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 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.

Beyerdynamic Dynamic Mics

I’ve been enjoying my Beyerdynamic microphones on a variety of sources ever since I started buying their mics. As of now, I have the M201TG, M69TG, M88TG, and M160. All are great on electric guitar cabinet and drums. I’ve been making IRs of these mics on my cabs to be able to access their flavor while playing silently. Those are in the main link at the top of the page.

For guitar cabinets, my observations are as follows:

• The M201 is a bigger and slightly darker sounding SM57 on guitar cab. If the SM57’s characteristic upper mid is too harsh, the M201 is a good substitute for me. For some 12” speakers, I position the M201 0.5” farther back than with a Shure SM57.
• The M69 and the M88 are very much related and sound similar. They have a bigger low end than the M201. The might have a flatter upper midrange than the M69, with more lows. The M88 has more output than the M69. I prefer these mics right on a guitar cabinet grille.
• The M160 has a big proximity effect. On 12” speakers, I need to bring the mic back 2-4” off the grille.

Below is an interesting comparison of the frequency response of my M160s. One of them has a bigger low end, which works well on electric guitar. It also has a dip in the 3-4k region. The other M160 is flatter in the low end, with a general rise in the upper mids to treble region.

Eastman E2OM Orchestra Model Acoustic

 I recently acquired an Eastman E2OM because I wanted a small body acoustic guitar for recording. I wanted something that was not as huge sounding as a dreadnaught, but bigger sounding than a parlor acoustic.

More Weber Speakers: 12A125A and Ceramic Silver Bell

 Weber 12A125A

I bought a Weber 12A125A speaker in my chase for the ideal 5E3 tone. I originally bought a Speed Shop A12Q for Tweed tones, but it turned out to be based on an early 60s speaker. Many forum posts for the A12Q remark that it is basically a Weber 12A125S, a speaker that is an Oxford replacement. A12Q did get convincing Neil Young tones, and is likely why the speaker is popular with 5E3 players. Neil Young uses a C12N speaker with his Tweed Deluxe, so the A12Q would be closer to being period correct for that sound. The top end was a little too smooth for me.

The 12A125A is the speaker I should’ve bought in the first place. It reminds me of a thicker version of the P12Q that is in the Redwirez impulse response library, which was my reference. The bright top end works well with the dark 5E3 tone.

I can see why 5E3 user may prefer the in-room tone of the A12Q, but the 12A125A’s recorded tone is exactly what I was looking for. My experience with micing the speaker so far is that I have to back the microphone off an inch more than I would with a Celestion-style speaker. When using ribbon microphones, I have to back off to about 6” off the grille to get the low end where I want it. The sweet spot for me is typically somewhere within the dust cap. 

Weber Ceramic Silver Bell 30W

The Silver Bell was a B-Stock purchase from Weber based on my positive experience with the Ceramic Blue Dog. The Silver Bell is a take on the Celestion silver Alnico speakers used in early Marshalls. The speaker does remind me of a brighter Greenback when recorded, but the sweet spot is wider on the Silver Bell. With the Greenback, my preferred tones are around the dust cap-come junction, while I like the middle of the cone with the Silver Bell. When I was initially hunting for sweet spots, I was expecting yo find it closer to the center. I didn’t immediately gel with the speaker. However, spending more time to find balanced mic positions was a rewarding exercise. The Silver Bell works with every type of low gain front end that I’ve tried: Tweed, Voxy, Plexi.

Edit - 12/4/24 - I've posted the full extent of the impulse response capture of the 12A125A and the Silver Bell. 

Link to IRs of Weber 12A125A in Tech 21 Trademark 60 1x12 Cabinet

I find that almost all the mic positions could be useful with the Silver Bell. The IRs towards the cone, up to about 4.5" off the cap are probably at the limit of what I like in terms of high end rolloff. 

Link to IRs of Silver Bell in Eminence XTC112-BT 1x12 Cabinet

CAPI LC25 EQ Build

Completed CAPI LC25 Build.

I wanted to pair an analog EQ with the Hairball FET/500 build and thought an API-based EQ would be appropriate. I had read on forums that the CAPI LC25 performed well on drums due to its fixed frequency points. It is inspired by the API 560 Graphic EQ, but with different EQ points.

CAPI LC25 Main PCB

Coming off the Hairball build, the main PCB of the CAPI was in the same league of difficulty. I followed the directions on the CAPI website to make sure I didn’t botch the kit by building out of sequence. Component soldering went quickly, while the mechanical assembly felt a bit tedious. It didn’t take too many tools to assemble: a soldering iron, clippers, a multimeter to determine resistor values, a 0.05” Allen key, a 10mm socket wrench, and a Phillips screwdriver.

Current lunchbox modules.

The EQ is easy to use in practice. The 2dB steps are clear and fixed frequencies make it easy to navigate.

To be continued.

Hairball FET/500 Rev D Compressor Build

 

FET/500 Rev D PCBs populated.

I built a Hairball Audio FET/500 Rev D kit to get the hardware 1176 experience in a compact 500 series form factor. I jumped in during a Black Friday sale price of $385. 

The kit had the highest parts count out of the few 500 series kits that I’ve built so far. The solder pads on the PCBs were rather small, comparable to ones found on DOA kits. The components were spaced out well, so I didn’t make too many inadvertent solder bridges. The assembly was fairly straightforward with a good online build guide and interactive build map on the Hairball website.

The calibration process could have gone a bit more smoothly. The trickiest of the steps was the gain reduction meter calibration with the adjustment of R540 (Tracking Adj) on the Main PCB. There is a hole on the meter PCB to access this trim pot, and it is the most difficult to adjust. I initially could not get the gain reduction to budge from 3dB when 9dB was actually present. I then read on the GroupDIY support thread that the R540 trim pot was a 20 turn trim pot. I had originally assumed that the adjustment range was within 1 turn.

Physically turning knobs as I react to what I hear is a major positive of working with hardware such as the FET/500.

Some audio demonstrating the effect of the audio path can be found here: link to files

I ran a snippet of mono drums through several pieces of hardware:

1. Bypassed FET/500 as control
2. FET/500 No Gain Reduction 4:1 Att-9:00 Rel-3:00
3. FET/500 9dB Gain Reduction 4:1 Att-9:00 Rel-3:00
4. CAPI VP28 Unity Gain Mode
5. DIYRE EQP5 w/ EQ flat

I quickly did this to see what happened to a signal being passed through the FET/500 audio path without compression versus the CAPI VP28 and EQP5. 

To be continued.

Monoprice Indio Classic V2 Pickup Swap - Duncan Designed Detonator and EY Alnico Hot Rail

The Guitar

Monoprice Indio Classic V2 in stock form.

I impulsively bought a Monoprice Indio Classic V2 guitar to use as a project for some pickups I had lying around. With the help of a coupon code, the guitar cost $54 + tax to get shipped to me. 

The guitar itself is decently built for its normal price point. The frets are a bit scratchy, but less so than the other Monoprice Indio Classic V2 that I have. The guitar came set up with no fret buzz. The tuners are not high ratio, so it’s easy to overshoot the pitch when tuning up if I am in a rush.

The stock pickups are bright sounding, and don’t have much bottom end. The pickups don’t feel great to play through, but the recorded sound is not as bad as I thought.

I previously had a Duncan Designed Detonator and two EY hot rail pickups in a HSS configuration in a Squier Strat. I thought these pickups would be suitable replacements for the stock Monoprice pickups. 

Duncan-Designed Detonator

I bought a Duncan-Designed Detonator pickup some time in the mid-2000s. I enjoyed the sound of the pickup, but started gravitating towards lower output pickups as I got older. The pickup is high output and has a lot of low end information. I would later learn that the pickup was based off a Duncan Distortion rather than an Invader.

The paint on the Hex screws was presumably coming off from age. I came across other users who had the paint come off their Detonator/Invaders hex screws, and ended up sanding off the paint. I did the same, loading each screw in a drill to sand off against a sanding sponge.

Half of the hex bolts sanded.

Cleaned up Detonator.

The pickup’s measured DC resistance was 16.92kohm. 

EY Alnico V Hot Rail Pickup

I bought an 11kohm Alnico V dual rail pickup (part # EY-DRP580-BL) from EY Guitar Parts sometime back in 2016 for under $12. I had read favorable comparisons of it to GFS and Artec rail pickups at that time. The pickup sounded good as a series neck humbucker. I preferred playing the pickup in parallel in the neck position, but will keep it as a series humbucker for this guitar.

Pickups swapped in.

I wired up the Detonator per the online documentation (green-hot, black-ground), and had to flip the polarity of the EY Hot Rail (black-hot, red-ground) for the middle position to sound right.

The Detonator is thick and compressed sounding, which is something I don’t currently get out of my other guitars. There is much more low end available than the stock pickup. I might set this guitar up to drop down 1 step, since I have more classic sounding guitars in standard tuning.

Neural Amp Modeler

I decided to check out Neural Amp Modeler out of curiosity, and the fact that it is free. I've been wavering about purchasing IK's ToneX, but will probably eventually join the ecosystem. 

I immediately tried to capture my Plexi circuit amp through a Suhr Reactive Load. I used the provided v2_0_0.wav file to reamp into my typical settings. I am still trying to get a grasp on ESR and number of Epochs for a sufficient capture. Other users on the NAM Facebook group informed me that 1000 Epochs for high gain and 500 Epochs for lower gain was typical. 

Using the Google Colab set up by NAM, training a 1000 Epoch model takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes. I am surprised that a 290kb NAM file can contain such a detailed snapshot of my amp. I also like that the plugin is straightforward, laid out without bloated effects and features.

1986 and 1987 (5000pF) capture demo.

Fender Pro Junior IV capture demo.

5E3 Capture Demo.

I've found a lot of useful captures of amp types on ToneHunt and the NAM Facebook group that I don't have in my collection. The amp selection is skewed towards high gain amps (Mesas, modded Marshalls, 5150s) , but there are some lower gain varieties as well. Some users have provided the dBu calibration information, which makes it as close to virtually connecting to someone's setup as it can get.

To be continued.