on little glass tubes that were sensitive to
vibration, heat buildup and just about any
other condition in a cramped spacecraft.
Interestingly, us Americans logically switched
to the new semi-conductors while our
Russian comrades went the other way
and developed the sub-mini vacuum tube.
These tiny bad boys are near indestructible
and they are strangely never talked about
outside of space programs. They outperform
bulky old valves in almost every capacity,
yet when they came out, roaring 100-watt
full-stacks were all the rage and we didn’t
have the technology to magnify—for lack
of a better term—the volume of these
toneful little beasties without negating
their purpose. Enter the BluGuitar Amp1.
Developed around nanotube technology,
this beast is a 100-watt powerhouse of
tone. The Amp1 was developed to be
a lightweight, maintenance-free, hugely
versatile and ultimately amazing sounding
end-all be-all guitar amp. It can fit on a
pedalboard or on top of a cab for traditional
use. It has more features that any amp big or
small that I know about and all this wouldn’t
mean a thing if it didn’t sound killer from
clean to filthy and vintage to modern. I am
told by a reliable source, a guitar tech of a
legendary favorite band of mine, that this is
indeed the case. He purchased more than
one within minutes of hearing it.
RENEWABLE TONE SOURCES
The theme of this piece stretches into
the amp world as well. Take the Analog
Outfitters Scanner Vibrato for example. The
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TONE TALK //
Scanner takes technology developed by
Laurens Hammond as far back as 1935 and
propels it into the studios of today. Like so
How Defunct Technology Became State-of-the-Art Effects