The Blade was conceived in 2014 during some downtime setting up room systems at CES in Las Vegas. (IIRC the audio portion was called the High End Show in those days) The room meetings and setups had been particularly inspiring, largely due to some unplanned 1 on 1 time with a Mr. Naoto Kurosawa, owner of Technical Brain Japan. Despite a considerable language barrier, I was gifted a discussion with him on solid state diode behavior and parameters he had discovered that made them sound less like solid state diodes. Truly a Brilliant Man made available by way of an unfortunate shipping mishap – his show gear had not made it to Las Vegas from Japan and he was there with no equipment to show. Subsequently, at later venues I did finally hear his amplifiers and I remember they were among the best I had heard of any type. I digress, but the point is he had given me an idea or two to try in my own power supplies from his incredible knowledge of transistor and diode behavior.
The idea of solid state rectification is a sexy one indeed, and one I had tried to make work for some time. It was alluring in that it is easier to implement than tube based supplies; light, compact, low impedance, and can deliver current. Lots of it. All great good stuff for sound, particularly in an amplifier designed to drive complex loads. The problem to solve was that SS rectification (in all the ways I had implemented it) sounds less vivid than DHT vacuum or Hg tube versions, lacking in areas of color and insight. Off I went, propelled by the excitement of learning some concepts from a true master. I built the first iterations of the Blade amplifier with this supply. Ultimately I had developed an arrayed SiC Shottky full wave scheme with a carefully tuned snubber. The oscilloscopes were pleased.
However, this choice has always gnawed at me. The last year has been dedicated to the task of redesigning the Blade. Now tube rectified, there is a host of important circuit improvements. Today there is a more refined driver section and ~12W more power with KT88. It is quieter, more muscular, smoother, more extended, and more detailed.