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Signature 284 User Guide
1
Introduction
You know the moment — the one where the volume is cranked to the limit and
the guitar player looks as though his guitar might be playing him — as though
they're locked in some ritual combat in another zone entirely. Well, this trip
doesn't require illicit drugs, a rare coincidence of zodiac signs, or even the rush
of an audience — just you, your guitar and a fully cranked all-tube amp. If you've
been there, you know. If you've seen it but never felt it, hold onto whatever's
handy because the Signature 284 is your ticket to ride.
When a tube amp is turned way up, the amp’s power section is pushed beyond
the point where it's just making the preamp louder — the power tubes and
transformer begin to add their own characteristic distortion and dynamic
signatures to the sound.
This is where magic happens. The wide open amp becomes an expressive
extension of the guitar, responding to your playing. You can control the amount
of distortion and sustain simply by varying touch, or by making subtle adjust-
ments to the guitar volume control. The bad news is that most tube amps are
incredibly loud when they're turned up to this point. Larger amps (over 15 Watts
or so) are so loud when you crank them up, that the loudness interferes with
recording — the guitar sounds great, but it’s bleeding into the drums, and the
vocal mics — and you can forget about playing that loud at home.
The good news is that the Signature 284 was designed to solve this problem by
delivering the touch and tone of a cranked up amp — without the bone crushing
volume. It uses a low wattage power section — so when you crank it up to the
point where the magic happens, the volume level is relatively low. The stereo
power amp in the Signature 284 uses two EL 84s in a Class A configuration. Its
output power is rated at 3 Watts (RMS) per side. (Don’t be put-off by this
seemingly small number. For recording or practicing at home, this amp is plenty
loud — we measure >100dB SPL at 1 meter when used with our SB 210 cabinet.)
The low power design is the key to producing great sound at moderate volume
levels —but it takes more than that to make a great amp. Other features include:
high gain preamp (three 12AX7s), beautifully voiced tone controls, tube-driven
stereo effects loop, balanced recording outputs, speaker simulators, and built-
in passive loads for silent recording.
While it is designed primarily for recording, the Signature 284 is a great stage
amp too. There are three ways to boost the volume: Mike the cabinet, use the
recording outputs as a direct feed to the PA, or use the slave outputs to drive a
larger power amp /guitar cabinet rig.
All of these applications, and more are described in this manual. Please take the
time to look it over to make the most of your investment. We think that this is a
great amp — and we hope you will too.