Thunderbird Club

[Engle]

Ok, that pretty much settles it then. I'll just stick to using my Tascam 8 channel 4 track cassette recording console to capture the instruments and then play each track back thru Garage Band to edit cut and splice and save in a sound cloud format. Not what I wanted to do but it sounds like nobody makes a stand alone recording/mixing station with full editing of individual tracks and file storage capability. I gotta believe there is something out there but I'm just not seeing it.

IMO a standalone PC is the way to go. Get a new computer, put a Solid State hard drive in it to run the OS, use the hard drive it came with for storage. A new install of windows won’t include the bloatware.

 

[PillO]

View attachment 3569715

manufacturers were very conservative with specmanship...i've read that in reality EL-84s could dissipate up to 17 Watt..

They are rated at something like 1% THD, so you get a lower plate dissipation spec than you can see in real use. Unlike transistors with the magic smoke problem...

 

[PillO]

Could be- if you do everything right. They spec’d the tubes to do their jobs well (e.g., produce clean audio) and to last and last. I built a single EL84 guitar amp running almost 7w output, 14-15 watts dissipated. Some tubes will last a long time in it, others not so much. But a Kalamazoo Model One at 5W? Just about any brand lasted for years. The CMI rebranded Mullards lasted for decades.

Having good airflow helps, of course, when pushing the limits.

Good air circulation is always important with tube amps...

 

[PillO]

IMO a standalone PC is the way to go. Get a new computer, put a Solid State hard drive in it to run the OS, use the hard drive it came with for storage. A new install of windows won’t include the bloatware.

Yeah, I buy computers at the Microsoft store because then it comes with only the OS installed. No crapware that then takes many hours to get rid of (including the registry errors entries).

[edit]
if it is a standalone, single application PC, you can go with minimal processor and just make sure that there is sufficient RAM. It is when you start doing things like web browsing, CAD/CAM (or both simultaneously), and my 20+ page spreadsheets that you need more processor.

 

[PillO]

Hmm??

Bs - 31hz, 62hz, 125hz...
Es - 20hz, 40hz, 80hz...

 

[PillO]

For years I kept a 31 band graphic eq in my rack. Still have a couple laying around. I had a 10 band for fly dates. The problem with a 10 band (for me on upright gigs) is the Q is too wide to really dial things in. I wouldn’t fuss with parametric eq on electric bass, but find it pretty crucial on upright. HPF/LPF filters are a no brainer, especially on tube amps, IMO.

The HPFs have a much more drastic slope to the filter than most EQs.

With the resonance of an upright, I understand the attraction/need for HPF because of the steeper Q. For most of what I read about people using HPFs for, I think that a GEq is equally useful.* But it is correct that an HPF is a simple solution (with the subtlety of a sledgehammer).


*I may not know what I am talking about... But that never stopped anyone on the internet.

 

[PillO]

This is like, two blocks from where I'm sitting right now.

So, you are no longer sitting there and are off to buy it?

 

[PillO]

Sometimes "new and improved" really isn't.

Psssst. Now you are supposed to yell at the damned kids to get off your lawn...

 

[Gaolee]

No dimmer. But there are a couple of floor lamps in the room which improve the mood with the main lights off.

Brightly lit is just fine for some of us. That looks like a great rehearsal space for a number of reasons. The colors are what they are.

 

[TBird1958]

So, you are no longer sitting there and are off to buy it?

Oh hell no.
I don't need that.

I have rehearsal with the band tonight, the Les Paul and the Lull are on deck - Next weekend is the big Halloween show!

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Good air circulation is always important with tube amps...

The F-124-As (program/peak) at the Radio Television Luxembourg (RTL) AM transmitter were water cooled...

 

[Gaolee]

Could be- if you do everything right. They spec’d the tubes to do their jobs well (e.g., produce clean audio) and to last and last. I built a single EL84 guitar amp running almost 7w output, 14-15 watts dissipated. Some tubes will last a long time in it, others not so much. But a Kalamazoo Model One at 5W? Just about any brand lasted for years. The CMI rebranded Mullards lasted for decades.

Having good airflow helps, of course, when pushing the limits.

I have a Model Two that still has original everything. Same as a One but with tremolo. It is not loud at all but sounds great. I do not do it justice with a guitar.

 

[dukeorock]

With the resonance of an upright, I understand the attraction/need for HPF because of the steeper Q. For most of what I read about people using HPFs for, I think that a GEq is equally useful.* But it is correct that an HPF is a simple solution (with the subtlety of a sledgehammer).


*I may not know what I am talking about... But that never stopped anyone on the internet.

when you say ‘Q’ on a HPF, do you mean slope? HPF’s can have lots of different slopes from very gentle to extreme. The positives over regular eq, in my tiny brain, are;
An amplifier needs WAY more power allocated to say 30hz than 3,000hz and odds are very good your cab can’t reproduce 30hz anyway. So why waste wattage for something you can’t hear? With a decent HPF you simply crank it up until your low end noticeably shrinks, then back it off a bit from there. You just gave yourself good speaker protection and headroom from your amp. Though like I mentioned, I think it’s way more critical on upright than electric. Part of that could even be the differences between a piezo and magnetic pickup for all I know.

 

[GonePlaid]

Psssst. Now you are supposed to yell at the damned kids to get off your lawn...

That's why I'm also on the Get off my LAWN"Grumpy Old Farts" thread(#228)

 

[PillO]

Brightly lit is just fine for some of us. That looks like a great rehearsal space for a number of reasons. The colors are what they are.

The colours would go well with the flamingo bird. Just sayin...

 

[PillO]

when you say ‘Q’ on a HPF, do you mean slope? HPF’s can have lots of different slopes from very gentle to extreme. The positives over regular eq, in my tiny brain, are;
An amplifier needs WAY more power allocated to say 30hz than 3,000hz and odds are very good your cab can’t reproduce 30hz anyway. So why waste wattage for something you can’t hear? With a decent HPF you simply crank it up until your low end noticeably shrinks, then back it off a bit from there. You just gave yourself good speaker protection and headroom from your amp. Though like I mentioned, I think it’s way more critical on upright than electric. Part of that could even be the differences between a piezo and magnetic pickup for all I know.

Chock full of good information. Thanks Duke.

 

[PillO]

Oh hell no.
I don't need that.

I have rehearsal with the band tonight, the Les Paul and the Lull are on deck - Next weekend is the big Halloween show!

First - since when has need been a factor?

Second - We know that you do glamorous, not scary.

Third - @fasterpussycat scares @JJR58 full time and the rest of us are generally wary.

 

[fasterpussycat]

Something that has been rattling around in my head

No Kat, not the two marbles...

That many?

Everyone seems to be so hot on high pass/low pass filters and parametric EQs. Why not a 10 band graphic EQ if you know the frequencies where you have issues? IIRC, the MXR one the sliders are all Bs and the Whirlwind one is all Es (which kind of makes it easy because you can play those notes...).

The difference between an (active*) equaliser and a high/low pass filter, is the EQ cuts/boosts at preset (or in the case of a parametric EQ selectable) frequencies, while the filter (more or less) removes everything below or above the specified frequency.

* Valve amps with a 'Fender-Marshall-Vox' tone stack, eg the Traynor YBA200, have passive cut only EQ controls.

 

[fasterpussycat]

With the resonance of an upright, I understand the attraction/need for HPF because of the steeper Q. For most of what I read about people using HPFs for, I think that a GEq is equally useful.* But it is correct that an HPF is a simple solution (with the subtlety of a sledgehammer).


*I may not know what I am talking about... But that never stopped anyone on the internet.

My HPF kills everything below (usually) 40Hz, so the amp is not wasting power amplifying sub bass noise, or moving speaker cones for no good purpose, as seen in this microThumpinator demo. This is their designed purpose -- to remove mud and protect speakers.

 

[TBird1958]

Interesting Blackbird here.....

Gibson Blackbird (modified) 2002 Black