"The new Son of Ampzilla II is a fresh approach to a classic design. We are proud to offer the complete balance of classic and cutting edge. The industrial design of SST gear has traditionally been something visually and physically unique like Jim's personality. We aim to carry his vision forward in a modern and practical manner. His fully balanced and bridged circuit integrates a single voltage gain stage that's quiet enough to be employed in a phono preamp. Input options are addressed with our input gain servo. That measures the center point of the input signal to determine whether it's balanced or not. If not, it adds 6dB of gain via feedback for when the unbalanced inputs are used. This allows us to avoid introducing additional equalizing circuitry. Our main goals were uncompromised performance and stability. The bridged design allows us to use a lower voltage supply that provides us with a wider safe operating window. This coupled with the six pairs of 16A/ea. high-current BJTs per channel helps deliver max power whilst ensuring a lifetime of reliability. These devices also operate from our active temperature tracking and regulated bias circuit to keep things in check. Class A bias extends to 10 watts.

"Power transformers are typically pretty straightforward but our design goals pressed us for something more. High power and low noise aren’t typically found working hand in hand. After countless months of meticulously refining the construction, we settled on what became a gargantuan 20lbs transformer. We'd finally found our recipe for high current and low emissions. For this, James B. is surely smiling from above. Isolated power supplies for each gain and power stage adopted from the Ampzilla 2000 eliminate any interstage irregularities. The modular design for upgradeability with separate power supply, gain and output stages opens the door for future opportunities." Where EJ had pursued class D exclusively for Wyred4Sound, with SST he now had class A/B matured and refined over more than three decades. Horses for courses and more choices for the consumer.

The 'max. 800 watts' writing shows serious power draw potential despite the higher efficiency of class A/B.


"In the early days of our partnership with JB, I provided manufacturing improvements and a 'repeatability quotient' whilst honouring Jim's circuit genesis and ingenious power supply design. My job was to make these products work in a manufacturing environment that had equal parts refinement and process control. This proved to be a wonderful exercise for all involved. Even down to the outrageous cosmetics of Jim’s products, we made it all possible in a repeatable and reliable manufacturing environment. Everyone was happy and the dreams of a legend were slowly taking shape.


"More products were in the works and I was at the helm of both development and manufacturing. Concurrently, our reputation for designing and producing audio products of our own that were innovative, reliable and sonically brilliant continued to grow. At this point, the story began to go viral. A growing underground buzz around our collaboration and product line was taking form. Particularly in the rarefied circles of the high-end Asian markets, the SST brand and products had begun to earn a stellar reputation for quality and artistry. The momentum continued to grow. Unfortunately some important decisions had to be made due to Jim's health concerns and the brand's sustainability. With the help of others, Jim and I were beginning to map out a long-term plan for me to take control of the ship. Eventually I was able to purchase the company and the rights to build these products and others that were already on the drawing board prior to Jim’s passing."


Today's Ambrosia II is cheekily called "almost the last analog preamp". It is an encore to 1970's Thaedra then hailed as the most complicated/sophisticated preamp ever designed. To modernize it with full remote meant duplicating all front panel options on the wand. This triggers optical encoders to control pure analog functions inside an advanced digital menu. That menu is driven by 11 CMOS packages with 16/ea. switches. For total transparency, it falls asleep after commands are executed and subtracts itself fully from the signal path. Functions include fully discrete (optional) MM and MC, a quasi 4th-order low-cut filter, 7 inputs plus 2 tape i/o, a combo XLR/RCA input, two each RCA/XLR outputs, a pair of 6.3mm headfi ports powered by a balanced buffer idling at 4.5wpc, treble/bass controls with four selectable inflection points each, "very exotic" fully balanced signal circuitry with a power transformer of 4 sets of secondaries plus 15 regulators within; and a 14-gauge steel chassis with 3/ea. switched/unswitched AC outlets for 50lbs of fighting weight. Noise performance for MC is <70nV and <300nV for MM, all line-level circuits operate at <5uV.


On what, if anything, EJ might leak about forthcoming SST projects, "we'd been working with JB on a handful of things before his time came. One of those was this new Son of Ampzilla II. Others we can pick up on as well but we really need for the brand to first grow some legs before we invest deeper. There was a plan for a Class A version of the Ampzilla2000 which I could still see in the future – and likely a Godzilla as well." (The original Godzilla monos did 90 watts in class A, 350 watts in class A/B).