When I was going to college I worked at a dealer part-time who had the G.A.S. line. It was heavily promoted and sold well although I didn't care for the sound,(too strident and fatigueing). I sold a lot of the GAS Grandson amps.This was so long ago that I can't remember all the names in the line. They all had strange names. I think there was a Thalia preamp and I'm not certain but I think one of the bigger amps was called Ampzilla.Then there was Son of Ampzilla. I think they had a moving coil cartridge that was pretty good.I think it was called Black Beauty, unless that was from someone else. My memory has faded a little after 25 years and then there was about 15 years where I got away from the audio scene completely. The equipment was well built and looked nice,though.I believe GAS stood for Great American Sound Co.
James Bongiorno is back in business and using the GAS name again. His new amp is called Ampzilla 2000 and supposedly sounds pretty good. I think it is a straight Class B design, not running in Class A bias at any point of operation. As such, it should run pretty cool, even when standing on the throttle. Sean >
Ampzilla, Son of Ampzilla, Grandson of Ampzilla. Thaedra, Thoebe, Black Beauty, Charlie the Tuner and Godzilla.........I have one of their posters that looks like Star Wars except it says Stereo Wars and instead of spacecraft it has Great American Sound gear shooting down Mitsubishi, Denon and ARC gear....The new amp is a four pole design and sounded fine used at the CES last year....
I used a Shibata tipped Sleeping Beauty in a Fidelity Research FR-14 arm with a vacuum tube head amp on a Linn. This was in the late '70s. This was my favorite moving coil at the time. I also owned a Supex 900E and a Denon 103D.
I certinly do! I had, at one time, the Ampzilla and Theadra per-amp. As I recall there was a 3 way battle for top honors in the Harry Perason camp between GAS, Audio Research and Mark Levinson (the company). I also recall that people who purchased Dalquist DQ-10 speakers used the GAS equipment to drive them....at least I did.
THE GREAT AMERICAN SOUND SLEEPING BEAUTY WAS A GREAT CARTRIDGE.I STILL HAVE ONE STASHED AWAY.USED IT WITH A HEAD AMP INTO A.R.C. SP6B PREAMP AND OF COURSE DAHLQUIST DQ10 SPEAKERS.
The Son of Ampzilla was my first "high-end" purchase. It is still being used regularly (in my bedroom system) and still sounds pretty good, considering its age.
Fond memories of my G.A.S. I first tried a Son of Ampzilla used from a dealer (80 Watts) to replace my Carver (500 Watts) amp. Let me tell you, the Son blew away the Carver in both sonics and power!! I then bought the Ampzilla to run my sub. Overall, I think the Son sounded better and was more reliable.
Everyone here knows I am a h/k Citation nut. The Citation 16A is my favorite amp of all time, besting my McIntosh MC-2300 in the sonics department. However, I have been listening to an old G.A.S Grandson amplifier that I have had for years and never really gave it serious listen too. Hooked into my main system (replacing the 16A) everyone in my household, (especially me) is floored at this little guy. Bass slam, dynamics, super deep/wide sound-stage, it's unbelievable! This sounds like a tube amp on steroids, it's so liquid. I am not sure that I am gonna go back to Citation. I don't know where all this thunder is coming from, it has only 40 wpc, 4 dinky output transistory, two puny 10,000 microfarad caps, but ONE enormous transformer. I can't believe how good, how powerful it sounds. It is reminding me quite a bit of a Krell KSA 50 (my favorite Krell of all time). Anyone else here use G.A.S. or is familiar with Grandson? There is not a lot of info out there.
Oddly enough GAS (Great American Sound) was basically James Bongiorno. This January in Vegas (at The Home Entertainment Show) James will be displaying and demoing his AMPZILLA 2000 Second Edition and Son of AMPZILLA 2000 Second Edition. Location is the Lake Mead Ballroom of the Flamingo Hotel, Jan 10-13.
I too used to have 3 HK Citation 16's (2 bridged and one stereo) and found them great on my stacked DQ-10's and Stereo Subs.
But anyhow, James and his new amps are written up in the lastest ABSOLUTE SOUND, and if you like the sound (he calls it "tubesistor") you will like his new gear too.
I could write a book on how good the h/k 16A is. Today, it would compete against almost anything. But this little Grandson amp has got to be the 'over achiever' of the century. I can't stop listening, it's that good. I am going to look into the new Ampzilla gear. If it sounds anything like this Grandson amp, then James has hit one out of the park. Love that word 'tubesistor'. I think GASLOVER mentioned it to me a while back. That is this amp in a nutshell... tubesistor!
I have two of the original Sons, a Grandson and a Thoebe preamp. Along with the James Bongiorno - designed Sumo Andromeda amp and Athena preamp. All great gear! On the turntable is a Coral B777 mc cartridge - same as the Sleeping Beauty. The Andromeda is driving a late-production pair of DCM Time Windows (52779, 52780). Sound quality equal to today’s five-figure gear!
DCM Time Windows... those were good sounding speakers, but being just a cardboard oval with wooden caps I think it was the perfect name that sold them.
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