SPL and Tonehunter Announce "Transducer" Analog Guitar Speaker Simulator

In a cooperative developmental effort with the guitar amp specialty firm of <a href="http://www.tonehunter.de/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Tonehunter</a>, SPL will present at its Frankfurt Musikmesse stand, B84 in Hall 5.1, a new 2U, 19-inch format guitar speaker and microphone stand-in called Transducer. The Transducer is connected and operated exactly like any guitar speaker box so that a guitar amp's distortion can also be integrated into the sound design.

Among the important advantages the manufacturer envisions is independence from volume levels during performances or recording sessions that also provides added hearing protection from in-ear monitoring in any kind of session, whether studio, live or private. Furthermore the Transducer concept grants greater sonic flexibility in comparison to fixed box/microphone gear, independence from room acoustics in recordings and eliminates phasing problems with track doubling thanks to latency free design. It provides for a live signal in recording quality without crosstalk from miking, great space and weight reduction in transport, time-saving setup and simplifies experimentation with sound variations.

SPL emphasizes the Transducer's authentic sound qualities and real time response for the guitar player that are missing in digital simulations due to latencies in processing.

The Transducer sports two main controls to adjust its sound: "Speaker Action" works analogous to a speaker's cone behaviour at different levels through to an audible cone distortion effect. Similarly, "Miking Level" recreates a microphone's characteristic at different recording levels. Further switchable functions allow the choices of alnico or ceramic speakers, closed or open housings, condenser or dynamic microphones - as well as adjustments to miking distances.

The planned Transducer delivery date is for May 2007, with SPL targeting a price of under 1000 Euro/1500 USD.