whats up linearone,i have had radios here that had the astatic board in it and i gotta tell ya .i wasnt impressed.if all you want is a little reverb this board will give you that .although i fell it sounds cheesy.
i have installed quite a few skythumper vortex boards and they sound great.it is a turbo style echo but just simply dont use that portion of the echo if you dont like it .
i see the astatic board has no pre amp on it .the skythumper board and the rf limited boards both have mic pre amps on the boards .they really make a radio scream.
if i was doing a radio for myself i,d stay away from the astatic ,but thats just me .i like the mic pre amps on the boards .reports on the skythumper echo have been great,clear n clean sounding is what i get .
now the skythumper board has the big ol metal control pot so if space is a issue up front then you might wanna pass on this board and get something with the smaller control.
they fit in unidens and 29`s just fine .come with a mounting tang on it .
hope that helped ya some.