Summit Audio TD-100/DI thread (split from Ohio belchfest thread)

Random thoughts:

Even at $450, the Summit Audio TD-100 is probably worth it. It's that good. Considering all the money most of us have already spent on basses and other gear, it doesn't seem that out of line to me. BTW Summit Audio has had an excellent reputation in the professional audio community for over 25 years. Their tube compressor is excellent and is something of a standard for many high-end recording studios. IIRC they worked with the legendary Deane Jensen on the design. Summit Audio = good stuff. At least the SA TD-100 is currently in production, unlike a certain much sought after speaker cabinet.

Almost forgot, one of the surprises on Tuesday was Tom's LDS neo 1x8 3-way cab. The sound was quite impressive (at least to my ears) when it got hooked up with Chris playing his La Scala. Of course it's no Berg IP112, and the SPL potential is much more modest, but, for low volume, the LDS 1x8 sounded surprisingly good. I have one of these cabs that's for sale. I may have to reconsider that now.

 

Other places have the Summits for 400-420. The Sweetwater price ain't "all that."

samash.com - 400
MF - 400
fullcompass/amazon - 400
vintageking.com - 420
...etc...

 

I thought there was only the Summit Audio being talked about?

 

here is an excerpt from the summit audio page....

Q. Does the direct output pass through the tube stage?

A. No, the direct out is just a loop from the input. However, the impedance control effects the instrument itself so any changes to the impedance will affect the sound you hear in your amp.

that's the output you're supposed to use to drive the amp, it's on the front of the unit...

my questions:
1) is that the output you used during your tests?

if yes then:
2) wouldnt it be cheaper just to build a box with an in and and out and a control to vary impedeance since you're not using the tube stage of the summit audio?

3) can this be easily done?

 

No. We used the balanced output in the back directly into everything. Didn't use the front panel output at all.

Yikes. Immortalized during my moment of utter sucktion.

I take solace in knowing I made Chris look even more phenomenal in comparison.

 

The TD-100 has one input and 3 outputs (according to all the materials I have found on it).

It has the "direct out" on the front, which is affected by the impedance control but does not go through the tube stage.

It has a balanced 1/4" output on the back, which goes through the tube stage.

It has a balanced XLR output on the back, which also goes through the tube stage.

There are a few questions remaining. First, is the direct out on the front affected by the output gain knob? Second, why does Summit Audio recommend running the direct out into an amplifier? If I were using the unit, my instinct would be to use the balanced 1/4" output for my amplifier and the balanced XLR output for the PA. It is a little confusing the way they set it up. Can someone explain?

 

if i read it correctly, the 1/4" out on the back is TRS, or tip, ring, sleeve, or 3 conductor... the typical instrument cable, and amplifier input is 2 conductor. i think that's why the front output drives the amp.

uncletoad: why did you use the output on the back of the unit? any particular reason?

did you notice generally that the summit audio sounded best with the impedance control set at 10 mohm, or max, or did it sound better in different places?

if you noticed that the sound was the best in a position below the max setting, what happened to the sound when you continued to turn it up? did it get worse or did it just fail to improve anymore, thus having reached its best spot below 10 meg ohms, but still sounding good at 10?

thanks

 

Your instinct is how I plan on using it. As I said we ran it straight out of the balanced jack on the back right into the Walter Woods and it sounded great. I have one coming to me soon so I'll put it though some gig paces and see how it holds up in the real world. I'll post what I find out.

 

Well I rarely read directions. I just mess with stuff the way it comes to me. Besides. Tom plugged it in that way first and who am I to argue with the gear whore.

It sounded usable, great, and different in the middle of its throw plus or minus half the knob's range. There was a "sweet spot" that changed given what was plugged in and what was coming after the box.

As I said it was darker and fatter with higher impedances and brighter and thinner with lower. Worse/Better depends on your taste.

Keep in mind there is no majic box. No perfect must have thing. We were surprised at it and found that it was cool. I'm sure that something about it sucks, we just haven't spent enough time with it to find out what that is.

 

thanks for the info..i think a huge part of getting a piezo to sound good is impedance matching... i've always gone with the 10 meg ohm solution, although it doesnt sound so great on my raven labs, it sounds great on the fishman platinum. i've seen specs on here to build a buffer box at 10 meg ohm, and i'm very interested in that, but a variable inpedance unit sounds very interesting...

 

that's very interesting. why is that? would you agree with uncletoad that as you turned up the impedance it added more lower frequencies? did you keep it lower just to avoid too much boom? if this is so, would you say that a 10 meg input would give you the most frequency bandwidth to work with, and you could achieve similar results to yours by cutting the lows (or whatever frequency) with an eq?

just curious. its my impression that you get the most tonal palette to work with with the 10 meg, and from there you can eq to taste... is that what you experience with your unit? (as you can see, i'm really interested in variable impedance!)

 

ok, i've been doing some research... when you vary the input inpedance you're actually creating a variable high pass filter. the higher the impedance, the lower the cutoff frequency and thus more boom. you dial down the impedance, and you move the cutoff frequency up and dial out the flab. this would explain why you liked the impedance not at max. i've read in some of your other posts that you're also a fan of high pass filters.... that summit box is an inadvertant high pass filter... i had no idea the focus has a high pass filter. it sounds like you might be able to get the same results as with the summit... you have the 10 meg input allowing full range, but you dial out the flab with the high pass filter... how would you compare the sound of going direct to the focus and using the high pass filter with the summit box?

 

I was going to ask some of the same questions about input Z, so I'll ask my other question: Does the Summit use a wall wart or is it AC line direct in? Forgive if this has already been mentioned. Interestly, the website for the unit has no photo of the rear of the unit, that I could find.

Also, have any of the Belchfesters (or anyone else) had any experience with the A-Designs REDDI? I briefly experimented with one yesterday, and my priliminary impression was . I need to do some more tests before I sort out all the REDDI was actually really responsible for, but I wuz gettin' some good tone. A face off of these two (and maybe some others) might be interesting.

 

did you know that the fishman platinum eq has 10 meg input, a high pass filter, and a phase switch? (also a compressor and eq) and is alot cheaper....i would love to hear your impression of the fishman compared to the summit and the focus.