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Posted By admin On 30/07/22The vast majority of amps sold in the separates audio market are integrated designs. This means that all the functions that the amp performs are contained in a single box; this includes the connection of source equipment and selection of a particular input, volume control and the actual amplification of the input signal into something that can drive your speakers. Poker of all types, including Texas Hold'em and video poker, are easy to play, but difficult to master. Don’t take our word for it – just ask one of the world’s more than 100 million players! Although it is a card game based on luck of the draw, poker also requires thought and strategy.
An audio power amplifier (or power amp) is an electronic amplifier that amplifies low-power electronic audio signals such as the signal from radio receiver or electric guitar pickup to a level that is high enough for driving loudspeakers or headphones. Audio power amplifiers are found in all manner of sound systems including sound reinforcement, public address and home audio systems and musical instrument amplifiers like guitar amplifiers. It is the final electronic stage in a typical audio playback chain before the signal is sent to the loudspeakers.
The preceding stages in such a chain are low power audio amplifiers which perform tasks like pre-amplification of the signal (this is particularly associated with record turntable signals, microphone signals and electric instrument signals from pickups, such as the electric guitar and electric bass), equalization (e.g., adjusting the bass and treble), tone controls, mixing different input signals or adding electronic effects such as reverb. The inputs can also be any number of audio sources like record players, CD players, digital audio players and cassette players. Most audio power amplifiers require these low-level inputs, which are line level.
- Power Amplifiers. Power amplifiers are essential for raising the magnitude of a given input signal to produce the best audio quality. These signals increase to a level that can drive a high amount of audio output to devices such as speakers, RF transmitters, and headphones.
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- The amplifiers featured solid-state circuitry instead of vacuum tube-based designs so common in the 1960s. Operated in a factory in Chanute, Kansas. The company produced several models of guitar amplifiers, bass amplifiers, organ amplifiers, Guitars, Basses, and keyboards and P.A.
While the input signal to an audio power amplifier, such as the signal from an electric guitar, may measure only a few hundred microwatts, its output may be a few watts for small consumer electronics devices, such as clock radios, tens or hundreds of watts for a home stereo system, several thousand watts for a nightclub's sound system or tens of thousands of watts for a large rock concert sound reinforcement system. While power amplifiers are available in standalone units, typically aimed at the hi-fi audiophile market (a niche market) of audio enthusiasts and sound reinforcement system professionals, most consumer electronics sound products, such as clock radios, boomboxes and televisions have relatively small power amplifiers that are integrated inside the chassis of the main product.
History[edit]
The audio amplifier was invented around 1912 by Lee de Forest, made possible by his invention of the first practical amplifying electrical component, the triodevacuum tube (or 'valve' in British English) in 1907. The triode was a three terminal device with a control grid that can modulate the flow of electrons from the filament to the plate. The triode vacuum amplifier was used to make the first AM radio.[2] Early audio power amplifiers were based on vacuum tubes and some of these achieved notably high audio quality (e.g., the Williamson amplifier of 1947-9).
Audio power amplifiers based on transistors became practical with the wide availability of inexpensive transistors in the late 1960s. Since the 1970s, most modern audio amplifiers are based on solid-state transistors, especially the bipolar junction transistor (BJT) and the metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET). Transistor-based amplifiers are lighter in weight, more reliable and require less maintenance than tube amplifiers.
The MOSFET, invented by Mohamed Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959,[3] was adapted into a power MOSFET for audio by Jun-ichi Nishizawa at Tohoku University in 1974.[4] Power MOSFETs were soon manufactured by Yamaha for their hi-fi audio amplifiers. JVC, Pioneer Corporation, Sony and Toshiba also began manufacturing amplifiers with power MOSFETs in 1974.[4] In 1977, Hitachi introduced the LDMOS (lateral diffused MOS), a type of power MOSFET. Hitachi was the only LDMOS manufacturer between 1977 and 1983, during which time LDMOS was used in audio power amplifiers from manufacturers such as HH Electronics (V-series) and Ashly Audio, and were used for music and public address systems.[4]Class-D amplifiers became successful in the mid-1980s when low-cost, fast-switching MOSFETs were made available.[5] Many transistor amps use MOSFET devices in their power sections, because their distortion curve is more tube-like.[6]
In the 2010s, there are still audio enthusiasts, musicians (particularly electric guitarists, electric bassists, Hammond organ players and Fender Rhodeselectric piano players, among others), audio engineers and music producers who prefer tube-based amplifiers, and what is perceived as a 'warmer' tube sound.
Design parameters[edit]
Key design parameters for audio power amplifiers are frequency response, gain, noise, and distortion. These are interdependent; increasing gain often leads to undesirable increases in noise and distortion. While negative feedback actually reduces the gain, it also reduces distortion. Most audio amplifiers are linear amplifiers operating in class AB.
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Until the 1970s, most amplifiers were tube amplifiers which used vacuum tubes. During the 1970s, tube amps were increasingly replaced with transistor-based amplifiers, which were lighter in weight, more reliable, and lower maintenance. Nevertheless, there are still niche markets of consumers who continue to use tube amplifiers and tube preamplifiers in the 2010s, such as with home hi-fi enthusiasts, audio engineers and music producers (who use tube preamplifiers in studio recordings to 'warm up' microphone signals) and electric guitarists, electric bassists and Hammond organ players, of whom a minority continue to use tube preamps, tube power amps and tube effects units. While hi-fi enthusiasts and audio engineers doing live sound or monitoring tracks in the studio typically seek out amplifiers with the lowest distortion, electric instrument players in genres such as blues, rock music and heavy metal music, among others, use tube amplifiers because they like the natural overdrive that tube amps produce when pushed hard.
In the 2000s, the Class-D amplifier, which is much more efficient than Class AB amplifiers, is widely used in consumer electronics audio products, bass amplifiers and sound reinforcement system gear, as Class D amplifiers are much lighter in weight and produce much less heat.
Filters and preamplifiers[edit]
Since modern digital devices, including CD and DVD players, radio receivers and tape decks already provide a 'flat' signal at line level, the preamp is not needed other than as a volume control and source selector. One alternative to a separate preamp is to simply use passive volume and switching controls, sometimes integrated into a power amplifier to form an integrated amplifier.
Power output stages[edit]
The final stage of amplification, after preamplifiers, is the output stage, where the highest demands are placed on the transistors or tubes. For this reason, the design choices made around the output device (for single-ended output stages, such as in single-ended triode amplifiers) or devices (for push-pull output stages), such as the Class of operation of the output devices is often taken as the description of the whole power amplifier. For example, a Class B amplifier will probably have just the high power output devices operating cut off for half of each cycle, while the other devices (such as differential amplifier, voltage amplifier and possibly even driver transistors) operate in Class A. In a transformerless output stage, the devices are essentially in series with the power supply and output load (such as a loudspeaker), possibly via some large capacitor and/or small resistances.
Further developments[edit]
For some years following the introduction of solid state amplifiers, their perceived sound did not have the excellent audio quality of the best valve amplifiers (see valve audio amplifier). This led audiophiles to believe that 'tube sound' or valve sound had an intrinsic quality due to the vacuum tube technology itself. In 1970, Matti Otala published a paper on the origin of a previously unobserved form of distortion: transient intermodulation distortion (TIM),[7] later also called slew-induced distortion (SID) by others.[8] TIM distortion was found to occur during very rapid increases in amplifier output voltage.[9]
TIM did not appear at steady state sine tone measurements, helping to hide it from design engineers prior to 1970. Problems with TIM distortion stem from reduced open loop frequency response of solid state amplifiers. Further works of Otala and other authors found the solution for TIM distortion, including increasing slew rate, decreasing preamp frequency bandwidth, and the insertion of a lag compensation circuit in the input stage of the amplifier.[10][11][12] In high quality modern amplifiers the open loop response is at least 20 kHz, canceling TIM distortion.
The next step in advanced design was the Baxandall Theorem, created by Peter Baxandall in England.[13] This theorem introduced the concept of comparing the ratio between the input distortion and the output distortion of an amplifier. This new idea helped audio design engineers to better evaluate the distortion processes within an amplifier.
Applications[edit]
Important applications include public address systems, theatrical and concert sound reinforcement systems, and domestic systems such as a stereo or home-theatre system. Instrument amplifiers including guitar amplifiers and electric keyboard amplifiers also use audio power amplifiers. In some cases, the power amplifier for an instrument amplifier is integrated into a single amplifier 'head' which contains a preamplifier, tone controls, and electronic effects. These components may be mounted in a wooden speaker cabinet to create a 'combo amplifier'. Musicians with unique performance needs and/or a need for very powerful amplification may create a custom setup with separate rackmount preamplifiers, equalizers, and a power amplifier mounted in a 19' road case.
Power amplifiers are available in standalone units, which are used by hi-fi audio enthusiasts and designers of public address systems (PA systems) and sound reinforcement systems. A hi-fi user of power amplifiers may have a stereo power amplifier to drive left and right speakers and a 'monoblock' single channel power amplifier to drive a subwoofer. The number of power amplifiers used in a sound reinforcement setting depends on the size of the venue. A small coffeehouse may have a single power amp driving two PA speakers. A nightclub may have several power amps for the main speakers, one or more power amps for the monitor speakers (pointing towards the band) and an additional power amp for the subwoofer. A stadium concert may have a large number of power amps mounted in racks. Most consumer electronics sound products, such as TVs, boom boxes, home cinema sound systems, Casio and Yamaha electronic keyboards, 'combo' guitar amps and car stereos have power amplifiers integrated inside the chassis of the main product.
See also[edit]
- Instrument amplifier (amplifiers for musical instruments)
References[edit]
- ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2011-04-24. Retrieved 2011-01-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Cyrus Audio: Product Archive: Cyrus One
- ^http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/physics/transistor/history/ The Transistor in a Century of Electronics
- ^'Rethink Power Density with GaN'. Electronic Design. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
- ^ abcDuncan, Ben (1996). High Performance Audio Power Amplifiers. Elsevier. pp. 177–8, 406. ISBN9780080508047.
- ^Duncan, Ben (1996). High Performance Audio Power Amplifiers. Newnes. pp. 147–148. ISBN9780750626293.
- ^Fliegler, Ritchie; Eiche, Jon F. (1993). Amps! The Other Half of Rock 'n' Roll. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN9780793524112.
- ^Otala, M. (1970). 'Transient distortion in transistorized audio power amplifiers'. IEEE Transactions on Audio and Electroacoustics. 18 (3): 234–239. doi:10.1109/TAU.1970.1162117. S2CID13952562.
- ^Walter G. Jung, Mark L. Stephens, and Craig C. Todd (June 1979), 'An overview of SID and TIM', Audio
- ^'Circuit Design Modifications for Minimizing Transient Intermodulation Distortion in Audio Amplifiers', Matti Otala, Journal of Audio Engineering Society, Vol 20 # 5, June 1972
- ^Distribution of the Phonograph Signal Rate of Change, Lammasniemi, Jorma; Nieminen, Kari, Journal of Audio Engineering Society, Vol. 28 # 5, May 1980.
- ^'Psychoacoustic Detection Threshold of Transient Intermodulation Distortion', Petri-Larmi, M.; Otala, M.; Lammasniemi, J. Journal of Audio Engineering Society, Vol 28 # 3, March 1980
- ^Discussion of practical design features that can provoke or lessen slew-rate limiting and transient intermodulation in audio amplifiers can also be found for example in chapter 9 in John Linsley Hood's 'The Art of Linear Electronics' (Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, 1993).
- ^'Audio power amplifier design', Peter Baxandall. Wireless World magazine, February 1979
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| Private | |
| Industry | Amplification |
|---|---|
| Founded | Chanute, Kansas (1964; 56 years ago) |
| Founder | Charles A. 'Bud' Ross |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | guitar amplifiers |
| Parent | Hanser Music Group |
| Website | www.kustom.com |
Kustom Amplification or Kustom Electronics is a manufacturer of guitar and bass amplifiers and PA equipment and accessories. Since 1999, Kustom has been owned by the Hanser Music Group headquartered in Cincinnati; Ohio, which also ownswww.powerwerks.com.
History[edit]
'Kustom' was a brand and trademark of Ross, Inc., a company founded in 1964 by Charles A. 'Bud' Ross in Chanute, Kansas. The main selling point of Kustom amplifiers was their unique appearance: Ross, Inc. was the first to mass-produce amplifiers covered in roll and pleat, popularly referred to as 'Tuck-And-Roll' naugahyde, similar to hot-rod automobile upholstery popular at that time. The amplifiers featured solid-state circuitry instead of vacuum tube-based designs so common in the 1960s.
Ross, Inc. operated in a factory in Chanute, Kansas. The company produced several models of guitar amplifiers, bass amplifiers, organ amplifiers, Guitars, Basses, and keyboards and P.A. systems. There was also a line of guitars with DeArmond pickups in a variety of colors, including the infamous Pink to Green sunburst that fans have affectionately named 'Watermelon Burst.' In an original promotion Kustom gave away 'Kustom Kats' with the purchase of an amplifier. The Kustom (The Nauga, or Naugie) Kats were from the same Uniroyal Naugahyde that Kustom used to cover their products. The original Kustom amps came in a variety of colors including Red Sparkle, Blue Sparkle, Gold Sparkle, Cascade Sparkle (teal), Charcoal Sparkle (grey), Silver Sparkle (white), and Flat Black (which contained no glitter). Eventually the company branched out to produce organs, drums, microphones, and guitars.
Charles 'Bud' Ross produced the first Kustom amp which comprised two fifteen inch speakers mounted side-by-side in a horizontal white sparkle cabinet with and a non-Frankenstein head. The first amp was built for a member of the Nebraska Hall of Fame and is now a featured display in the collection of Rainbow Recording Studios in Omaha, Nebraska. The company was owned by Bud Ross from 1964 until June 1972, when Ross sold it to Baldwin Pianos. The sale was finalized just prior to the 1972 Summer NAMM show where the metal/slant face Kustom amps were introduced. Later Bud Ross established a fairly lucrative business which manufactured police handheld radars. During the following years the factory in Kansas and the associated trademarks would change ownership numerous times. The most notable merger happened with Gretsch, which at the time was owned by Baldwin.
Aside from the Kustom brand, Kustom Electronics also began to manufacture an amplifier line called Kasino. The brand was established in 1972. These were internally the same as Kustom amplifiers but were covered with traditional Tolex material as seen on Fender style amplifiers. Kasino amps were used mainly by country music performers who felt the regular Kustom Tuck-And-Roll Naugahyde models were too flashy. Another reason for establishing a parallel brand was simply to gain a greater share of the amplifier market. One distributor could sell the Kustom brand and one could sell Kasino without competing with each other. Waylon Jennings was an early supporter of the Kasino line. Kasino amps were discontinued in 1975 when Kustom Electronics once again changed ownership.
Other parallel brands of Kustom Electronics were Klassic and Camco. Klassic was a brief venture that reputedly fell into trademark disputes with Peavey Electronics who happened to own the 'Classic' trademark. Camco was a brand used for drums.
Some affiliated companies and trademarks were Woodson and Legend. Woodson Electronics, Inc. from Bolivar, Missouri was an independent business entity founded by Mike Woodson in the early 1970s (around the same time when Kustom was acquired by Gretsch). Mike was Bud's brother-in-law and all amps and P.A. systems were manufactured in Bolivar. Several Kustom employees moved to Bolivar to work for Woodson. Legend hybrid amplifiers of Legend Musical Instruments, Inc. from Syracuse, New York were also manufactured by the Kustom factory. Reputedly these were engineered by Richard Newman (an employee of Bonne Music Shop) and a former employee of Woodson Electronics.
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Kustom abandoned the tuck-n-roll upholstery in the late 1970s. Around the same time the company also changed its logo to a bigger letter 'K.' Mesa Boogie 'Mark' series amplifiers appeared in the late 1970s generating a huge impact. Everyone wanted to clone the popular design, including Kustom Electronics. Kustom's answer to the Mark series was a hybrid amplifier series called 'K-Studio.' The K-Studio was among the last traditional Kustom products, as subsequent Kustom trademark owners no longer had any affiliation with the old Kansas-based company.
Today, Kustom amplifiers are considered fairly collectible and are preferred by some vintage enthusiasts for their solid-state tone. Rockabilly and Motown musicians originally used these amps. Other artists known for using the Kustom brand for live performances are Creedence Clearwater Revival, Hoyt Axton, The Altamonts, Dusty Murphy, 3 and Sheryl Crow. Some of the most famous Kustom P.A. users include Creedence Clearwater Revival, Leon Russell, Johnny Cash, Roy Clark, The Jackson 5, Carl Perkins and The Carpenters. CCR toured from mid-1969 - 1972 using their own massive Kustom 400 PA system due to a lack of quality backline PA systems in venues at that time. As a result, CCR concerts were superior in sound quality, but the cost of transporting the equipment made touring a money losing deal for the band.
Hanser Re-issues
Hanser Holdings, Inc. from Cincinnati, Ohio bought the bankrupted Kustom in the late 1980s. In 1994, Hanser produced some small solid-state amplifiers featuring tuck-n-roll covering under the Kustom brand. These amps were manufactured in China.
From 1999 to 2001 Hanser continued producing Kustom brand tuck-n-roll amplifiers including a full tube guitar amplifier, 100W and a 50W solid state reverb amps called TRT100 and TRT50, a 400W hybrid bass amplifier TRB400H, as well as 2x12', 4x12' and 2x15' speaker cabinets in original tuck-n-roll style. List prices were in 2000: $999.95 (TRT100), $899.95 (TRT50), $899.95 (TRB400H) $399.95 (2x12'), $599.95 (4x12'), $749.95 (2x15').
KrossroadSince selling Ross, Inc. Bud Ross has had numerous ventures in MI industry (including Road Electronics and Ross Systems). His only venture resembling traditional Kustom amplifiers was a brief venture with his son Andy Ross. The duo founded Krossroad Music Corporation in the early 1990s and for a brief period the company manufactured a series of solid-state bass amplifiers featuring traditional Kustom-style tuck-n-roll cosmetics. The amplifiers were even marketed with the Kustom Kat mascot. The venture proved unsuccessful, however, and within a few years the company had ceased to exist.
Guitars
As noted above, Kustom also produced a line of guitars in the 1967-1969 designed by Doyle Reading who also designed guitars for Wurlitzer. Model numbers were similar to the amplifiers of the time, with the K-200 being a semi-hollow body instrument with a cats-eye sound hole giving it a somewhat Rickenbacker-style look. It was equipped with two single coil DeArmond pickups, a bound neck, a steel nut, and a rosewood fretboard with multiple dot inlays beginning with four for each position marker below the 12th fret. The guitars came in different colors including natural, white, blue, wineburst aka watermelon burst, cherry-orange sunburst, natural ash, black ash and white ash, and were produced with or without a Bigsby tailpiece. According to Doyle at the 1967 NAMM show in Chicago orders came flooding in which made it hard to meet the demand.
References[edit]
External links[edit]
- Bud Ross NAMM Oral History Interview