Dr. Milo T. Pinkerton III ([info]doctorpinkerton) wrote,
@ 2008-04-25 14:42:00
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Current music:Delia Derbyshire - 'Blue Veils and Golden Sands'

Things to look forward to
Lots of things to look forward to soon...

The first of a series of shorts called 'Dice Jockeys' has been released by its creator, our 2nd unit director Charlie Brown. I'm acting in this, playing the uber-geeky 'Freddie the DM'. Check it out.

Tonight we're getting together a quick photo shoot for our new Lab Girl, Judith (and simultaneously be taking advantage of the occasion to give her predecessor some parting presents... shhhh, don't tell Liz!)

Tomorrow, Jeannine and I are cruising to Marksville LA with Rachnid and Nicole to see 'Asia' in concert. With Steve Howe and Carl Palmer in the band, the night should prove notable for musical virtuosity (otherwise known to some of you as wanksmanship!)

Early next week I'm looking forward to getting my new guitar amp. (I realized I needed one after borrowing a Peavy bandit and Rachnid's Mesa Boogie pedal to play rhythm guitar in last month's show at One Eyed Jacks.) I didn't want to break the bank or get something too big and unwieldy, and decided that a digital combo amp would suit the bill and be nicely self contained. Rachnid and I visited Guitar Center on Tuesday and looked at the Line 6 'Spider' amps, the digital Fender amps, and the Vox Valvetronic amps. I settled on the 50 watt Vox AD50VT. It's not as flashy as the Line 6 (no screen, no midi, simple rotary selection controls) but it sounds absolutely great, and that was the main factor. Its competitors sounded thin and disembodied by comparison. This amp features a tube preamp and a 12" Celestion speaker. Our friends at C&M Music are ordering the amp for me. With luck, it'll be in the Secret Lab in time for next rehearsal. Fingers crossed...

I'll leave you with a neat little article on the BBC website about the late, lamented BBC Radiophonic Workshop.


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[info]ericcoleman
2008-04-25 09:38 pm UTC (link)
The emulation on the Line 6 amps is amazing, I use a Pod XT for my studio sound (and sometimes stage sound depending on the show), but Vox just makes better amps. And the emulation is pretty good. My eldest has the 30 watt version of that, and he loves it.

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[info]doctorpinkerton
2008-04-25 09:48 pm UTC (link)
We love our Line 6 gear as well (Rachnid, like his predecessor, relies on the Line 6 POD XT to provide his pre-amperage.) But I was pretty let down by their little Spider amp. The onboard tuner was great, and there were endless banks of patches. But the sound just left me cold.

The 30 watt Vox Valvetronic was OK... the 50 watt version was quite a step up from it (much better speaker), and made spending the extra dough an easy decision!

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[info]ericcoleman
2008-04-25 09:56 pm UTC (link)
The speaker on the 30 watt is the problem, it makes the sound a little thin to me, but the boy likes it. If I was going to buy a guitar amp it would probably be the same you thing you have. I'd take a close look at the Fender amps first though. I do think, seeing as how I use the Pod, that if I was looking for something for stage sound, I'd go with a keyboard amp, something with no real personality of it's own, that I could run the Pod through

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[info]doctorpinkerton
2008-04-25 11:11 pm UTC (link)
What we've found makes the POD sound best is a good tube amp set flat. The output tubes warm up the sound the rest of the way... our previous guitarist, Dr. A Pentatonic, relied on his 100W Laney head. Dr. A Rachnid is currently using a boutique head, which is a Marshall Plexi knockoff, housed in a Hiwatt cabinet. It gets the job done!

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[info]squidflakes
2008-04-25 10:02 pm UTC (link)
I meant to get the AD30VT but I got the AD15VT instead. Money issues and such.

So, I put it to you, evil doctor, can you assist me in adding a feature to my amp that is missing on the 15 watt, but is included in every other amp in that series?

I speak, of course, of the variable tube input power pot.

This would be a boon for a home user such as myself, as it will allow me to play the amp at maximum volume (where tubes sound the best) without blowing out the walls of my modest domicile.

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My evil will rob you of your wattage
[info]doctorpinkerton
2008-04-25 11:15 pm UTC (link)
You just know I'm going to tear the amp apart and examine it, don't you? (have I really become THAT predictable?)

I'm curious as to how they implemented that 'variable tube input power' knob. The only tube in these amps is an input gain tube, and the knob probably doesn't affect that. The output power is solid state, I'm afraid... so whatever wattage limiting is going on with that knob, it's probably digitally emulated.

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Re: My evil will rob you of your wattage
[info]squidflakes
2008-04-26 01:20 am UTC (link)
My understanding is that this particular knob does INDEED affect the amount of power flowing to the input gain tube, the only tube in the system.

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Re: My evil will rob you of your wattage
[info]doctorpinkerton
2008-04-26 04:52 am UTC (link)
That would affect the sound - but labelling it 'wattage' would be kind of misleading. Hmmmm... must look into this.

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[info]seamusmoon
2008-04-26 09:35 pm UTC (link)
Nice work on Dice Jockeys. I'm looking forward to seeing some more of those.

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