The Tone Loss in Master Volume Controls vs. Watts Knob™

   The Watts Knob™ is one of the many Pritchard Amps features that produce great tone while meeting other demands. The Watts Knob™ lets you turn down your distortion volume without loosing tone!

   The master volume control concept was invented to solve a problem with vintage amplifiers, the distorted tones could not be turned down. But it looses tone! The master volume control is a standard volume control potentiometer installed between the last preamplifier stage and the phase splitter. Turning down this control to reduce the volume of distortion does two things: First, the preamplifier must produce the distortion, and second, the output stage can not. If the output stage and the preamplifier stages were similar and had similar distortion characteristics, then this would not be a problem. It is, however, a problem. The output stages and preamplifier stages are quite different for the following reasons:

   As you can see from the above list, turning down master volume control changes the distortion character substantially, substantially less.

   The master volume control has a long history and consequently has had an adverse effect on the overall character of guitar amplifiers. The philosophy of the turned down master volume control suggests that one or two 12AX7's in a preamplifier circuit is all that is needed to create great tone. Unfortunately, this is quite wrong.

   To solve the original problem that spawned the master volume control, Eric Pritchard, founder of Pritchard Amps, invented the Watts Knob™. The Watts Knob™ maintains the output stage interrelationships so that the tone of the output stage remains constant as the power is varied and the volume is scaled. The surrounding circuitry produces all of the wondrous complexities of the vintage output stage at any gig level.

Pritchard Amps Have It All

   Pritchard amps have it all: all-venue power control, cut-through character, great tone, all-style versatility, powerful, small and lightweight. They have the versatility of modeling amps while keeping boutique tone and you don't have to break your back getting your tone to the gig. Pritchard amps are absolutely the musician's amplifier!