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rewindspline · Groupie Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 41

nice boards there!

i would like to comment on the mesa v-twin pedal seeing as i have one and a 3-channel dual rectifier head too

the pedal on its own is good (even if the heavy distortion is a little dark and one dimensional)

however i absolutely love it in combination with the behringer di with speaker simulation - there is a soundbyte here www.myspace.com/unamis

that tone is simply the v-twin through the di into protools - no tweaking

unfortunately the di is no longer in production, it took me ages of searching and phone calls to get 2 brand new ones...

i will save my comments on the rectifier head for another discussion Very Happy

1bassleft · Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 5:30 am Post subject:

I agree with the comments on the V-twin; both the +ve and the -ve. Its superior (because the OD is truly 3D as well as versatile) is the Matchless Dirtbox. Unfortunately, they're even more expensive and no longer produced nor supported.

Lee, I remember the "Hendrix sound" eBay cable Laughing

but check again what rewind wrote; he never said single strand - it's just not useable in guitar or TV applications. He was referring to signal (hot) and shield (ground) = co-ax.

There are parallels between hifi overspending and the guitar world. The quality of the electrics in the source (whether pickups or CD player) have a great effect; money well spent. The quality of the design of the amp circuit ditto (and a PCB, if done well, is better than a lousy job of P2P wiring). The least important of the lot is the cable from the amp to the speakers. Given that your Gary has minimized the distance from each power amp to its relevant speaker, there isn't a cat in hell's chance that gold will sound "clearer" than silver.

The cable might sound different, and that (having spent the money) will HAVE to mean "better". The main difference between hifi amps and guitar amps (speaking valves here) is that a relatively crap design can produce a great guitar amp but rarely a great hifi amp. Case in point is the Hiwatt DR head. Ever opened one up? Superb standards of layout; everything of consequence at right angles to each other. The Marshall Superlead, by comparison, is a right mess. Both are popular, but the Marshall sold more. I have a lovely little 8W head that's brilliant for my bass, handmade for me by my chum with the gold discs in LA. Even the tone control was omitted; it's the purest valve sound I know. Wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, though.

Hifi snake oil I've seen are the $400 mains leads (pointless) and, my favourite, solid rosewood and mahogany tone and volume knobs "as used on the legendary McIntosh blahblah" at $50 each. Audiophiles and some guitarists also fall for the cryogenically cooled valve/tube, which I have boringly ranted against for years.

The trouble is, a lot of suppliers and retailers like to jump on a grain of truth and then heap a load of carp on top to justify a high price tag. If you do a Goggle on, say, "cable capacitance" you'll see what I mean. Hundreds of audioseller links telling you why you need this/that brand and, if you look harder, technical pages (maybe with equations Shocked

) that point out exactly why you'd be wasting money.

rewindspline · Groupie Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 41

all valid points 1bass

but it's true that a long cheap cable will steal some top end, which may be a positive if the tone is just a bit too bright!

capacitance is a real world effect but it certainly isn't a major player in the sound stakes - connector quality is more important imo

lee_UK · Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:19 pm Post subject:

Bass, i had my doubts about the silver over copper over gold for amp to speaker use, but ive known Gary for a long time, he is a real tone head, he has a real ear for quaility, and if he says he can hear a difference then i beleive him. Maybe it's psychological.

1bassleft · Posted: Sat Sep 02, 2006 1:51 am Post subject:

Quote:

but it's true that a long cheap cable will steal some top end, which may be a positive if the tone is just a bit too bright!

capacitance is a real world effect but it certainly isn't a major player in the sound stakes - connector quality is more important imo

Completely agree with that, rewind. Walter Harley who makes Cafe Walter headphone practice amps has all his techs sent on a very expensive course on how to solder properly. And long, cheapo cable can have a treble rolloff. Partic with a valve amp, it may be enough to alter what was an 8ohm cab to give a slight mismatch and knock some audible Hz off. Despite the supposed danger of frying the OPT, I deliberately run the Marshall at 8ohm into a 16ohm 2x10" as it seems to give the cab a bit more darkness. Can't really explain, but it's preferable to eq tweaking to my ears.

Not knocking Gary, but in theory I can't see more than a picoFarad of difference on such a short run. It shouldn't have any affect but I'm happy to admit I'm no exp (even more happy to save money for something else). Wine is a good analogy. There comes a point where I can't see how the incredibly expensive bottle is better than the merely extremely expensive one.

rewindspline · Groupie Joined: 10 Feb 2005 Posts: 41

rehashing the board

going with two different loops using a Radial loop selector

upgraded power supply under construction

lee_UK · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 8:02 am Post subject:

Tim wrote:

lee_UK wrote:

Im not impressed with those cables Tim, did you get them at the local Car Boot Sale? marked up Buy one for £1 and get the other 9 free? Laughing

One thing i did invest in, and it has paid dividends is high quality cables, i got the best i could afford and they really do make a difference.

Yeah, if you remember a while back I was asking about cables, I think it was you who recommended Monster? I'm still in the market for some! At the moment when I cut out I just waggle the 4 jacks in turn until the sound comes back...it's not the best solution Embarassed

did you get around to buying those cables? Laughing

lee_UK · Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2008 8:20 am Post subject:

Heres my latest rehash:

[img]http://img72.imageshack.us/my.php?image=485tonelabse000cs8.jpg[/img]

1bassleft · Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2008 11:12 pm Post subject:

Nice board, rewind; that looper looks interesting.

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