Passinwind

On 14/07/2020 at 06:56, ped said:

Good find! Get three! Just check they fit though as shaft size is a bit bigger and although they’ll have grub screws it can cause them to sit a bit wonky if they don’t fit perfectly (assuming the shafts are 6mm exactly)

Many vendors sell tubular brass shims to alleviate that very problem. It's not too hard to improvise a DIY solution either, a cut up soda or beer can works OK for instance.

For those of us in or near the US, these guys have a few different Kilo knobs at really good prices: https://lovemyswitches.com/knobs/

Interesting on Digikey, in the past I've been told that Mouser (the other main player here) shipped parts from the US by default.

On 13/07/2020 at 13:04, Jean-Luc Pickguard said:

I can't understand what is so wrong with using an electric tuner. Are we supposed to use a tuning fork?

In the context of jazz with acoustic piano you are generally expected to tune to the piano by ear. I made this faux pas myself as a rookie in a big band, but most of time the keyboard player brought an electric one and it didn't matter, and sometimes the acoustic ones have been so out of tune that it also didn't matter. The real fun started when there was no keyboard player and the whole band tuned to my fretless bass, and not to a pitch with a marker either. 😉

2 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

The current ones are just good old 7x15s and with through a full range 8" PA speaker the noise is barely perceptable, with both volunes at full and ears to the tweeter. The current ones are fine but they are not too pleasing on the eye, and take up a lot of room. I have a bunch of LM317/337 PCBs that I could put in but I am not sure how well they perform. The specs are +/-15V at 200mA.I could probably get away with 100mA but as I seem to be using that as a test bed, I need a little in hand.

There's always that one more thing, isn't there? 😎

What specs do you need for the regulator John?

And BTW, I share your pain when it comes to metalwork. Literally, my fingers are a mess right now from hand filling a power switch opening in 1/8" aluminium two days ago

4 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

I have looked at HYPEX before but found them just as hard to get information as ICEPower. I contatcted them and they pointed me to their DIY site.Sadly that only has separate power amplifiers and the beauty of the ICEPower and OEM Hypex modules is the intergrated mains and auxilliary power supplies.

I see the separate supplies as potentially a big plus actually. Not easier to deal with though, of course. My cost would be substantially higher though, and I already have too many amps!

Needs more cowbell.

5 minutes ago, nilebodgers said:

The NC500MP OEM and NC502 MP OEM look interesting as integrated modules (having a separate psu like the others is a step backward IMO).

A quick google didn't reveal any street prices though.

I believe the NC500MP OEM is the one my friend Jule Potter is using in his new "pedalboard" power amp. I'm in no hurry to do any more Class D builds but it could be fun to give a different brand a try eventually. That said, both the Icepower 500ASP and 700ASC modules were pretty easy to work with beyond the cable fabrication end, but even that just takes a few Web clicks and a few weeks waiting time under normal circumstances. I just got in an order for something else from that vendor in the ROC, it took about 5-6 weeks this time around.

On 08/07/2020 at 01:06, Chienmortbb said:

 @Passinwind and @nilebodgers have valid points above and I would hate to think I have encouraged anyone to rush headlong into building a low cost, home brew amp from modules purchased from Ebay, Ali Express or Bangood. I have added a safety warning to the first post. Please read it.

 

John

I wasn't calling you out in any way John, I think you're doing it just right. Rod is in a position of extreme responsibilty and potential liability, and he did offer a Class D module as part of one or more projects a few years ago, but apparently doesn't anymore. I've purposely kept a lot of details of my DIY builds a bit vague in forum posts, but as always I'm happy to share more in PMs.

I'm always surprised not to see more mention of Hypex. They make great sounding stuff and are happy to support DIY'ers fully. In the US the ICEpower rep is a great guy and has helped me a lot, but tech support comes from Denmark and  IME those guys are pretty much all business. They changed their presence at NAMM from a public booth to appointment-only in a private office this year and I can't say I blame them. My first module came from a gray market source (lightly used evaluation kit) and was pretty expensive, but the guy was very helpful and made me a nice cable set on his nickel. For the last three I called in favors, schmoozed the right people, and so on, and the price for 700ASCs was very reasonable.

1 minute ago, Chienmortbb said:

Yes his bass amp is a well thought out project, it would be nice to see some PCBs for it although the Class A/B amp would not be my chouce.

Agreed, but in many parts of the world including the US it would be sketchy to even publish anything with the usual SMPS supply format that so many Class D amps use. DIYaudio used to explicitly forbid it, not sure if they're still held to that or not though.

For my part, I'm deep into a tube bass amp build at the moment. Just about everything about it is a real shock after all the battery powered stuff I've been doing for the last few years, hopefully not literally though!

22 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

OK i have changed the DI circuit (on paper) in line with the need to protect against Phantom Power. The circuit is a cross between the original circuit outlined in Elliot Sound Products Project 14 Amplifier Bridging Adaptor and Project 152 Bass Amplifier. Incidently, I bougt the PCB from Rod Elliiot and hope that if anyone uses these ideas they also buy PCBs to keep his great resource going. Please click on the links below to go to the relevant pages on Rod's website. I have also added the ground lift switch. I have put links to all Rods projects that I have looked at plus a link to the Fender style preamp that could be used in a similar project to this.

 

Click to go to Project14 on Elliot Sound Products

Click here to see the DI out circuit on the P152 Bass Amplifier.

Link to Project27 including the alternative preamp (PCB available)

 

 

Project 27 works really well for a bass preamp IME. I gigged with a DIY rack preamp using his V1 board for quite a few years and that build ended up in a NAMM booth earlier this year actually. Hopefully Rod will do boards for at least some parts of his new bass preamp project as well.

3 hours ago, Phil Starr said:

It's hard to fathom Govt thinking but how about quiet music? Two of our band members go out as a duo and I am part of a separate duo. I can see more work for acoustic acts over the next few moths and maybe for a while. Our current band set is designed to get people up and dancing. That's an interesting  challenge, design a set to stop people dancing 😔

As a long term straight ahead jazz performer and a general weirdo, no problem there at all. And I like it that way!

Marco Bass Guitars MV4:

On 15/06/2020 at 12:34, Barking Spiders said:

Just seen this Alembic on EBay for  nearly £11k. Has anyone come across a bass that tops even this price?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1980-Alembic-Series-II-SSB-Short-Scale-Bass-the-Ultimate-Stanley-bass/174034172591?hash=item28853ebaaf:g:qisAAOSwaPNb6Zzs

Sure, nearly any new Alembic for starters. And then of course a nice upright can easily cost double or triple that figure.

I'll be interested to see how that bright switch works out; I've used it in the Rod Elliot preamp design I lifted it from but not in the board you have.

Nice to hear that you're making noise now!

On 09/06/2020 at 01:21, Jus Lukin said:

Yeah, filter curves are additive (even when subtracting!😄) so the Vong would be -24db/Oct below 30hz, similar to a Thumpinator, with an additional variable -12db/Oct above that for tuning to a cab or tone shaping.

I've floated the idea of something like this pedal with a couple of custom builders and after much bemusement and explanation came away with some pretty prohibitive prices. In fact the difference seems so much that I'm off to start a thread about getting a couple of these built!

It a really simple build, and fDeck has published the schematic for his v3 now. I could knock off a board layout very quickly, but he's a friend and even though he's said he'd be OK with that I'd rather not. I've done a design during lockdown for a 12dB/oct one with a resonance control that will be open source and intended for DIY builders, just have to build one myself and make sure it performs as expected.

17 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Nope. An EQ pedal doesn't work in the same way as an hpf.

The MXR won't cut as effectively in the sub sonic (20Hz and less) space as the Thumpinator, so you won't remove low end "crud" as effectively. 

 

Yep, it's not even the same ballpark at all.

2 hours ago, julietgreen said:

We have a gig booked for August which hasn't been cancelled yet. I suspect I won't be going. I shall set myself a criterion based on the maximum number of newly infected nationwide before go back into public arenas.

What about you?

I had already been semi-retired from gigging for a couple of years before this mess started. I have a pretty strong inclination to just make it permanent and move on to other things. It'd take more than low rent bar gigs to entice me at this point in any case. 

3 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

I got it from Ghent Audio. At the time it made sense as it was hard to source JST connectors and the added cost of the crimp tool did not make sense. As I have three other modules, two of the 50ASX2 and a 125ASX2 I might look again at it although from past experience, crimping well is not as easy as it looks. 
 

Looking at the Preamp is like looking back in time You can see the mods on top and there is an added capacitor on the underside. It was already loaded so it seemed sensible to use it on this project.
 

I just ordered a few sets of I/O cables from Ghent the other day, not for the first time. IME the key to good consistent crimps is to use a real crimping tool, i.e. not just a generic hand one meant for occasional prototyping . Real JST hand crimpers are already about $400 new over here and you need two different models to do the ICE modules I've worked with. If you go for powered ones with thermal stripping you're looking at a few $K each.

And at least that's one of my older board layouts, which are often much easier to do mods on. The SMT onboard preamps I'm doing these days are really not all that much fun to work on.

On 28/05/2020 at 14:37, ClassicVibes said:

Huh, I always thought it was Duracell for some reason. 

A little Google-Fu shows stories of some (nominally correct size) Duracell batteries being problematic when used in oversized battery compartments meant for the Energizer Industrials.

I have both in my shop at the moment and it's a chore to get the Energizer to fit in my Fender drive pedal. Consumer grade Duracells pop right in, FWIW. But of course counterfeits are everywhere these days, and Duracell have an industrial variant as well, so who knows really?

3 hours ago, ClassicVibes said:

Are there any 9V batteries that tend to be slightly bigger than normal and thus stretch the insides of battery boxes? I know this can lead to other, smaller 9V batteries not being able to reach the terminals and shorting out. 

Yes. The Energizer Industrial batteries are a classic example of being at the high end of the standard, but I've never observed that latter result personally.

14 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

Well the postman came and I now have almost all the parts I need. I will send pictures tomorrow but I now just need  to connect about 26  wires.  I hope I can get some sound out tomorrow. 

Outstanding. I still have a couple of preamps with that first generation board of mine in them kicking around. One is about to get replaced by the second gen one any day now, but the differences are pretty minimal. Hope it goes smoothly for you from here on out!

BTW, did the I/O cabling for the power module come with it, or did you have to do the usual aftermarket route to get it done?

6 hours ago, Misdee said:

 Could I just point out that I certainly would not count Marcus Miller as a trade show bass player, not in a million years. Marcus is as good as it gets in my opinion. He has it all, taste, feel,  chops, and the nous to know how to use it all to great effect. And when it comes to slap, he is the best in the business. And he has played with too many great artists to list. 

 

 

True that, but Marcus was right up there with anyone I saw at NAMM as far as "show chops"  this year too. Difference was that he was playing actual self contained music the whole time,  stuff that needed no visual component or constraint to portrait view on a stoopid phone,  until some other guy joined him 15 minutes in anyway.

I did see a few other really great show demo sets too. Anyone with disdain for pick playing might want to check out Cody Wright, for instance.

At the booth I "worked" in it wasn't quite all slap all the time, probably only 85-90%. My crankiness is rock steady these days, no worries. What technique produces good music isn't all that important to me, as long as it happens.

On 10/05/2020 at 14:24, Stub Mandrel said:

I did one experiment with heating a board up under the grill for a chip whose pads were totally under the chip. It actually worked! But you need to  treat all the pads with solder paste using a cocktail stick, luckily it only had about six pads.

I think a good way to do large chips would be solder paste and a rework gun.

More than one person has actually made their own reflow oven.

My friend who runs an audio gear repair shop just down the street is a certified teacher for SMT soldering, and has extensive experience with computer motherboards and all sorts of other arcane stuff. We've discussed a barter arrangment to get me some  scary knowledge but it's hasn't happened yet. He' s repurposed a toaster oven, among other things. 

2 hours ago, ClassicVibes said:

I preferred SIT Silencers to be honest. 

Sound wise I lke Silencers, GHS Pressurewounds, and EB Cobalt Flats about equally for fretless duty, which is by far my main thing. Out of those only the CFs really feel like flats texture wise though, IMO. Unfortunately that works against my current obsession, slide bass. 

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

I used to do surface mount electronics back in the day for a living, but don't have the tools for it at home, so I tend to avoid it

Heh! I've been avoiding getting the right tooling, as I really don't savor going deeper down this rabbit hole. It seems unavoidable these days though.