full traceability.
Total service hours
Reads and displays the total number of hours the amplifier has been powered up. Optional reset facility available if required.
Total duration with audio
Reads and displays the total number of hours the amplifier has been driven with audio. Optional reset facility available if required.
Total hours idle
Reads and displays the total number of hours the amplifier has remained idle i.e. has not been driven with audio. Optional reset facility available if required.
Faulty tube log
Reads and displays the number of times a tube has been switched off due to a fault during the lifetime of the amplifier. A reset function is available for each individual tube.
Bias current (Audio present)
Enables the user to adjust tube current bias settings collectively or individually
Bias Current Idle (No Audio Present)
Enables the user to adjust tube current bias settings collectively or individually
Hardware and version status
Displays the serial number of the TubeSync module and the hardware version number
Serial number and settings database
Stores all serial numbers together with amplifier parameter settings in a database for full traceability
Our commitment to you
We work closely with all of our partners to promote high standards and to support you in realising the full benefits of our truly innovative and impactful core technology and associated products.
As a TubeSync retailer or accredited technician you will receive:
Guaranteed product quality
All of our products are manufactured to the highest quality standards using state of the art assembly equipment. All components are ROSH compliant and uniquely identified for full batch traceability
A comprehensive solution
A complete package of hardware and software supports ease of use and easy configuration
Technical support
Our approach is founded on product and service quality. We offer our retail partners generous technical support to ensure that you are fully equipped for promoting TubeSync technology and advising your customers appropriately.
As an authorised retailer you will appoint a technician(s) who will receive training from our own technical team and who will be required to become certified as an accredited TubeSync technician before performing installations.
Warranty
All components come with a 12 month warranty which commences from the date of installation. Full warranty terms are available on request.
Tags: amp, Amp tech, backliners, bias, bias problems, EL34, EL34 Valve, guitar, guitar amp repair, hiwatt, Hiwatt custom amp, KBO Dynamics, London, Marshall, Output transformer, technician, the plasa, Tubes, TubeSync, TubeSync Bias, UK, valve, valve amp repair, valves
Posted in Tube Amplifiers | Comments Off
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010
Over the last 40 years Dennis Marshall has worked with many people in the music business. Some famous, some to become famous, but mostly just plain ordinary musicians. Dennis has gained a reputation throughout the UK for his work and contribution to the music business and the latest news is……is that Dennis has recently signed up as the exclusive Scottish installer of TubesSync.
‘’TubeSync is a new product and is the new ‘wheel’ for guitar tube amps’’ states Dennis, ‘’ No need to match output valves in your amp. Drop in any combination of makes OR EVEN TYPES!!! (EL34, KT77, KT88, 6L6 etc).’’
‘’ TubeSync will automatically sense and adjust the output bias of each tube independently to balance the amp. Imagine what new tones you can create from those limitless output tube combinations!’’
Dennis has an amp in his workshop with Tubesync installed – so anybody is welcome to come in and try it out!!
You can reach Dennis directly on…………..
Telephone 01383 881761
Email tech@dennismarshall.co.uk
Or Mail or in person at
6 Main Street, Newmills
Dunfermline, Fife, KY12 8SR
Every person who goes into Dennis’s workshop is equally important and will always get the same high standard of service. Dennis is an approved Mesa Boogie engineer and has worked with a number of high profile bands including:
Deacon Blue, The Proclaimers, Roger Nichols, Texas, George Michael band, Nine Inch Nails, Wasp, Uriah Heep, The Hazey Janes, Pete Caban, Glasvegas, Katie Melua, Dave Valentine, Ona, Mark DeNeys, Fiesty Piranhas, Ally McErlaine, Bobby Bandiera, Stapleton, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Dougie MacLean, The Eels, Joe Gore, Joe Gormal, The Searchers, Jon Solish, Ray Wilson, Idlewild, Lionel Richie, Paul Buchanan, Stuart McCredie, The Eagles, Ron Sexsmith, Tam White, Lauri Anderson, Willie Logan, Bobbie Heatley, Steve Adey, Robbie Gladwell, Frank Macbeth, Sons and Daughters, Hamish McGregor, Miguel Orgel, Pilot, John Goldie , Marcus Ford, Echo and the Bunnymen, Athol Fraser, Mats Nermark, Bobby Carlos, Craig Oxley, Steuart Smith, The Jam, Healthy Minds Collapse, Avast, Adrian Clark, Nick Guppy, Sergeant, Tango in the Attic, Mike Walker, NYJOS, One Night of Queen, Davie Brockett, Runrig, Glasshouse Project, Kevin Brown, Ocean Colour Scene, Tony ‘Doggen’ Foster, Midas Fall, Mayhew….
Tags: 6v6, amp, Amp tech, Bias Engine, Dennis Marshall, Dunfermline, Edinburgh, EL34 Valve, Fife, Glasgow, guitar, guitar amp repair, Guitar amp repair scotand, hi, KT88, Laney, Marshall, Mesa Boogie, Scotland, service, St Andrews, tech, technician, tube failures, TubeSync, valve matching, valves
Posted in TubeSync | Comments Off
Friday, August 20th, 2010
Due to popular demand the TubeSync Bias Engine is now in volume production!
For order enquiries please email sales@tubesync.co.uk
Tags: amp, bias, Bias Engine, biasing, current, DIY, EL34, EL34 tube, guitar, guitar amp repair, KBO Dynamics, kit, repair, service, Service Point, Sound, tech, Tube Amp Doctor, Tubes, TubeSync, UK, valve matching, valve replacement, valves
Posted in TubeSync | Comments Off
Friday, August 13th, 2010
We are offering select retailers and amp technicians the opportunity to become authorised suppliers of TubeSync technology and to take advantage of our new innovative amplifier technology.
- Become a supplier of KBO Dynamics’ TubeSync Bias Engine
- Generate revenue from hardware sales and fitting
- Benefit from accreditation as a TubeSync technician
- Add value to your offering with improved amplifier biasing methods, servicing and fault diagnostics, using TubeSync Bias Runner software
- Get involved as TubeSync emerges in new amp designs from major amp manufacturers.
If you would like to be considered as TubeSync ‘Service Point’ then please email : info@tubesync.co.uk or telephone +44 (0) 1207 585846.
Tags: amp, Amp repair, amp repair shop, Amp tech, Bias Engine, hi gain, Hiwatt custom amp, repair, retrofit, service, Service Point, technician, Technology, Tubes, TubeSync Bias Engine, UK, valve amp repair, valve matching, valves
Posted in TubeSync | Comments Off
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
An interesting phenomenon that some ‘leaky’ tubes, removed from conventionally biased amps, appear to improve when run with TubeSync. The reason may be that when the tube gets hot, g1/cathode leak causes a current increase, but it is automatically biased ‘back’ to compensate, which allows the tube to cool down again and thus reduce leakage et al. After a while the leak sometimes reduces or disappears completely – we surmise that the getter gets a chance to mop up stray gas molecules or the metallic deposit gets ‘boiled off’ the mica supports. This type of fault in a conventional amp would normally blow the HT fuse, however TubeSync can avoid is and rectify the problem! Cool eh?
Tags: 100W, 50W, AD 200, amp, Base Head, bias, bias problems, current, Custom, DR103, EL34, fuse, gain, hi, Higain, hiwatt, Hiwatt at Musikmesse, HT, Huiwa, JC900, JCM800, JCM900, KT88, Laney, Marshall, orange, Output transformer, Pacemaker 100, Problem, PV5150, Rockerverb 50 Combo, Thunderverb, Thunderverb 200, tube failures, TubeSync Bias Engine, valve, valve failure modes
Posted in Tube Amplifiers | Comments Off
Sunday, June 13th, 2010
After extensive testing, Duesenberg Boutique Amps select TubeSync as a standard part of their high quality boutique amplifier range.
Duesenberg is better known for their high quality guitars. In a unique way Dieter Goelsdorf´s Duesenberg design consolidates guitar construction, features and sounds which have written music history. The art deco style design of headstock, pickguard and metal components gives Duesenberg its own eye-catching look, while the body design bases on the old traditional Jazz guitars like being built from the 40s in Europe and in the USA.
These design elements are combined with the best possible electric guitar construction values of the 50s: Grand Vintage Alnico pickups, classical Fender scale length plus a Gibson-like fingerboard radius. Most of the vintage-style tailpieces, bridges, tremolos, pickups and controls come with greatly improved details.
The Duesenberg Doozy Two amp as pictured above is hand-wired and built in Germany, It is equipped with EL34 power tubes at 110 watts, but with the capabilities of also switching to 55 watts. This all around two channel amp comes with a switchable gain stage for the drive channel as well as serial loops for each channel. Duesenberg are proud to announce that TubeSync technology will be fitted as standard on new models manufactured after July 2010. ‘’TubeSync enhances reliability without changing the tone of the amp’’ More exciting TubeSync features will be announced shortly!
For more information visit :
http://www.tubesync.co.uk
http://www.duesenberg.de
Tags: 12AX7, 6v6, amp, anode, Bob Dylan, Boutique, Curt Smith, Custom, Doozy One, Doozy two, Duesenberg, Duesenberg USA, EL34, Eric Bazilian, Frankfurt, Gaby & Claudia, Germany, guitar, hi end, Hiwatt custom amp, Jörg Weisselberg, KBO Dynamics, Musikmesse, Musikmesse 2010, Output transformer, Randy Kohrs, technician, tube amp, TubeSync, USA, valve amp, valve matching, valves, vintage, Yogi Lonich
Posted in Tube Amplifiers | Comments Off
Friday, June 11th, 2010
Bulldog Amplification builds handcrafted tube amps in Germany to meet the ever demanding needs of musicians in terms of tone and reliability. Years of experience in repairing and modifying tube amps has lead to an exclusive line of guitar amplifiers. These instruments are built to produce the best possible tone. Most of today’s amps offer many different sounds and functions, but the guitar signal has to pass through various paths of electronic circuitry until it reaches the speaker, consequently the tone is weakened. Tone and bullet proof reliability are the most important things for Bulldog Amplification and that’s why Bulldog is delighted to announce that TubeSync will become standard within their The Jack 66, Jack 18, Black Bert 1, and Den Lachs amplifier models.
The ‘’Jack 66’’
‘’The combination of TubeSync with short signal paths and other high quality components make our amplifiers world class and due to this, Bulldog Amplification is becoming a preferred choice by professional artists and serious guitar players’’.
The TubeSync ‘’Bias Engine’’
‘’ Robust, bomb proof reliability, with enhanced functionality and perfect tone is what we want’’ – says Ingo Bührmann from Bulldog Amplification. Ingo goes on to say…
‘’Cheap poorly designed products from China are fast becoming unacceptable to guitar players especially within Germany, where high quality engineering is embedded within our culture’’ You would buy a car if the drive was terrible and it broke down when you needed it the most, well would you? ‘’ I believe the same philosophy applies to guitar amplifiers, high performance and reliability is paramount’’.
Bulldog Amps are currently used by a number of high profile bands such as the massively popular German band Guano Apes and Livingston. Bulldog amps with TubeSync will soon be appearing on a stage near you!
 Guano Apes  Livingston
For more information on TubeSync email:
UK: info@tubesync.co.uk
Germany: info@bulldog-amps.com
Tags: amp, anode, backliners, bass, bias, Bias Engine, bias problems, Broken, Bulldog, Bulldog amplification, Bulldog amps, Duesenberg, Duesenberg Amp, EL34, Frankfurt, gain, German, Germany, Guano Apes, guitar, Göldo, Ingo Bührmann, Kluson, Livingston, Musikmesse, Musikmesse 2010, Roger Mayer, Sound, technician, tube, TubeSync, TubeSync Bias Engine, UK, valve matching
Posted in Tube Amplifiers | Comments Off
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
IT TAKES more than sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll to make a guitarist sound great. John Hill meets North East amplifier makers at the cutting edge of technology.
ANDY Fallon and Colin Arrowsmith are not guit- arists. Their affair with the valve amplifier isn’t born of a youth spent practising solos or arguing over kit specifications next to the counter of their local guitar store.
In fact, Andy’s experience lies in automotive and military engineering, while Colin is an expert in microelectronics.
However, their contribution to a piece of kit beloved of the White Stripes, The Who and Black Sabbath has attracted the attention of major international amp-makers.
Andy and Colin are co-founders of KBO Dynamics, a Consett company created to market technology designed to improve audio and guitar amplification.
They are the men behind TubeSync, a “tube management system” which monitors the performance of valve amplifiers to avoid meltdowns while maintaining sound.
The product won the innovation award in the Durham and Wearside heat of the nebusinessawards 2009, run by The Journal and Evening Gazette.
KBO co-founder Andy said: “We were looking for a niche market. Neither of us plays the guitar, but we did a lot of brainstorming.
“Colin worked with microelectronics, but he’s also an expert with valve technology. We realised very quickly that the biggest application for valves was inside guitar amps.”
The valve amp isn’t exactly a rapidly advancing technological product. The technology was developed between the world wars and uses a series of vacuum tubes to regulate a signal. It was present in items from TVs to radios, but fell out of favour in the 70s.
The resurgence of such equipment has been prompted by high-end users in the audio and guitar amp market, who praise its natural sound.
Andy said: “There’s a warmer, more rounded tone to it. Anyone who’s serious about playing a guitar would only use a valve amp.”
When they developed TubeSync, the pair didn’t set out to change the sound. Instead, they set their sights on the downside, the problems that plague valve amp users looking for that special sound.
He said: “The closest you can compare it to is an engine management system on a car. It’s like having a maintenance technician looking after your amp 24/7 without you noticing it. It’s continuously monitoring the circuit, looking for faults.
“We got a market research report from Think M in Newcastle. It conducted a series of live interviews with OEM companies and guitarists.
“We looked at the problems people were talking about, but we didn’t change the sound.
“It can detect faults. It can disconnect a pair of valves if it finds one is faulty. You normally have to buy valves in matched pairs and you need to take the amp to a technician to tweak it, but with TubeSync you only need to buy one valve if one fails and it can tweak the system for you.
“One faulty valve can blow up the output transformer. TubeSync can detect this and prevent catastrophic damage.”
KBO had support from a number of North East backers. It won £90,000 from NorthStar Equity Investors’ Proof of Concept fund, developed its prototype with help from Business Link and got £20,000 from the North East England Investment Centre. The process was then advanced by a grant of £20,000 from One North East.
In all, Andy estimates the product has taken 18 months and around £200,000 to develop.
He said: “We built and developed it from the bottom up. We tried to use components that were available in the marketplace and we created our own unique algorithm.
“We don’t think there’s a similar product to this on the market and we’re hoping to receive a patent in the next couple of months.”
Right now, KBO is on the hunt for buyers. The team has just returned from the international Musikmesse instrument trade show in Frankfurt, where they saw a live band perform using TubeSync technology for the first time.
He said: “It was being used by a band playing Pinball Wizard by The Who. We’re expecting to see the technology on stage properly some time this year.
“The lead time on the product is about eight weeks so it could well be appearing in the summer.”
British amp manufacturer Hiwatt, whose users include Arctic Monkeys, The Killers and The Kooks, has incorporated TubeSync into its amps and Andy says that others, such as fellow Brits Orange, are keen.
The company is talking to manufacturers about fitting it in amps this year and down the line it may create variants of the product that could be fitted by amp technicians or even end users.
Tags: 100, amp, Bias Engine, current, Frankfurt, hiwatt, Hiwatt at Musikmesse, Hiwatt custom amp, how to, KBO Dynamics, Musikmesse, Musikmesse 2010, orange, Output transformer, tube failures, Tubes, TubeSync, TubeSync Bias Engine, valve, valve failure modes, valve matching, valves
Posted in Tube Amplifiers, TubeSync | Comments Off
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Hayden amps launch the new MoFo 100 with TubeSync during Messe Frankfurt 2010
The new Hayden MoFo 100 with TubeSync
Tags: amp, Ashdown, Ashdown Engineering, Bias Engine, cathode, EL34, Frankfurt, Hayden, Hayden Amps, Mofo, Mofo 100, Musikmesse, Musikmesse 2010, Output transformer, pacemaker, Pacemaker 100, Sound, TubeSync, TubeSync Bias Engine, valves
Posted in Tube Amplifiers | Comments Off
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Electro-Harmonix is a New York based company that makes electronic sound processors. The company was founded by Mike Matthews in 1968. They are most famous for a series of popular guitar effects pedals introduced in the 1970s and 1990s.
Electro-Harmonix was founded by Mike Matthews in October 1968 in NYC, USA.
Himself an R&B keyboard player, he had traded his passion of music for a job as a salesman for IBM in 1967. Shortly afterwards he realized that his job at IBM no longer suited him, and he was interested in trying once again to make career for himself as a keyboard player. Concerned he may not be able to support his (now ex) wife while being unemployed, he aspired to save some money to support her before embarking on his journey to stardom. Partnering with an acquaintance of his, Bill Berko, an audio repairman who claimed to have his own custom circuit for a fuzz pedal, they jobbed construction of their new pedal to a contracting house, and began distributing the pedals under a deal with the Guild Guitar Company Fuzzboxes were in demand following a trail of hits involving their sound, including “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction ” by The Rolling Stones two years prior, and recent popularization of Jimi Hendrix. The latter connection resulted in the pedals being branded the ‘Foxey Lady’.
Following the unexplained departure of his partner, Matthews was introduced to inventor and electric engineer Robert Myer through IBM colleagues.
Together the two began conceptualizing a circuit designed to emulate Jimi Hendrix’s use of a distortion-free sustain. While testing a prototype of the Distortion-Free Sustainer pedal, which Matthews did by simply plucking the strings of an electric guitar, as he did not play guitar, he noticed another small box connected to the prototype. When asked, Myer explained this box was a line booster, designed to boost the guitar’s passive signal to an appropriate level for the prototype. Matthews listened as the guitar’s volume increased greatly as the booster was turned on, and asked Myer what was involved in manufacturing the pedal. The pedal consisted of a simple circuit and used just one transistor (This would later become know as the Linear Power Booster (LPB-1), a pedal still manufactured today.Shortly afterwards, Matthews founded Electro-Harmonix to produce this and other pedal designs throughout 1960s, 70s and early 80s.
The first Electro-Harmonix product was the Axis fuzz pedal, which was also sold under the name “Foxey Lady” for the Guild guitar company. While working with Bob Myer on the early Big Muff design, Mike Matthews used a booster circuit Myer had incorporated into the design and marketed it as the LPB-1 or Linear Power Booster in 1969. This massively boosted a guitar signal to provide gain by clipping the signal, dramatically changing the sound. The new device provided a raw distorted sound, full of sustain and harmonics.
Several similar devices followed such as the Treble Booster and Bass Booster. The new devices were extremely popular with guitarists.
Electro-Harmonix stopped making pedals in the mid-1980s, and in the early 1990s started selling vacuum tubes re-branded with their name for guitar amplifiers, which they had also been making since the 1970s. However due to demand, and the high prices guitarists were paying for old 1970s pedals on the vintage market, they reissued the more popular old pedals in the mid-1990s, the Big Muff Pi and Small Clone included. In 2002 they started designing new pedals to add to their range. Company policy is that all reissued effects remain as close as possible to the original, vintage designs. This means however that casings, knobs and especially the old-fashioned mini-jack power plug are not up to modern-day standards. This all changed in 2006 with their smaller and more standardized “micro” and “nano” effect lines.
Tags: 12AX7, 2AT7, 5U4G rectifier valve, 5Y3GT, 6bq5, 6v6, amp, ECC81, ECC82, EL34, EL34 Valve, el34eh, EL34L, EL84, Electro-Harmonix, guitar, GZ34, JJ 12AU7, JJ ECC81, KT66, KT88, Laney, Marshall, Output transformer, pre amp, Tung-Sol 12AX7, valve
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