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Post by Slinger on Apr 15, 2021 19:20:33 GMT
I prefer it to the Katana better clean tones to my ears. If I had the space the Fender Bassbreaker would be still my preferred choice (fabulous amp) but no way of getting it up to the loft where I have more room I did have a Helix Line 6 for a week in my HiFi system and getting some good tones but i just can't be bothered to take the next year to learn how to properly use it. YouTube didn't really help I needed someone I could chat to in real time to get to grips with it That's the problem when you get one of those do-it-all boxes, like the Helix. You need a degree in computer science, a degree in music theory, and six months doing not much else but playing with the beast. My little Line6 Spider V 60 has got something like 120 built in presets, and the building blocks of each one - amp, cab(s), effect pedals, microphone placement etc. - are all editable, and that's before you start making up your own presets. It's actually got 78 amps and 101 effects models (as well as cab and mic models) all told, which is ludicrous. I'll probably never get past scratching the surface of it. |
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Post by John on Apr 15, 2021 19:40:35 GMT
Amazing if you have the time and energy for one I was surprised how good it sounded in my HiFi system.
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Post by Slinger on Apr 15, 2021 20:15:04 GMT
The Line6 Amplifi TT I use as a guitar interface for my PC was actually designed to be plugged into your hifi. |
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Post by bigman80 on Apr 15, 2021 21:27:40 GMT
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Post by MartinT on Apr 16, 2021 5:26:59 GMT
It's going back a bit now but this inexpensive Chinese 10MHz master clock, made from recovered OCXOs in mobile masts, has transformed the sound of my system. Sometimes you don't have to spend a lot to get big gains.  |
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Post by Slinger on Apr 16, 2021 14:28:29 GMT
Yay, the TC Electronic 960827001 Quintessence Harmonizer arrived today. AT A QUARTER TO FRIKKIN' EIGHT THIS MORNING!!!!! I was still semi-conscious. It appears there's going to be a bit of a steep learning curve, should I want to wring every last bit of goodness out of it, and when I've done that there are downloadable "TonePrints," aka "patches," from people like Guthrie Govan to download and install. That's not the end of it though. Once I've downloaded a TonePrint I can then edit it, in the TonePrint Editor, which has got an instruction manual all to itself.  Despite coming with a USB lead, that's not how you transfer your TonePrints, from the TonePrint app on your phone. Oh no. That would have been far too simple. Here's what the manual says... Transferring TonePrints to your pedal – step by step- Launch the TonePrint app on your smart-phone.
- Find the TonePrint you want to use. You can browse TonePrints by Artist or Product (i.e., pedal type). You will also find Featured TonePrints.
- Plug your guitar or bass into your TonePrint pedal.
- Turn your TonePrint pedal on.
- Turn up the volume on your instrument and set the pickup selector to one pickup.
- Hold the speaker of your smartphone next to the chosen pickup and touch “Beam to pedal”.
- The INDICATOR LED will light to show that the TonePrint has been transferred to the pedal.
WTF? Seriously? Flu still has me feeling crap, I'm still hacking and coughing (and have never been so glad I gave up smoking when I did) and I'm dog-tired most of the time. Sitting here typing is probably the most physical and/or mental exercise I can handle at the moment. I've got some other stuff going on too, which is mentally draining, so all in all I don't see the pedal even getting plugged in for a week or so. That's how I know I'm not feeling well, I have a shiny new toy and I really can't be bothered to play with it.  Of course, I'm now considering ambient-type echo/reverb/delay pedals...  |
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Post by Slinger on Apr 16, 2021 15:22:59 GMT
The "interesting" stuff kicks in at around 4.58
And I got six-times my Nectar points on eBay.
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Post by petea on Apr 16, 2021 16:46:19 GMT
Being unwell is an expensive business!
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Post by Slinger on Apr 16, 2021 17:02:29 GMT
Being unwell is an expensive business! You are not wrong, Pete. Too much time to think up stupid ideas and make daft plans. |
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Post by MartinT on Apr 16, 2021 19:09:47 GMT
Sorry you're feeling crap. You must be, not to want to play with that toy.
Does it use something like FSK (Frequency Shift Key) to transfer tones as data like the old acoustic modems? Bizarre way of doing things.
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Post by Slinger on Apr 19, 2021 17:38:38 GMT
My two new pedals sort of snowballed  Some parts have been cannibalised from an existing pedal board, 7 have just been purchased. |
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Post by John on Apr 19, 2021 17:58:52 GMT
That a very ambient based board
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Post by Slinger on Apr 19, 2021 19:06:51 GMT
Yes, I thought I'd try something different, John. I'm really impressed with the TC Electronic pedals, which are Danish. Depending on how the Tomsline "Slowhand" integrates I may buy one of their "Crescendo" pedals to replace it. Andertons are knocking them out at thirty quid. I may just buy one anyway at that price. Even the TC Electronic dems on YouTube are impressive, and are usually hosted by Tore Mogensen, probably the coolest guy in the known universe.  |
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Post by John on Apr 19, 2021 19:39:32 GMT
I remember using TC gear years ago.
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Post by Slinger on Apr 19, 2021 22:02:04 GMT
I didn't realise that they're responsible for the Ditto looper and the ubiquitous Polytune pedal.
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Post by Slinger on Apr 20, 2021 14:18:51 GMT
I bought the TC autoswell. £30.00 is a stupidly low price, and I also picked up a cute little (TC Electronic, what else?) Mini Octaver pedal on eBay that was a decent price. The Behringer DW400 may not stay, unless it's brining something pretty amazing to the table. It's the one "maybe" pedal, and takes the total number of pedals up to 11, which will mean utilising two power supplies.  |
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Post by Slinger on Apr 21, 2021 17:29:20 GMT
Final version. After a lot of painstaking research, some serious shopping around, and a six-hundred-quid-plus hole in my wallet, I've finalised the design. As you can see I've ended up leaning quite heavily on TC Electronic.  A couple of the pedals I picked up from Andertons actually cost less than the going price for used models on eBay. Amazon had a couple of bargains that I wasn't expecting, and I did score some decent used kit from eBay, whose prices seem to be creeping upwards lately. I've now got to wait for about a week-and-a-half for a couple of the pedals from Andertons to arrive as they're out of stock until a week today, and a week tomorrow. Apart from eBay's prices getting a bit daft in places I've learned that there are many pedals out there that cost as much as a lot of my guitars cost me, and that there's going to be a Hell of a learning curve involved here. As a " for instance" my Echo/Reverb pedal has two three-way toggle switches, five rotary controls and two foot-switches. It's also got a couple of " hidden" controls that allow one to set it up with the effects in series, and the order they work in: i.e. either IN > ECHO > REVERB > OUT or IN > REVERB > ECHO > OUT or, just for kicks, you can also have them running in parallel so that the signal passes through both effects at the same time and is, one assumes summed at the output stage. Much like Dr Frankenstein (or Fronkonstein) I may have inadvertently created a monster. I'll stop boring you guys forthwith, I promise, but at least you realise how interesting your Formula One posts are to me now. |
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Post by petea on Apr 22, 2021 15:09:13 GMT
I have been looking for a Wild / Leica M420 for quite some time and managed to get one on eBay here in Germany a few weeks back. Unfortunately the trader selling it had an accident before he could send it and so all went quiet. He then made contact, apologised and said it was being dispatched. Nothing turned up and all communication stopped and I was forced to initiate a complaint through eBay. Then, out of the blue, it appeared by DHL today!  So, forget all about foot switches, it's one of these you need! It may look like a microscope, but it is in fact a macro lens on a stand with eye-pieces. A camera / photo-device (I'll be using a 20 MP CCD-based microscopical sensor when the adapter arrives) fits to the vertical housing and the eyepieces are for composing etc. It has a variable aperture and this example is fitted with the 5 : 1 achromatic zoom (there is also a 6 : 1 apochromat, but they are extremely rare and very, very expensive) and has a transmitted lighting base. Here the specimen (a large tropical seedpod) is illuminated by 2 4K Relio macro-lights (turned down to their minimum setting for the purposes of the picture). There is a dealer here who has a coaxial lighting unit for one of these and, now that it has arrived, I'll probably order that even though I will normally use angular lighting most of the time to improve contrast. I also have a 'macro-scope' in the UK, but that is the even rarer Zeiss Tessovar which I used to use (and still occasionally do use) for work (http://www.realphotographersforum.com/forum/threads/technical-imaging-zeiss-tessovar.4309/). So this, and a few bits of workshop equipment, is where my non-hi-fi related 'dosh' has been going of late.  |
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Post by Slinger on Apr 22, 2021 15:18:08 GMT
Ain't it great when a plan comes together, Pete? There's some further reading here for anyone who's interested, like I was. www.savazzi.net/photography/wild_leica_m420.htm Yours has more going on with the base, Pete, what's up with that? When do we see the test shots by the way?  |
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Post by petea on Apr 22, 2021 15:44:18 GMT
Yes, that is a useful site and he has a manual / brochure for the M420 on it too (it is pretty intuitive anyway though). There are a number of bases for the M420, but most are mounted either on arms or plain bases. The transmitted light base is a nice bonus and the lighting it provides can be controlled quite finely both in intensity and focus. They also made rotating and polarisation stages which you rarely find for sale. However, you can adapt easily others to use on it and I have some units that will work: a dark field illuminator would be nice and should be relatively easy to make. The CCD adapter is on order and should arrive early next week. I might take a test shot through an eyepiece tube though as I am pretty sure I have a sleeve somewhere that will fit. I just need to move it onto a bench nearer the computer I use for direct imaging (it only weighs about 40 kg!). This is a dark-field image made on the Tessovar a while back so you can see what these things are capable of.  |
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