Legal Disclaimer Stuff

The KILL-O-WATT COLLECTIVE is dedicated to the exploration of the folk art possibilities of vacuum tube-powered musical instrument amplifier design and construction. Its vision is expressed in amplifier design experiments that the members of the Collective execute in unique combinations of circuits and cabinetry. After being evaluated for tone and appearance, a typical project is either kept by the artist for his own use or offered for sale to friends or members of the local musical community for a nominal fee, to defray the cost of materials used in its construction. Comments from the users are then applied to the design and construction of future embodiments of amplifier artwork.

The Collective does not function as a for-profit business. It has no elected or appointed officers, and its members are engaged in this activity as a hobby. While they exercise due diligence in the performance of their craft as amateur practitioners in the art of electronic design and assembly, neither they nor the Collective represent the fruits of their labor as constituting commercial products in any sense nor do they or the Collective warrant them as suitable for any particular purpose other than demonstrating to themselves and to their associates the particular tonal characteristics and aesthetic appeal of a given combination of circuit and cabinet design. Their artwork is not inspected or certified by any body such as Underwriters’ Laboratories (UL) or the Canadian Standards Association (CSA). All risks connected with the ownership and use of the Collective’s artwork are assumed by the owner, who agrees to hold the artist and the Collective blameless.

In their artwork, the members of the Collective make extensive use of recycled electronic and cabinet components salvaged from other pieces of equipment to explore their unique tonal characteristics while minimizing the cost of their experiments. Because some of these components are often of significant age and/or may not have been originally intended for use in musical instrument amplifiers, the longevity of the finished work containing them cannot be assured and as such no guarantees whatever of their functionality over time are expressed or implied by the artists or the Collective to the owners of their artwork.

In their experiments, the members of the Collective draw upon a variety of sources for circuit ideas to test. These sources include but are not limited to other members of the Collective, vacuum tube manufacturers’ design handbooks, amplifier repair manuals, schematics of different classic guitar amp designs from years past, and advice and recommendations from other amplifier builders. For each experimental schematic posted on these pages, the designer strives to identify accurately the provenance of the ideas contained in it and furnish credit for them as appropriate. Any errors or omissions which occur in this process should be brought to the attention of the Webmaster and will be quickly corrected.