#102 "System" In a Box Build

[aflynt]

Okay. Here's an equally compressed and even more random noodley playing iPhone clip on the OD channel. I don't use much gain on the OD. I play a strat with a mid-boost and turn on the PAB for higher gain. In this clip the drive is on 4 at the start and then I turn it up to about 6 towards the end. Controls are: vol: 6 1/2, treble: 5, mid: 6, bass: 3, drive: 4-6, OD level: 3, Master (loop return): 4, presence: 5, reverb: 4. Bright: off, Mid: off, Rock on. Send level on the back (loop send) was 4. PAB: off. Pretty much gig-volume.

https://soundcloud.com/aflynt/sonorous-sublime-dirty

It seems like it might wind up a bit dark once it burns in but we'll see. I have a 200 watt power resistor on order so I can run it all day with a guitar loop. The V2b grid is a 200k and the snubbers measured in the 260-270 range so those might need to be brought closer to #102 values.

-Aaron

[Structo]

That strat sounds awesome!

Good job.

[dcribbs1412]

Agree with Tom
really nice sounding clip
Congrats Aaron

Darin

[aflynt]

Thanks!

I burned it in for about 12 hours in the last day or so, and I think I'll be able to keep the voicing as is. It got quite a bit smoother, but not at all "darker." If anything it's a bit clearer and less congested sounding now. After the burn in last night, I did notice that the trigger drifted up a couple volts from where I initially set it so I brought it back down to 25.5VDC to ground. The B+ also seemed to settle out about 9VDC higher than when I first fired it up. It's at about 459VDC now coming off the rectifier.

I'll try to get some clips done today with a proper mic.

-Aaron

[stelligan]

Stellar sounding and great looking build! Congrats. Strat sounds very good - as does your playing. I enjoyed listening.

[JazzGuitarGimp]

Great sound and playing, Aaron!

I had a few more thoughts / questions about the reverb:

At performance volume, switching between the clean and OD channels, can you find one setting for the reverb that works well for both channels, or do you find yourself wishing you had a separate revel control on each channel?

In listening to the clips, I am thinking that a surf guitarist may not find the reverb bright / loud enough. But I have a feeling that the circuit could be modified to accommodate the surf genre.

One thing that might be interesting (and it would add another knob to the amp, which is always a good thing ) would be to add a regeneration control from the wet output of of the reverb modules to the reverb input. If this control were preceded by a high-pass filter, the reverb tail would thin-out as it decays.

Just thinking out loud....

Cheers,
Lou

[aflynt]

Stellar sounding and great looking build! Congrats. Strat sounds very good - as does your playing. I enjoyed listening.

Thanks Stelligan!

Great sound and playing, Aaron!

I had a few more thoughts / questions about the reverb:

At performance volume, switching between the clean and OD channels, can you find one setting for the reverb that works well for both channels, or do you find yourself wishing you had a separate revel control on each channel?

In listening to the clips, I am thinking that a surf guitarist may not find the reverb bright / loud enough. But I have a feeling that the circuit could be modified to accommodate the surf genre.

One thing that might be interesting (and it would add another knob to the amp, which is always a good thing ) would be to add a regeneration control from the wet output of of the reverb modules to the reverb input. If this control were preceded by a high-pass filter, the reverb tail would thin-out as it decays.

Just thinking out loud....

Cheers,
Lou

Thanks! I personally find the level to be just right for both clean and dirty without wanting to adjust it at all. I think a surf guy would definitely not be happy with it though. It's more of a hi-fi, shimmery kind of reverb. When you crank it, it's got a bit of modulation to it but doesn't get drippy or splashy when you palm mute like a real tank. It's also somewhat subtle even when cranked. You can definitely hear it and to me it has a really beautiful sound, but it's not overwhelmingly cavernous when cranked.

Having played around with the circuit, I think you'd really need to implement a filtered feedback loop like you described to get more of an extreme effect out of it. I was actually considering doing that very thing for a future iteration.

As it sits I think it's a perfect always-on kind of reverb, though. It's a very 3D like effect that gives the sound a wonderful sense of depth without any trace of clangy harshness when the note trails off. The mix circuit is also really nice in that it doesn't color the dry sound at all and doesn't change the overall volume of the signal as you turn it up or down. With most spring reverbs, I find that I want to turn the amp volume up when I turn up the reverb because the sound seems to get lost. With this one, you can crank it and the guitar still cuts and doesn't lose body.

-Aaron

[aflynt]

Here's another clip of the OD channel. It's close miced with an e906 draped over the cab slightly off center. It doesn't totally capture the huge vibe of the amp, but hey at least it's not compressed.

Clip Details
Vol: 6 3/4, Treble: 5 1/2, Mid: 6 1/4, Bass: 2 1/2, Drive: 4, OD Level: 2 1/2, Master (loop return): 3, Presence: 5, Reverb: 4, Send Level (loop send): 4, Bright: off, Mid: off, Rock: on, PAB: off. Played through 2 Celestion G12-65s. Strat bridge pickup (Lollar Special) with passive mid boost engaged. D'Addario EXL115 strings, completely dead. 600mg ibuprofen. 5 cups of Bai Hao Yinzhen.

https://soundcloud.com/aflynt/born-under-bad-lighting

-Aaron

[alvarezh]

Aaron, sign me in to be the first to buy your next CD.

Really, really like it, give us some more!

Have a good week end.

[aflynt]

Aaron, sign me in to be the first to buy your next CD.

Really, really like it, give us some more!

Have a good week end.

Thanks Alvarezh! I think I'm going to invest in a decent mic-pre today and try to get some recordings done that sound more like the amp. Right now I'm just plugging the mic into my old POD 2.0 set on the "Tube Preamp" setting and plugging that into the line in on my Mac. It works but seems to flatten the life out of the signal. I'm thinking that the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 might be the one to get.

-Aaron

[alvarezh]

You're going to sound better still?

I'm eagerly waiting to hear it!

Cheers!

[aflynt]

Here's another take of the same tune using the Focusrite interface and two mics. I put the e906 about a couple millimeters from the grill cloth about 2" off center and panned it left and put an SM57 about 6" away from the speaker angled in at the cone and panned it right. This sounds a lot closer to the actual amp sound, but is a bit soft on the high end.

https://soundcloud.com/aflynt/born-with-bad-gastritis

-Aaron

[Reeltarded]

Align the capsules of both microphones very close to the grille with the 57 as close to the 906 as possible without touching. If that doesn't sound like your amp keep the same arrangment moving the pair back about a half inch at a time until you find a sweet spot but maintain time alignment and phase between the pair. See how that works for ya.

The capsules, not the grilles!

[aflynt]

Align the capsules of both microphones very close to the grille with the 57 as close to the 906 as possible without touching. If that doesn't sound like your amp keep the same arrangment moving the pair back about a half inch at a time until you find a sweet spot but maintain time alignment and phase between the pair. See how that works for ya.

The capsules, not the grilles!

Thanks for the tip! I'll give that a shot.

-Aaron

[aflynt]

A glamour shot of the final amp with name badge.

-Aaron