Simplicity was the goal when we set out to design the Astro - the purist in me knew something could be gained by minimizing the circuit design, but I wanted to do it without sacrificing the wide range of great tones available from the silktone amp's full TMB controls. Well, it worked - we kept them and they're now super easy to dial in.
The single tilt-style tone knob controls both treble and bass simultaneously: set to noon bass and treble are evenly balanced, turn it clockwise to get a treble boost and at the same time a bass cut, counterclockwise to get a bass boost and a treble cut. You’ll also find a 3-way voice switch for full mids ("Dense"), scooped mids ("Light") or to bypass the tone stack entirely for a flat EQ and gain boost ("Raw Silk")
We didn't want to mess with a good thing too much here, so the Astro shares a lot with the silktone amp. Same cab, same speaker, same KT66 at the heart of it for those huge power tube overdrive sounds when pushed. What the Astro gains is nuance and clarity while still delivering a nice musical sweetness. It has a looser and even more responsive feel.
Also standard is our new fixed reactive attenuator with the ability to bring the output down to a half watt for bedroom level playing or quiet recording sessions without any tone or feel loss. Our reactive design lets both the output transformer and speaker see what they need to for an unchanged response.
Oh, and no reverb this time - but it takes pedals even better with it's increased headroom."
