The Bard is an homage to one of the favorite misunderstood amplifiers of the past: the Music Man HD130. Manufactured from 1974 to 1984, these amps combined a solid state preamp with a tube power amp, an unusual choice that lead to them being gravely underrated in their time. But the HD130 and its siblings are now well regarded in some circles, thanks to their pristine (but not quite vintage) clean tones, trashy overdrive, and very wide frequency response that suits both guitar and bass. This EAE weird passion project editorialized their favorite parts of this cult classic into a compact overdrive pedal, The Bard.