The Jam Room Blog Thread.

[jibberish]

like the "boil it down some more" commercial. i loved that commercial for some cable company


"more boil" hahaha

YES is what you are looking for.

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i upgraded my entire signal path in one shot and wow does it make a difference. having stuff sound nicer makes for great inspiration to keep playing.  my left hand is taking a beating[shuddup] from fretting the guitar and tons of chords and octaves on the keyboards. right hand is laughing.

[liquidsmoke]

liquid, keep watching craigslist for amps. disenchanted DJ's dump their setups all the time around here.
you can score something huge for <$200.   I know I sound like a broken record, but look for something way overpowered.
When an amp is idling and playing quietly it is putting out 10mW. this could be your 50mW clock radio amp or your 2000w/ch PA amp

but when you hit it, reserve power keeps the sound way full instead of strangling out.
seriously. I was first scared of my 750w/ch crown when I got it.  I never owned anything over 100watts/ch before. but now that I have had these power amps around here for a while, they are all the same. it depends on where the gains are set. not scary. I can play stuff quietly(not really because of the fans) if I want to and they are all still the same.

i got my big crown for $250 and the other 3 amps(crown power-tech2 and 2 QSC rmx series) all for $150 each. the QSC RMX-1450 was a steal for $150 heh. i wish i just had 4 of those, but i am not crying, and i got 1 yr warranties on those other 3 amps, so they were each $180 out the door. i bought like 2000watts/ch for $800 out the door at the end of the day all with 1 yr warranty. the big crown was off the floor so it had new warranty.

No fear here. The XLS1000 is 1100 watts bridged at 4 ohms. Seeing them new online for as low as $230-250. Some bass players on other forums have said it's not really that loud but I'd like to give one a go as my class D 350 watter is quite loud.

[jibberish]

power and decibels is a strange relationship.

3dB is a slight increase in volume.  10dB is double the volume.
it takes 2x power to increase volume 3dB. it takes 10x power to double the volume 10dB.

if you set up your system based on max output, there is no headroom left. in essence, you would want to completely compress your sound to one volume and play it near max, just like the radio stations do. there also wont be any extra crushing drive when you really max out in a song

bridged is also a bit of a compromise. bridged amp onto a big bridged mono speaker array seems redundant. can you split the speakers in half and run separate channels? like on a 4x10 or 2x15 etc.  the amps will see the speakers clearer and control them better. this actually can be a help with bass damping factor.  maybe at least play with that.

anyway, I see you pushing a little amp to the wall and you will be disappointed with how lifeless it sounds.  bridged into 4 ohms should be like 2400watts.
1000w 8 ohm bridged maybe. bridged IS cheating the specs.  

remember, bass is all about current drive. your amp either can push x current or it cant. playing with the numbers cant change that.
when those guys say "doesn't get loud" they probably sense there is no extra 3-6dB head room(2x-4x the power remaining or a big supply enough to take a +4+6dB spike)
that headroom puts the zing into the accented stuff. it uncompresses it.

you don't have to turn a big amp all the way up to try and blow up your speakers just going by hard ratings.   I would run a 100watt cab off a 1000 watt amp.  don't run it max loud, and any momentary over load level spikes will be safer for the speakers than clipped garbage. a 100watt speaker can take a 1000w spike, but obviously not compressed continuous power like that.

maybe I can talk MJS into buying you an XLS2000. that is what you want/need for more relaxed fun and doling out punishment.
i'll pitch in some cash to help you get set up right. look for one of those used. just looking GC has used ones for $349..new 1000 is $299.....

edit: acoustic B2000 combo like new just showed up on CL for $200..  I had better knife dogfood's tires in case he reads CL too. will call tomorrow....
that's so funny how close dogfood is.  that used to be primo dirt bike trails all in through there before the white man built houses on them. fuckers...heh

[liquidsmoke]

I'm just going by what Crown says, I don't see how that amp could put out anything close to 2400 watts and I shouldn't need that kind of power anyway, even 1100 probably get eyes rolling around here. I could run it stereo but I don't want to buy two 4 ohm speakers as there are fewer options and a lot of amps can't do a 2 ohm load.

[Lumpy]

a 100watt speaker can take a 1000w spike, but obviously not compressed continuous power like that.

It can? 

[jibberish]

heh. the sl1000 cant do 2400w. that's not what I wrote.  i'm trying to explain headroom and I typed too much again.
I will stop now. 
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lumpy, think about this:  it takes a certain amount of energy per unit of time per cross-section of speaker coil winding to melt it.

you can stick your finger in fire and not get burned. how? get it the fuck out of the fire before it gathers enough heat to burn, haha. but your finger just took 600 degrees. yeah we bad! uh huh.
slo-blo fuse principle. passes overvoltage spikes, as long as total energy isn't enough to melt the fuse.
it is a 10dB spike, and if short duration, does not heat or move anything much. 1000w rms would smoke that speaker pronto.
In fact, if the spike is quick enough, the coil inductance smothers it and it doesn't even get through. natural low pass filter action.

you guys are glamoured by the numbers.  rms output and rms power handling is a baseline number to show relative power. it is truly a useless spec in real use.

X dB's per some Y watts continuous[well below max rms spec by at least 2x-4x] with headroom of Z dB's is what is really happening unless it is compressed and/or just dimed to the power rail.

[RAGER]

So I finally sucked up my pride and took my Sub37 over to GC (since they are a Moog dealer) and had them do the firmware update since I'm too stupid to figure out how to do it.  The studio mgr guy did it for me and was super cool about the whole thing.  Probably because he's not a douchey on the floor sales guy.  I was so grateful that I bought an Akai Rhythm Wolf.  Then he gave me 15% off.  Super cool.  It still bugs me to spend money there but dude did me a solid so.....

[Omlet]

Peavey 5150 head is on the way to my home. It's definitely too high-gain one for me. Luckily it's quite popular here and I hope for selling it. If I succeed, I'd buy a JCM800 2203 or invest some money and try to grab a Rockerverb.

[liquidsmoke]

Too high gain even with the distortion turned down? I don't think it's tight sounding enough for certain types of metal tones but for others and for stoner/heavy rock I think it's one of the best.

[Omlet]

5150? Seriously? I MUST check it out when I get it...
But I'll need to find someone with a cab, as I don't have any

[Corey Y]

I used to use a 5150 with a Meathead running into it for a sludge band. Worked fine, they're pretty much just a modded JCM800 design.

[Omlet]

Must finally order a Meathead copy... Original ones are virtually unavailable here..

EDIT: I can order one directly from the maker. But the original ones are extremely expensive for me

[liquidsmoke]

5150? Seriously? I MUST check it out when I get it...
But I'll need to find someone with a cab, as I don't have any

Do you have a friend that has a cab? My roommate has a 5150 and when you dial it in right and crank it up it sounds very Wino/Pike but with more distortion if you want it. They break up real nice.

[Omlet]

Yes I have one or two friends with cabs. But I'm not sure if we have a proper environment to crank that beast up

[Lumpy]

What are one or two good microphones for general recording? Guitar and electronics. Nothing expensive. (Separate recommendations for guitar and electronics okay). My recordings don't sound very good, turns out the house mics at the practice space are rated 'super horrible'.

[Corey Y]

What are one or two good microphones for general recording? Guitar and electronics. Nothing expensive. (Separate recommendations for guitar and electronics okay). My recordings don't sound very good, turns out the house mics at the practice space are rated 'super horrible'.

What's "expensive" can be REALLY relative when it comes to recording gear. Totally subjective, obviously, but the Shure SM57 is a reliable standby for a lot of things (guitar certainly). Heil makes some very nice dynamic mics (PR series) that get very well reviewed. Definitely not on the cheaper side, but a Shure SM7B is a great workhorse mic for a lot of things (vocals, guitar, bass, drums), because it's very unidirectional and low gain. It takes a lot of gain from a mic preamp, so it can show off cheap recording gear, but it's great for cutting out bleed and capturing really loud sounds well.

[fallen]

To be fair it took me quite a lot of years to figure out that gain knobs didn't HAVE to all be on 10 at all times.

And mid knobs don't have to be on 0. "How come I have a 100w Marshall and still can't hear myself?" 

[Lumpy]

What are one or two good microphones for general recording? Guitar and electronics. Nothing expensive. (Separate recommendations for guitar and electronics okay). My recordings don't sound very good, turns out the house mics at the practice space are rated 'super horrible'.

What's "expensive" can be REALLY relative when it comes to recording gear. Totally subjective, obviously, but the Shure SM57 is a reliable standby for a lot of things (guitar certainly). Heil makes some very nice dynamic mics (PR series) that get very well reviewed. Definitely not on the cheaper side, but a Shure SM7B is a great workhorse mic for a lot of things (vocals, guitar, bass, drums), because it's very unidirectional and low gain. It takes a lot of gain from a mic preamp, so it can show off cheap recording gear, but it's great for cutting out bleed and capturing really loud sounds well.

Cool, thanks for that.

[liquidsmoke]

+1 on the SM57, heavier sounding guitar tones than the other dynamic mic I have. I track drums and vocals with a $50 MXL MCA SP1 condenser and think it sounds great.

To be fair it took me quite a lot of years to figure out that gain knobs didn't HAVE to all be on 10 at all times.

And mid knobs don't have to be on 0. "How come I have a 100w Marshall and still can't hear myself?" 

Been there done that too. For playing by yourself though a lack of mids can be very inspiring for riff writing.

[liquidsmoke]

VOLVO))) please ignore this.

Mounting 18 lb. bass speakers that are going to be pushed hard- 8 wood screws vs 4 or 8 T-Nuts/bolts with Loctite?

[jibberish]

practice break.

heh, are you sure you didn't mean jibberish ignore this? hey liquid I am sorry about rambling too much. I get a good buzz on and just trip out on the subject and take it way too far.

  I would just screw them in heh. run them down like a valve cover so you don't warp the basket , especially if it is a shit stamped steel one and not cast. cast ones are tough to warp, but still why put concentrated stress on the frame. you can put washers on screws if you want. get flat head screws, not self sinking tho.

I would bet the world runs on mostly screwed in speakers.

nuts'n'bolts are the pro thing to do. washers too.
washers are cool because they spread the force out more than a bolt head = more stout assembly.  But wood is nice to screw speakers into.
the car stereo arena is mostly thin sheet steel. you must use nuts'n'bolts, so sometimes the arena sets the option list.


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I have still been working on keyboards extra hard. getting a ragtime left hand chord pattern slapped onto rockin round the xmas tree is a real riot. I call myself many names and often. the game is to separate the left and right hands so they can each do their own thing.  fuckin a....

then I am working on arpeggiated chords in o holy night. get that left hand ticking off 1/4 notes and play the somewhat random melody and 2-note shit whilst keeping the 4 note left hand chord forms going.
I also arranged in a heap of 3 octave arpeggiated chords towards the big finale build-up just to really fuck up my left hand some more AND I stuck in some extra 3/4 waltz pattern stuff(bass note, upper chord, upper chord as the 1 2 3 pattern of a waltz) so I have to shift into waltz gear twice in that song. If I get this working right, i'll make everyone in the room cry with it.
the power potential of this song is off the richter.

started on silver bells to get some crazy ringing shit(besides tinnitus) going AND more full keyboard arpeggiated chords.     full metal keyboard!!! booyah!
working on that c minor run in inna gadda davida that goes all the way up the keyboard. not so easy with that black key involved .

[liquidsmoke]

Cast Eminence.

[Danny G]

To be fair it took me quite a lot of years to figure out that gain knobs didn't HAVE to all be on 10 at all times.

And mid knobs don't have to be on 0. "How come I have a 100w Marshall and still can't hear myself?" 

Good realization to come to.


And +1 to SM57 as cheap go-to recording mic. SM58 is handy too. Diff tonal characteristics, and both can be found on the cheap in pawn shops for the price of one or the other new.

[dogfood]

Shit, what did I miss?!?!?

[Danny G]

Stuff