Michael Swart comments on his latest amplifier:
The idea of the Atomic Space Tone hit me when I was working
on a vintage Gibson Scout guitar amp. It had Reverb, Tremolo, and 15 watts of
pure rocking vintage tone power but only three preamp tubes and two EL-84
output tubes. I thought to my self - I have never seen an amp that could do so
much with so little and sound surprisingly good. But I knew it could be even
better. I knew something could be built revolving around my favorite little
tone generator, the 6V6. I sent a note of thanks to my cohort for the
inspiration for one of the best amplifiers I have ever built and the only thing
I have found to equal the soul and amazing tone of the ST-6V6se but with MORE
power.
This amp brings more tube soul than I thought possible, even
compared to some of my favorite vintage amps. We are talking ALL TUBE
circuitry, even the Tremolo and Reverb, all leading into the excellent 12"
Mojotone BV-25m speaker.
I am actually so excited by this amp both aurally and
visually. It's the second in our Tweed Series which takes our excellent finger
jointed pine cabinet and covers it with top quality tweed, adding a lacquer to
give it durability and that vintage, timeless look. We then add a rich, dark
lacuer tweed on the sides which gives this amp a totally distinctive
appearance. When we play out with this beast, everyone that "knows"
comes up to inquire about the AST, this on the sound AND looks. Just like the
original ST-6V6se, there is nothing out there like it.
The AC is cleaned and rectified by the reliable JJ 5AR4,
this a very robust tube providing excellent sonics due to the total lack of
solid-state circuits in the rectification stage (SS rectification leads to a
more hard/harsh tone and slams the tubes on power-up causing excess tube
wear). A heavy duty, JJ 500V
Surface mount capacitor is the mains filtering device.
Powered by Twin EH 6v6's putting out 18-22 cathode biased
Watts; the twin 6V6s seem to really put out an amazing mixture of
soul~tone. We love this
combo! (You can also sub 6L6s for
a bit more headroom due to the extra beefy Heyboer Power Transformer,
A 12AX7 does duty as the driver and bias regulated
Tremolo. Ever heard tube tremolo?
You will now. Simply put, if
you're a tremolo fan, you won't go back.
Reverb is all tube.
Tube Reverb is the only way to go and our implementation leaves the
competition sounding two-dimensional.
The first preamp tube is another dedicated rocking 12AX7 to
drive this beast to Mount St. Helens and back. Our whole driver/preamp circuit has been optimized
from months of testing. The
AST sings like no other.
Carbon Comp Resistors for the BEST tone. Period.
 
Mallory, Sprague and JJ Caps - only the best, all considered
for their appropriate roles
 
Finest silver tinned cloth & Teflon covered wire
 
Hand Wired, point to point
 
Standby Switch - amp warmed up|extends tube life
High and low inputs for high and low output pickups
 
Dedicated foot switch as well - Switch pedal included
 
12" Mojotone British Vintage Series BV-25m
 
And a hand-made, finger jointed pine cabinet covered in
light with dark tweed tweed side panels. 
This cabinet is part of the magic of the Atomic Space Tone - We tested
many different cabinet configurations and wood choices until we found the magic
of the AST combo.
 
Dimensions: 18" T x 15 1/2 W x 9 1/2 D ~ 29lbs