All Conrad Amps are hand wired using Mono Crystal or what I call “Super Wire”.  This specially treated Continuous Cast Copper solid core wire is the highest purity available.  Copper content solder is used to provide copper to copper connections. 

This very high purity copper wire brings out the best in tube tone.  Many have commented about the responsiveness and transparency of the Conrad Amp line while some (who have never heard the amps) have scoffed saying this is all hype.  To overcome any critics out there, here is the factual science behind the Conrad “Super Wire”.

Here is a recording produced, engineered and mastered by my son Steve Sundholm with this “Super Wire” in the entire signal path on all instruments and vocals.  The mic pre-amps are custom designed and built by Steve and myself utilizing this amazing wire.  The Artist is Geoff Byrd and The Likes of You.  Plug in some quality headphones and enjoy.  You won’t be disappointed .

WHAT IS MONO CRYSTAL WIRE?

Developed by Professor Dr. Ohno of the Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan , this technology is very different compared to the traditional because it uses a cooled mold to produce the pure single crystallized copper conductor.  The final Mono Crystal pure copper product has reached the 6N purity 99.99998%

There are 9 perfect Characteristics of Mono Crystal wire:

1.    Unidirectional

2.    Free of Impurity

3.    Flexibility

4.    Fatigue-Resistant

5.    Corrosive-Resistant

6.    Low Electric Resistance

7.    Non-Crystal Boundaries

8.    Rapid Transmissibility

9. 9.   Perfect in Structure 
   

Those all make Mono Crystal Wire an optimal material to be used for the internal wiring of a guitar amplifier.  For the time being, Mono Crystal pure copper  has been considered the state-of-the-art conductor material in Hi-End  Audio cable industry.  Yes, even superior to silver wire.

COMPARISON OF Oxygen Free Copper  AND “Super Wire” IN STRUCTURE

Oxygen Free copper  200X Magnification

“Super Wire”  200X Magnification

                                                    Oxygen Free Copper            “Super Wire”

Purity                                            >99.99%                                >99.99998%

Specific Gravity                            8.926                                       8.938

Gas Impurity  Oxygen                  >10 ppm                                >5 ppm

Gas Impurity  Hydrogen               >0.5 ppm                               >0.25 ppm

Average crystal size                      0.02 meters                           125.00 meters

Crystal Per meter                          50.00 pieces                          0.008 pieces

All internal wiring inside of each Conrad Amp utilizes this superior wire.  In addition, I use a copper content solder that insures that all connections with components and the Super Wire is copper.  This way there are no dissimilar metals in the connection.  The speaker cable between the amp and speaker incorporates a Litz braided geometry which provides maximum bandwidth and superior phase performance.  The major benefit of using this wire is great tube tone and transparency.

Now I would like to make some comments about insulation (dielectric) used on wires in a guitar amp.  Most manufacturers use an insulation on their wires called “PVC”.  This is Poly Vinyl Chloride.  Most use this kind of insulation because it is cheap.  Conrad Amps use Teflon insulation on its hookup wire.

There is a reason for this.  When your guitar signal passes through the internal wiring in the amp, the leading edge of the signal is “absorbed” by this cheap insulation.  This means a loss of harmonics in the signal path. 

The technical term for measuring this is “dielectric constant”.  PVC insulation has a dielectric constant of 4.6 while the superior teflon insulation has a dielectric constant of only 1.2.  In other words the teflon insulation is nearly 4X’s superior than the PVC insulation.