It's been so long since I’ve used a coil cord that I hadn’t even considered that. Makes perfect sense. Once a pair of them saved my B-15 when it fell backward off a platform riser above the 6’ above the stage, that stretched to slow the descent.
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Double Bass Good small amp?
- Thread starter Swampyankee2
- Start date
Weirdly enough, I felt the same way. The price difference between AT Cube Acoustic combo and the ACT 110 or especially the ACT 112 while
not insignificant, makes it more attractive for me because I’ve got a combo amp. If you already own a preamp like the Felix it may make more sense.
Not to derail the thread but…. I have a cable that i modded with a capacitor in the connector to tame one of my Realist Lifelines that has a particularly hot output. It caused many preamps to clip without the capacitor. But what you should check out is the Neutrik Timbre Plug. It has a knob that switches between different capacitors.
Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Interesting and I consider it only a partial derail. Small amp? Yes please. Size and weight matter a ton with urban parking and load in. Of course we want to sound good.
I solved for size and weight, but as I mentioned early am frustrated with the amount of poopie that is involved (pre-amp, cables, etc) because my Yamahiko really benefits from a specific input impedience. Perfectly solved with a Tech21 Q\Strip, which is also a really good pre-amp.
If I could solve the input impedience issue with a cable, I would do it.
Neurtrik's website and documentation never actually explains how that plug works. And the collective wisdom of the internet has speculated and argued everything from "variable capicitance" to "snake oil".
There are YouTube vids of electric guitar players and switching the knob does change the tone, but...the "tone" is a symptom for me.
I would buy this FOR SURE, if I knew that it would enable me to dial in 4.7mOhms, but do we actually know?
That would also open up more "Small Amp" choices for me...and potentially enable me to leave a box and a cable at home and remove them and a 9v batt from my potential failure points.
I think they explain how it works pretty clearly iirc. It’s just three different capacitors you can rotate between and one neutral position. They have some graphs illustrating it, missing units of course. And Neutrik doesn’t publish the capacitor values either, of course. Given the design goal, all we know is that the capacitors will be around the same value as a very long cable. I am very tempted to get one just to measure the capacitance.
i got tired and of cables and mess a while back, mostly due to doubling gigs (BG, DB, pedal board with three signals to balance (mic plus pickup for DB, and BG), music stand, instrument stand…). Reading about all the improvements on the ToneDexter II finally convinced new to splurge for one. In addition to eliminating the mic on the DB, now i can also just use a separate patch for BG (not that i am playing any doubling gigs any more haha). My go to amp for small jazz gigs is now a PJB Double 4. The TD with the D4 is a pretty awesome, impressively capable micro rig.
For bigger gigs i still have several unpowered MAS cabs. If i start using them more, i certainly plan to strap a head amp in place and make one a combo. Simplicity is probably #1 for me now, followed by size, then weight.
Edit: from the link below,”Let’s take a closer look. The knob opposite the plug shaft itself has a four position rotary switch. It chooses among no capacitance, and three possible capacitor values strapped between the hot and ground connections (Neutrik preferred I not mention the exact values, but they're in the single-digit nanoFarad range). Note that these capacitors are potted in with a switch assembly, so don’t expect to change them if you’d prefer to try different values."
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I don't have the math skills to translate that to "ohms of input impedance" and AI couldn't help.
For $20 it might be worth a try. For much more than that and I'll pass.
For $20 it might be worth a try. For much more than that and I'll pass.
Is a long cable going to cause latency? Similarly, does the TimbrePLUG help avoid latency?
My combo amp weighs in at 15lbs, and its backpack probably weighs another 2lbs. But then I add to that backpack any required amp accessories and "just in case" items, which probably brings everything to at least 25lbs.
Even though my amp can be backpacked, neither my wife or I like to carry weight on our backs in backpacks anymore... We use a folding cart for schlepping our smaller instruments and gear whenever possible. And my BassBuggy has proven itself to be indispensable. It's not unusual at a camping bluegrass festival to do a lot of walking to jams and/or to workshops and/or to the stage. For us old geezers having wheels really makes everything possible. With a cart, how much everything weighs matters a lot less.
My combo amp weighs in at 15lbs, and its backpack probably weighs another 2lbs. But then I add to that backpack any required amp accessories and "just in case" items, which probably brings everything to at least 25lbs.
Even though my amp can be backpacked, neither my wife or I like to carry weight on our backs in backpacks anymore... We use a folding cart for schlepping our smaller instruments and gear whenever possible. And my BassBuggy has proven itself to be indispensable. It's not unusual at a camping bluegrass festival to do a lot of walking to jams and/or to workshops and/or to the stage. For us old geezers having wheels really makes everything possible. With a cart, how much everything weighs matters a lot less.
I tested side by side the old GK 200MB combo, Markbass mini cmd 112 and GR 110 (wooden) cube. With my double bass and electric bass the GR sounded the most musical and clear. It´s also the lightest of those and fits in a cajon backbag. GR AT cube combos are even lighter but they don´t fit the backbag.
GR AT acoustic cube with it´s two channels has the most of possibilities for sure.
GR AT acoustic cube with it´s two channels has the most of possibilities for sure.
A capacitor and a resistor are two completely different electronic parts that cannot replace the other one.
How they influence a signal depends highly on the context of other parts, which in our case is the pickup and the (pre-)amp.
There is no way to have a passive circuit (something unpowered without a kind of amplification) to raise the impedance of an amp. It is only possible to lower it but how much depends on the resistor in the cable as well as the input impedance of the (pre-)amp.
The simplest impedance raiser is a buffer (current amplifier: JFET or valve) with a high impedance input. Can be built with five to six parts plus a battery like Francis Deck’s Quick ‘n’ Dirty buffer or the mint box.
The HPFpre adds a very useful high pass filter to get the low dirt out.
Any other high impedance preamp would work too, but is more complex and expensive.
It might even be possible to use a power cap (very large value capacitor) as the power source for a rather simple buffer that can be loaded almost instantly if the circuit is designed for low current (the NXT-A EUBs work that way). But the charge might only hold a few hours and should be recharged shortly before use.
Capacitors for changing tone only work with electromagnetic pickups (as in electric guitars and bass guitars and a rhodes piano)because they build a L-C-network. With piezos they simply reduce the amplitude of the signal (serial capacitors picked up in between).
How they influence a signal depends highly on the context of other parts, which in our case is the pickup and the (pre-)amp.
There is no way to have a passive circuit (something unpowered without a kind of amplification) to raise the impedance of an amp. It is only possible to lower it but how much depends on the resistor in the cable as well as the input impedance of the (pre-)amp.
The simplest impedance raiser is a buffer (current amplifier: JFET or valve) with a high impedance input. Can be built with five to six parts plus a battery like Francis Deck’s Quick ‘n’ Dirty buffer or the mint box.
The HPFpre adds a very useful high pass filter to get the low dirt out.
Any other high impedance preamp would work too, but is more complex and expensive.
It might even be possible to use a power cap (very large value capacitor) as the power source for a rather simple buffer that can be loaded almost instantly if the circuit is designed for low current (the NXT-A EUBs work that way). But the charge might only hold a few hours and should be recharged shortly before use.
Capacitors for changing tone only work with electromagnetic pickups (as in electric guitars and bass guitars and a rhodes piano)because they build a L-C-network. With piezos they simply reduce the amplitude of the signal (serial capacitors picked up in between).
A cable would have to be incredibly long to introduce any perceivable latency. It's about 60 miles for 1 millisecond, and you'd need 20 to 30 milliseconds to hear it.
Ahhh, thank you. My cable ignorance was showing. Even though it's an amp cable, we're talking about the speed of light, not the speed of sound.
I think it's two thirds of the speed of light in a cable, but either way it's pretty fast!
