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JGR's 1200 watt micro - let the madness begin!!!!!

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#281
JGR said:
I just finished up some final tweaks - we've got more headroom, even more range on the EQ, everything is nice and quiet. It just sounds more muscular. Dialed in the post DI signal - pre/post levels are right where they should be and independent of master volume. Ran the preamp out into my QSC and it drives the snot out of it. This will make a killer standalone preamp as well - I was thinking I'd like to add another mid band of EQ - not that it needs it, but because I can. Put it right at 800 (which I never use) - I know some folks like that. Might help too if someone was using for upright. I could do it in a rack format but I just don't have the front panel real estate to fit it on this one (maybe I can come up with something while I'm sleeping). This amp is a big ass wrecking ball. Will shoot some video tomorrow to showcase the updates.
Click to expand...

Mid Mid @ 800 is a great idea. IMO/IME Small boost or cut there can make big differences.
Introducing "The Wrecking Ball" Tube driven front end, 5 band EQ, 1200 real watts at only 13 lbs.
ding ding ding... we have a winner!
 
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#282
JGR said:
I was thinking I'd like to add another mid band of EQ - not that it needs it, but because I can. Put it right at 800 (which I never use) - I know some folks like that. Might help too if someone was using for upright. I could do it in a rack format but I just don't have the front panel real estate to fit it on this one (maybe I can come up with something while I'm sleeping).
Click to expand...

Could you add it as a center frequency switch for the high mid control? You'd still only have 4 controllable bands of EQ, but with a little more flexibility.
 
#283
I have a Boss PQ20 fully parametric EQ in a rack. It has four bands. I rarely use it anymore, and when I did, I spent too much time twiddling with the controls. Even when I had an amp that had a sweepable mid control, it was still too tempting to be constantly fiddling around with it.
 
#284
You've got 4 bands of eq now, right? That's, in my opinion, plenty for a live situation. Any more and it gets tricky grabbing the right knob in the heat of battle. 5 bands gets 'fiddily' and 'tweaky' for me. Nothing wrong with that, of course!

If appealing to the upright doubler is an angle, I find an adjustable hpf more helpful and a broad range, narrow band filter for fighting feedback! You could have a whole "Acoustic Response" subset of filters for this utility. Ignore it on electric, switch it in the circuit for the doghouse!

Also lasers. It should.have lasers and an espresso machine built in. (I'm sorry, I'm getting too "suggesty"..) :-)
 
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#285
scotch said:
If appealing to the upright doubler is an angle, I find an adjustable hpf more helpful and a broad range, narrow band filter for fighting feedback! You could have a whole "Acoustic Response" subset of filters for this utility. Ignore it on electric, switch it in the circuit for the doghouse!
Click to expand...

That was my approach for my DIY amp build, but with one switchable fully parametric band instead of a dedicated notch filter. Real estate hog though...and also would be a real bear to do with tubes.Link Removed
 
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#286
NKBassman said:
Could you add it as a center frequency switch for the high mid control? You'd still only have 4 controllable bands of EQ, but with a little more flexibility.
Click to expand...

Yup, that would be a possibility. I hear what folks are saying with too many options, and I'm a less is more kind of guy as well. The cool thing, watching folks at Reading play trough it, was that everyone for the most part just left it flat and adjusted gain to taste, and were happy. I kept egging them to mess with the EQ! Now these were folks that (I think) tend to prefer to make subtle tweaks from their active bass electronics, but I find myself running pretty flat with my passives. Point being it's great to have the EQ there for subtle tweaks - I don't think it will send you down a rabbit hole unless you are trying to fix something else in your signal chain, and I don't put that onus on the amp - if your basses and cabs are in check, it becomes very, very easy!
 
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#287
If a lot of players just leave it flat and adjust gain to taste, it must be voiced quite well and doesn't need much adjustment to get a good tone. That's a big win right out of the gate.
NKBassman said:
Could you add it as a center frequency switch for the high mid control? You'd still only have 4 controllable bands of EQ, but with a little more flexibility.
Click to expand...
I'm with NKBassman on this one. The low mid at 230 is perfect but a switchable hi-mid between 800 and 1.6k would nail it. I can't see needing both but the choice of center point would be quite helpful and it would help conserve panel real estate. There may also be less chance of interaction between bands if you're not trying to squeeze in a 5th.

Excellent work. When the final configuration is defined and this goes into production I definitely want a spot in line for one of these.
(Jonathan you could probably sell enough of these to fund your daughter's college education.)
 
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#290
JGR said:
I was thinking I'd like to add another mid band of EQ - not that it needs it, but because I can. Put it right at 800 (which I never use) - I know some folks like that. Might help too if someone was using for upright.
Click to expand...

This is quite useful for dialing out string noise - esp. intrusive "clack" with an acoustic bass. Just takes a small nudge to the downside.
 
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#291
N. Kentucky Bass said:
This is quite useful for dialing out string noise - esp. intrusive "clack" with an acoustic bass. Just takes a small nudge to the downside.
Click to expand...

700-800Hz is often a sweet spot for fretless bass EQ too, IME. Personally, I have a switchable mid freq on my #1 fretless, so even one fixed mid band on the amp is usually plenty for my wants and needs.
 
#292
5StringPocket said:
If a lot of players just leave it flat and adjust gain to taste, it must be voiced quite well and doesn't need much adjustment to get a good tone. That's a big win right out of the gate.
Click to expand...

I haven't played this amp, but found the Box O' Tone straight into a poweramp compelling. That's not to say that I wouldn't make use of an EQ, but I dug the tone as it was.
 
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#293
So I got another band in around. 720Hz and I'm really liking it. It compliments the 1.6 kHz really well - adds some weight when used together. This type of circuit just sounds so musical compared to a typical SS parametric in the way the Q and gain react as you boost or cut. Regular parametrics can take you down the rabbit hole, but this is just different. Musical. There is a ton of boost and cut available, and when you get to that last bit of boost from about 3 o'clock on, it starts to add some musical grit that sounds really cool. So you can run the gain clean and then dial in some very pleasing harmonic emphasis wherever you want it. And still plenty of boost if you want to keep it clean.
 
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#295
JGR said:
So I got another band in around. 720Hz and I'm really liking it. It compliments the 1.6 kHz really well - adds some weight when used together. This type of circuit just sounds so musical compared to a typical SS parametric in the way the Q and gain react as you boost or cut. Regular parametrics can take you down the rabbit hole, but this is just different. Musical. There is a ton of boost and cut available, and when you get to that last bit of boost from about 3 o'clock on, it starts to add some musical grit that sounds really cool. So you can run the gain clean and then dial in some very pleasing harmonic emphasis wherever you want it. And still plenty of boost if you want to keep it clean.
Click to expand...

Man, you work quickly. Sounds good.
 
#296
Listening to the Reiner demos for Box of Tone, the "micro" and the Studio Preamp. These are amazing sounding boxes you are building here!
Either the 1200 micro or an 1-unit version of its preamp have jumped to the top of my GAS list!

Is it my imagination, or is the Studio Preamp more aggressive sounding than the Micro? From the youtube clips it seems more in-your-face as far as mids and bite.
 
#299
smeet said:
Listening to the Reiner demos for Box of Tone, the "micro" and the Studio Preamp. These are amazing sounding boxes you are building here!
Either the 1200 micro or an 1-unit version of its preamp have jumped to the top of my GAS list!

Is it my imagination, or is the Studio Preamp more aggressive sounding than the Micro? From the youtube clips it seems more in-your-face as far as mids and bite.
Click to expand...

Thanks! The very first iteration had a 12ax7 front end so that may be part of it depending on which video. It has definitely evolved a bit. Yesterday I ran the preamp out of the micro into my QSC and it sounds the same which is a good thing.
 
#300
JGR said:
Nope, I'm throwing it away. Garbage is on Wednesday if you want to dumpster dive. ;)

I think I may be able to stick with the 12"x12" footprint, and shouldn't have any problem dropping to a 4 inch height, so I'm going to tear this thing down and build it again.

It was funny, we had about an hour and a half for everyone to check all the gear that Pete, Mike, and myself brought before it opened to the public and got crazy noisy, and wouldn't you know it, I wasn't playing for more than a couple of minutes and some dude comes over screaming at us to turn down! I didn't think it was that loud, dunno what his problem was! :)~

Pete and Mike got a room for an hour so we ended up shooting some footage. It was a really big room, nice and quiet in there, so we could hear much better and really crank up. And nobody came and yelled at us.

http://youtu.be/PXlub3XtZKA

http://youtu.be/STDGJdx9eW8


I was fortunate in that it was a pretty short trek from my place, but everyone else has very long rides home, so wish them a safe trip and I'm sure they will pop up with their thoughts once they get some rest. These events get exhausting - it's kind of like being at Guitar Center on a Saturday for seven hours straight! Damn guitards noodling everywhere.
Click to expand...

Just listened to these clips (finally). Totally bummed me out after the first demo. Clearly there are other factors at play here (room, recording method, different cab, different bass, different playing style). None of what grabbed me from the earlier clips showed up here. There we a few nice moments on the fretless. As a point of reference, I run a P and a J and I play bone-head 8ths and riffs. I like Red Fang and The Sword and The Misfits. I'm clearly not the target demo for this demo.
 
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