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The Sushi Box FX Secret Society
- Thread starter kranahan
- Start date
Obviously I'm totally biased so I hope others chime in as well, but I can give my explanation.
The actual D.I. part itself, i.e. the part that takes your high-impedance signal and converts it into a low-impedance signal to be fed into an interface, FOH mixer, etc. is completely passive in Finally, it's a MC15 transformer from Lightning Boy Audio and in my opinion there isn't a better D.I. transformer out there.
The rest of the pedal is really just a tube preamp that goes in front of the D.I. transformer. So the benefit (in my again biased opinion) is that the last thing your signal is getting before it hits the transformer is an excellent tube section for general "tone enhancing." We use tubes because they (subjectively) make things sound better, so it makes sense that the last thing you want in your chain before it hits the impedance matching for recording/FOH is a tube.
No ignorance as it is a more complex question than is generally considered. First there are 2 methods of stepping down signal to a DI level active and passive. Active DIs use electrical circuitry to achieve that purpose and is common in many active direct boxes, for example the Countryman Type 85 is an active DI that relies on circuitry and phantom power to step down your signal. The other method uses a transformer and as @Sushi Box FX mentioned he uses the LBA transformer that has certain characteristics compared to the industry standard Jensen transformer. There are other less expensive transformers also used in passive DIs. To confuse the matter there are devices that are both active and use a transformer it depends on the design, preamp DI pedals or amplifiers with DI could be either.
In the case of the Finally we have a hybrid of sorts with an excellent tube preamp that adds warmth before going to the also excellent DI transformer all using the best components. On my Finally I have a Jensen transformer and compared to my Radial JDI with the same transformer the Finally is audibly warmer and can get a bit saturated.
The ToneHammer and M80 are preamp/DI not what I consider a 'straight DI' and without checking the circuit designs my guess is they are both active circuit DI.
I finally got to spend some quality time with my HW Slampegg. I have to admit I was initially underwhelmed; but now am very happy with it. I have the treble, bass and gain at 12 o'clock and on my rig, with my board, I get very powerful but balanced treble, mids and bass. Applying the bass toggle let's me get a very vintage bass tone. I'm even considering replacing my SMD UA with it on my gig board. But to do so I need to figure out a way to toggle the bass switch by foot, does anyone have any recommendations how I can best do this? Maybe something I can slip over the toggle? I no longer want to bend over to do it...
That's a tricky one, the toggle switches obviously weren't designed to be toggled by foot and I would be a little worried about the switch breaking with repeated kicking. The best thing I could think of would be to find an engineer/tech friend and have them replace the toggle switch with an 1/8" jack then have a separate external footswitch for it that plugs into the 1/8" jack. That's probably how I would do it if I were in that situation.
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How hard would it be to put a rocker switch on it? Like I tell my wife. I've only got a limited number of bend overs left in my back.
Considering you'd have to mill the enclosure to fit a rocker switch, and try to find one shallow enough to fit and not hit the circuit board, I'd guess near-impossible-ish.
That said, I'd be happy to help with the mod of a 1/8" jack + a latching external footswitch to make it happen if you need someone, shouldn't be too expensive of a mod; drop me a message
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Per day or per week?
I hear ya brother!
One obvious solution would be to velcro the Slampegg to the top of your amp which presumably is on the top of two stacked cabs. Bend-over problem solved!
I'll be here all day for more harebrained ideas!
Per day or per week?
I hear ya brother!
One obvious solution would be to velcro the Slampegg to the top of your amp which presumably is on the top of two stacked cabs. Bend-over problem solved!
I'll be here all day for more harebrained ideas!
Not so hair-brained, and I could also mount it to my mic stand using my un-utilized tablet holder. Just thought there might be a simple solution.
So back to plan A: 3 TC Sparks set fat, clean and mid. Using the fat setting TC, my bass pickups series switch and rolling off the tone gets me close, but Thunderbird humbuckers are difficult to tame. The Slampegg tames those beasts and can get me a fat, pillowy Long Cool Woman, or Honky Tonk Woman tone.
Real world problems, right?
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Considering you'd have to mill the enclosure to fit a rocker switch, and try to find one shallow enough to fit and not hit the circuit board, I'd guess near-impossible-ish.
That said, I'd be happy to help with the mod of a 1/8" jack + a latching external footswitch to make it happen if you need someone, shouldn't be too expensive of a mod; drop me a message
Thanks for the offer, I'll consider it plan B.
Just looked at your website, some cool functions there.
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Getting a high pitched whine with the HW Slampeg and More sharing a One Spot… the Slampeg is a new Oct HW build and I have completed the the power mod on the More. They are each dead quiet when sharing power with a vintage Fishman Dual Parametric. Any ideas? A second One Spot?
- Feb 12, 2006
- 61,031
- 5
- 220,916
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Actually, the Countryman 85 is an active buffer driven transformer DI.
I still need to look at a couple things on SBVT II so it may have to wait another month or so, but it looks like Glass Butterfly, Echosaurus Valve, and Dreamcatcher will be good to go for the December batch.
Are you going to tell us what Dreamcatcher is? or is it another take on the dealer's choice, you order it and you get what you get?
I mean I'll have to tell everyone eventually
The bassist that has been test driving Dreamcatcher is going to do a demo of it so I'm looking forward to that, but a quick description is a two-channel preamp that fills the void left by Smoke Signal. I didn't want to call it Smoke Signal II because the circuit is a scratch design, I didn't keep anything from Smoke Signal. The clean channel is very nearly a UA, but the dirt channel is a completely new beast.
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Man, the dealer's choice finish for this month looks fabulous, I may end up keeping this on as an option in the future. On that note, @Derek Williams I do believe this is yours.
That is more Rainbow than Rainbow's End. Reminds me of a short run of Holographic Pryzmatic Candy Flash guitars I did @ LMSI painted by a custom Hot Rod shop. They were a multi step paint job, I often wonder where those guitar wound up.
