hey Mike, you're welcome but of course my heads up was not the first (the great amp shootout).
I don't think there are that many ways you can modify such a simple design; different parts for dif. flavors.
I suspect part of the magic lies in its simplicity, the straight-thru-short approach. This is something N. Pass and others like some of the more daring Brit. designers have been advocating for years. If I understand M. Mardis, the power supply is the real key to the final approach. For some reason this Tripath itiation doesn't respond well to the battery driven mode (à la Red Wine). It would appear that this kind of circuitry/chip design needs a highly regulated, very stable source of power to sound its best. The new one (Yu Long)that is due to appear in my life any minute from him takes this idea as far as was reasonably possible (keeping it all in one box). Any way you deal with it, the Trends in modded version is ridiculously good. Of couse it clips badly and runs out of steam easily trying to drive my inefficient TL's. The new one should have more head room, even though its based on the same chip, and be more at ease. Review coming here real soon!