[Brax]

I have been seeing older Son of Ampzillas on ebay. These were produced by the the original GAS company. I read somewhere that the new versions produced by Spread Spectrum Technologies are quite different, more evolved. But has anyone had experience with the original? I was thinking it may make a good amp for the mids and tweeter in a bi-amp configuration

[martyo]

I used to have the original Son. My amp sounded more powerful than its rated 80 watts rms. It was a little sloppy and heavy in the bass but the midrange was very musical, a little warm, kinda tubey sounding. The highs were a little hot for me. I read back then (in TAS) that there was unit to unit variation. I was using it with the GAS Thoebe preamp and driving Dahlquist DQ10a's. In the day I don't know what else I could have bought for $400 with a midrange like that.

[warnerwh]

Brax: One of the early Ampzillas will work fine in a biamp setup with one caveat.  Those amps are old enough that many if not all the caps should be replaced which will increase the cost.   I'd opt for something newer, at least in my opinion.  An old amp may work fine but if my speakers were costly I'd replace caps.  With that said I have an old Harmon Kardon 630 twin power receiver from the early 70's that works fine but it is hooked up to cheap speakers.

[John Casler]

I used to have the original Son. My amp sounded more powerful than its rated 80 watts rms. It was a little sloppy and heavy in the bass but the midrange was very musical, a little warm, kinda tubey sounding. The highs were a little hot for me. I read back then (in TAS) that there was unit to unit variation. I was using it with the GAS Thoebe preamp and driving Dahlquist DQ10a's. In the day I don't know what else I could have bought for $400 with a midrange like that.

Hi Marty,

What a system you had.

Back in "those days" I had the DQ10's too, but I went "hog wild" and did a "stacked" (2 pairs) with stereo Dahlquist Subs.

I drove mine with Three CITATION 16's.  I bridged 2 of them to run the DQ10 banks and used one in stereo to run the subs.

I think the bridged amp ran over 300wpc at 8 ohms and I was running a 4 ohm load (I didn't know any better back then  )

I blew more tweeter fuses than I can count. 

[TomS]

...but those V shaped LED meters were too cool back then.  3 sets must have been quite a light show.  I had two of them myself 'til one of them turned itself into an arc welder    Tom

[John Casler]

...but those V shaped LED meters were too cool back then.  3 sets must have been quite a light show.  I had two of them myself 'til one of them turned itself into an arc welder    Tom

You aren't kidding, man I loved those LED's.

I had a carpenter build a custom control center counsol for the rear of the room, with those amps about head high.  I actually had a (and still have it) Citation 19 also with the LEDs to run the Maggie rear surround speakers.

And I had an AudioPulse Digital time delay (also with dancing LEDs) so I could add any amount of ambiance delay/echo I wanted.

This was years before HT, in fact it was before VCR's since I had a Sony Broadcast 3/4" tape deck, until JVC came out with the Vidstar shortly thereafter.

This was run to an ADVENT 750 projection TV with a 6 foot screen.

I had HT before there even was such a thing.  This must have been 73 or 74ish.

Those were the Halcyon Days.