Effective Slam, Pi Day, Richmond, VA

Hey folks! I have a few announcements for you. The first is that I will be in Richmond, Virginia this Saturday for "Effective Slam", at Stone Brewing between noon and five o'clock. This is a cool new expo for purveyors of electronic devices for musical instruments. It's a pretty sweet line-up and I'm looking forward to it. The community of builders is probably the loveliest community I've ever gotten to be a part of and it's always inspiring to go to these events. Most vendors will be showing their effects pedals, but there will be a few non-pedal vendors as well. I'll be there with my pedals and a new amplifier.

Speaking of new amplifier...

Introducing Proxima A

I will have a prototype of the upcoming new model, the Proxima A amplifier, for folks to preview. More details will be forthcoming, but for now, you can think of it as a smaller, lighter, 6V6 based D₂O Amplifier, with more options for achieving gain. The one I'll have this weekend is pretty close to the final product, but there are still a few tweaks to be made, mostly cosmetic. There will be an official announcement when it is ready for real that will have all of the details.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

I should also mention that with the introduction of the Proxima A, Dusky Electronics will be moving to a new model for amp production. The Proxima A is going to be offered for presale and then will be made all in a single batch. Everyone who wants one in the initial run will get one, and then I'll move onto another design, and another batch. The impetus for this change is the realization that as a small, home based business, I don't have the resources to keep different models of amplifier in continuous production. So, from here on out, there will be a design, people will get a chance to order it, those orders will be filled, and then I'll move on to the next design.

It may be that an amplifier model comes back in a later rotation, but it will at the very least be cosmetically different, be it a different color scheme, a different front cutout, or both. So there will only be one chance to get this particular amp in this particular aesthetic configuration. There may be a chance later to get the same model, but it will at least look different. That said, it could be a while, since the point of this new way of doing things is to give me a chance to iterate and design new products.

Retiring the D₂O

You might have guessed this already, but this new business model means that the D₂O is getting phased out. It first came out twelve years ago and it's had a good run. At the time of this writing I have enough parts to make three more D₂Os. Once those are sold, the chapter on the D₂O will be closed.

I haven't yet worked out the pricing for the new amplifier, but I can tell you that for the D₂O, I've been using up parts that I ordered before the pandemic. As you may be aware, the cost of components and raw materials have increased dramatically since then, so I can pretty much guarantee you that the current pricing for the D₂O is the cheapest you'll be able to get a new amplifier from me for anything like the foreseeable future.

Bye for now!

I could write a lot more, but I try to be mindful of folks' time and attention, so I'll end it here. Thanks so much for following along. As always, I'm just a click of the "Reply" button anyway. If you're near Richmond, VA this weekend, it would be lovely to see you.

Chris