An Interview With Nelson Pass – Part 1

An interview with Nelson Pass of Pass Labs and First Watt.

Nelson Pass has left a large footprint in the sands of audiophillia. His designs for Pass Labs and First Watt paved the way for commercial success, and this contributions to the DIY community continue to bring in new enthusiasts to the hobby. Captured at the 2019 Burning Amp event in San Fransisco, PartTimeAudiophile’s The Occasional Podcast catches up with Nelson Pass to discuss his adventures in hifi and what contributed to his success in the market.

The Burning Amp festival was combined with the “Amp Camp” this year. That DIY-focused event provides a day long seminar where attendees not only get the training to make a pre amp (sans casework) but all the parts to walk away with a working amplifier to boot.

The entire podcast was captured on a park bench overlooking the bay early Sunday morning. Some ambient noise can be heard and there were a few breaks allowed for and airshow flyover a few times. Overall, the stories that Nelson weaves reach back as far as the 70’s, so there is a quite a bit of history to unearth from one of high end’s stalwart characters. The interview is cut into two parts, with the embed below directing to the first half. Starting with some of Nelson’s early years, it leads up to the time just before First Watt was created.

Nelson Pass inspecting an attendee’s work from the Amp Camp event at Burning Amp.

The Occasional Podcast is wrapping up their 3rd season, with interviews from Sonus Faber, Joseph Audio, ZMF Headphones, and Dan D’Agostino providing interesting highlights from the season and a peek behind the backdrop of high end audio and hifi in general. You can also check out this season’s educational drop with a beginner’s primer to Reel-To-Reel.

You can stream it all direct from the embed below or subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform including iTunes, Android, Google, Deezer, Spotify, iHeartRadio and more.