Coffee fueled rant.
One of the most mis-applied and useless terms I know of. A true marketing concept that noone cared about 20 years ago, yet Simultaneously based on nostalgia.
I see it mostly on FB groups and it usually starts getting slung around with "Handwired vs PCB".
Why are they comparing 2 mostly unrelated things?
"Handwiring" is a method of assembly, whereas PCB is a construction design choice.
I mean, I get why there's some confusion, because PCBs were introduced to make assembly faster and less labour intensive. but it was also introduced to make the results more consistent. True, the construction type does lend itself to increasing levels of economisation, hands off assembly, wave soldering, everything board mounted etc, but that's an assembly/production choice, not an inherent issue with the general choice of construction design.
P2P, tag, turret, and PCB can all be handwired.
Let's do some pics, because that's easier.
What everyone thinks point to point Looks like.
No. Hiwatt was the exception, and that's not point to point, its turretboard which, like PCB, was used to Make assembly faster and more consistent. it was proto PCB.
Here's How turret board would more typically look (to be fair to looks more like eyelet board, but point stands):
And What true point to point typically looks like:
A rats Nest, and good luck building anything more complex than a simple amp. Forget multiple channels with independent EQs and all the other features we take for granted on Modern amps.
What well done handwired PCB amps look like:
Solid and Aesthetically Pleasing
Solid, but not so Aesthetically pleasing
An example of PCB economisation, but without compromise on material/component quality.
And No, none of the above PCB amps are "hybrid", a term I increasingly see used. They're just how PCB amps used to be built.
Interesting thing to note. Marshall in the UK (as in the UK factory) invested heavily in wave soldering a bunch of years back, so guess what the the Likes of JVMs etc are?
One of the most mis-applied and useless terms I know of. A true marketing concept that noone cared about 20 years ago, yet Simultaneously based on nostalgia.
I see it mostly on FB groups and it usually starts getting slung around with "Handwired vs PCB".
Why are they comparing 2 mostly unrelated things?
"Handwiring" is a method of assembly, whereas PCB is a construction design choice.
I mean, I get why there's some confusion, because PCBs were introduced to make assembly faster and less labour intensive. but it was also introduced to make the results more consistent. True, the construction type does lend itself to increasing levels of economisation, hands off assembly, wave soldering, everything board mounted etc, but that's an assembly/production choice, not an inherent issue with the general choice of construction design.
P2P, tag, turret, and PCB can all be handwired.
Let's do some pics, because that's easier.
What everyone thinks point to point Looks like.
No. Hiwatt was the exception, and that's not point to point, its turretboard which, like PCB, was used to Make assembly faster and more consistent. it was proto PCB.
Here's How turret board would more typically look (to be fair to looks more like eyelet board, but point stands):
And What true point to point typically looks like:
A rats Nest, and good luck building anything more complex than a simple amp. Forget multiple channels with independent EQs and all the other features we take for granted on Modern amps.
What well done handwired PCB amps look like:
Solid and Aesthetically Pleasing
Solid, but not so Aesthetically pleasing
An example of PCB economisation, but without compromise on material/component quality.
And No, none of the above PCB amps are "hybrid", a term I increasingly see used. They're just how PCB amps used to be built.
Interesting thing to note. Marshall in the UK (as in the UK factory) invested heavily in wave soldering a bunch of years back, so guess what the the Likes of JVMs etc are?
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