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Reiner Amplification Megathread

#281
kringle77 said:
Maybe just try some videos at a lower volume? Mine are low/moderate levels because my neighbor is insane.
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Forgive me, just checking in quickly and I forget the details of the recording, but two possible issues occurred to me -- compression, simply because the levels are high, and the possibility of an automatic gain setting being engaged. If I ever record on my phone or most videocams, that happens and the volume pumps up and down. If this doesn't apply, then excuse me and carry on!
 
#282
Fuzzbass is coming up here today so I should be able to get some good clips. He's also a much better player! I don't have any equipment to measure the amount of boost, but calculated it should be in the 15-20 dB range.
 
#283
JGR said:
Fuzzbass is coming up here today so I should be able to get some good clips. He's also a much better player! I don't have any equipment to measure the amount of boost, but calculated it should be in the 15-20 dB range.
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Not that you need any more input (and following your own muse/insight has served you very well!), but after playing through and evaluating a gob-ton of bass heads, I find that +/- 12dB is more than enough, and sometimes, adding more range of boost just gives you a bigger range on the dial that's not really all that useful. Personally, +/- 8dB is probably the most I'd ever use, but I can see where others might want +/- 10 or 12dB.

And of course, the choice of your frequency centers and the Q for each band is going to be more important than the ultimate level of boost or cut.

Keep up the great work! I can't wait to check out one of these heads! :bassist: :bassist: :bassist: :thumbsup:
 
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#284
tombowlus said:
..... +/- 12dB is more than enough, and sometimes, adding more range of boost just gives you a bigger range on the dial that's not really all that useful. Personally, +/- 8dB is probably the most I'd ever use, but I can see where others might want +/- 10 or 12dB.
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This is important. Too much EQ range can potentially go the wrong way when someone is twiddling knobs. Along with Tom's mentioning that the truly useful range of ±8dB or so gets squeezed into a narrower part of the control's sweep. Some EQs are too little to be of much use such as that on a Demeter pre/amp but 15-20dB is a huge amount of boost/cut in real life (for those of us who have a real sense of what tone is about, anyway :smug:).
 
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#285
I don't think it's quite that cut and dry.

In addition to frequency center and amount of boost/cut, don't forget the Q width and slope of each band and how that creates interactions or lack thereof between bands. An amp with wide Qs and shallow slopes would do better with minimal boost/cut, and the opposite holds true for a less interactive/overlapping amp.
 
#286
All valid points, but in the end, it is certainly application specific. While the EQ is very powerful, I find it musical even at the extremes due to where and how the bands are voiced. Also keep in mind it's fully active, the bands aren't interactive, and native voicing is flat with everything at noon. The taper works because it is pretty gradual and doesn't start getting extreme sounding until around 3 o'clock, so you have the bulk of the rotation to play with for typical adjustments. And if it's anything like my other preamps, folks regardless of style seem to end up running close to flat and just playing with the gain! Fear not! ;)
 
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#287
Alright, had a great afternoon hanging with Ken (Fuzzbass). Got some video of him playing while I twiddled the EQ knobs, so hopefully it will provide a little better sense of the range of EQ adjustment per the questions/discussion above. Out of the five clips, probably the 1810 and 15/8 have the most articulation because I was actually standing behind and to the side of the 210 while twiddling, though I like 210 tones best.





 
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#290
kringle77 said:
SOB! The last video is one I wanted to see and it won't play! The 2x10 has a great sound, kinda growly in the best way.
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I think because it was the last to load. Still processing so the sound should get better. The 15/8 came out kind of bright sounding compared to what it was in the room, but overall everything translated really well other than the real deep stuff. In hindsight, I should have backed up into the room more often so you could hear the tonal balance, but it was on the fly so it is what it is. Many thanks to Ken and his great chops!
 
#292
Watched the videos and it sounds great. The videos really show how useable the eq is, but I would really like to know how loud it was. From my recollection fuzzbass gigs with at least one band where he needs pretty loud stage volume, so my question is was this at that level or like coffeehouse levels?
 
#293
Saluki said:
Watched the videos and it sounds great. The videos really show how useable the eq is, but I would really like to know how loud it was. From my recollection fuzzbass gigs with at least one band where he needs pretty loud stage volume, so my question is was this at that level or like coffeehouse levels?
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No coffeehouse levels in the soundlab - you can see the clip indicator (top red light) coming on quite a few times - the 210 and 1810 are four ohms, so it's pretty sporty. Ken wears plugs when he comes over. ;) Hopefully he'll weigh in, but through the 1810 and NV412, I'd suspect we were well above what you could get away with at most gigs. The levels get normalized when I save them with the camera software.
 
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#294
JGR said:
No coffeehouse levels in the soundlab - you can see the clip indicator (top red light) coming on quite a few times - the 210 and 1810 are four ohms, so it's pretty sporty. Ken wears plugs when he comes over. ;) Hopefully he'll weigh in, but through the 1810 and NV412, I'd suspect we were well above what you could get away with at most gigs. The levels get normalized when I save them with the camera software.
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Sounds really good; I like the 158 (bet a pair would kill). but they all sound great!
 
#296
It sounds like "clean" is its thing. Even with gain maxed, not too much break-up. It's good to know that about this amp. It reminds me of my old Jack Read pre-amp. Max gain brought out lots of character but it never fuzzed up. That will be good for those who want clean with character! ...and plenty of cahones!
 
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#297
TomB said:
It sounds like "clean" is its thing. Even with gain maxed, not too much break-up. It's good to know that about this amp. It reminds me of my old Jack Read pre-amp. Max gain brought out lots of character but it never fuzzed up. That will be good for those who want clean with character! ...and plenty of cahones!
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Yup, that was the idea! A 12ax7 in the first slot sounds very good and brings more grit, so that can be an option to add another even more flexibility, but I've found with my other preamps that folks tend to stay on the cleaner side of things. So based on that and inspiration from my BoT, I went for clean and high headroom in this design, but with plenty of tube goodness.
 
#300
Yes, I appreciate the clips! If you do others, I'd be interested in more examples of how the tone is changed by twisting dials to the left. Virtually all of your examples added EQ by diming the knob all the way to the right. I find it's often better to take away first rather than to add (e.g. reduce highs to create more apparent lows). Thanks!
 

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