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NPD: Broughton Power Stage

#101
pacojas said:
my PS is always on and yes, different settings for different basses is the rule of the day, as the boss has said! my pbass just elevates in the mix sounding pretty damned HiFi in the process. feeding the PS into my compressor (Smoothie) is so nice i can never go dry again. so nice, i haven't tried reversing the order yet! :)
Click to expand...

I was weighing up positioning of the PS in the chain. My logic would say last, but it do need the B7K's DI out last in the chain really.
I'm not sure whether there would be a significant change in moving it before, or after the compressor though? I'm not sure what would be gained, really?
 
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#103
pacojas said:
@neonrich,... i was thinking with the Smoothie in front i could send a hotter signal to the PS and further saturate the tube for more "grit".
@Azure Skies,.. is this correct?
Click to expand...
It could send a hotter signal. The compromise being you lose the dynamics going into the PS. Also you have to decide if the higher saturation settings of the PS are to your taste. I prefer the PS at the front of the chain as a tone enhancer, and set it up on the verge of breakup. A compressor afterwards can help even out the dynamics more.
 
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#105
Azure Skies said:
It could send a hotter signal. The compromise being you lose the dynamics going into the PS. Also you have to decide if the higher saturation settings of the PS are to your taste. I prefer the PS at the front of the chain as a tone enhancer, and set it up on the verge of breakup. A compressor afterwards can help even out the dynamics more.
Click to expand...

:thumbsup: thanks for saving me the trouble, Bro! the PS is first on my board and i love it!
 
#106
Azure Skies said:
It could send a hotter signal. The compromise being you lose the dynamics going into the PS. Also you have to decide if the higher saturation settings of the PS are to your taste. I prefer the PS at the front of the chain as a tone enhancer, and set it up on the verge of breakup. A compressor afterwards can help even out the dynamics more.
Click to expand...

Great advice/thoughts from everyone... as normal! Interesting to get peoples' views & variations.
 
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#110
Turn Em Loose said:
What kind if wall wart would work with the PS? I'm quite ignorant about these things.
Click to expand...
Get something that is designed for pedals; that way you know the polarity and noise is good. Here's what I'd recommend:

Current: 300 mA minimum
Voltage: 9V regulated
Polarity: center negative
Barrel size: 2.1mm
 
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#111
Azure Skies said:
Get something that is designed for pedals; that way you know the polarity and noise is good. Here's what I'd recommend:

Current: 300 mA minimum
Voltage: 9V regulated
Polarity: center negative
Barrel size: 2.1mm
Click to expand...

Perfect. Thanks!

A quick side note: I'm putting together quite the killer pedal board and was dealing with a dilemma. I was thinking the PS might have to go. BUT, I scored a deal on a Sweetwater demo Grace Felix and made more money last weekend than I was planning on. So the PS stays.

I was thinking about keeping my Tone Hammer and offing the PS. My TH sounds heavenly with my L2k, but the PS sounds just as heavenly with my other bass, a modded Skyline Scheff. I did a singery-songwritery gig last weekend and used the Scheff and toggled back and forth between the TH and PS, sometimes on the same song. The PS just had this beautiful, blooming bottom end to every note. I had no need to dig in with my right hand. The TH also sounded stellar, no doubt about it. And it's prolly just splitting hairs and I'm sure the audience, and even my bandmates, didn't notice any difference....But I don't care. I did. And since it's my money and my gear, that's all that matters.

Anyhoo.....I'm going to attempt to put a AI 4plus Clarus, a Grace Felix, A Tone Hammer pedal and the Power Stage all on the same small board. Without an Iso 5 power supply. Wish me luck.
 
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#112
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

A slightly iffy demo of the dials & what sort of sound you can get out of the PS. .
Its a difficult pedal to really show off, as a lot of its charm is in adding a little 'magic' something to the sound.

Settings are listed as comments on the file, referring to Morph / Volume / Boost.

To me, the nicest settings have been with the dials somewhere around 10 (Morph)/ 12 (Volume) /13 (Boost) ...using the clock-face analogy!
I rarely use the PS's 'extreme' settings, using more just to colour & warm up my chain. The B7K does the overdrive stuff!
I'm not using an amp routinely, so my normal thinking is based around IEM's & PA's...

The bass is a Gus Guitars G3/5 Active (running in passive..), with a [sfx] MicroThumpinator in the chain before the PS. Nothing else.
 
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#113
I hit one of the Diamond BCP-1's FS here. Waiting to hear back from the seller.

I was thinking of using it before the PS to lower my Gain a little. (I guess my basses are pretty hot in that I don't have much wiggle room before the PS starts to break up too much (for my taste). Morph and Boost are at 9:00.) But you guys seem to prefer using a comp later in the signal chain.

Any of you guys use a comp before the PS?
 
#115
Turn Em Loose said:
I hit one of the Diamond BCP-1's FS here. Waiting to hear back from the seller.

I was thinking of using it before the PS to lower my Gain a little. (I guess my basses are pretty hot in that I don't have much wiggle room before the PS starts to break up too much (for my taste). Morph and Boost are at 9:00.) But you guys seem to prefer using a comp later in the signal chain.

Any of you guys use a comp before the PS?
Click to expand...

I find the Diamond does sweet things put in front of my drives.
More dimension, fatter lows and more detail up top.
It would also work well for lowering the gain going into the next pedal.
 
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#118
Turn Em Loose said:
I hit one of the Diamond BCP-1's FS here. Waiting to hear back from the seller.

I was thinking of using it before the PS to lower my Gain a little. (I guess my basses are pretty hot in that I don't have much wiggle room before the PS starts to break up too much (for my taste). Morph and Boost are at 9:00.) But you guys seem to prefer using a comp later in the signal chain.

Any of you guys use a comp before the PS?
Click to expand...

Hey

I used an optifet from FEA in front of the PS tonight at our gig and it sounded great. I love the PS on triode mode with the boost pretty high. Just an awesome always on pedal.
 
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#119
pacojas said:
my PS is always on and yes, different settings for different basses is the rule of the day, as the boss has said! my pbass just elevates in the mix sounding pretty damned HiFi in the process. feeding the PS into my compressor (Smoothie) is so nice i can never go dry again. so nice, i haven't tried reversing the order yet! :)
Click to expand...
This thread has me jonesing (I see what I did there) for a Power stage. I hope you share your P bass setting when the day (or is it the pedal) comes.
 
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#120
Laklandfan said:
This thread has me jonesing (I see what I did there) for a Power stage. I hope you share your P bass setting when the day (or is it the pedal) comes.
Click to expand...

normally, i roll off most of the treble on the pbass to get that certain tone. with the PS i can leave the pbass tone fully open and counter the clanky-ness with the Morph set mostly counterclockwise. turning it clockwise adds a nice top end and some dirt.
 
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