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Double Bass Red Eye Preamp

#521
I can now update my post above. I’ve used it in two direct-to-board applications in the last week. One to the pa used in my regular weekly bar gig; today at a small bluegrass festival in central Florida. Worked as expected in both cases. The professional sound company said it supplied plenty of signal strength without using the boost feature.

It has simplified my gear significantly. Short patch cable, per the photo above, and an XLR to the board.
 
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#525
I tried the RE out at home. It’s sounded great in the Gollihur Acoustic Array. I was going to buy a boost pedal for arco/pizz. So it hits the mark there. The arco sound is very nice. The pizz sound is definitely different in a good way, can’t quite put my finger on it. If it helps rh stamina, then it is an absolute win. I’ll find out at this weekends gig.
 
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#527
Friends - I still do not understand what this variable input impedance stuff is all about - specifically in how it relates to placement within the signal chain, and even more specifically how it interacts with tube preamps.

Before I take the dive into experimenting with 12AT7s and 12AU7s inside my little Sushibox Slampegg, I really want to get this signal chain placement squared away - but I'm all over the place with it. It seems like every ding dang box I own does something special to the tone when you let it be first in line. I think I prefer the Full Circle --> Slampegg --> redeye --> AI focus 2R instead of having the Redeye up front, despite the science that I don't actually pretend to understand at all.

Reading up on it, doesn't the redeye just have 1Mohm input impedence? Where does the 'variable' mumbo jumbo come from?

Now that all you lot have had some time to hang with your Redeyes, does anyone have any layman's explanation they could expound on as to what these things actually do?

thank you!
 
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#528
from Daren who makes them ...much earlier in the thread...:
You may be aware that some piezo pickup elements can self-resonate or "ring" at particular frequencies depending on the piezo material and on the shape and size of the pickup elements. Some of those frequencies may correspond to notes you want to play or some harmonic of such a note. Depending on phasing, that note or harmonic may be increased or decreased in loudness by the ringing. That results in a "wolf" note or a missing note or an unnatural string tone.

A typical piezo pickup has an impedance of several megohms at low frequencies and of several hundred thousand ohms at high frequencies. When the impedance of a pickup is matched by the impedance of the "load" it sees at the preamp's input, the ringing will be quickly damped.

All of our preamps use field-effect transistors and feedback around an operational amplifier chip to match the preamp input to the pickup impedance across the entire audio frequency range. The frequency response of our preamps is flat when the treble control is centered. We do not try fancy EQ tricks to "shape the curve" of the preamp.
 
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#529
Yeah I’ve read that a couple times but, pardon my being obtuse - I still don’t understand as well as I’d like. Is this to say this only happens when placed directly behind the piezo in the signal chain? Once the piezo enters the “pipe” of the impedance, so to speak, it doesn’t matter about variability after that? thanks again for your patience.
 
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#531
I thought the Red Eye sounded better after the Slampegg personally. My signal chain when I was borrowing a Red Eye was Realist > Slampegg > Red Eye > FOH. My current "no amp" set up is replacing that borrowed RE with a Fishman Dual Parametric as the DI. It sounds pretty damn similar, has more EQ options, I like to better and I already own it. For gigs with my amp, I run the SP into the 1Mohm input on a Clarus SL into an older AK Thunderchild 112. I use Clarus DI for FOH.

FWIW, I put a NOS 12AT7 in the Slampegg and I'm very happy with the results. There is a bit more headroom in the gain. The magic with this Sushibox (besides the tube gooeyness) is the 5.6Mohm input impedance.
 
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#533
Like Chris, the thing I love about the RedEye is it’s just “plug and play” no fuss no muss. At this point, I’ve used it into a Fender Rumble 200 (2x10), my Traynor SB 106, a Headway EDB-2, and my Walter Woods Electroacoustic Ultra v1. I used to balk at the idea of using a back line amp provided buy the venue. Not anymore. I used to not particularly care for piezo pickups like the Realist Life Line on my Kolstine Busetto Travel Bass, not anymore. Life’s pretty good as far as DB application goes.
 
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#536
vanselus said:
Ok friends, I just don't have the time to do anything else with this fancy box here. Thanks to Red-Eye for the loan & who's next in line?
Click to expand...
Not sure who is next on the list, but you had an amazing run with that little preamp.

Can’t wait til it gets to my name to see how it interacts with my setup. I’m amazed that I haven’t already bought one, but I’m trying to be patient.
 
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#539
Based on my experience with the RedEye, I skipped waiting for the demo unit to just buying one.
I don’t think that you can go wrong doing that and if you decide to sell it, you’ll be able to sell it
Just my take, but you could wait several months before it got around to you because cautious
adopters, keep the box in hand until they throughly put it through it’s paces. Just my take of course.
 
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