[Ric Schultz]

I am now modding all the First Watt amps for better sound.  These simple class a circuits are incredible but the execution is average.  So, upping the tweak level of these amps will bring out the beauty of the original circuit.  I charge $75 an hour for labor and the minimum charge is $100.  Please see my webpage for details of mods that can be done.  Any amount of mods and tweaking can be done.  These amps are easy to work on and therefore easy to tweak.  Even a $100 mod will blow your mind.  Of course, any mods done to the amps voids the manufactures warrantee.  I gaurantee my work for life.  If the amp fails on its own then I will fix it for minimum charge.  Please call for details.  831-338-2896.  Please see http://www.tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/First_Watt_Mods.html for more info

[jtwrace]

I am now modding all the First Watt amps for better sound.  These simple class a circuits are incredible but the execution is average. 

Can you elaborate?  This is the first time I've ever seen anyone say this about a Nelson Pass circuit.

[roscoeiii]

If I had to take a stab, I'd say that since Nelson Pass is more of a circuit guy than a boutique parts guy, this is where the advantages might reside. And all amps are built to a price point...

That said, that is some claim that a modded J2 will outperform a SIT amp. That is a comparison I would need to hear.

[Gopher]

Out of curiosity, would you work on a Rawson First Watt clone?

[Ric Schultz]

Elaborate?  Most of the the possible mods are mentioned on the website.  Nelson uses very standard construction and execution. 

I first mentioned modding these amps to Srajen at Six Moons and he published my email to him on his magazine.  So, I emailed Nelson Pass and told him what I wanted to do and that I would be glad to be his "tweak buddy", even for free.  I said a great tweaker and a great circuit designer could make some seriously good music together.  This is his exact reply to me:

"While I don't pursue the same methods, you are correct that playing with the circuit while
 
listening yields a lot of benefits.  I like to concentrate my efforts in my particular style -
 
I leave others to pursue it in their own way.
 
You are of course free to play with my designs as you like."


So, Nelson is not anti-tweaking.  He just wants to do what he wants to do.  At least he has no problem with me modding his gear (some designers go crazy when you say you are messing with their products).  I have been tweaking as long as he has been designing....since the mid 70s.  I have designed some stuff too, but would not call myself a designer.

Most of the individual mods I do do not make a huge difference.  Each mod makes a small to moderate difference.  However, when you do 10 mods that are small to moderate in their improvement you now have a hugely better sound. 


As far as modding a Rawson.....well, from what I have seen they are all kind of one off things.  I do not charge for development time on my standard mods.  If I mod a First Watt amp that I have not done then I only charge the person for the time that it would take to mod it once I have worked all the mods out (since I will be modding more of the same amp).  Since each Rawson clone is different, I would have to charge for development time because in order to tweak it I have to listen to each thing I do.  It is essentially a one off custom mod.  So, somethings can be done just as fast and might not take any more time than a First Watt, but somethings might take longer to do and I would have to charge for it.  So, basically, I could work on one but it would cost you more.  I know Nelson does not like what Rawson did but if the amps are already finished there is no moral reason not to make them sound better.  However, if Nelson contacts me and tells me he does not want me to mod Rawson clones then, of course, I would not mod them.  I don't want to upset people.

[Freo-1]

OK, I'll ask:
 
What would you do to mod a M2?  It already has a state of the art bias setup, and passive transformer gain stage.

[Ric Schultz]

You are talking about circuitry.  All the First Watt amps either have jfets, mosfets, sits or transformers as the circuit devices.  This is not what I am addressing.  All the First Watt amps are made the same.  The execution is the exactly the same (you can see that from the pics on the Six Moon reviews).  So, all the mods can be done to any of the amps, with the same results.  The end sound is a combo of the execution and the circuitry.  Srajen's articles are excellent in describing the basic sonic differences that can be had with the different circuits.  The M2 has a soft slightly veiled warm sound.  Modding it will make it less veiled and way more clear but will still not be as clear as a modded J2, F5 or Sit amp because the the autoformer veils the sound.  I am a "I want to hear everything" kind of guy.  So, a F5 or J2 would be what I would want and would want to mod and own for myself.  An F5 or J2 with mods would be out of this world good.  Of course, if you love your M2 then modding it will make it more clear......but maybe you don't want more clear.  What is nice about the First Watt amps is that they are easy to work on and also easy to put back to stock.  If you don't like the sound, I will put it all back to stock.....however, you don't get a refund.....at least not for labor.

Just disconnect the power indicator leds.....try it.  Just lift one end of the resistor that biases it off the board or disconnect one of the wires going to the leds.  Listen and let us know what you hear.  That is just the tip of the iceberg. 

I first heard about the sonic detriment of leds from an article that Jimmy Hughes wrote in What Hifi magazine in the early 80s.  He had a Threshold preamp and amp (Nelson Pass's first company) and he disconnected the leds and said it sounded much better.  I don't know where he got the idea to do it.  I did not have any component at the time with an led but I stored the info in my bio computer.  A couple of years later I had my first DAC (the Stax Talent DAC...used the PCM 63 DAC chip) and I was modding the crap out of it and it was sounding pretty fine and then I remembered "Jimmy Hughes"......so I disconnected two of the 4 leds on the front panel and my jaw hit the floor.....then the other two followed.  I had modded another Stax Talent for someone so I called him immediately and told him to remove the leds and call me back and tell me what he heard.  I did not tell him what to expect.  He called back in a hour and said "there is air around the air now!!!!".   He was quite excited by this free mod.  I hope you will be too.

We have much to be thankful for.  Every day is thanksgiving.  Blessing and Joy!

[Freo-1]

 Thanks for responding. 
I’m suspect on the LED issue.  The Torpedo Headphone amp employs a Parafeed topology for biasing the tubes, which uses LED’s to excellent results.  This unit sounds outstanding at its price point, and since it is for headphones, I’m sure that any degrade in sound quality caused by any inferior parts (including LED’s) would easily be exposed. 

[Ric Schultz]

You cannot tell the sonic purity of a part by listening to a whole amp or whatever.  You have to change/remove that part to have ANY idea of what sonic footprint it has.  A lot of circuits use diodes to bias things with.  Does this mean it is the most transparent way to do it?  I don't know.  I have not removed LEDs from a biasing circuit and substituted signal diodes, etc. for them.  My experience comes from the use of LEDs as either indicators or toslink output connectors.  I have removed these from lots of players, DACs, amps, etc. and each time I do it I hear the same benefit.  You cannot know something about the "sound" of something unless you do listening tests.....there is no other way.  If you still have your First Watt M2 then you can simply remove the led indicators in the amp.  Then you can listen and only then will you will "know" something about the sonic footprint of LEDs used as indicators.  It is a simple test.  Will take you 20 minutes to remove the cover and disconnect the wires to the Leds and put the cover back on.