THE ULTIMATE STAGE PREAMP
Advance info: ICON's release date is mid-2010
Price: $3000
Why you need ICON
ICON will help you create music with soul!Iconic sounds are ones we all recognize - safe sounds - useful sounds. Fender's clean sound is iconic. Marshall's non-master-volume and distortion sounds are iconic. Dumble's interpretation of an over-driven Fender amp is iconic. Soldano's high-gain solo sound is iconic.
Do you have to buy all these amps to have all these sounds?
Do you have to settle for modeling amps with their compromised sampling?
Do you have to limit yourself to whatever modules you've plugged into your modular or convertible amp, or retool for a new sound?
Not any more.
What ICON will do for you
ICON gives you real analog control over seven distinct real analog preamp paths. Each is optimized for a range of sounds centered around an icon ALONG WITH voicing options that let you tailor the sound to be something new altogether. Each channel has its own Output control to keep signal levels in check.» F is the Fender channel, capturing Fender's traditional clean sound PLUS Ampeg and Gibson sounds - tweedy to modern, pristine to mildly overdriven
» Plexi accesses both Fender Bassman and Marshall non-MV sounds PLUS sounds derived from bass or guitar-oriented amps; and can be overdriven quite hard
» 800 gives you early 1970s master-volume sounds PLUS hot-rodded Marshall sounds evocative of '70s and '80s heavy rock and metal guitar sounds
» M3 is our Mini-Marshmallow circuitry capturing the Dumble and early Mesa sounds PLUS drive control options and voicing that let you refine these sounds for a wider range of music styles
» LP is our London Power Standard Preamp circuitry which has satisfied players for nearly two decades WITH voicing options for different textures of clean and distortion
» S is our Spectrum bass preamp - partially copied in Fender's Rumble Bass amps and by others - here in its full form, providing access to traditional, modern, progressive and eclectic bass tones
» Zen is the high-gain channel with lots of voicing options - you can still suck out the mids or you can have widely dynamic heavy sounds
Using ICON
ICON uses a sophisticated 2-way EQ for each channel - one that is far more capable than the usual "tone stack" in providing extremely varied frequency profiles. The voicing switches within each channel take the iconic sound to a new realm!ICON allows these preamp paths to be switched, mixed together, or used independently. The Mode switch allows you to cycle from one preamp to the next using the Cycle switch, or to use the individual channel select switches to make exclusive selections that cancel the previous preamp choice, or to mix the preamps.
ICON's front-panel patch bay allows direct input and output access to each channel. Even with these jacks in use, the channel signal can be sent to Sub-Mix-A or Sub-Mix-B, or both, or neither. The sub-mixers allow the sounds of any/all channels to be mixed together and sent to the two main outputs. There are two sub-inputs on the rear panel to allow mixing of external sources with those from ICON.
Each preamp channel has a Send control that feeds another mixer whose output is the Send jack on the rear panel. The send-mix allows a reverb, delay, or other effects unit to be connected between the Send jack and either/both of Sub-A /Sub-B inputs, making this functionally equivalent to an effects loop. If the effect used is a series-only type, merely turn down the Output control of each channel so no dry signal is fed to the output mixer.
ICON's headphone output allows either the mix for Sub-A to appear in both headphone cups, or the Sub-B mix to appear in both cups, or for A and B to appear as 'left' and 'right' mixes.
Fourteen dual-triode preamp tubes provide real tube sound - two tubes per channel. The main input on the rear panel is fully buffered and is used for the switching mode. The main outputs are also fully buffered and transformer-isolated, eliminating ground loops with other gear. Front-panel outputs are also buffered and transformer-isolated.
ICON's circuitry is super low noise, using active hum filtering and extensive decoupling. ICON has universal mains compatibility and is auto-ranging - no user switches to set! - so you can take it on tour around the world or use it at home or in the studio.
See the list of features common to the new line of London Power instrument amplifiers.
