Line 6 Spider Valve 4x12 Cabinet

I saw a Line 6 Spider Valve priced very low around $200 and took the gamble to see if it was loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s. It unfortunately was previously raided and replaced with SLM Electronics speakers. I was disappointed, but decided to keep it once I saw the plywood construction.

I decided that I could load the cab up with a bunch of my Celestion speakers, some that had been collecting dust. I could have access to all of my Celestions ready for recording.

 I decided to install my Celestion G12M65 (upper left), Vintage 30 (lower left), G12T75 (upper right), and V-Type (lower right). I may eventually move the Classic Lead 80 into the cabinet over the V-Type, but have that in my Jet City 2x12 for now.

Initial tests listening to the Vintage 30 under a SM57 seem to indicate that the cab tightens up the sound a bit compared to my Jet City 2x12. However, there might be more low end in the 100Hz region with the Line 6 cab. The Line 6 4x12 seems to provided a bit of brightness compared to my 4x12, but still sounds big under a mic. This cab should work well with the Mesa Dual Rectifier and Peavey 6505.

The G12M65 Creamback is a new speaker addition to my small Celestion collection. It is very reminiscent of the Greenback that I have.

More to come.

Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Multi-Watt

My interest in acquiring a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier grew as I revisited the popular rock music of the 1990s and 2000s. It was a staple in all of the rock concerts that I went to as a kid in the early 2000s: in arenas, in tiny clubs, and on the Warped Tour. After going through all of the punk, emo, nu-metal, and metal albums that were recorded with Rectifiers, I knew that I wanted to have the amp.

With the new 90s Dual Rectifier being released, there were rumblings that the Multi-Watt version would be discontinued. I had been reading up on the Multi-Watt version for some time, but wasn’t enamored with its $2700 new price. I heard about its Lonestar-inspired clean channel, and it’s improved dirty voicings through many different discussion boards and demo videos.

A used Multi-Watt came up on the Guitar Center site at a good price via a tip on a forum and I jumped on it. The amp was just labeled as a regular Dual Rectifier. The tiny details such as the “100W Head” vs the “Solo Head” logo and the wattage switches on front panel required some zooming to discern. Once I received, I saw that the chassis was dated December 2010, so it is an early example of the amp’s run. The previous user had installed STR447 EL34 tubes in the amp.

Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Multi-Watt

Disappointingly the amp did not power on when I received it. I replaced the bad 4A fuse, but the new fuse still blew with the with a subsequent power on/standby off. This behavior hinted that the rectifier tubes were a problem. I wanted to see if I could get it working again before resorting to returning the amp. I inspected the rectifier tubes and noticed that one had a part that was rattling around. Indeed, one of the 5U4 tubes was bad and was likely causing the amp to shut down. I didn’t want to take any more chances on the tubes.

I looked at a typical 3-Channel Rectifier schematic and noticed that the rectifier tubes were still in the circuit in diode mode. The screen grid resistors were all measuring 1kohm while the amp was off. The resistors looked like they were in good shape, along with the rest of the PCB. I decided to change out all the tubes in the power section, not knowing how old the tubes were. 

Dual Rectifier with all tubes functioning.

I put in new STR441 6L6 power tubes and 5U4GB rectifier tubes along with a new fuse. The amp powered up successfully in Bold Mode with the Diode Rectifier selected for all 3 channels.

I am still learning the nuances of the tone controls of the amp. I have mainly stayed in Channel 3 Red, switching between Vintage and Modern modes. Turning on Vintage mode and palm muting a Les Paul immediately reminded me of the sound on Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard. Modern mode adds a large volume boost and the ubiquitous scooped nu-metal voicing of the late 90s. I needed to dial the Bass control back considerably below 11:00 to control the amp in Modern Mode. My Treble, Middle, and Presence settings have hovered around12:00 in most cases. The EQ seems very touchy, as turns of 0:30 in o’clock settings seem to have big changes. On both channels, I prefer the amp’s Gain control to be in the 12:30 to 2:00 range on the Vintage and Modern modes.

I’ve spent some time with the Clean Channel. Its relation with the Lonestar circuit is a major reason why I wanted to go with a Multi-Watt Dual Recto over a Solo Head. I was surprised how much I liked the Pushed mode of the clean channel. The Push mode can get a crunch sound that sounds like an entirely different amp.

More to come.

Some Old Pedal Gutshots

  

I mainly wanted to share some gut shots of my DIY pedals while I had them disconnected from my pedalboard, but it helps to document some of them so I can recall details in the future without having to open them up.

Top Row: Timmy, Green Russian Big Muff, Madbean Slow Loris

Bottom Row: Himmelstrutz Fetto, OCD, Red Llama

All were built in 2012, except the Tommy clone in 2014. Once I felt comfortable building on Madbean PCBs, I got into building overboard layouts from the Tagboard Effects blog. Most were wired with Chandler hookup wire from the defunct Mammoth Electronics. That wire was stranded, but the strands were very loose and not conducive to handling. One tiny spool did get me through all of my DIY pedal attempts and failures. The Slow Loris parts were mostly sourced from Smallbear, while the vero board builds were made with Tayda parts. All enclosures were from Mammoth Electronics, except the enclosure for the Timmy clone was from Pedal Parts Plus.

Studio Furniture: RAB LS840 Desk and Auray ERS-12U

RAB Audio LS840 Desk

I revisited my recording room’s layout to improve on my efficiency. I wanted to get as my outboard gear in front of me and ready to be patched in to use. I’ve had my my preamps and buss compressor patched in for the most part, but could not integrate my 500-series rack efficiently.

I thought about building my own desk, but decided to an off the shelf solution. I wanted to go with a smaller desk to avoid the temptation of leaving junk on the tabletop. I went with the RAB LS840 because it was narrower than the typical 48” desk. Most MDF desks at this price range offer 6RU, but the RAB had 8. I needed enough space to get my 500 series rack, Chameleon Labs 7603 pre/EQ, Audioscape Bus Comp, and Klark Teknik 1176-KT directly in front of me.

Front view.

The build was straightforward for the most part. The unboxing and assembly video provided by RAB Audio’s YouTube channel was a helpful resource. All of the pieces lined up easily, much better than some other flat pack furniture that I’ve built in the past. Most pieces were secured with hex head screws.

The keyboard tray was a disappointment for me. The black screws for the tray’s components were difficult to tighten by hand, and I gave up on fully tightening the screws. The 32” width keyboard tray barely fit my M-Audio Keystation 49 II keyboard. The volume slider rubs against the bottom of the table a bit.

Tight fit for M-Audio Keystation 49 II.

I was finding the 8in/8out limiting on my UR824 interface, so I decided that I will chain my preamps with EQs and compressors. 

I’ve initially wired up a UR824 line output into the 1176-KT, followed by the 7603 Line Input back into the UR824 to use as a Comp-EQ hardware insert. It was immediately obvious how much more useful it was to have the controls directly in front of me rather than off to the side. 

Desk rack - left side.

I plan on having the following inserts set up:

• Klark Teknik 1176-KT > Chameleon Labs 7603
• 2x CAPI VP28 > Audioscape Bus Comp
• Stam SA73 > Hairball FET500 Rev D > CAPI LC25

I will be looking into adding more acoustic treatment to smooth out the low end in the room with the new desk installed.

The corners are treated, but I may look into treatment above my listening space.

Some plots using Room EQ Wizard and a Behringer ECM8000 mic.

JBL LSR305 Left 1/24 Octave Smoothing 30Hz - 20kHz

JBL LSR305 Right 1/24 Octave Smoothing 30Hz - 20kHz

JBL LSR305 Left 1/3 Octave Smoothing 30Hz - 20kHz

JBL LSR305 Right 1/3 Octave Smoothing 30Hz - 20kHz

JBL LSR305 Left 1/24 Octave Smoothing 35Hz - 400Hz

JBL LSR305 Left Spectrogram

JBL LSR305 Right Spectrogram

Edit - 1/11/25 - I took some more steps to work on cable management around my desk. One of my main goals with this iteration of the desk setup is to more easily switch from tracking with my CAPI VP28 mic preamps to mixing with them as line level saturation devices. The best way I think of was to get the input connections in front of me to patch into. I bought a Redco 2RU panel, pre-punched for 24 D-series connectors, and installed only what I needed.

I decided to install female XLR connectors for front panel access of the CAPI VP28, Chameleon Labs 7603, and Stam SA-73 preamp inputs. I had some spare 1/4” feed through connectors, which I used to move the connection points of my Wavs-PRS Guitar Interface and DIYRE L2A Reamp. The front panel access to these devices should keep me from bumping into their knobs.

I used install-grade wiring to neaten back panel connections to reduce the cable clutter. For years, I’ve been using regular-sized audio cable (~0.25” OD), either pre-made from Monoprice or DIY’d with Mogami and Redco. The thinner cables should help minimize the mess on the rear panels of the equipment.

Auray ERS-12U Rack

I bought a couple of Auray ERS-12U equipment racks to house the rest of my rack mount gear. The were $130 each on sale, but even the full $170 price is much less expensive than any of the other 12RU racks made of MDF.

The main rack is filled with my sub-$120 budget outboard buys over the years. The height of the 12U rack on casters happens to be at desk level.

Many online reviews complained about the rack rail threads being incompatible with the hardware provided, but I did not find this to be the case. A generous amount of 10-32 and 12-24 hardware was provided, but I only used the 10-32 screws. I had some old Middle Atlantic 10-32 screws that fit well on the rails as well. 

To be continued.

Squier Hello Kitty Stratocaster

Hello Kitty Strat.

I bought the 50th Anniversary Hello Kitty Strat from the Fender x Hello Kitty collection on a whim. I always did want a single humbucker fixed bridge Strat since I grew up playing guitar as the Fender Tom DeLonge models and original Hello Kitty guitar were introduced.

I am enjoying the Hello Kitty Strat in its stock form. The guitar’s build is Classic Vibe-level in terms of its fit and finish. The unique appointments are purely cosmetic, like the pick guard, white tuners, red position markers on a maple fretboard, matching pink headstock, and pink volume knob text. But at the end of the day, it’s a comfortable guitar to play. The frets are smooth and I am familiar with the feel of the Squier CV necks.

The stock humbucker is fairly low output, which I am fine with at this point in my tone chase. If I had bought the original Strat, I would’ve certainly changed out the pickup for something high output like a Duncan JB or Invader. However, I can get more than enough gain between my Peavey 6505 and various modeling solutions. I also want to be able to play cleaner sounds, which this guitar’s humbucker allows me to do.

Here’s a video of some higher gain amp presets in my Fractal FM3. The pickup is low output, so I can hear the individual strings fairly well. 

Volume Pot Attenuator Build for FX Loop

100k audio taper pot in a box.

I was recently reading up on the effectiveness of putting a volume pedal into the effects loop of a Peavey 6505 to bring the amp down to bedroom levels. Before I sank $100+ into a low impedance volume pedal, I remembered that there were multiple  potentiometer-based attenuator pedals on the market. I kept running into the JHS Little Black Amp Box, a $65 product. The box contains just a pair of jacks and a 100k audio pot on a PCB.

There are multiple gut shots of the pedal itself and DIY clones available, so I decided to build one. I already had all the parts from several Tayda bulk orders, so I saved myself the purchase. 

With the pot about halfway, my 6505 with the master volume on 1 suddenly dropped down to practice amp levels.

Squier CV Bass VI

 I received my Squier Bass VI from Chicago Music Exchange early. It was estimated to arrive in November, but was delivered a month early. The exterior shipping box arrived without issue, but the inner box from Fender to CME was in poor condition for a new guitar.

Beat up box from Fender to CME.

Once opened, I was relieved that the guitar survived its initial shipping journey in North America.

Bass VI in Antigua.

I first played through some Marshall-y patches through my Fractal FM3 to make sure the electronics were still functioning. I immediately started coming up with ideas with the Bass VI.

The fretted note at the 12th fret on the low E string was sharp by 15 cents. Intonation of the other strings was tolerable. I noticed that the Bass VI came with a Mustang bridge, which was probably added when the model transitioned from the Vintage Modified to Classic Vibe line. Hopefully the Mustang bridge will have enough range to set the low E intonation.

Below is a clip of the Bass VI played in lower and higher registers. The bass sounds were achieved with the middle pickup through the US Dripman Nrm Amp from  Line 6 Helix Native. The clean guitars used the bridge (single notes) and neck (chords) pickups with the strangle switch on through the UADx US Dream 65 Amp plugin. 

More to come.

Vox AC15C1 Combo

Vox AC15C1.

I’ve been looking for a Vox sound to incorporate into my setup and the digital models  have left me wanting more. The Winfield Typhoon that I already had worked best with single coils, sounded best clean, and its EF86 preamp was a different vibe than a top boost or normal channel.

My first inclination was to fire the AC15 up with a Tele. I was immediately hearing the “chime” that is present so many famous songs. The amp seems like it will be a great fit for all my oddball single coil guitars. I am already enjoying being able to dial the Top Boost channel with my darker sounding Gretsch G5420T. The amp of course pairs well with my Strat and Tele guitars. The AC15 sounds great at the top range of its gain as well. It took me a while to get used to the voicing, but I've come to like the Top Boost channel cranked with humbucker guitars.

I am a fan of its clean, breakup, and cranked sounds. When recorded, it doesn't have that crackly sound that can appear with sustained notes. There are usable sounds at every gain level. 

The master volume is a very useful feature and allows for saturation at sane levels when I am sitting near the amp. It works well to balance levels when recording.

Edit - 9/12/24 - I spent about a month making captures of the amp in NAM and got to get a good feel for the amp along the way.

I've been able to approximate several tones from albums that featured the AC30. I was able to do this by combining the AC15 with updated impulse responses of my Weber Ceramic Blue Dog speaker.

More to come.

Cavalier Nashville Lion and Lion King Tele Pickups

Cavalier Nashville Lion and Lion King pickups.

I bought a set of Cavalier pickups to install into my Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele. I selected the Nashville Lion for the bridge position as it appeared to sit in the middle of all offerings. I picked the Lion King because it seemed like the most popular neck mode.

Squier stock CV Tele pickups.

The DC resistances of the Nashville Lion and Lion King were 8.14k and 8.13k respectively. The stock bridge and neck pickups measured 7.30k and 7.61k respectively. At the similar typical Tele pickup heights, the Cavalier pickups are less hot and not as harsh sounding. At the same time, the Cavalier pickups are fuller sounding. It was a bit difficult to get the outputs to be the same with the difference in frequency response. 1/8th turns on the pickup mounting screws brought the output from a little low to a little to high. The differences in frequency response are most apparent in the middle position, with the Squier set sounding more hi-fi and the Cavalier set sounding more colored.

My video comparison.

The Squier pickups are not unique to the model. Older iterations of the Squier Classic Vibe 50s guitars in the 2010s had different pickups than the 60s models. However, these stock pickups have the same sticker codes as the pickups that I pulled out of my Squier Classic Vibe Baritone Tele Custom, a guitar with more 60s appointments.

Prior to the pickup swap, I shielded the Tele’s control cavity. This reduced a significant amount of noise that  be I was experiencing before. There are still angles where the hum becomes annoying, but there is a wider range of directions I can face without the noise becoming too much of a problem.

Peavey 6505 Original 1992 Amp

 

I’ve been wanting a Peavey 5150 on and off for years, and finally jumped at the new Peavey 6505 Original 1992 model. The 5150 is a classic amp in hard rock and metal, and I wanted to experience the real thing after playing through the various digital models of it over the years.

A quick clip of my Epiphone Les Paul through the Lead Channel, first through a V30, then a CL80:

I’ve been focusing my time on the Rhythm Channel, with Crunch and Bright settings engaged, to dial in rock rhythm sounds. The most useful sounds to me  on this channel are with the Pre-Gain at 6-7, EQ at moderate settings, Resonance 5-8, and Presence around 8. From reading various forums, a popular way of running the amp is boosting the Rhythm channel with the Pre-Gain around 6.

The Lead Channel is much higher gain. Setting the Pre-Gain at 3-4 is where I top out at. It is a tighter and thinner sound compared to the Rhythm channel. 

As I dug deeper into the 6505, I wanted to try the ubiquitous Fredman mic technique. I initially thought I would just set up 2 mic stands, but I was too lazy. I ended up buying a mic clip from Fredman Digital to do it the right way. The intended angle of the off-axis mic is apparently 55 degrees. I didn’t have a second SM57, so I used a Shure 545SD instead. I can see why it was such a popular way to record the Peavey 5150.

Fredman mic clip.

I ended up capturing the amp for NAM with settings I would typically use. I set the amp up at 4 gain levels on each of the channels, boosted and straight in. A few sound samples are below.

Although the 5150 is typically paired with Vintage 30s, I am enjoying the recorded tone more with my CL80 and V-Type speakers.