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Portability, simplicity, power, and tone…ese were the design criteria for Little Dragon.
Bruce Lee (the Little Dragon), whose Chinese name was Jun Fan (李振藩 in traditional Chinese
characters), was an actor, martial arts teacher, philosopher, lm director, and screenwriter. e philosophy
and martial art style he developed is called Jeet Kune Do, and emphasizes an eclectic approach not only
to combat, but to all aspects of life; summarized by the credo: Use what works. In the founder’s own
words: “Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specically your own.”
is philosophy perfectly exemplies my own approach to music in general, and amplier design in
particular, and as such, inspired the homonymous brand name: Hugh’s Wattwerx.
My approach to amp design/construction is pretty simple: I build what I want to use myself, one amp
at a time. at way, if nobody ever buys one, who cares? Ihave my ideal amp for my own use. If/when
one sells, then I’ll build another.
Since starting to design my own amps in 2009, I’ve assembled numerous successful prototypes,
embodying dozens of unique features and topologies. When it came time to choose just one as my
premier model oering, there was little doubt which one it should be: Little Dragon.
Also, as described on the overview page, it is the design which, if I never sell a single unit, I would be
ree goals underlie this design.
First, foremost, and almost requiring no mention, it had to sound great, for a multitude of styles and
usages, and had to pack adequate cojones to hang with a full band, including an acoustic drummer.
Second, it had to be compact. I drive a Ford Escort, so I need something I can easily stow in the tiny
trunk along with my guitar case. With knees not what they once were, and many venues located atop
ights of stairs, I wanted to be able to grab my amp in one hand, my guitar case in the other, and arrive
ready to play with just a single trip.
ird, it had to be simple. With 40 years experience as a Computer Systems Engineer, I am anything
but a technophobe; nevertheless, when it comes time to make music, I prefer to leave my pocket protector
at home and shi fully into music making mode. Moreover, aer a couple of beers a/o a toke or two, the
last thing with which I care to contend is a control panel that resembles a jumbo jet console!
Despite its diminutive size, Little Dragon packs a 40W punch, courtesy of a pair of EL34 output tubes,
cathode biased, and equipped with a ne-tune balance control for achieving optimum bias even with
unmatched tubes. For those of technical inclination, the circuit embodies a wide-bandwidth, parallel
triode rst gain stage, with volume-, treble-, and bass-boost switches, followed by an EF86 small-signal-
pentode, carefully congured to avoid microphponics, despite its combo-amp environment. Tone stack
consists of a low-loss Baxandall lter for bass-treble control, coupled with an independent, inductor-
based mid control. Bass/treble and mid sections can be individually bypassed for maximum volume and
extensive tonal variation.
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