Hand-wired Vs PCB for pedals and amps....

[jeremyb]

An interesting discussion

[Darth Sabbathi]

Didn't watch the whole thing, but interesting topic. I certainly can't hear any difference, but I still like hand wired things. And on a related tangent, I like vintage amps and pedals, but I concede that modern ones are better overall (certainly more consistent).

Part of the reason I like vintage and bespoke things is the idea that something pieced together 50 years ago is still alive and can still rip faces off. The idea of some gnome in their back shed hunched over a soldering iron unleashing sonic sorcery. It is technology I can (almost) imagine crafting myself.

Another part is visual aesthetics. Hand wired boards look cool, valves look cool, old synthesisers look cool. Mind you, so do some PCBs... I don't know, but I will admit it has little to do with superior sound for me!

[Slowy]

I choose traditional hand wired amps.
They probably don't sound better
I don't even really think of them as cooler or more desirable
But they're easy to repair and maintain and that, good people is the decider for me.
End of story.

I'd like to say the same for pedals but it's not practical if you want commercial products.

[Bg]

2/3 of my amps are handwired, 1 I built myself - and when it crackles I know which bit of cab to smack.

I also have a remarkable s/s fender amp.

and I spend 97% of my time digital.

Loved gigging every amp I owned, at least 4 of them were pcb!!! omg.

[robthemac]

I choose traditional hand wired amps.
They probably don't sound better
I don't even really think of them as cooler or more desirable
But they're easy to repair amd maintain and that, good people is the decider for me.
End of story.

I'd like to say the same for pedals but it's not practical if you want commercial products.

Agree. Doubtful that they sound any better, but knowing that dodgy resistor can be swapped makes me sleep easier.

Will hopefully be in possession of three handwired amps in the near future...

[Starfire]

Next, let’s debate tonewoods again.

[JHorner]

Next, let’s debate tonewoods again.

Yes lets do that.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6345&p=940223#p940223

[murky]

Bad design/construction, is bad design/construction, regardless of hw/pcb.

Case in point - I’ve owned 3 Vox AC4 HW’s. They’ve all been noisy, and felt pretty stiff.

A family friend who’s an electrical/audio engineer built a true point-to-point AC4 and it’s DEAD quiet, sounds and feels great. In discussing with him, he just confirmed the obvious: component choice, placement, and minimising distance between parts all adds up…..

[Bg]

Bad design/construction, is bad design/construction, regardless of hw/pcb.

Case in point - I’ve owned 3 Vox AC4 HW’s. They’ve all been noisy, and felt pretty stiff.

A family friend who’s an electrical/audio engineer built a true point-to-point AC4 and it’s DEAD quiet, sounds and feels great. In discussing with him, he just confirmed the obvious: component choice, placement, and minimising distance between parts all adds up…..

Can he do an AC10?

[robthemac]

Bad design/construction, is bad design/construction, regardless of hw/pcb.

Case in point - I’ve owned 3 Vox AC4 HW’s. They’ve all been noisy, and felt pretty stiff.

A family friend who’s an electrical/audio engineer built a true point-to-point AC4 and it’s DEAD quiet, sounds and feels great. In discussing with him, he just confirmed the obvious: component choice, placement, and minimising distance between parts all adds up…..

Can he do an AC10?

Why improve on perfection?

[jeremyb]

Bad design/construction, is bad design/construction, regardless of hw/pcb.

Case in point - I’ve owned 3 Vox AC4 HW’s. They’ve all been noisy, and felt pretty stiff.

A family friend who’s an electrical/audio engineer built a true point-to-point AC4 and it’s DEAD quiet, sounds and feels great. In discussing with him, he just confirmed the obvious: component choice, placement, and minimising distance between parts all adds up…..

Can he do an AC10?

Why improve on perfection?

This guy! ^^^^^

[Slowy]

Bad design/construction, is bad design/construction, regardless of hw/pcb.

Case in point - I’ve owned 3 Vox AC4 HW’s. They’ve all been noisy, and felt pretty stiff.

A family friend who’s an electrical/audio engineer built a true point-to-point AC4 and it’s DEAD quiet, sounds and feels great. In discussing with him, he just confirmed the obvious: component choice, placement, and minimising distance between parts all adds up…..

Can he do an AC10?

Why improve on perfection?

To enable it to live beyond its first component failure?

[Lyle]

Bad design/construction, is bad design/construction, regardless of hw/pcb.

Case in point - I’ve owned 3 Vox AC4 HW’s. They’ve all been noisy, and felt pretty stiff.

A family friend who’s an electrical/audio engineer built a true point-to-point AC4 and it’s DEAD quiet, sounds and feels great. In discussing with him, he just confirmed the obvious: component choice, placement, and minimising distance between parts all adds up…..

Can he do an AC10?

Why improve on perfection?

AC4 to AC10. Obviously it's 6 better, right?

[Danger Mouse]

I choose traditional hand wired amps.
They probably don't sound better
I don't even really think of them as cooler or more desirable
But they're easy to repair and maintain and that, good people is the decider for me.
End of story.

I'd like to say the same for pedals but it's not practical if you want commercial products.

The easier to repair thing is not necessarily true. The benefit of modern pcb electronics is, unlike your hand wired amp that needs a tech to fault find, on something that is pcb-based, you identify which board is faulty, take it out and put a new one in.

[robthemac]

I choose traditional hand wired amps.
They probably don't sound better
I don't even really think of them as cooler or more desirable
But they're easy to repair and maintain and that, good people is the decider for me.
End of story.

I'd like to say the same for pedals but it's not practical if you want commercial products.

The easier to repair thing is not necessarily true. The benefit of modern pcb electronics is, unlike your hand wired amp that needs a tech to fault find, on something that is pcb-based, you identify which board is faulty, take it out and put a new one in.

But replacing a board is likely more expensive and challenging that replacing your average resistor or capacitor, right?