I need to retube a couple of my amps. My Fender Princeton has got some weird hissing/ popping going on. And I have no idea how old the tubes are in the Supro I have.

One of these days I should pack them all up and take them to shop I know about and have them all cleaned up and reconditioned. I have a lot of scratchy pots.

1/20/05

The funeral is all over. It was a beautiful ceremony.
I ended up running my cousin's video camera during the ceremony so that we can send tape or DVD copies to family members from around the country who couldn't make it.

It was cold and snowy at the grave site. I'll have to go back and see it sometime when it's warm and sunny.

Back to work tomorrow.

1/20/05

Discovered today that my footswitch doesn't work... Anyone got a spare Fender 2-button footswitch kickin' around? :p

I found one online for $10, but by the time I get it shipped here, with duty and all that crap it's gonna be closer to $40-$50...

And I've got some nasty hiss in mine that changes with volume, so I suspect one of my preamp tubes is to blame... All the tubes are under 2 years old, and the guy that owned it before me only used it a few hours a week, so they should still have plenty of life left. *sigh* I guess I'm off tube hunting this weekend... :rolleyes:

RE: Footswitch - Yes. But it's noisy, so I don't use it. But since it's part of the Princeton Reverb I have, I won't get rid of it (the amp is an original from '65)

A certain amout of hiss is to be expected with vacuum tubes,.. but if it's really excessive then it's probably a bad one.

If you plug into the other channel of the amp is it the same or does it go away or change signifigantly? If it's the same it's probably a power tube, if it changes it's most likely a preamp.

Also, the thing about tubes is that they might not have "gone bad" but they still suck. Even within a group of tubes of the exact same model, some of them are good, and some aren't so good.

Groove Tubes. http://www.groovetubes.com/)

They cost more, but they're really worth it. They test and match all the tubes they sell, and catorgize them into types that really tell you something about the way they sound.

Unfortunately I fear that tubes aren't long for this world. Most of the tubes you can buy these days are "Old-Stock" meaning that they were made years ago and have been in storage ever since.

There are very few factories left that still make them, and those are Russian and Chinese. If relations break down between us and those countries we guitarists will be left with few alternatives.

It's a very good thing that digital modeling is coming along as strong as it is. It still has a very long way to go... but it's still a lot better than playing through solid-state amps.

Originally posted by edlib
It was cold and snowy at the grave site. I'll have to go back and see it sometime when it's warm and sunny.

Much of the reason my family waited until Mother's Day to interr my mom. ;)

hmmm

well i'm 21 today. i don't really feel any different. i have to work today....3-11....fun stuff, cause the idiots didn't put the correct stickers on the listerine bottles, we have to be the ones to do it....and it is so boring, i felt like going on a break to the bathroom and not coming back....but i need the money. :(

my moms gonna order the computer sometime....so i probably won't have that until february, knowing the shipping...and the weather....meh. maybe i should go get some beer, i never tried it before...and i think my parents will be discouraging about it.....since their parents had to be abusive alcoholics...i have my own fridge so maybe i'll smuggle some in. :D

any suggestions on brands for a first-time drinker?

Jagermeister.

And stay away from Two Fingers tequila.

I'm very surprised that the Army didn't teach you a thing or two about alcohol... what's the nation coming to anyway?!??

Anyway, whatever Nitro recommends you should stay away from. ;) In fact, whatever he says - DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE! Those are words that haven't failed me yet. :D

Anyway, enough raggin' on Nitro,.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Have fun, stay safe and sane, and don't grow up too soon!

Uh,.. oh yeah, right...

1/21/05

Are we really that far into this month already? Egads, where does the time go?

Big storm coming this weekend, so I went to the grocery store and stocked up. Like 150 bucks worth of stuff (granted, the cupboards were getting pretty bare anyways...) I had that cart PACKED, baby!
But for all that it really didn't seem like all that much stuff once I got it home. Why is that?

My mom made herself really sick with the stress from this week and all the traveling back and forth, so I've been taking care of her all afternoon... making soup, washing dishes and the like.

hahaha i tried to get a beer on lunch break at work, but the damn gas station didn't sell any!!! so i'll have to wait some other day to do that...

yeah i'm all ready for that storm man! we're supposed to get up to 10 inches by sunday.... (man i wish i was back in upstate ny...cause that amount is NOTHING COMPARED TO IT UP THERE!!)

I'm routing for the Eagles to get to the Superbowl. :D

Originally posted by edlib
Anyway, whatever Nitro recommends you should stay away from. ;) In fact, whatever he says - DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE! Those are words that haven't failed me yet. :D

He's got a point... :p Well, except for the Two Fingers tequila... If someone offers you a shot of that, run. Most other tequila is fine, but Two Fingers is asking for trouble.

Oh, and always eat the worm. http://www.lucasforums.com/images/icons/icon10.gif)


1/21/05


Went to work, and pretty much ignored everyone who called in while I spend my entire shift net-dredging for effects pedal schematics... I need a good treble boost stompbox for my Tony Iommi moments, but I can't afford to drop more then about $100 (CAN), and there's *nothing* used around here. There's a guy in-town that makes homebuilts with a sound pretty close (I actually prefer it) to an old Rangemaster, but he wants $175. Good price, but I just don't have the cash, and I'm craving boost *NOW*. :rolleyes:

Long story short, anyone know where I can find pedal schematics? :p

huh? I ate a worm once, just to see my mom and sister flip out. Don't do it, it'll make your crap smell like mud.

Originally posted by Nitro
Long story short, anyone know where I can find pedal schematics? :p
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Books_and_videos_on:_Electronics/Electronic_Projects_For_Musicians.html)

Any of Craig Anderton's books are great, but this one specifically says it has instructions for a treble booster.

http://www.montagar.com/~patj/gindex.htm)

There's a LOT of stuff here. Maybe you'll find what you're looking for.

Is this it?

http://www.montagar.com/~patj/voxtreb.gif)

More here: http://www.geocities.com/j4_student/schematics.htm)

Warm up that soldering iron! :p

A related question, for you edlib.

I read that using a treble booster on a Valvetronix amp could damage it, because it has a digital preamp or something. Do you know anything about that? I've read about doing it in other places, and they never mentioned this.

Huh.

Never heard that.

I can't imagine it's true... there has to be an analog gain stage in there before the A-to-D converters... and even if there isn't people overload digital gear every day. I know I do.

Digital distortion (as opposed to digital gear modeling and reproducing analog or tube distorion) caused by overloading the converters, and hitting the "Wall" (i.e. anything over 0 dB Full Scale) sounds pretty damn bad due to clipping and harmonic aliasing, but I've never heard it to be harmful to the gear in any way. No more than doing the same thing to analog gear.
And I'm talking about pro-audio recording gear, not a unit designed to be a stage amplifier for guitar... thier specs have to be that more bullet-proof and abuse worthy.

Where exactly did you read it? Was it a reliable source?

It was just a post from some guy on guitar gear forum. As I said, it was the only place I ever heard it. My electrical engineering backgroud led me to doubt it, but I figured I'd check with the expert for a second opinion.

The reason I ask is because I was thinking of using the Treble Booster in my Vox "Brian May Special" amp to drive a Valvetronix in AC30 mode to get that "Brian May sound." People have said they have gotten good results that way. There is a treble booster effect in the Valvetronix, but many said they got better results using an external treble booster. The only thing is that you can't turn up the booster too high or you get that clipping stuff. So I don't really know what I'm going to do now.

I dunno... stick a volume pedal in between the booster and the amp is all I can think of.
Or a compressor/ limiter pedal. Actually the compressor might be the more elegant solution. That way you can set it not to alter the normal signal coming from the guitar, but to squash the higher gain signal after using the boost.

That way you can get the treble boost, but back off the gain a bit so you don't clip the input stage.

Personally I would just experiment with it. Seriously, I can't imagine you could damage a guitar amp that way, and you really don't know how it's going to sound until you try it. I suspect that the input is set to accomidate all kinds of setups, and I don't think one boost pedal in the chain is going to freak it out all that much.

Most distortion and fuzz pedals usually have pretty hot output gain boosts, and if the amp can handle one of those I'm pretty sure it can handle a clean signal boost.

Actually, I don't expect the clipping to be an issue, since it shouldn't be that high anyway.

Yeah, neither do I.

1/22/05

Big blizzard going on outside. The TV weather folks are besides themselves over it in a virtual orgiastic frenzy of 24-hour-non-stop reporting about the fact that there's some snow, and some wind. They get positively orgasmic over this stuff, (for reasons I cannot begin to fathom,) which generally requires them to go and stand in some forsaken place getting blown around by the wind with a camera, a mic, and a yardstick to show us what we already know... that it sucks outside, and only an idiot would be out in it.

Watched "The Manchurian Candidate" today. It was OK. Nothing incredible.
I've never seen the original, but I somehow suspect that it's better. Some of the technology that was supposedly used in the mind control was a bit far-fetched for a movie that is otherwise pretty realistic.
I'll have to pick up a copy of the Sinatra version to see how it differs.
Denzel was good, but then he almost always is. Meryl Streep was kinda creepy in that role. I guess that was the point.

All this talk about guitars in this thread has inspired me to practice more lately. My calluses hurt... but it's good. I wish I had this kind of time normally... I could really get somewhere with it.

There's a State-Of-Emergency declared because of the storm.
I hope we don't lose power.

no fair....we only got 5 inches. i want more.

You can have some of ours... no problem.

Bleah.

We only got seven inches. Barely any snow.

1/23/05

Crap!

I had a whole post written out for today, and a pretty long one at that, when I hit the wrong key combination somehow and lost the whole thing. :mad:

I don't feel like typing the whole thing over right now, so I'll have to do it in the morning and this will have to serve as a placeholder until then.

Notes to self (before I forget what was the content of the post):

Blizzard
Moby Dick
Pats game
Work cancelled
Clean up

*EDIT*

OK... here's the real post.

We got a lot of snow, all told. A record-breaking amount. Over 3 feet in some locales.
I lucked out where I am, though... the wind blew straight down my driveway, keeping my cars clear and driveway down to dry pavement. It wasn't too deep on any of the walks either, so all I really had to tackle was the solid wall at the end of my driveway left by the plows. Just as the storm was tapering down and I was seriously considering gearing up and attacking it a couple of enterprising yound gentlemen rang my doorbell, asking if I wanted anything shoveled. As they were already outside and equipped, I quickly negotiated a price, and I let them have at it whist I settled in for a long comfotable afternoon of DVD and game watching.

First I watched the version of "Moby Dick" with Gregory Peck. I never finished reading the book, but it was pretty faithful to the spirit of the story (if not all the details) as I remember it. I'll have to go back and re-read it all the way through now to see what they left out.
It was pretty good... though some of the special effects were so terrible as to be distracting... and the sound was kinda lousy, like I find most films made before the mid-70's have.
There was a remake made recently with Patrick Stewart as Ahab... I'll have to check that out sometime too.

Then I watched the Pats roll over Pittsburgh. Great game! I only hope the Superbowl will be that exciting! I also hope we win by more than a last second field-goal this time... although a victory is a victory, even when it isn't pretty, and I'll take it without complaint if that's what it comes down to!

Work was cancelled for Monday. That makes sense, since there's still a State-Of-Emergency in Boston... and nowhere for anyone to park if they try to come in.

Spent today (Monday) doing the rest of the cleaning up outside... salting the walks and warming up the cars.
There's still a lot of cleaning-up I need to do inside the house as well that I never got to... a state of disrepair the place has fallen into after a week spent at the hospital and the funeral, then a weekend taking care of my sick mother.

I guess it will have to wait,.. since I just got a call informing me that I do have to go to work on Tuesday.

i took some pics of the snow and had some pics taken of myself, will post them either tomorrow or tuesday. (as i need to use up last of the film and get the pics developed)

i was disappointed that we didn't get as much snow...

I didn't watch the games today, but...I'm glad the Eagles won. :joy:

You still use film??

Hey, resources should be wasted.

Yea, because I like, never recycle, w0rd!

Didn't all those elementary school assemblies teach you anything about the three r's milkshake ?

In Australia they teach us the four X's?

In America they teach us the three X's . :D

Well, I'm not the man for this, but.. isn't it Rs and Xs? I'm really curious about this, also because in my language it is Rs and Xs, if at all because i should be Xe. M'kay? ;P

However, in my eyes the three X(')s imply that nothing should be wasted.

yeah i go out and buy those cheap disposable cameras. they're easy to carry around without worrying about losing $500+ worth of equipment....and I can get the pics on a cd...*shrugs* computer right now would die if i'd install software for a digital camera on it...

Tse. It's like connect it go to the usb drive and copy it. Who the hell uses "350+ MB not practically usable camera software"? mwahaha. *dies laughing* *resurrects* *pats linux system with tons of practically useable free software* *dies laughing, again* .. *err.. retarded, y'know?*

[edit]

(Also, why pay and develop the whole film, just to find out there is only ONE useable/good picture on it? It seems to me like paying for a whole night just to get one premature ejaculation. Naah. :D)

well its not like i take pictures all the time.

1/24/05

Slept in late, since there was no work... and no trash pickup to worry about today.

Went out to finish cleaning up and warm up the car.

Took a drive around to see the damage... it's really a lot of ******* snow! I totally lucked out... most of my neighbors are still tunneling out from snow banks as high as thier front doors.

People kept getting stuck on my street all day, including the mail truck. Finally the city sent a backhoe to clear some of the huge snow bank that were keeping the plows from coming back.

Watched the "Mac Arthur" DVD. Was a little less exciting than I had hoped. Played more like a made for TV movie... maybe something they'd show on the History Channel. Educational... but a little dull.

Have to try to get to work tomorrow. That should be an adventure.

Wish me luck.

This is what my back deck looked like before it snowed... Keep in mind that railing is almost waist-high...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/sovietstar72/poodle3.jpg)

This is after just one storm... And we've had 4 worse ones in the past month.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v600/sovietstar72/snow.jpg)



Welcome to Canada, eh? :p

wow reminds me of the 3 years of my childhood in michigan. :D

I took some pics yesterday of the short snowstorm...gonna get them developed this week.

We've only got a sissy seven inches outside. Last year, when I lived two hours north of here, we had 36" on the ground by now.

1/25/05

Well... there goes my streak... I'm posting this on the day after it happened. I knew it was bound to happen.

First real day back to work, and what a doozey! A huge setup, (25 strings, 11 horns, piano, bass, drums, guitar, 2 huge orchestral percussion setups, etc. etc. etc...) with less than an hour to figure it out, and absolutely no information about how they wanted it set up. Of course, almost as soon as we started putting out risers and monitors, band members starting arriving and started getting in the way because they wanted to warm up. We didn't have time to finish setting up and plugging in all the mics before they started playing... fortunately it was only a rehearsal... but still it was a major cluster****!
We were supposed to have set this up and had a rehearsal on Monday as well... but it was all cancelled because of the blizzard... so they did a double practice last night and kept us there after 11. Unfortunately, the guy in charge of the concert is my boss' boss... so what could we say about it?

Then the commute home was a blast. What normally takes 45 minutes (to an hour at the most) took over an hour and a half due to a broken train ahead of us. I walked through my door close to 1am.
Went straight to bed (the reason I never got to post this last night.)

Now it's snowing again! Another 9 inches by tonight. :rolleyes: I really doubt they'll cancel work at this point, no matter how bad it gets. Everything is all set up, and the concert is on Thursday, so I'm sure they're gonna go through with the rehearsal tonight, although if were lucky they'll keep it short.
I'm supposed to go in and meet with somebody at noon about a show next week, but I'm gonna blow it off since I have to clean up outside yet again and I'd never make it on time now, and I really don't feel like going in too early if they're going to keep us that late again anyway.

I have an appointment scheduled for UPS tomorrow....might get that job...it's part-time, but the benefits are what i really need. hopefully it's not too bad...the job description is 'package handler' like wtf. as long as they don't make me wear an uncomfortable uniform i should be fine. hmmm....this is going to be interesting calling off work at my current job...as long as I just hope I don't get fired, and then not get the job at UPS. that would really piss me off. (especially since i've almost cleared the xmas debt...just this week and next week........and it'll be payed off........)

anyways.....my mom called and said she ordered the computer...so it should get here by next week probably next weekend.

I'm a little nervous about getting a new job but excited at the same time...the current one is SOOOOOOO repetative!!!

We'd be doing something different if the idiots didn't use stickers from johnson & johnson on the listerine bottles...so now we have to open up a million boxes, and put stickers over the top of them so listerine or jay group doesn't get sued. it sucks, all i did yesterday was take a knife and cut like a million of those plastic things....


Been playing GTA 3 and a little bit of KotOR while waiting patiently for the new computer so I can play Galaxies.

Description
UPS is hiring individuals to work as part-time Package Handlers. This is a physical, fast-paced position that involves continual lifting, lowering and sliding packages that typically weigh 25 - 35 lbs. and may weigh up to 70 lbs. Part-time employees usually work 3 Ѕ - 4 hours each weekday (Monday through Friday) and typically do not work on weekends or selected holidays.

Package Handlers receive an hourly rate of $8.50 – $9.50. UPS part-time employees also receive an attractive benefits package. Please note that these opportunities are part-time only working approximately 17 1/2 – 20 hours per week. Employees can expect to take home between $110.00 and $150.00 each week after deductions have been taken for taxes, etc.

meh... at least i could pay for classes at a tech school if they give me that $3000 a calendar year. XD

1/26/05

Work was cancelled before I could go in. The school was closed around noon.

More snow. Oh joy.

Will it ever end?!??

The Thursday show we busted our asses over yesterday was postponed until April sometime. Nice that we don't have to face it tomorrow night now... but the idea that we have to go through all that once again later is not really a pleasant one.

Is it just me, or does the term "Package Handler" just sound wrong? It's worse then my friend, the Box Stuffer... That job description you posted was borderline homoerotic. :p

This is a physical, fast-paced position that involves continual lifting, lowering and sliding packages that typically weigh 25 - 35 lbs. and may weigh up to 70 lbs.

:firehead:firehead:firehead:firehead:firehead
Flaming...

lol i know... :D

Well, just imagine you're the guy working at the candy factory whose job it is to get the product ready for shipping...

Q: "So, Bob, what do you do for a living?"

A: "Uh,.. I pack fudge."

Another job that could be fun is "Ball Inspector" at a sporting-goods company.

And what about the guy at the barrel-making plant whose job it is to ream out the bungholes?


OK, I'll stop now...

:joy:

hahahaha i know a guy that works at 'wilbur's chocolate factory' here in lititz. lmfao...

io gonna go pick up my paycheck today...and go get my pics developed. XD

edit so i am not spamming:

I went to the UPS place...well, they had ****ty hours, and full-time wasn't available unless you planned to work like 6 years at the place. i'd have to give up an easy full-time job to work in unfun weather conditions loading and unloading trailers. so i walked out before the HR person could do the tour. it sounded alright until she said the hours and that i'd actually have to go inside the trailer. **** that.

1/27/05

"There's a fine line between 'Winter-Wonderland'... and 'Frozen Hellscape.'"

:rolleyes:

Got up before dawn to shovel out. That's always fun.

Slogged my way to work today. Slop city.

Not much doing there... we tore down all the gear we set up the other night. Then we updated the software and firmware to our digital system processors.

That's always scary... it's a Windows-based system, and doing that kind of update always gives me an uneasy feeling. It's one thing to have your e-mail machine go down because of an update gone wrong... and another to have a full P.A. system dead because the power got interupted during what is essentally a BIOS flash to the main EQ of the whole shebang.

Everything went smoothly this time however... and the new version of the software has some cool features we've been asking for.

The commute home was brutal. A lot of delays and breakdowns on the train lines, so a lot of people were forced to wait longer than normal for thier train. It's been a long time since I've been on a train that crowded. I'm not claustrophobic, but I hate being in crowds like that.

I hear ya, my bro goes MIT for grad school and had to hang up and call me back to climb 5-7 ft mounds of snow that plows had placed on the crosswalks on his walk home

1/28/05

Yup, it's a freakin' mess... now it's stupid cold, too.

I didn't feel like leaving the house today, so I didn't.

Anything that I really have to get done can wait until it warms up and melts-down. Nothing's too inportant that I can't put it off until I can walk on the sidewalk, find parking, or see down the street when I try to pull out into traffic (right now just about every intersection around here is blocked by massive snow drifts or piles of plowings.)

my computer arrived yesterday, so of course, work went slow as hell for me...and i find out i'm working sunday as well (which is double-time so it kinda makes up for my 2 missed days, which is cool), so now i'm gonna be like 'augh' at work wanting to come home and play some games i've been missing out on...installed Galaxies, it's pretty cool, pretty much what I expected it to be like. Nice graphics, though I need 500mb more ram so it doesn't lag as much.

Other games I'm gonna check out...

Postal 2 -played it on the old system, and it was awesome, even with graphics turned all the way down...never laughed that hard from a game before.

1/29/05

Mmmmmm... new computer. (*Drool*)

Congrats, dude!

I have to get on the ball with building a new one for myself.
I really want to play KOTOR, and this one won't cut it. I could go out and get an XBOX... but that seems like overkill just for one game.

Besides, I already have a Gamecube and a stack of games that I really don't play enough. I can't justify having an XBOX sitting next to it, at least not until they get cheaper.

I'm also thinking about getting into multitrack home recording, and while this one could do it, a new one will perform so much better and give me more options.

Besides... I just really want a new one! I want to run the graphics on all my games at maximum too!


Now I just have to get off my ass, tap my savings account, and do something about it!