Samson Servo 300

atriptothemoon
May 20, 2007

Rating: 7/10

I like this amplifier. Used to drive Mackie S215\'s for a folk based band called Gumpf - they are set to max and forgotten about. I have found this amp delivers a nice clean sound. Perhaps a tad too clean sometimes but nice all the same for the price. It is very cheap for what it is.
It copes admirably as the sole PA amp in a typical samll/medium pub sized, enclosed gigging venue and gives you all the power you really need for this application (except perhaps for heavy metal). Driven at about 75% (of the mixer pot scale) it handles 6 different instuments : Violin, Voice, electric bass guitar, acoustic guitar, flute and bazooki - confidently enough for the typical audience with (for the price) some, but not an objectionably significant amount of muddying (distortion) of transients and harmonics. It handles large changes in dynamic range reasonably well and has a half decent power supply with some reasonably large capacitors to handle the crests. It certainly drives the S215 load ok, (I reckon the S215\'s are just about good enough to judge an amp by), as I mentioned above, it has the admirable quality (for the price.. oh did I mention the price again?) of coping admirably well with a wide variety of sources, of widely differing frequency characeristics and dynamics - simultaneously - with ok to good sounding resolution.
Its well built, looks reasonably solid - it is an utterly simple - but effective - product.

OK - the gripes .. well.. (for the price!)none really - I think its great value for money and its smile ratio is good at 11.63.
[N.B. Jargon Update : So I here you ask. what is this ratio? well its:

:-) = functionality x pleasure/payment

and I think this amp rates 6 x 5/2=15.00 :-)

Like that? I thought I\'d call it the smile ratio :-) which is an indice I have not seen used before and like very much!)

Now ... give it some nice big solid metal knobs, a design that doesn\'t remind you of a cheesy domestic DVD player, an angled VU screen with decent analogue VU meters, some more in/out and a slightly more natural sound.... and your looking at functionality=7 and pleasure=8 and a :-) ratio of 18.67 !
But then those sort of things have a habit of resulting in a consequent increase in the \"payment\" variable !

[7 x 8/3=18.67. Its normal to quote to two decimal places and by the way its not 7/10 or 8/10 or 3/10. The functionality, pleasure and payment variables can be as high or as low as you like.. but not infinite! and I guess they should probaly all be positive to avoid confusion].

anyway thankyou for reading !
long live the smile ratio!

brgds

Atriptothemoon

p.s. what about:
X = [((functionality)^2) * pleasure]/payment

? oh dear ..