Great American Sound and SUMO Specialists
An Overview of your stock GAS component
New from the factory, this classic gear contained low quality carbon composition resistors, ceramic disc capacitors, dry-slug tantalum coupling capacitors, tin-plated connectors, twisted-pair signal path wiring, socket mounting of sensitive low-level transistors and servo IC’s, appliance grade power cords, and other components that have been surpassed as state of the art.
While common at the time, these components and construction techniques would not be tolerated in even entry level high-end gear today. On the positive side, the strong suit of the GAS/Sumo gear is the quality of the circuit topology and well-chosen operating points, PCB layouts, transformers, controls & switches, the chassis... these are all first class engineering.
Depending on the rebuild you choose, our work addresses the construction and parts issues; each level of rebuild progressively removes more of these limitations and their effects, effectively stripping away the layers of sonic age that obscure the gear's original signature and sound. Our rebuilds apply the sonic benefits of today’s parts and audio design technology that makes it comparable to current audio designs.
Discerning listeners from around the world have endowed GAS and SUMO amplifiers and preamplifiers with classic status. They are enduring components from audio’s most creative era and, when technically brought up to date, provide an amazingly musical presentation that is solidly competitive with today’s best designs.
While their quality and sonic signature is still clearly evident after 30+ years, age has slowly and subtly affected their performance. Time causes parts to degrade; contact surfaces in controls and switches develop contaminating films; transistors and regulators become noisier. Better sounding parts have become available.
Age is audible as a loss in purity and bloom on vocals and strings, a filled in or textured, grainy quality as the music becomes full range or more complex, a loss of the extension and speed of the lower frequencies. Over time, the musical presentation becomes generally less expansive, less involving and more two dimensional than these exceptional designs are capable of.