The
New THD Flexi-50 Amplifier
THD
is thrilled to announce the arrival of their new Flexi-50
amplifier head. The Flexi-50 is a precision hand-built 50-watt
Class-AB amplifier with foot-switchable overdrive/boost, foot-switchable
master volume control and the ability to use almost any preamp
and power tubes in any combination, including 6L6, EL34, 6V6,
6CA7, 8417, 6550, KT66, KT77, KT88, KT90, KT100, EL84 (with
Yellow Jacket adaptor), 6K6, 6F6, 12AX7, 12AY7, 12AU7, 12AT7,
12AZ7, 12DW7, 12BH7, ECC83, ECC82, ECC81 and many more, giving
the user a huge pallet of available sounds simply by changing
tubes. The amplifier has a fat, clear, full clean sound reminiscent
of late 1950s to early 1960s American combos, and overdrive
to rival the best British heads. Even at the highest overdrive
settings, the amp still demonstrates dramatic touch sensitivity,
cleaning up very well when the volume on the guitar is reduced.
Additional features include external bias test points and
individual bias controls, permitting the user to quickly and
accurately set the output tube bias with any digital voltmeter.
The dual bias controls permit the user to correctly bias even
mismatched tubes, eliminating the need for matched power tubes.
What
does all of this mean for you, the player? It could very well
mean that the search for your sound is finally over. While
our UniValve and BiValve-30 amplifiers off er the same flexibility
and choice of tubes, they do so in a Class-A circuit. While
Class-A amplifiers do have a strong following due to their
smooth, even character, there are many players who need, or
even crave the immediacy, clarity and "punch" of a grid-biased
Class-AB amplifier. The 40 year long love affair that guitarists
have had with the now almost clichÈ 50 watt rock and roll
amplifier head is proof of this.
In
the Flexi-50, we at THD have brought together an ideal combination
of simplicity and flexibility, hence the name "Flexi-50".
Why strive for simplicity? Robust design and construction
are among the reasons. Ease of use is another prime struction
are among the reasons. Ease of use is another prime reason.
We hear every day from guitarists who have purchased 3- and
4-channel guitar amplifiers, only to discover that, aside
from varying gain levels, the channels all sound and, equally
importantly, feel more or less the same, dashing their dreams
of flexibility to pieces. Another byproduct of an overly complex
amplifier is that it can take a very long time to uncover
a sound that really works for you.
How
is the Flexi-50 different? First off , it is a single-channel
amplifier, but one that can be switched and blended among
a number of different sounding and diff erent feeling voices.
The changes can come from a number of methods including foot-switching
a preset boost level with its own, dedicated tone control
that allows you to make your boosted sound darker than the
clean sound, brighter, or anywhere in between.
The
unique combination of our touch-sensitive input circuit and
the wonderfully active and reactive tone control section (that
we slaved a year to perfect) make for a front-end that really
responds to subtle and not-so-subtle changes in the signal
being fed into the amplifier either by the guitar or any effect
that may be between the guitar and the amplifier. Back off
on the volume control and the amp gets much cleaner without
losing the fatness of the full-volume sound. How do we do
this? You buy the sushi and well get as technical as you want,
but what really matters is that it works, not so much how
it works.
Switch
from an over-wound bridge pickup to a clearer, loweroutput
neck pickup and suddenly the amplifier responds very differently.
Our input is quite sensitive to the individual impedance curves
and inductance characteristics of your pickups, so you will
not experience the all-too-common situation where every guitar
you own sounds the same through your amplifier. PAFs sound
like PAFs. Strats sound like Strats. Filtertrons sound like
Filtertrons. Lipstick pickups sound like, well, like nothing
else on the planet. Into exotic handmade guitars and pickups?
Wouldnt it be nice to have an amplifier that lets you hear
the diff erence between 9000 turns and 9200 turns of wire
in a pickup? Come plug in and see (and hear) for yourself.
You
say that you like to use pedals? There are many talented pedal
makers coming out of the woodwork from all corners of the
world. The THD Flexi-50 has no trouble helping you hear the
diff erence between a NOS military-grade germanium transistor
and a modern "equivalent". You decide if they are equivalent
or not, and with the Flexi-50, you will have the tool to do
so. Does it like pedals? It LOVES them.
More
about the overdrive capability of the Flexi- 50... With its
modifi ed-design, custom-tuned post-phase-inverter master
volume circuit, the Flexi-50 can give you a luscious palette
of overdrive sounds before you even get the output stage working,
and these sounds are all highly touch-sensitive as well.
Switching
tubes is easier than ever before. With the built-in bias adjustments,
you can easily and accurately set the bias in about 20 seconds,
even with two completely different tubes.
Other
features include a line-level eff ects loop and a 50-watt/20-watt
switch right on the front panel, letting you drop the plate
voltage on the power tubes from 475 to 325, giving not only
lower output, but also smoother, more even response and even
longer tube life. We also have a series/parallel switched
impedance selector that can take any cabinet from 2 ohms to
16 ohms impedance, and always uses 100% of the transformer
windings all of the time, another THD innovation. This assures
you a full, even output sound, regardless of the impedance
setting. The power and output transformers are fully shielded
to assure that hum and noise are kept to an absolute minimum,
and that pickup-feedback from transformer coupling is all
but eliminated.
But
dont take our word for it. Visit your local THD dealer and
find out for yourself why the new THD Flexi- 50 will have
you selling your other amps, simply because you just wont
need them any more.
