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Reiner Amplification Megathread

JGR,

Been loggin more play time between work. All good stuff, I figured out that issue I spoke to you about (hiss) and YOU WERE RIGHT!!!!!! I had my tweeter converted wrong. Flipped switch, and dead quiet. Too many options on those flex cabs. The eq sounds so good flat ( in my house) no cranking to find a good tone.

That's great to hear, thanks for checking in! I was worried about it because I try to go to great lengths to eliminate noise and hum. Glad it's working for you - it's so nice and easy to be able to run flat - just plug in and adjust gain and master. That said, don't be afraid to crank the EQ, lots of fun in there too, even with extreme settings. Keep us posted!
 
...Regarding frequency compensation, I was talking about high pass filtering emulating what you would get in with a regular paper cone speaker to roll off the bumble bees you get sending overdriven tones through full range speakers - I put this in the post side of the DI in some of my preamps to make overdriven tones sound sweet running direct to the board or PA should one want to.
Did you mean lowpass filter here? I can see how I'd like that with fuzz, but I'm not sure I'd want it all the time. Who knows, I might, but the control freak in me resists.

With piezo's, you want to see a higher input impedance at the amp's input - this design is 2.2M which is as high as I like to go - going higher, like say 5M, starts to sound brash with electric. So it might work OK with some piezo pickups, but something like the fDeck is a good way to go...
I've got an fDeck. I've thought about getting a pickup for my cello... I'd probably record that with a mic most of the time, but, for live stuff, a switchable impedance might be nice. Same would go for Doublebass players, of course, but then a lot of them would have fDecks, Fishman preamps, etc. Tough to say. It's hard to say no to just... one... more... switch. For me, anyway.

Switching gears, slightly, do you have any recordings of the DI? Any new developments with it? I mean it's been, like, days.
 
Did you mean lowpass filter here? I can see how I'd like that with fuzz, but I'm not sure I'd want it all the time. Who knows, I might, but the control freak in me resists.


I've got an fDeck. I've thought about getting a pickup for my cello... I'd probably record that with a mic most of the time, but, for live stuff, a switchable impedance might be nice. Same would go for Doublebass players, of course, but then a lot of them would have fDecks, Fishman preamps, etc. Tough to say. It's hard to say no to just... one... more... switch. For me, anyway.

Switching gears, slightly, do you have any recordings of the DI? Any new developments with it? I mean it's been, like, days.

Hi Mark,

I did mean high pass filtering - I was saying that if you had overdrive in a DI, you'd want some kind of high frequency compensation so things wouldn't sound buzzy. Doesn't apply here though - plenty of tube goodness, but clean.

I've been doing a lot of work on the updated design - probably still some dialing in (the fun part), but I got all the technical sorted.

I shot a couple of clips, one through an amp and cab, a couple more direct into my Zoom camera:

Direct (into camera):

alder/rosewood PJ


alder/maple PJ


ash/maple PJ



Through amp and cabs:
 
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I like the clips with different basses. Trying to decide which wood combo I like best! I always felt that ash/maple basses had a lot of bite up top, but that the highest highs were rolled off - or something. Might need to listen to this recording again.

R.e. the HPF/compensation (even though it doesn't apply to the DI), forgive me if I'm being a bit dense, but we're talking about tweeter buzz with fuzz, right? AMD we want the signal to roll off some up top, like a paper cone driver would, right? I think of an HPF (like my fDeck) as rolling off stuff below a certain frequency and passing everything above it through to the amp and, ultimately, to the speakers. That would leave the bumble bees (if I'm interpreting them rightly as tweeter buzz) still buzzing around, unless the HPF is implemented in some other way and the highs are going somewhere... else. Am I missing something obvious here?

Listened to the camera clips is the new/proto BOT and the old BOT on your Youtube channel. Different recordings made at different times, so hard to say, but maybe the original is a little thicker, with a little more hair (not sure that's the right word here), and the new one is a little more clean and transparent... Possibly a bit tighter down low? Again, hard to say for sure.

The different boosts are audible... trying to extrapolate to how they'll sound and feel through a cab. I did a bit of quick and dirty recordings with some of my pres the other night, and found myself using, with headphones (and perhaps unadvisedly) levels of bass boost I'd rarely use through a cab, because they'd be huge. It'll be interesting to see how those presets translate to recording and live use.
 
I like the clips with different basses. Trying to decide which wood combo I like best! I always felt that ash/maple basses had a lot of bite up top, but that the highest highs were rolled off - or something. Might need to listen to this recording again.

R.e. the HPF/compensation (even though it doesn't apply to the DI), forgive me if I'm being a bit dense, but we're talking about tweeter buzz with fuzz, right? AMD we want the signal to roll off some up top, like a paper cone driver would, right? I think of an HPF (like my fDeck) as rolling off stuff below a certain frequency and passing everything above it through to the amp and, ultimately, to the speakers. That would leave the bumble bees (if I'm interpreting them rightly as tweeter buzz) still buzzing around, unless the HPF is implemented in some other way and the highs are going somewhere... else. Am I missing something obvious here?

Listened to the camera clips is the new/proto BOT and the old BOT on your Youtube channel. Different recordings made at different times, so hard to say, but maybe the original is a little thicker, with a little more hair (not sure that's the right word here), and the new one is a little more clean and transparent... Possibly a bit tighter down low? Again, hard to say for sure.

The different boosts are audible... trying to extrapolate to how they'll sound and feel through a cab. I did a bit of quick and dirty recordings with some of my pres the other night, and found myself using, with headphones (and perhaps unadvisedly) levels of bass boost I'd rarely use through a cab, because they'd be huge. It'll be interesting to see how those presets translate to recording and live use.

Mark, I'm an idiot - yes, I mean LPF but keep saying HPF!!!

Good ears - the boosts translate a bit more subtely going direct versus live, but I think I've struck a balance. They wont be too extreme going live into an amp/cab.

This version is quicker and more transparent with more top end detail, largely due to the powesupply upgrades.
 
So I had some time to run the pre Eq on my JGR to a power amp and my F212.

My dingwall sounds fantastic even with out eq. Who woulda thunkit...

Jonathan how similar is the pre eq to the box of tone?

I thought I told you about that! Thats one of the most amazing things about that pre is how beautiful it makes basses sound without even running thru the EQ. It actually kept me from selling some basses as I discovered that the amp I was using before was the weak link, not the bass.

btw... You Are Getting Very Sleepy. You Are Getting Very Tempted to sell that Preamp back to me.
 
Jonathan: Any update on the build list for the 1200s?

#4 is coming along and is going to KD5UWL shortly. #5 is also somewhat built and is going to Ukiah who recently said he was still interested. I don't know if folks beyond that will follow through, but it goes mothra2, wrp, Jason Maitis and then you. :)
 
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At the risk of being a pest, any interesting developments with the DI? BBOT? ("Big Box O' Tone" with robot connotations... I think I like that. You just need a suitable paint job and an antenna on top. On second thought, that latter might not be the best for S/N ratio.)
 
At the risk of being a pest, any interesting developments with the DI? BBOT? ("Big Box O' Tone" with robot connotations... I think I like that. You just need a suitable paint job and an antenna on top. On second thought, that latter might not be the best for S/N ratio.)

I think the design is in good shape - gonna 86 the level pad as I don't think it's needed. Might add a switchable input impedance to help the piezo folks. I haven't played it since last week so I'll check it out soon with fresh ears and if it still makes me smile, then I build another proto (this one has now been severely hacked up) and send it your way for an evaluation (if you are still interested).
 
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I think the design is in good shape - gonna 86 the level pad as I don't think it's needed. Might add a switchable input impedance to help the piezo folks. I haven't played it since last week so I'll check it out soon with fresh ears and if it still makes me smile, then I build another proto (this one has now been severely hacked up) and send it your way for an evaluation (if you are still interested).

Switchable impedance is a great idea! :thumbsup:
 
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I think the design is in good shape - gonna 86 the level pad as I don't think it's needed. Might add a switchable input impedance to help the piezo folks. I haven't played it since last week so I'll check it out soon with fresh ears and if it still makes me smile, then I build another proto (this one has now been severely hacked up) and send it your way for an evaluation (if you are still interested).
Still interested!
 
JGR, this all sounds exciting .. but of course I'm sure at least me, Silky Smoove, and probably others would want to say something like we hope these projects don't hijack you away from building our Studio 1200 amps for us!! :)

You may need a production crew soon! :D Which would be a good problem to have ..