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The Real MC

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  1. Ouch... So what makes it so radically different from the "good" Hammonds? They're all electromechanical tonewheel organs with tube driven amps, right? You guys may have to dumb it down into guitar player-understandable terms B3 - tonewheel generator, scanner vibrato (classic "purr"), percussive "wooden" thunk, vacuum tube audio path (you guitarists understand the "warm" sound of tubes, no?), waterfall keys (rugged). H100 - tonewheel generator, phase shift vibrato (too churchy), percussive "plastic" beep, solid state audio path (sterile and cold), diving board keys (prone to breaking). They only thing they share is the tonewheel generator. All the other components are radically different. Like I said - the furthest you can get from a B-3.
  2. The furthest from a B-3 as you can get. Not much value.
  3. Kelsey? They were sooooo 1970s you just had to reopen old wounds didn't you?
  4. The Real MC

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    My Martin is Rosewood
  5. Ted Nugent said it best "I don't like repeat offenders; I like DEAD offenders"
  6. When I was a kid I learned to tune my Rhodes piano by ear. I had a pretty good ear for pitch and intervals. Then I tried it on a piano at school and it was hopeless. I couldn't even get it back to original pitch. Rhodes has a strong fundamental so it's easy. Piano strings have so many inharmonics that you cannot tune by fundamentals. Self-training books and videos don't even begin to get you there. I leave piano tuning to the trained professional.
  7. I'm a systems engineer by day and rock-n-roll rebel by night, although my gigging hobby is on hold due to career/life issues. I'm a keyboard player & bass guitarist who got tired of working with bands using mediocre PA and no incentive to invest in better equipment, so I started making my own investments. I had been recording at home for years and had done FOH work as favors so I already knew my way around pro audio gear. All I'm lacking is a monitor system. I'm sitting on the fence trying to decide between IEMs or old fashioned monitors. I'm also lacking a means to cart this around, due to having sold my truck during the divorce. I'm thinking about focusing on FOH work over playing keys/bass in a band as I really enjoy the challenge and can get great results. My FOH system is almost complete and it can accomodate anything from bars to dance halls (it's louder than I need it so I got headroom). I would like to experiment using it outdoors in my back yard. Console: A&H GL2200-32 Very flexible board for the money, and built like a tank. 32+ channels is more than enough for most bands I work with, but anybody who has worked at festivals knows that those extra channels help a lot with multiple bands and minimum time between acts. I carry it in an Anvil flight case, only I neglected to order a doghouse not realizing the value of them at the time. It doubles as my recording board, good sounding mic preamps and very clean signal. Console: A&H GL2200-12 Compact version of my 32 channel board for those small format gigs. Got it on ebay with a flight case with wheels. Doubles as monitor board for large contract jobs. I would've bought a Mixwiz but that would have meant a change in system wiring, and this came up on the 'bay at the perfect time. Tops: JBL SF25 x2 (known today as JRX125). Very good cabinet for the money, very hot SPL levels and even dispersion. Some harsh upper mids that can be tamed with EQ. Subs: EV S-181 x4 Full and punchy, great for bars and dance halls. Probably will need something beefier for outdoor jobs, I don't think they are adequate for long throw. I added a second pair as one set was not enough for outdoor gigs. Amps: Carvin FET1000 Very good match for the JBLs and EVs, only the subs occasionally clip. That's why I doubt a single pair of EV subs would work for outdoor jobs. Limiter: Drawmer DL441 After blowing my subs one too many times, I bought a limiter protection device. Not many choices for limiters out there. The Drawmer is ideal in that it is very transparent when limiting is not active, I cannot hear any difference in sound. When it is in limiting mode, it reacts fast to prevent damage. LEDs let you clearly see it doing its job, and you don't really hear it working unless you are driving it hard. It has a security cover on it to prevent unauthorized tweaking. Processors: Ashly GQX3102 graphic EQ - I shopped around and decided on these for FOH EQ. Mostly I use these for attenuating harsh peaks. I tried PVs, DBX, and others but these fit my needs the best. JBL 5547A graphic EQ x4 - monitor EQs. 31 band with variable hicut and locut filters. Really good correction tool on honky monitors. Loft 400 quad gate/limiter - for monitors. In the event I have IEMs in my monitor system this will be indispensible. They are also a good protection device to keep floor monitors from blowing. These were pro audio back in the 80s but hard to find these days. I got lucky and landed this one from a store for $40 with a "bad channel" but when I got it home there was nothing wrong with it! Eventide 2016 digital reverb x2 - not cheap but I wanted a dedicated reverb box with knobs so I can tweak it live. One of the best FOH reverb boxes out there. Can dial up 99 programs. Bought a second one to use for drums. Korg SDD-1200 stereo digital delay - used for stereo chorus & doubling. A relatively unknown box which can be found cheap and has excellent fidelity - and knobs for live tweaking. No program storage, but it is seldom tweaked anyway so not necessary. Korg SDD-2000 digital delay - my dedicated echo box, another unknown gem. No knobs but has 64 programs so I can dial up any echo quickly. Also has tap delay so I can dial a delay time in sync with the beat. Most people would ask why not use a multi-FX box. The answer is that a dedicated FX sounds much better than a multi-FX. I put the 2016 and 1200 on the stereo returns and the 2000 on a mono channel, whose EQ comes in handy for shaping the echo when I don't want full bandwidth echo. JBL/UREI 7110 compressor x2 - very underrated compressor, sounds fantastic on just about anything. I love the variable control between peak and RMS detectors, this is a control not found on anything else except the UREI LA-xx line. One is dedicated to my bass preamp rack, the other is in my processing rack. Urei LA-12 dual channel compressor x2 - used on vocals. Literally a dual channel version of the 7110 (the single channel LA-10 was original model 7110a, dual channel was 7112). The circuit between the 7110 and LA-xx are nearly identical. Took me a year to find two of them, they don't pop up for sale very often. For some reason vocals just come alive through these things and they sound so natural. Urei LA-22 dual channel compressor x2 - used on drums or special processing. It is an LA-12 with the option of expansion and bandwidth control of processing - you can select the spectra you want to process. Expansion on selected spectra can be very effective, a different effect than EQ. These don't pop up for sale very often either, took me two years to find these. Drawmer DL-231 dual channel dynamic processor - used on drums or special processing. It's a combination gate attenuator/RMS compressor/limiter and is designed to minimize interference from neighboring noise sources - effective on toms. Drawmer DS-201 dual channel noise gate - the most effective gate ever built. Selection of frequency bandwidth lets you zero in on the trigger signal. Used on drums. Tascam CR-RW901SL CD player - CD/mp3 player that does not skip from vibrations (important when running FOH). Also can record shows. The fact it plays mp3s is very convenient for break music. EV crossover - used as a high fidelity highpass filter on vocal subgroup and on drum overhead mic. Urei 525 crossover - best crossover for the $$$, configurable to stereo 2/3 way and mono 4/5 way. Recessed crossover points so curious hands can't change them. Push the crossover controls inward and you activate a spring-loaded switch which engages a test tone that is the same frequency of the crossover point - very handy for finding optimum points in your cabinets. Level controls pull out to mute that band for troubleshooting. Moog Parametric EQ - still have yet to find a better problem solver than this box. Very good correction tool, and a colorful EQ if you want it for boost. Moog 10-band Graphic EQ - 10 band may not sound like much but it's a good EQ and I use it on inserts for instruments that need more EQ than the four bands on the A&H console. VestaFire RV-2 - surprisingly good sounding dual channel spring reverb, but needs converters for its -10dB I/O. Mic stands - K&M formerly known as AKG stands. Mics - Shure SM58 x2, SM57, AKG D321, Sennheiser e835 x3, Sennheiser 441, EV 408 x2, Audio Technica AT2020 and AT2021. Still building the mic collection, not done yet. Anvil ATA racks with 350lb capacity wheels, Proco Stagemaster 28 channel 45m snake, custom made I/O patchbays and cabling, homemade XLR/patch cables (never found OTS cables that could hold up as good as the ones I make on the bench). And a cable spool for the XLR cables (a must for any FOH gig).
  8. What's with the rackmount alarm clock in the upper right?
  9. Many A/V processors these days have a 'night mode' which engages a compressor on the audio tracks, and probably more so on the sub output I'd imagine. Not all of them do, and mine does have one but it isn't very effective. Thus I provided my own comp, which *I* have control over.
  10. The over-compressed loudness war has gotten way out of hand. They quickly get fatiguing to the ears and ruin the listening experience. I prefer some dynamics to the the music. They're a big part of the reason why I have been buying fewer CDs - and I do not download from p2ps. Now, counter that to DVDs with WAY too much dynamic range - traffic noise and explosions at full throttle while dialogue is so quiet you have to strain to hear it. After much frustration I finally patched an Alesis Nanocomp between the DVD player and my stereo, which made the experience much more tolerable. I did a similar patch for my parents TV and now the commercials no longer blast at them and they love it.
  11. A couple of years old but what the hey http://www.retrosynth.com/~analoguediehard/studio/studio-1.jpg http://www.retrosynth.com/~analoguediehard/studio/studio-2.jpg
  12. X-2 and X-5 organs were designed and made in Japan. The only thing that is Hammond about them is the badge. They sound more like a cheesy combo organ than a Hammond.
  13. Sometimes muting works better than EQ. Cut everything down to nothing but the essentials, then add one instrument at a time. Repeat with different order of instruments. That will tell you what is taking up space, makes the song sound too busy - and if you find a part that is required but needs EQ, you've probably cut your EQ guessing in half and have retained more hair on your head.
  14. Originally posted by ManiacManos The best bass player...? J.S. Bach's feet! "Gigue" Fugue, anyone?
  15. Wow, a guitar player with common sense. Do you need a keyboard player?
  16. Originally posted by gsHarmony I'm not sure, but if anyone knows of a 88-key controller that actually does have real piano action, please let me know. Find a used Kurzweil MIDIBoard with OS v3. I own one and have yet to find another controller with a real piano action. OK they action is made by Hammond Suzuki, but they're full length wooden keys with proper pinbed and felt.
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