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Has anyone heard an all valve rig e.g. Axis, S&P? |
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studio45 
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Joined: 16 October 2007 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 3864 |
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 Posted: 25 February 2018 at 4:07pm |
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Control system using Mixwiz + outboard is a great idea I think. Preamps can be great, or they can be terrible, either way they cost £££££$$$$$$€€€€€€ and once you've got it you're stuck with it.
I heard the Valv-a-tron when it came to Sheffield last year, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It had all the qualities people normally ascribe to valve amps - "warm" was the word that instantly came to mind - Just a subtle harmonic fuzz on the bass now and again, but plenty of clean headroom, and of course Paul's selection was flawless and kept the rockers moving all night  For me, another fun part was the smell of the amps! That nice ozone/hot Bakelite whiff of a big valve at proper operating temperature....mmmmm....if you smell that in a transistor powered dance, the dance soon done! |
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Studio45 - Repairs & Building Commotion Soundsystem -Mobile PA
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Roman
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Joined: 01 April 2017 Location: New Zealand Status: Offline Points: 66 |
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Posted: 25 February 2018 at 11:05pm |
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Dub specialist. Welcome to my thread.
I am looking to build four quads. How tall, wide and deep is the one you built? Did you weigh it? What are the possible sonic benefits of a fancy reggae pre amp vs fancy phono pre amps into a 16 channel mixer? In the musically mad documentary, Mostec claims they have better sound and rounder bass. I would like to be more specific about these factors. Mad Professor plays live with an Allen and Heath Mix Wizard. I assume the sonically vulnerable part are the phono pre amps? A 16 channel mixer would allow mic'ing of musicians. Maybe have a horn section and singers over some digital rhythms or something. Maybe a band for a special event.
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flinnt45
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Joined: 30 April 2013 Location: london Status: Offline Points: 111 |
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Posted: 26 February 2018 at 11:35am |
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Hi Roman
what do you mean by fancy phono pre, I own a 4 way mostec custom to my requirements, its extremely quick, and in side by side with a barracuda and an old toshiba 330 no comparison they cant get near it for sound quality, one sound that I know uses a mixing desk here in the UK is Eternity with good results. |
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JAH Kreator Hi Fi
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flinnt45
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Joined: 30 April 2013 Location: london Status: Offline Points: 111 |
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Posted: 26 February 2018 at 11:40am |
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Hi Valvehead, the project got aborted as dangerous, johns 813 I mean, he also built a 20 x 807 1000 watter, not sure how many he built but looked good when I saw it, too many tubes for too little power for me dont see the point.
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JAH Kreator Hi Fi
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DMorison
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Joined: 14 March 2007 Location: Aberdeen Status: Offline Points: 1649 |
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Posted: 26 February 2018 at 1:44pm |
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That reminds me of the old adage: Every machine is a smoke machine.... .... if you use it wrong enough
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valve head777
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Joined: 27 July 2012 Location: East Sussex Status: Offline Points: 1781 |
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Posted: 26 February 2018 at 4:01pm |
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That's a shame, was it too dangerous for a human being or potentially a sound bwoy killa! Looked ready to go. What valves do you use? I'll be in contact via info left in pm (thanks) once I've had time to pick the piece up. Cheers. Btw, is Mr Chambers still approachable? I've got friends/contacts in Notts still and visit periodically. |
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Freedom of choice, choice of freedom.
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valve head777
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Joined: 27 July 2012 Location: East Sussex Status: Offline Points: 1781 |
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Posted: 26 February 2018 at 4:06pm |
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I love the Mostec pre I've operated on. Very good in a dance situation and high quality sound, however I still love the JTS sound/pre, I think it's slightly more surgical operator wise, harder to tame if not experienced. And as for barracuda, tops always need taming (imho). I have also used a mixer, with xover and a resonant filter on bass to good effect. If the mixer has good eq, send and returns etc, the it's not that different from a pre. A pre is all that neatly packaged into one box and tweaked for Dub/reggae. Get the best TT pre you can for use in front of the mixer. Edited by valve head777 - 26 February 2018 at 4:42pm |
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Freedom of choice, choice of freedom.
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Roman
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Joined: 01 April 2017 Location: New Zealand Status: Offline Points: 66 |
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Posted: 26 February 2018 at 5:58pm |
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Fancy phono pre amp would be something that costs more than the phono pre amps in a Vestax DJ mixer. I was thinking the valve mono phono pre amp that Paul Axis Huxtable was marketing as a product on youtube. Supposedly a step up from the cheaper ones. The idea being that the amplification of the small signal generated by a record needle is a critical stage for sound quality. Once it is at line level it is more robust. That is my simple understanding. It would be important for comparisons sake to be more specific about why Mostec preamps are superior to whatever those things you mentioned were. I don't know barracuda or toshiba 330. Just googled them. So a barracuda is a custom crossover reggae pre amp. But you are saying the Mostec is way better sounding. I wonder why? Better design and components. I would hope that with quality phono pre amps into a Mix Wizard 16 into a quality crossover into valve amps the sound would be uncompromised. Is there some mystery sauce to the Mostec pre amp?
Edited by Roman - 26 February 2018 at 6:26pm |
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Dub Specialist Sound
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Joined: 15 November 2013 Location: Smethwick Status: Offline Points: 4873 |
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Posted: 26 February 2018 at 6:11pm |
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Cool Roman,
Sorry for not putting any input into this thread, there so many question , msg, info ect i find it a little overwelming man hope it makes sense  My Quad Box is 5.5ft High, 4ft Width, 2ftt depth just under, so internal litres are around 1000/1200 taking into account rear of the drivers , some mega bracing in there too, Weight not atm , but i will be weighing asap so will let you know, its heavy lol all imho mixers just done do it for me, i use pre-amp JTS and not to be under estimated , serouis lows tubbs allways known for that, i think great all all sound, just like it does everthing in one unit , remmebr its whats hanging off the ends on amps pre amps, yu cant make a bad mid driver good with anyth8ing tbh, ok-ish yes but yu know what i mean but also i have a vintage racks for the Quad , with Sage bass pre on it custom mosfet ab amps, unreal lows we talking low freq.... i still rate all reagge pre out there still,heards loads ect Great thread ppl..love it!!!...little pic attached lol   |
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Musical Roots Reggae Vibration is Life! for music is sound...sound is vibration...vibration is energy... and energy begets life. Therein lies my passion!...MUSIC IS LIFE...
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Roman
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Posted: 26 February 2018 at 6:12pm |
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Exactly my thinking. But I am not experienced with reggae sound system. Just making beats and recording people. I think some sound system norms are overrated. Or I suspect they are. For example: Adding echo to the mids or tops of music. Hmmm, that is far less important to me than having really good sound, nice tunes and dancing to them. I have grown to appreciate the bass drop thing. Leaving out the subs until the operator feels the crowd will get the bass un-muted. It definitely can be fun. I like the one turntable method. It gives me a chance to shout a sentence or two in someones ear. Usually 'I wonder if they will play the dub' or 'here comes the dub ha ha' Lots of fun. I don't want the cliched siren effect. I want to have something different. Maybe my old Korg MS20 through a delay. Sci Fi baby. But yeah, high quality sound is a top priority. No compromise in fact. Are there differences in crossover quality? Can I get a crossover with selectable frequency points. A 16 channel mixer allows for more effects like reverbs and delays. Essentially the Mad Professor set up of having a studio in the dance. Live dubs of multitracks with vocalist on top. Pretty special to have original music manipulated live. Adrian Sherwood came to New Zealand a few years ago. It was advertised as a live dub show. Hmmm, I love live dub. I went and all I witnessed was him playing CDs and adding echo to bits of the song and hitting some sound effect roland type synth sampler thing. No multitrack dub like the marketing had me believe. Disappointed. Proper gain staging will be the most important thing I think. Not overloading any stages of the mixer etc. Should be fine. But I don't want to miss out on any special reggae pre amp sauce.
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Roman
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Posted: 26 February 2018 at 6:17pm |
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I would need to analyse what components a reggae pre amp consist of and see if I need those.
One factor I recall is something like a parametric eq that people use to sweep frequency bands for effect. I am not sure I have heard this used in New Zealand. It may be a less important, even corny undesirable effect IMO. I have an Electric Filter Factory analogue filter. I imagine that could be dangerous for the amp and speakers. Sweeping the bass and generating a huge level. Maybe a limiter would be a safety feature for its use.
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Roman
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Posted: 26 February 2018 at 6:23pm |
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Simply put, for my stated intentions of doing the Mad Prof live dub of original mutitracks, I need a 16 channel mixer like the Mix Wizard. So that's the starting point. Then adding high quality phono pre amps and crossover is the next additions. You mention sweeping the bass. I don't think I've heard that effect used in NZ. Not sure though. Mad Professors shows sound good through a Mix Wizard. So any features that I am missing out on would have to be cobbled into the system. But it will be more flexible than a big expensive mysterious reggae pre amp. Yeah I said it. I think people add a little too much mystery to the reggae pre amp. But in the documentary 'musically mad' one sound system guy was adamant that as long as they has their little reggae pre amp, they had the sound that was their personality. So there must be something to the reggae pre amps that contribute to a sound system unique character. Mostec in the film also says that people use the same pre amp differently getting there own sound. So yes I do need to put together separate units that will cover all my needs and allow the best sound system features.
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studio45 wrote: