Carol-AnnAmps
New member
The new Tucana 3 model will be released very soon.
The Tucana models have always been the Swiss Army knife of the Carol-Ann range and also the first model to always feature any new features or innovations . The very first one I actually designed for myself and never intended on selling the model, but a couple of guys ended up wanting one and it went on from there. It has a history of faithful owners and is the least traded amp model we have ever built. You rarely see them for sale and most of the original owners still have theirs. It seems to attract more working players and studios than some of the other models and I think that's one of reasons for it's rarity on the used market.
The tonal range and facilities of The Tucana 3 makes it a very suitable model for guys that cover many styles such as session players, studios, cover band players etc etc, but it's equally useful in a home studio too.
It's powered by a pair or quad of KT88's for 75 or 150W (oh yeah !!). I choose this power tube because of it's boldness and depth, it's is equally happy with both classic and modern tones.
Three channels (like the Triptik), but with separate input gain for Clean and OD. This allows the player the ability to get a little bit more grit out of the clean channel without affecting the input gain staging of the OD channels.
Separate eq for clean and OD of course.
Separate drive controls on OD channels and separate masters on all channels
Tube buffered serial efx loop
Foot switchable Lead Master that can take over the volume control duties of either OD channel.
5 Button one touch foot controller operates via a standard 3 Pin XLR Mic cable. I have designed a new range of controllers for the 3 channel amps and the Tucana 3 comes as standard with the top of the range controller that features a Button for each channel, one for the Lead Master and one for the programmable efx loop switching. THe footswitch communicates with an interface in the amp which is programmed to operate the relays. THe audio signals are still being switched through passive contacts, it's the method of controlling the relay coils that has moved in to a new place. This gives instant and noiseless switching. I've been working on this system for over a year and have gig tested it for many months and tested it with footswitch cable lengths up to 300 ft and zero dropout !!!
Programmable efx loop: This is a new concept and allows you to program the efx loop switching in one of 4 ways:
Manual: The switch on the controller acts as a simple on-off for the loop.
Clean: efx loop activated manually on just the clean channel
OD: efx loop activated automatically on just the OD Channels
Lead Master: efx loop activated automatically when Lead Master and OD channels are selected.
Programming the controller is simple. You simply hold down one of 4 buttons while powering up the amp to select the mode. It then stores the mode in memory and every time you power the amp up remembers that mode until you reprogram it.
Another new innovation on this model is our proprietary bias monitoring system. On this amp the power tube cathode current, wall voltage and plate voltages are all monitored and the amp calculates its ideal bias point. Biasing the amp is dead simple. The bias pot is on the back and it has 3 LEDS next to it, two red and and a green one. Turn the pot until the green LEd lights and red ones extinguish. Done !! If you go to a club that has lower or higher wall voltage, a quick tweak of the pot to light the green LED will put the amp operating at its designed idle power. If the green light has gone out when you plug in and let the amp warm up, you know you are dealing with a wall voltage difference and the amp is letting you know. No need for bias tools, opening the amp up or measuring the plate voltage, the amp does it all for you. It also allows for a consistent sounding amp no matter where you are.
The amp features a PTP main audio board, chassis mounted tube sockets and pots and the same level of components as all the other amps.
.
Street Price around $3500- $3700
MIDI Interfaces for our amps:
I have been designing and prototyping some MIDI interface designs to work with our 3 channel models. These will be available by the end of Q2. I actually successfully used one of these last night at a gig.
I will release more info when they are in production. I have also given the spec. and protocols for the new 3 pin XLR switching used on the Tucana 3 and also as a 4 button upgrade system on previous 3 channel amps Ron from RJM so he can keep things up to date with our models with his great range of interface products.
The Tucana models have always been the Swiss Army knife of the Carol-Ann range and also the first model to always feature any new features or innovations . The very first one I actually designed for myself and never intended on selling the model, but a couple of guys ended up wanting one and it went on from there. It has a history of faithful owners and is the least traded amp model we have ever built. You rarely see them for sale and most of the original owners still have theirs. It seems to attract more working players and studios than some of the other models and I think that's one of reasons for it's rarity on the used market.
The tonal range and facilities of The Tucana 3 makes it a very suitable model for guys that cover many styles such as session players, studios, cover band players etc etc, but it's equally useful in a home studio too.
It's powered by a pair or quad of KT88's for 75 or 150W (oh yeah !!). I choose this power tube because of it's boldness and depth, it's is equally happy with both classic and modern tones.
Three channels (like the Triptik), but with separate input gain for Clean and OD. This allows the player the ability to get a little bit more grit out of the clean channel without affecting the input gain staging of the OD channels.
Separate eq for clean and OD of course.
Separate drive controls on OD channels and separate masters on all channels
Tube buffered serial efx loop
Foot switchable Lead Master that can take over the volume control duties of either OD channel.
5 Button one touch foot controller operates via a standard 3 Pin XLR Mic cable. I have designed a new range of controllers for the 3 channel amps and the Tucana 3 comes as standard with the top of the range controller that features a Button for each channel, one for the Lead Master and one for the programmable efx loop switching. THe footswitch communicates with an interface in the amp which is programmed to operate the relays. THe audio signals are still being switched through passive contacts, it's the method of controlling the relay coils that has moved in to a new place. This gives instant and noiseless switching. I've been working on this system for over a year and have gig tested it for many months and tested it with footswitch cable lengths up to 300 ft and zero dropout !!!
Programmable efx loop: This is a new concept and allows you to program the efx loop switching in one of 4 ways:
Manual: The switch on the controller acts as a simple on-off for the loop.
Clean: efx loop activated manually on just the clean channel
OD: efx loop activated automatically on just the OD Channels
Lead Master: efx loop activated automatically when Lead Master and OD channels are selected.
Programming the controller is simple. You simply hold down one of 4 buttons while powering up the amp to select the mode. It then stores the mode in memory and every time you power the amp up remembers that mode until you reprogram it.
Another new innovation on this model is our proprietary bias monitoring system. On this amp the power tube cathode current, wall voltage and plate voltages are all monitored and the amp calculates its ideal bias point. Biasing the amp is dead simple. The bias pot is on the back and it has 3 LEDS next to it, two red and and a green one. Turn the pot until the green LEd lights and red ones extinguish. Done !! If you go to a club that has lower or higher wall voltage, a quick tweak of the pot to light the green LED will put the amp operating at its designed idle power. If the green light has gone out when you plug in and let the amp warm up, you know you are dealing with a wall voltage difference and the amp is letting you know. No need for bias tools, opening the amp up or measuring the plate voltage, the amp does it all for you. It also allows for a consistent sounding amp no matter where you are.
The amp features a PTP main audio board, chassis mounted tube sockets and pots and the same level of components as all the other amps.
.
Street Price around $3500- $3700
MIDI Interfaces for our amps:
I have been designing and prototyping some MIDI interface designs to work with our 3 channel models. These will be available by the end of Q2. I actually successfully used one of these last night at a gig.
I will release more info when they are in production. I have also given the spec. and protocols for the new 3 pin XLR switching used on the Tucana 3 and also as a 4 button upgrade system on previous 3 channel amps Ron from RJM so he can keep things up to date with our models with his great range of interface products.
