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Sonic Farm/MAS Bass Amp project.

#102
Mike Arnopol said:
Talked with Zoran at length last week. It's funny---if you look at the Sonic Farm thread you'll see that he was initially a bit hesitant about integrating the amp and preamp but now he's pretty stoked. Final dimensions are about 3 3/4 high (the best we could do--they're using a very big toroidal transformer and we found that we could save some depth by standing it upright on the back. 15 !/2" wide and a tad under 10" deep. We gained 1/2" on the width because Zoran and Boris got super-into the overdrive circuit and added an additional stage so you could go from a mild tube saturation to a Jack Casady Versatone to--as Zoran describes it "a Larry Graham Dance To The Music fuzztone" There is another switch on the overdrive circuit to enable the second stage. He was speaking Greek to me saying how the original circuit was chopped and not smooth on the ocilliscope and now he likes it. Also there will be a switch on the front panel to enable or defeat the effects loop. He didn't like the idea of a jack that switches it in and out---he thought that it could lead to poor contact.

And now it will be switchable on the rear panel from 120/240 volts. With the Ice 1000 to change voltage you have to remove the cover and switch out the fuse to change voltage/. We thought that a lot of guys tour between the US and Europe (and they'd be willing to part with some Rupees) and having to remove the top is too much of a pain. The name will be Tantra which we both agreed on. The best news for me is that after integrating the amp into the case there was no nasty noise or hum interactions with the power amp. This is what we were both worried about. So no need to put a cage around the power section. It's in metal fabrication and we're working on the silkscreening.

I think that that is everything.
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Groovy. That one of the designers of a bass amp is aware of Larry Graham is in itself reassuring.
 
#103
Cool! I just checked out Sonic Farm's site, the fecalbrook pages and was about to hit the MAS forum...

Thanks for the update @Mike Arnopol .

Super happy it does the 240v,
Dig the toroidal,
FX Loop! Yay!
Reasonable dimensions given what's stuffed inside.

"Tantra" is an unusual choice given the past SF naming conventions. How did you guys come up with it?
 
#105
The Michael Arnopol Soundworks Facebook page and on the Big E forum (there is a link from the badly-needing-updating masoundworks.com website ). I'm limited (and fairly so) in how much I can divulge on Talkbass, but I update both of the others.
 
#106
Mike Arnopol said:
The Michael Arnopol Soundworks Facebook page and on the Big E forum (there is a link from the badly-needing-updating masoundworks.com website ). I'm limited (and fairly so) in how much I can divulge on Talkbass, but I update both of the others.
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Yeah, after re-reading @Feral Feline 's post more attentively, I made my way to the forums. I'll look for updates there :)
 
#107
Feral Feline said:
"Tantra" is an unusual choice given the past SF naming conventions. How did you guys come up with it?
Click to expand...

Zoran and I are both Buddhists coincidentally . While "Tantra" is more from the Hindu tradition---Hinduism was the predecessor to Buddhism. Wikipedia says " an ancient Hindu tradition of beliefs and meditation and ritual practices that seeks to channel the divine energy of the macrocosm or godhead into the human microcosm" .

The name was either was either "Tantra" or "The Testicle Shredder". I personally liked "Donald Trump's Bad Hair Day" but it seemed a bit wordy.

I'm a very sarcastic and politically incorrect Buddhist. Yes---Buddhists can have a sense of humor---albeit a bad one.
 
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#109
I knew the etymology of the word itself, now I know the origins of it being applied to this very cool ampaliciousness...

"Tantra" will be my mantra as I gather coppers in my coffer for this device for channelling the devine low-end energies of the macrocosmos, for their redistribution to the inner-aural microcosms of humans wherein reside the hammers, anvils and stirrups needing to be tickled pink; and for human corpora to be pelted, nee Pummelled! with compressed-air particles ...

Meanwhile, I must practice ritually to be worthy of such tantalising toroidal Tantric meditations.

"DTBHD" would've been my second choice.
 
#113
Hi Mike...been away from the forum for a while, and I'm thrilled to see that this project is coming along..wow! What a smokin DI to base an amp off of.

Question: are you guys including the cinimag.... And if so, will it be a path option within the pre beyond just the DI out as it is in the standalone DI?
 
#114
mothra2 said:
Hi Mike...been away from the forum for a while, and I'm thrilled to see that this project is coming along..wow! What a smokin DI to base an amp off of.

Question: are you guys including the cinimag.... And if so, will it be a path option within the pre beyond just the DI out as it is in the standalone DI?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I really prefer the Cinimag to the Jensens.
 
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#116
John D Harris said:
Link to the prototype on farcebook:
Preliminary artwork for the amp. Still... - Michael Arnopol Soundworks | Facebook
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J.Wolf said:
Here is a pic of the Sonic Farm/MAS amp preliminary artwork, pulled from FB, for your consideration :)
Click to expand...

Feral Feline said:
BUMP!

Anyone know of any new info on this?
Click to expand...


Just to clarify--this is very close to the final look. There will be numbers, frequencies, a few reference numbers for Q ( 2 octave, one octave, .07 octave) and a few more things like the three HPF frequencies, etc
tantra10.jpg


mothra2 said:
Seems to me that T/P switch is gonna hose somebody in a BIG way sooner or later... Would using a 3 way there with mute in the middle position mitigate that...?
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That's one concession we had to make for price. Yes we could do something like that. But it would bring the price up. You've got to realize--these guys design studio gear and preamps that cost in excess of $2k. What we're trying to do is to NOT compromise on design or components---- and keep a (somewhat) reasonable price point. For what you're getting. Once I tried the pentode mode, I've never gone back to triode. Oh--and I've mistakingly hit the switch. With a 1200 watt amp. It was loud, but my speakers were ok. Again---the mindset was to offer quality and features only seen in top studio gear.
 
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#117
The speakers were okay, but were your ears okay? Rye [sic] humour.



Hmmm, I need to decide...

Left or right? Which kidney is easier to do without? Or just hire out my entire body? Ribald humour...




Seriously need to start saving coin and selling gear... This thing was just a phigmint phantasmy phantassy in the twisted dark alleyways of my mind... The latest fantantric pic drags it out further into the harsh light of reality... Need to focus, need to earn some crust...

Thanks for the update @Mike Arnopol , please keep the updates coming.
 
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#118
one more thing---the red lines that show which of the mid controls go together will be a bit bolder so it's easier to see which gain goes with which "q" knob and which frequency knob. Should be pretty clear and intutive.
 

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