first, untie me : rig simplification and compression

Cut the elD from my rig

and here's why

having such a complicated rig makes it impossible for me to focus.

Ol' diab was always the master of gigging, due to it's gnarly snarls and broken glass in your eyes.

not so much via DI and emulated cabinet.  just washed out sounding.  I came close to having tones that I didn't hate on more than one occasion, however, these presets couldn't be vitalized to the point of usability.  

Several months later  o---]=======>

Update in progress...
please wait.

After turning a Marshall AVT20 (20 watt practice amp with 1x12ax7 tube for a preamp) in to a head, I managed to get my hands on a Line 6 Spider IV in exchange for a car audio amplifier.
Which I subsequently turned in to a head.

Easily enough accomplished if you have a spare box lying around or just cut the cabinet down and drill a hole for a speaker jack.

Dropped the El Diablo from my rig
Dropped the Line 6 M13 from my rig
Added an Electro Harmonix POG2 to my rig (because all I was using the M13 for, eventually, was an octaver)

The AVT20 is being used by a bassist I'm starting a project with
and I was getting really sick of the distortions in the eleven rack
so I decided to jam with the Spider IV a bit, just out of curiosity.

The downfall of the AVT20 is that it has no native footswitch capability.  Lots of variation with the ability to change tubes, which I have a large selection of, but you can't add a FSW to go from clean to dirt.
**Recently acquired a 12AX7WS solid state tube to test in this motherfucker.
more on that later.

The biggest upshot for the Spider IV is that it is everything.
Three different distortion channels, hidden noise gate and distortion boost
and when I finally added the FBV MKII to the head, oh my gosh, it is simply the most versatile.

RN the rig looks like this :
Mandi > POG2 > Spider IV > Eleven Rack
This rig is something to behold.  Incredible levels of versitility, and with the addition of a midi FSW/controller, being able to footswitch effects on the 11R makes it infinite.

**FBV MKII also doubles as a midi controller

Pointless bottom line to this post is that you should grab up unique practice amplifiers and see what you can fucking do to them because, most of the time, it goes way beyond practice.
The native speaker and voicing of the amplifier is not etched in space ships.

we need some heat over here : updating the speaker load simulator

spkrld sim was getting pret warm after two plus hours of playing
which we no like.
even with master volume (100W op mode) at three, heat persistently accumulated past heatsink ability to dissipate, which was unforeseen.

decided to add small 12v fan
powered by 9v
boosh.

power cell hiding in it's knoll.  pain in the ass to change.  

Innovation, intonation, nonsense.

Built a prototype of this thing
that I wanted to exist
and did not
when I get a provisional patent, you can buy it from me.

Standing here the other night, with my guitar strapped on, and a screwdriver in my hand, I decided to finally tackle a task that's been looming high in my mind for 10 years.
Learning how to set intonation on any geet
took about half an hour to grasp
and complete.

Turns out a bunch of my shit was way out of intone, all sharp.
If you haven't done this, do it.

-Was getting a hot buzz out of the amplifier.  swapped around the EH tubes, and rotated in a couple of JJs... buzzing persistant and strange.  Gut feeling was preamp tube or preamp tube socket, as

I've historically had problems with the pretube socks my entire relationship with this amplifier (internally, it is obvious that cereal yogurt was left in chassis unattended.        )
Had to totally wreck one to get it out
which reminds me

*No food or drink around the modern precambrian tech

I have to pull out the preamp PCB and properly install R1 so I don't feel guilty about playing guitar with such a shitty solder job inside.  Hopefully I don't get carried to unfamiliar by harpy resolder distraction.

*do not lube your straploks with graphite.  it will pack in and screech like a dick vulture

---postedit---

I actually got pull all the knobnuts, remove the prepcb, resolder R1, reassemble, and practice, without a failure or detractive noise.  First time ever.

+rotated EH in to valve 1

+rotated JJ in to valve 2

-/+ left china in valve 3

got some ronk compression grind from her tonight.  really satisfismo with the tones coming through the silent tube throbs.  

Rather than playing it : Active pickup voltage increase

Been reading about adding a second battery to active guitar circuitry--
apparently you can just slap a second battery in series with the existing cell, and you get magic attack boost and laser strings.

there is also information on further increasing to 24v, but all pertinent information is in regard to EMG active picups; according to the manufacturer, you won't get as dramatic a magic between 18v  to 24v as you do 9v to 18v.

*extra six volts are achieved by some form of adapter whatever 12v batteries whatever

pictured :
-9v battery
-velcro
-9v terminal, prepped for installation
-two position / nine terminal toggle switch

quarter for perceive














Since I pulled (the volume and tone pots out of) my rod, there's plenty of room for an extra battery.



*I hate using a noise gate for anything but removing tube hiss.  seriously, I effing hate it.  therego, one of existing body hole become cut-switch.  easy peasy wtfe.



cut switch is a hot lead to ground switch, as opposed to power snap k-k-k-k-k-k-k--killszone

*Insulate the battery casing.  It's steel.  If your battery becomes dislodged in the main compartment and shorts something delicious, it'll burn your beans on the grill.  seriously.  don't chance it. velcro strips are cheap and easy to strap on like fake dick.

+prep cavity for new cell (sticky shit, velcro)

+measure distance from battery to inner compartment plate

+attach appropes foam thick for to support batts

+Appropriately wire terminals of switchbob

She works.

But I've rediscovered Prior Problema that drove me for a while - 

Farty clipping through any interface. 

Even at the lowest gain settings,  padded way down

Straight to the amp

And through the M13

I had fixed the situation

Whence first the problem arose
by reading a reputable book or journal and creating a source page.  

that a passive volume pedal was the cure,

It was in spades

that

prior setup was : 

Guitar >vol>M13> computer : crystal clear and free of parasites

this allowed me to practice with headphones and without the need to use the EDstack.

But along the way the ernie ball VP Jr  potentiometer begin to disassemble itself and was cut for insubordination, purpose forgotten. 

Not realizing tone had been compromised by great lover, continued to chase clipping through amplifier components and in-line effects. 

Now having completed  construction of  monolithic recording interface, again  is realized that tone has remorseful clip directly from guitar. 

18v mod will supposedly quash pup clipping, however it failed to do so for EMG 81/85 setup.
with 2x spanking Sony 9v (9.67v ondameeter)

Again the VP was called upon to attenuate signal.

Totally worth increasing voltage to 18v. 

This will not be contested. 

Sounds are infinitely cooler and more dynamic. Headroom is crazy. No tube noise discernible when running high gain and not playing.  

After being taken completely apart and rewired to permattenuate hot hot signal,  and plugging in properly (multiple times backward,  beforehand) signal chain clips free. 

*If you have active EMG pickups, it's worth all the time it takes to add a second 9v.

*If your active EMG pickups sound farty and distorted, even when you're on a clean channel, with minimal gain --
you have clip.  Figure out how to simulate the potentiometer or buy a replacement potentiometer and wire it in a juice carton.  Tone will be thank.

***Also realized I had marked R1 on Preamp pcb as bad, it was so totally like 0.whatever ohms.  and I was like, you should be 1M.  so i dug through some shit and found a metal film .96whateverM and I'm about to test it. Porbus the source of chassis noise I've been getting from preamp valve one, because it sits right in front of it.  makes sense.

Udate:: new 1M resistor at prepcb R1 does not cure clipping from 81/85 18v combo. Difference with  VP JR is slightly decrease volume with no clipping.

Ultimate answer (chpmode) is buy the potentiometer and stick it in a box. Or the T-pad thing; get resistances from both sides of the pot and user resistors.  Since i had the components on hand it was simpler. Fuck off. 

G.g.

Jesus take the wheel : active guitar pickups and removing those pesky volume and tone potentiometers

Volume and tone pot useless

only stand to add possible component failure or maladroit

remove ASAP

if you have active pickups and you pull the rear cover of your geetr, you'll notice the bullshit wiring inside.  duh.  

it usually looks like shit, and that's because it is.  no exceptions.  

To your (my) output jack, you've got three wires - 

-black lead from the battery compartment

-black lead from wherever

-white lead from (3 pos) switch

switch has four terminals, 

as illustrated by mspaint (photoshop).

*output is determined by switch position, center egnages both internal terminals which results in allowable signal both pickup escape escape

Procedure:

+trace pickup leads to compartment, and back, and back again.  

+locate main positive and negative circuit connections

+locate grounds that will be disconnected when pots are removed

+remove (cut) volume control

+remove (lick) tone control

+twist and solder negative circuit leads to pickup braid where prior grounding (via tone pot chassis) has been broken.  This is probably where I'm actually soldering to a shielding or ... whatever, and it works, but probably not for the right reason, and I'd love to know why, but I don't care right now.  email me.  

To fill the teeth knocked out of her, grabbed some organ parts, peryoush.  

Little buttony bore adaptations

to make her pretty in public

and not dirty inside

I'll admit I tried this before replacing two power capacitors (Power PCB C11, C12) this evening

+replace C11, Power PCB

+replace C12, Power PCB

first test - no ground on pickup leads, so no signal.  

+scratched head

then I just figured I'd try gator clipping things together until I figured it out,

+and I figured it out.  

second run

bridge switch pos - bridge pickup noise, works.

middle pos - blend noise, works

neck pos - neck pickup noise, works

*active pickups are, apparently, less magnetic than passive pickups, and work best when the pickup is really fucking close to the strings.

+raised pickups

shifty eyes.

aslo

*if you're adding tension to your output jack, don't just mash the whole arm toward the male pin; push the curled part (toward the ghostly male phallus) as an alternitive.  It will work instead of not.  

Glovepie II : pie rise - script for controlleer

It took nearly twelve hours to figure out scripting for glovepie.
But I got it.

entirely yours,
glovepie script--

//numpad to midi
debug = midi.OutDevName //Display midi device
midi.DeviceOut=2  /

Swallow (numpad1, numpad2, numpad3, numpad4, numpad5, numpad6, numpad7)

toggle(midi.channel1.Control50) = NUMPAD1/1 //mod
toggle(midi.channel1.Control28) = NUMPAD2/1 //delay
toggle(midi.channel1.Control36) = NUMPAD3/1 //reverb
toggle(midi.channel1.Control63) = NUMPAD5/1 //fx1
toggle(midi.channel1.Control86) = NUMPAD6/1 //fx2

//A1 (my dirty cabinet patch)
if numpad4 then
if var.prog1 > 1 then
var.prog1 = 1 - 1
midi.instrument = var.prog1;
end if
end if

//A2 (my clean cabinet patch)
if numpad7 then
if var.prog1 < 1 then
var.prog1 = 1 + 1
midi.instrument = var.prog1;
end if
end if


Given how many people are using their stupid fucking wii controllers to do things via glovepie, you would seriously think that the information would be easily accessible.

A1 and A2 above are in references to eleven rack patches.   Because it utilizes a series of banks and patches to store rigs, program change commands are used to achieve swap in hyperspace.
I got all souped in to having figured out the CC strings and took myself down a dark road, eventually victorolling.

So all that's left is the underbelly of my penis button snake--
except for getting glovepie to display all keyboards, sequester the foot controller, and program it in.  boosh.  kkkillzone.

Pie gloves jr : Glovepie scripting 1.5?

TOGGLE!

Continuing on in the script, the toggle function has proved most useful.

without toggle;
midi.channel1.Control36 = NUMPAD3/1
(to engage 11R reverb)
turned the effect on for as long as the button was held.
then off

toggle fix.

toggle(midi.channel1.Control36) = NUMPAD3/1

Brafree hillbilly : MIDIY controller pt. III

First boot, flawless victory.  Each button results in the desired ASCII characters, (numpad 1 - 7)

in this slide you'll see twist ties
Ignore the twist ties.

+power switch rewired finally

+jerk knot in placed notch

-the serious longest part is making a bottom case piece for this hot mother.

and, apparently, getting glovepie to do as i command.



two days later....



+glovepie
Emulates an infinite number of output signals and stuff.  Runs scripts to (for my purposes) accept numpad1 - numpad7 and connect to MIDIOX as a virtual MIDI output.

+MIDIOX
*Midi input / output monitor, GUI routing, signal generation, the jesus christ of MIDI.  Helped me diagnose bade glovepie code and troubleshoot inputs / outputs via real time monitoring of MIDI traffic.

+MidiYoke
Necessary for the whole tube steak to fornicate.  Gives glovepie a (virtual) midi in / out to target after specifying the stimuli required to make.


After googling around for a while I found enough glovepie script to get everything to function with no interference.  Or none that I've noticed.

Midiox setup

I forgot to save my log from this morning, 

when I got everything working.  

Before I ran to slave wage.  

Picture is of proper setup, all the log did was display how many trials it took me to realize how simple the whole thing had to be.  

midi yoke1 (or whatever input you're midi mutating) is set as an input port, and sent to the eleven rack.  That's it.
i had the midiox signal generatior set up to troubleshoot and diagnose the spaghetti butt fuck i visualized.
midiox also detected the eleven rack banks and channels, or it simply had native bank/channel integration.  either way i'm fucking impressed.

Glovepie script

//code breakdown
*Code shown as is from the last second I wrote a functioning line FUCK

debug = midi.OutDevName - displays emulated midi output specified by line 2
midi.DeviceOut=2 - emulated midi output--device numbers are listed under a dropdown
swallow(numpad1) - swallow allows glovepie to take exclusive control of specified keys r whtvr
swallow(numpad2)
swallow(numpad3)
swallow(numpad4)
swallow(numpad5)
swallow(numpad6)
swallow(numpad7)
midi.channel1.Control36 = Keyboard.NUMPAD3/127 - midi.channel1.control36 (output signal, spec'd channel, cc for eleven rack control, desired input, 127 being ON pos for CC number.  0 being off.


So when I push button 3 on the foot controller, it turns 11R reverb on and off.  Or just off, over and over.  glovepie allows for conditional statements and stupid functional shit allowing for ifthen and wait and .... whatever.
Since the buttons are seriously old, being constructed as a spring loaded short circuit, I want to disable multiple triggers with a sustained press of the input buttons.  Liek when you fall asleep on the keyboard and it types a bunch of yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
we wish to avoid the flickering.

war

to asshole to asshole : DIY MIDI controller cont'd

00

USB to PCB connection, twain severed.  Reason is top mount power switchwitchhhhh

Brain PCB mounts chassis in brutal dominance display.
See angry switch of fury pounce through gratuitous hole.  Notice incorrect american wiring.

*I always have to do each job twice

Also included in this exhibit are terrible tape junctions of singularly connecting synapses.

Top view chassis. 

+power switch

+LED holes

+

Being out of solder is a bummer.

Until I break my tiny anxious egg and fall into some outlet that steals all the money for low grade solder, I'm reduced to using odd bites in the solder pencil tray.  woe.  

+reshaped B6 and B7 terminal holes

-rewire power switch terminals

-join switch and USB connector leads

--longest and most difficult task of finishing structural components and chassis.  

PENIS BUTTONS FOREVER

if you want to buy a number of penis buttons, send email to address of mine.  

from organs to assholes. : DIY midi foot controoler

I decided, on a whim, to build a midi footswitch for the Avid 11R / Propellerhead reason.
Using this idea
and parts from the Allen organ I vulched from pustulous scrabs.

List of ingredients:
2x aluminum housing.  Or one, if you have a complete square guy.  I'm fabricating an interlocking top and bottom in order to make future maintenance easy.
2x jumper PCB (4 terminal, reclaimed from PA speakers)
1x USB keyboard brain (I used an old dell keyboard)
1x IDE cable
1x togggle switch.  I'm using a computer PSU I / O toggle.
xx strand wire; copper.  I think what I used came from a television.
xx hardware.  I used matching sets of what I had on hand from vultch.
xx any other necessary shit you necessary.


Started by not taking pictures of initially gathered components
which included regular lame stomp pedal switches that didn't look like tiny erect penis
then, decided to change components when I found the loose organ kicks

These sketches are my initial attempts to disentangle the cable routing and jumper setup. 

Notice I never look at these again after drawing them.

Aluminum housing post hole driller / hand tooling.  The holes are for kicker leads. 

Here you see the keyboard brain with strips of IDE cable soldered to traces that would normally be connected to the plastic terminal sheets in the keyboard.

determining correct pinout was no difficult;
-assign unique numbers to each pin
-plug brain in to a computer
-open notepad
-record pin combinations associated with desired ASCII characters.

IDE cable was recommended due to lead size.  virtually perfect for soldering to keybrain.

Kicker studs of penis shape with coded leads in a fine cream sauce

 Top view with the kicks on, screws in.  power switch absentee

Kickies soldered to jumpers and brain.  I listerally ran out of solder on the last joint. 

 What remains is the bottom chassis portion (parts acquired, need cutsman), brain mount (50% complete), power switch on the USB +5 rail, brainlights hole, some expansion over square terminal access holes.   It's hot for testing right now.  Except I cut the +5 rail on brain connection after solder stores were depleted by hardcore nuclear solder sesh.
I'll update.

Herkbercks Mark II

Recently having decided to build a midi foot controller, I needed the stomp switch that was controlling the fan on board my speaker load sim.
Which meant for me, redesigning the cabinet load sim. housing.
I've wanted to do this for a while; while the last one was grungy as fuck, space future looks better.

+Thermal glue under the original circuit to bind it with a ~4x4x4ish inch fin cube heat sink from dream land

+rewire circuit with insulated copper braid

+wire jack (original jack to the speaker load, self-terminating pins removed.  Resulting jack is dual terminal T/S. )

+Drill jack hole in second heat sink fin thing

+cut notches in fin thing sides

+Boosh --k - k - k - killzone

ongo troubshoo

Hey.
Everything sounds cool, better every time I check it out and touch it's bits.
Except I found a broken solder joint in my guitar that was sucking tone or losing signal entirely. Fixed that.
Gotsum popin' cracks once in a while; going to see what resistors still in 'er are still carbon composition and replace them with scavenged resisterrrrrrrrrrrrr
I think there was a problem with my main cable, as well, that I fixed.  oooooor

more than that, I have nothing for you.  It has been incredibly busy in the hyperbolic chamber.
My XLR cable might be noisy due to cheap.
11R XLR MIC in might have cold joint.  Expression.  

Mouser finally sent components I placed order months ago, expression.  some capacitors for the power pcb.  probably replace.



blog easy.

Sick for two days

and then a day more

I had this crushing space vacuum headache that sauntered down vertebrae  and lathered itself in my knees.

reboot

Off base but on track

Hey, so...
When I started this, I was two weeks through literally becoming this amplifier,
Once I resurrected my tiny demon, I allowed myself catch up on the parts of my life (all) that suffered because of the obsessive monkey; my back aclaw.

In that space of time I have been able to play guitar again--
sweet fucking christ...
and with that I have been able to establish hard communication between the Avid 11R and Propellerhead Reason, my preferred DAW.
This involved a lot of experimentation with the 11R PAD switch (-24db attenuation) and Diablo -30db / 0db switch.
In my experience, I'll forget how hard knobs are set or bump a sensitive knob, hah, and subsequently spend two days trying to figure out how it was positioned.  As such I wanted to leave the gain allllll the way down on the 11R XLR in.  Pad switch position not important, easy error to fix once it finds a proper attitude.
What I ran in to as far as problem:.:;;;;

-amp signal from XLR out too low or clipping during manipulation of -30db switch.  Too loud in the headphones or too quiet, no comfortable position across 11R master volume control
*Avid 11R Rig balancing was the final finger hole for this one.  Set at like -12db or something.
Set to 0db (max clockwise).
Set Diablo to -30db on XLR out.
Set 11R PAD off.
Set 11R MIC gain off (max counterclocks)
Bingo
levels with distortion are halfway up the channel monitor,  Sound liek God.

From there it's been all gens d'arms and dicks stitches.

I have been speaking with the engineer who designed our flavorite favor of amp, less frequently than I would like to have be the truth, Though he is unable to support modifications to the amplifier, our discourse has been very informative.  So I plan on doing something with that in the near future.

&Probably going to make soundbites available for fun or something.

&Maybe videos

&more pictures

tired.