A Cure For Tube Amp Flatulence

The Smooth & Slim by Michael Ross

Every so often someone invents a product that is not for everyone but instead exists to solve a particular problem for specific people (think about that plastic doo-hickey that goes under a Floyd tremolo bridge to hold it up while changing the strings). In that light, Ayan Enterprises took pity on us poor creatures who own certain Boogie Mark I, Fender or other tube amps. Some of us have units that break up in a flabby (some would even say, "flatulent") manner on the low end when we crank the volume and/or the bass. If you have experienced this problem, you know what I mean. If you haven't, you can stop reading right here -- the inventors of the Smooth and Slim would be the first to tell you that you don't need their product.

Those of us who suffer will find that this simple-to-operate unit allows us to crank our amps as much as we wish and turn up the bass to heretofore unusable levels while retaining a punchy low end -- in essence, fattening the sound without muddying it up. How do they do it? The Smooth and Slim box uses no battery or AC. It is merely a circuit that affects the input impedance of your amp with special attention given to the lower frequencies. Plug your guitar (or the last effect) into the input, come out the output into the input of the amp, select Smooth or Slim on the first knob, Normal or Dark on the second, and then play. Smooth works for most amps, but Slim is there if you play a bottomy guitar (like an ES-335) through an especially bass-heavy amp. Normal, meanwhile, will work for either single coils or humbuckers. If you switch from a humbucker to a single-coil guitar, you can set your amp settings bright for the humbuckers and then switch the Smooth and Slim to Dark when you pick up the single-coil instrument, in order to cut treble without having to change your amp settings.

I normally play a Strat through a pre-CBS Bandmaster head and was experiencing just the farty bass problem. For me, the Smooth and Slim operated just as advertised. I was able to turn the amp up louder and the bass up higher while maintaining a smooth, pleasing breakup. Some of the former super lows were gone, but they used to get lost in the bass guitar range anyway. But where I could not turn the bass past three without excessive mud, I could now hit six or seven, adding a fat, tight bottom. When going through the Smooth and Slim you will notice a volume drop. However, this is normal -- you just turn the amp up to compensate.

Each unit is handmade and available at present for $75 only from Real Guitars in San Francisco (415-552-3310) or directly from the manufacturer (same price). The Smooth and Slim is not for everyone, but if you need it, it's just what the amp doctor ordered.

SPECS
Smooth & Slim
Pros:  Controls low-end rumble
Cons:  Loses some ultra lows
Price:  $75
Contact:  Ayan Enterprises
Email:  smooth&slim@ayanmusic.com

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