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Passinwind

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Everything posted by Passinwind

  1. [quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1489339370' post='3256157'] I don't think it's as simple as an inductor/resistor as there's an impedance peak at the resonant frequency of the speaker. Just had a look and there's an article on Wikipedia - looks like it's a complex LCR mix. [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_characteristics_of_dynamic_loudspeakers"]https://en.wikipedia...ic_loudspeakers[/url] [/quote] Yep, there are mechanical impedance equations that have to be factored in along with the electrical ones, and one has to measure those things themselves before Spice modeling will work all that well. Spice is very useful for looking at things like power distribution in crossovers though, IME.
  2. [quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1488998493' post='3253634'] Once I heard a good two way at Stevie's I came to the same conclusion. [/quote] For things like electric upright it's just mandatory in my world these days. But I really like the option forks you guys are developing, well done. BTW, how's your amp build coming along?
  3. [quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1488967960' post='3253270'] I think this is the real point. The 3012LF would have been the speaker of it were 40/50% cheaper over here it would be a good basis for a 1x 12 plus midrange design. It would not work as well as the Beyma in a single 12 configuration like the BC Mk1. [/quote] Absolutely, it's all about tradeoffs as always. At this point I have less than zero interest in any bass cab that only uses a single driver though, personally. Many people do prefer that format, of course.
  4. [quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1488929050' post='3253087'] We normally assume an exchange rate of £1=$1 especially when it applies to US made products imported to the UK so £650 actually equates to just short of $800. Do those cabs with 15s have mid range and HF drivers too Charlie? [/quote] Oops, meant the 3012LF. The one I'm thinking of has a single 3" mid driver for the 12" loaded one. We can get finally get dozens of Beyma drivers quite easily over here these days, but not the one you guys are using. It probably wouldn't be too hard to special order through the primary US dealer though, but I doubt it'd be any cheaper than the 3012LF.
  5. [quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1488904253' post='3252805'] As Im said earlier it wa my plan to build two cabinets but Stevie convinced me that one would be enough. The Beyma SM 212 has a massive excursions of 8.3mm as I remember, only beaten by the Eminence Kappalite 3012LF. However on the Kappalite, the "LF" is the clue, it really is just a woofer and would probably need a more sophisticated crossover and/or a mid range driver and maybe a tweeter as used by Greenboy in his FEARfull and FEARless models. See [url="https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/q89/p480x480/10906135_1021323607896101_2539545370011067118_n.jpg?oh=8b07b3a72c11ec2bf6773bf25a063e1a&oe=59707441"]HERE[/url] [size=4]Then the cabinet would be bigger, heavier and a lot more expensive. [/size] [/quote] There are some pretty nice sounding commercial cabs using the 3012LF (edited from 3015LF) that weigh around 25 pounds and are not too large, but yeah, not all that inexpensive at $650 in the US before shipping.
  6. [quote name='pete.young' timestamp='1488658690' post='3250913'] Can anyone point me to a circuit for a dual channel high impedance preamp with a gain control on at least one channel? I am looking for something to blend a double bass bridge and fingerboard piezoelectric pickups, without spending K&K Sound amounts. [/quote] You could use a pair of the Tillman or Kreuzer FET front ends into one of Rod Elliot's ESP mixer modules and build a pretty nice sounding widget fairly inexpensively. There are also a few possibilities on Francis Deck's site, including this one: http://personalpages.tds.net/~fdeck/bass/bbbb.jpg
  7. [quote name='Saved' timestamp='1488572700' post='3250244'] Hey Charlie!! Nice to see you here man [/quote] Likewise Dimitris.
  8. Just a heads-up: my open source onboard preamp project is now live and the circuit boards are available directly from the fabricator via a share arrangement on their website. I haven't really looked into parts sourcing outside of the US, but most of the parts I've spec'ed are very common over here. This is strictly a non-commercial truly open source project BTW. https://www.talkbass.com/threads/the-passinwind-open-source-preamp.1259692/#post-19535550
  9. [quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1488298405' post='3247657'] Haha I said you'd end up being Gottastopbuilding gear I'm really pleased about what you say about the 3/4 ply with batten design, it won't be perfect but I found it was pretty good too. I'll stick with the woodworking questions here, my posts tend to be too long. All speaker design is compromise and I'm really pleased what you've said about my '18mm with battens' (actually reinforced butt joints) design. I chose these for two reasons, mainly using screws to draw the battens/panel joints together means you don't need any real extra clamping making it an easy build. I wanted everyone to feel this was something they could do at home with no real woodworking experience or special tools. Secondly the battens double the glue area and double the strength of the cabs. I was aware however that 18mm panels are pretty rigid at these sizes and the battens do stiffen and damp the panels as well. A compromise which means you can get away with no extra bracing. That's not to say you couldn't improve things with bracing but you should get a good result without that level of complexity. Lot's of other joints are available to you, dovetail, finger joints, dowels, biscuit joints and plain butt joints as Stevie used. Dovetail and finger joints double the glue area but won't be as strong as a reinforced joint and need to be clamped whilst the glue dries, crucially you need to have specialist tools to do the job. Biscuits and dowels are marginal for me putting a dowel into the sawn end of a 18mm panel isn't a strong thing to do and if you have to fit corners that means rounding off the panel weakening the joint even more. They may hold the joints square whist the glue sets but I still feel you'd need to clamp everything. Plain butt joints are just too weak for me, though Stevie's bracing will considerably stiffen and strengthen the cab I still think there is a good chance that the corner joints may break given any force applied at an angle, like dropping the cab for example. That is especially true of a cab made of 12mm ply. Finally the reinforced butt joint is more forgiving of any mistakes in measurement or cutting, you are more likely to end up with an airtight cab. [/quote] No mention of pocket joints, which are my favorite for 3/4" plywood, and only take a minimal tooling investment. I sometimes use battens too, and one or two spine braces on larger panels. Woodworking is pretty much my least favorite aspect of DIY building though.
  10. [quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1488194604' post='3246592'] I must get round to re-visiting that project; I bought modules from Connex about four years ago, then my electric bass gigs dried up for a while, I lost all sense of urgency about it and put them in the back of a cupboard. Connex were quite frustrating to deal with, and I think that blunted my enthusiasm a little too. They had very good documentation for the SMPS I bought, but didn't have it on their website for the amp module I went for. I presumed the manual would be sent after purchase, but after multiple emails it never was, and they still don't appear to have written one. So I have a power amp module with almost no information about it - I know what it needs in terms of power supply but I don't know what the input sensitivity is or whether it has a limiter on board. The SMPS and amp module would fit in a 1U height case, though that will probably need a fan. At some point I'll get round to hooking it up with a dummy load and signal generator to measure the gain and calculate the input sensitivity, and then put it in a case, probably with a simple soft-clip circuit on the input, perhaps an op-amp HPF. My intention was to build a simple valve preamp in a separate box, which is the bit of the project I'm rather more confident about. [/quote] That sort of project often has a way of ending up taking years, or at least it has for me. The first ICE based build I did was made a lot easier by an old designer's guide that I found online, but I still had to do a fair amount of homework myself. Best of luck with yours!
  11. [quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1488065986' post='3245628'] It's not a stupid idea, and it's something I've looked into myself (I have a Connex amp module and SMPS that I picked up a couple of years ago waiting to be put to use). But to be really effective for bass amp use you would need to sort out cooling fans and some sort of limiter, and ideally an HPF on the input too. And the price works out at a point where you could pick up a fairly nice rack power amp secondhand. [/quote] I built one using an ICEpower 700ASC module. I used a sufficiently large heatsink to negate the need for a fan (which I will not tolerate) and the onboard limiter works just fine for my purposes. Most of my preamps do have an adjustable HPF, but the ones that don't still work OK for me. But the build ended up being 2RU high by 1/2 rack width, and is not small or light weigh enough to be commercially attractive, I think. By my calculations I would have to build and sell 100 of them just to start to make it worthwhile anyway, and there are potentially profound liability issues, so no thanks!
  12. [quote name='radiophonic' timestamp='1486385827' post='3231269'] I have an ongoing battle to boost the sound of my Jazz bass to something like the same as my Stingray without sacrificing its Jazz-ness. Even if I match them for volume at the desk, the Jazz sounds subjectively quieter (not a surprise given the respective EQ curves). A lot of articles talk about the Supercharged Jazz tone obtained by using an on-board active pre-amp/pickups, but could I obtain something similar using a pedal. No modding of the bass required (good), easier to sell on if I change my mind (also good). The downside it would seem to me is that you can't recover lost information i.e. If a pickup hasn't detected a sound in the first place it can't be amplified. So my question is; Is there any inherent advantage (leaving aside practicalities) of an onboard pre-amp over a pedal? I'm thinking about something like the MXR or similar - just active tone shaping, no overdrive etc. [/quote] First off, active pickups and onboard preamps are not necessarily the same thing. Secondly, there a few onboard preamps that fit a Jazz bass without requiring any routing -- you just drop in a whole new control plate and you're done. And lastly, you could do worse than to use one of the Radial Tonebone pedals to accomplish what you need to do with just one pedal. An even simpler solution is to just turn down the Stingray.
  13. [quote name='giamma' timestamp='1485417284' post='3223740'] @Passiwind: thank you for share your experienced, I'm sure they are great cabs with the electric bass but I'm looking for a new cab for the doublebass, used in classic trio/quartet band [/quote] Understood, hence my recommendation to talk to Jorg, since I've only heard half a dozen or so of his models. My personal favorites for acoustic upright for jazz that I've actually played would be AudioKinesis, Euphonic Audio, Acoustic Image, and Accugroove. If I were in the market I would also be listening to Greenboy FEARLESS (sic), Barefaced (the ones that have a tweeter), Mike Arnopol Soundworks, and AER.
  14. [quote name='CameronJ' timestamp='1485380794' post='3223612'] i guess you mean a panel that sits on the existing one? Wouldn't that affect the knob/ switch clearance? [/quote] In many cases you can just use hole cutouts that are slightly bigger than the knobs, or at least the fixing nuts, if there are any. Lots of audio gear is done that way, but as always, it just depends on the specific case how feasible it is. There are outfits that make stick-on plastic overlays that are quite thin too.
  15. [quote name='CameronJ' timestamp='1485360408' post='3223386'] I may just do that when the time comes. Looks like the front of your new version PW8B is semi-similar to my BH800, especially the knob protection bars. Actually the bars are the only real similarity really. Anyhow, I'll probably seek counsel from you when working out how to get the front off without destroying the amp completely. Though for now my main focus is getting a tort pickguard made for my incoming Yamaha BB! [/quote] You might want to consider just doing an overlay panel. That would open up many other cosmetic options as well.
  16. [quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1485365952' post='3223444'] Interesting stuff. I mentally can't get past the tiny cab but hearing is believing I guess. Interesting what direction peavey are looking to take this, I'm really not sure. Is it the start of a high end amp range for peavey so their name stays on the workhorse budget friendly stuff? Is it product dev and market testing for crazy ideas that will later filter in to peavey products? Interesting that a lot of us want the old trace sound. I loved my old trace gear but the size and weight just wasn't practical. In keeping the name going are Peavey trying to keep the sound going or are they trying to keep the principles going? What I mean is, are they not bothered about recreating trace tone for us oldies in the UK who remember when everything was better, or to them does the trace name mean "innovation", "reliability", "high tech" or other such things that they feel they are representing in green products with the trace name on them? No idea what the answers are, just trying to guess at what they're doing. [/quote] What's the perception of Peavey like in the UK? Seems like they might be wanting to leverage the warm fuzzies that you guys clearly have for the TE brand name, which as I mentioned probably wouldn't get them all that far in the US, at least IMHO. In any case, I'm a terrible judge of this stuff, since there are really no old sounds that I covet in the least. If I had my way the whole industry would start with a white sheet.
  17. [quote name='giamma' timestamp='1484925551' post='3219787'] Hi guys, I'm looking for a new cab to replace my GK mbx, I was looking at the schroeder website and I'm really interested in the 1x10 or the 1x8.... Anyone had experience with this brand with the double bass? I'm not looking for something with a huge volume but is more important the portability and the quality of the acoustic sound.. [/quote] We had one of the 2 X 8s in our NAMM booth and my amp was running into that with and without the 2 X 10 for the entire show. Those cabs worked really well for what we needed: slap, slap, and then some more slap. I also used to use one of Jorg's 1210 cabs with my EUB for a couple of years, which was fantastic for the punk/surf/rockabilly/blues thing I was doing at that time. Not really nuanced enough for the jazz trio thing I transitioned to full time though.Talk to him and ask the hardest questions you can think of. His cabs have always been known for making a lot of noise for a small box, but the rest is so subjective that I hesitate to even guess how a specific cab might work for you. He makes a lot of models and I'd expect that at least a couple might work very well for you.
  18. [quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1485249352' post='3222376'] I had a look at the bass releases, obviously not all of them as I didn't go, but it was the usual boutique P and J, a few more daring designs like Ibanez, then Fenders latest Professional series which I won't be bothering with. Lot's of mini Class D amps, the only one of which I currently find interesting is Genzler. Whereas guitar had interesting designs like the Musicman St Vincent, Valentine, etc...lot's of guitar effects that are clearly more fun to use on guitar (latest delay and reverb by Source Audio), recently released Boss pedals, and so on. [/quote] You might take a look at the Talkbass NAMM picture thread, there were a ton of non-Fender based builds at the show, although the luthier whose booth I was in sells about three Jazz Bass variants for every one of anything else, much to his chagrin. Genzler was two booths down from me, really liked the new smaller "combo" format. Really cool people to hang out with too. The new smaller Trickfish rigs got a lot of love, as did the Quilter stuff.
  19. [quote name='CameronJ' timestamp='1485251377' post='3222400'] This is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for, thanks! [/quote] De nada. You can see some examples of panels I've had done on my website. By all means PM me if you have any questions on the process, or just post them here if you prefer.
  20. [quote name='CameronJ' timestamp='1485211890' post='3222257'] I'm in a bit of a strange situation. I love my amp & cab. They do everything I want/need and more. The trouble is visually I don't feel like they match up. Observe below: A handsome looking head. A beautiful tweed cab. But together they look a bit like I've tried to build an amp rig out of lego! Ideally I'd have a more neutral coloured head so the cab can be the focal point. Now I'm not exactly a master craftsman so I wonder if I'd be able to get someone to the refinish the faceplate in black/grey whilst retaining the lettering for the controls? Has anyone attempted a similar mod? Am I crazy for wanting to do this? [/quote] Look at the Schaeffer AG website: [url="http://www.schaeffer-ag.de/en/."]http://www.schaeffer-ag.de/en/.[/url] I've used the American sister company (Front Panel Express) many times for my DIY projects very happily. They won't do a refinish but can easily fabricate a whole new front panel with a wide variety of cosmetic options. Their CAD software is pretty simple to use and at least over here the turnaround is very fast, rarely more than a week. Probably the most old school look would be powder coating for the panel and infilled engraving for the control labels.
  21. [quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1485091704' post='3221013'] How much of this stuff is actually a blood relation to the old TE? It looks to me like people are getting excited about a name and a colour. [/quote] So tempting to just say "same as it ever was." The Trace brand was just never a very big deal at all in the US, or at least not in my world. I tracked down one of the rare dealers in the 80s, liked what I heard quite a bit, and did seriously consider buying one because of the cool compressor format. But amps with sliders are a real turnoff for me and they were very expensive here, so I never followed through. I only ever knew two people who owned one and both ended up coming across my repair bench eventually. NAMM was full of excellent sounding new small to medium size Class D bass amps. IMO Peavey have their work cut out for them just with keeping their own brand name viable in today's market. Past attempts to go more upscale have tended to end in tears, so I wouldn't hold my breath on things going in that direction.
  22. [quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1485162458' post='3221542'] I don't think the bass side of things had anything super exciting, for my tastes anyway. Loads of awesome guitar stuff though. [/quote] Just curious: what would it take to get you excited? I barely even noticed that there were guitars there beyond the ones in the next booth to me and the Ibanez and Heritage jazz boxes.
  23. [quote name='doctor_of_the_bass' timestamp='1485009864' post='3220378'] Anyone over here in Anaheim attending the show, come and say hi, am working on the Enfield Sims stand, we have George Anderson from Shakatak here with us too! Booth 3496 in Hall D, near the back of the hall as you enter from the front! [/quote] Wish I had seen this earlier. I just got home from a 2 1/2 day stint at the show, which was just crazy busy at the booth I was in. I did get to spend a few minutes with Sibob, which I enjoyed a great deal. This was my first year officially exhibiting any of my stuff, and I'm still having a hard time digesting how it all played out. I was there mostly to get feedback on my open source onboard preamp design, but the amp I brought along as an afterthought ended up being in use for pretty much every minute of the show. It was kind of surreal to watch the show open via webcast while I was in the airport waiting for my plane, and seeing someone killing it on my amp, which I didn't think would even be set up until I arrived.
  24. [quote name='fleabag' timestamp='1484686062' post='3217563'] Looking damn good Charlie PS how do these differ from say, our Alan at ACG's own filter pre ? [/quote] Thank you. His is for sale and mine is for DIY'ers. John East designs and builds his and some geezer hippie tech-not-engineer does mine. Please take a read through the TB thread I linked for details on my design. My "filter" section is focused just on being a treble control, for starters. I have zero experience with Alan's preamps beyond having read a bit on his website, but I am hoping to at least have a quick listen at NAMM. I built a few outboard preamps based on Craig Anderton's Superfilter when his book first came out, and had always meant to revisit the general concept. Even before that, I was a big fan of Jack Casady, Phil Lesh, and Stanley Clarke, and I still feel that there are many untapped possibilities out there. I have the greatest respect for ACG/East, Wal, and Alembic for all that they've done with resonant filter technology, and I've tried to just do my own thing and not to compete with their excellent implementations. Edit: I actually met Alan at NAMM and had a brief chat. I now have even more respect after seeing his work up close, and really wish I could have heard how his preamps work so I could get a better feel for how far I have to go.to get anywhere near one of the gold standards for this general type of preamp.
  25. [quote name='Merton' timestamp='1484806701' post='3218549'] Interesting. The Elf could be a good little backup head. I wonder what power amp module it uses... [/quote] Peavey have pretty much always made their own. I'll ask if I have time to get up to their suite.
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