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February 07, 2025, 08:53:28 AM

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#11
The Newcomer's Forum / Re: Filtering frequency revisi...
Last post by saturated - February 02, 2025, 11:22:51 AM
Hi Mr Joe afaik pretty sure nothing like that existed...however that is an excellent point in that there is or was a plethora of natural gas, propane, pipelines, petroleum in the area. 
I got lucky for some reason I never had to explain to law enforcement why I was sitting in an old heap behind a business by myself at 0200  :tu:

#12
The Newcomer's Forum / Re: Filtering frequency revisi...
Last post by joecool85 - February 02, 2025, 10:48:14 AM
Quote from: saturated on February 02, 2025, 05:43:03 AMAbout forty years ago when I was still in college and working part time the university had afternoon/evening classes I guess it was geared towards working older people  xP

So anyway I was a 🦇 vampire staying up all night doing homework and playing guitar 🎸 etc and my routine had me going to bed 🛏� at about 0530.  I had found that Casper the friendly ghost 👻 came on like at 0500 and that was my SOP.

So what does all that have to do with anything?  :loco
At night in the small town it got quiet with the exception of an audible hum  :grr
Sometimes I would have the windows open I was in an upstairs room at the end of the house.  This (real or perceived) hum/pitch/monotone frequency tormented me to some end.  In fact I made a few nocturnal excursions around town looking for it.  I would drive around to different areas and shut the engine (slant six 66 Dart) off and sit and try to determine where it was coming from.
Spoiler alert: I never did find it or find out anything.
When I told my dad about it he said there was a composer that went crazy because of constantly hearing 440 or something  :trouble

xP

Was there a hydro-electric power plant nearby at all?  Or did the college have a steam plant?  They create hum like you are describing.  UMaine Orono has a steam plant, and a lot of northern colleges do.  Not sure about out your way.
#13
Preamps and Effects / Re: Tone Experiments with a ca...
Last post by joecool85 - February 02, 2025, 10:43:54 AM
Quote from: blackcorvo on February 01, 2025, 06:17:58 PM
Quote from: joecool85 on February 01, 2025, 04:38:33 PMI think this sounds awesome!  Great job!

What is the signal chain though?  IE - is the guitar going straight into the cassette adapter or is there a preamp or pedal first?  Any added distortion circuitry?

The chain is:
Guitar>headphone amp>cassette adapter in recorder>out (cabinet or p.a.).

On the first video, there's a couple parts of the first clip where I lower the volume of the recorder and you can hear most of the distortion get dialed back. It basically adds crunch on top of whatever you're using to push the recorder.

[EDIT]
And for anyone curious, the schematic for these recorders is freely available on Elektrotanya: https://elektrotanya.com/sony_tcm-s63_s64v_s65_s66v.pdf/download.html

What are you using for headphone amps?  Are these Vox amPlugs?
#14
Tubes and Hybrids / Re: Another standby switch thr...
Last post by saturated - February 02, 2025, 08:49:58 AM
In contrast (apparently) TV tube heaters are (were) in series

You cannot view this attachment.

I guess my job now is to find out if my tube amp heater circuit is like an old TV or the 📻 radio in TV's car 🚗

 xP
#15
The Newcomer's Forum / Re: Filtering frequency revisi...
Last post by saturated - February 02, 2025, 05:43:03 AM
About forty years ago when I was still in college and working part time the university had afternoon/evening classes I guess it was geared towards working older people  xP

So anyway I was a 🦇 vampire staying up all night doing homework and playing guitar 🎸 etc and my routine had me going to bed 🛏� at about 0530.  I had found that Casper the friendly ghost 👻 came on like at 0500 and that was my SOP.

So what does all that have to do with anything?  :loco
At night in the small town it got quiet with the exception of an audible hum  :grr
Sometimes I would have the windows open I was in an upstairs room at the end of the house.  This (real or perceived) hum/pitch/monotone frequency tormented me to some end.  In fact I made a few nocturnal excursions around town looking for it.  I would drive around to different areas and shut the engine (slant six 66 Dart) off and sit and try to determine where it was coming from.
Spoiler alert: I never did find it or find out anything.
When I told my dad about it he said there was a composer that went crazy because of constantly hearing 440 or something  :trouble

xP
#16
Preamps and Effects / Re: Tone Experiments with a ca...
Last post by blackcorvo - February 01, 2025, 06:17:58 PM
Quote from: joecool85 on February 01, 2025, 04:38:33 PMI think this sounds awesome!  Great job!

What is the signal chain though?  IE - is the guitar going straight into the cassette adapter or is there a preamp or pedal first?  Any added distortion circuitry?

The chain is:
Guitar>headphone amp>cassette adapter in recorder>out (cabinet or p.a.).

On the first video, there's a couple parts of the first clip where I lower the volume of the recorder and you can hear most of the distortion get dialed back. It basically adds crunch on top of whatever you're using to push the recorder.

[EDIT]
And for anyone curious, the schematic for these recorders is freely available on Elektrotanya: https://elektrotanya.com/sony_tcm-s63_s64v_s65_s66v.pdf/download.html
#17
The Newcomer's Forum / Re: Filtering frequency revisi...
Last post by joecool85 - February 01, 2025, 04:44:08 PM
Quote from: Tassieviking on January 30, 2025, 10:47:14 AMI just cheat and find a calculator on the net. :)
...
http://sim.okawa-denshi.jp/en/Fkeisan.htm

This is the one that I use!
#18
Preamps and Effects / Re: Tone Experiments with a ca...
Last post by joecool85 - February 01, 2025, 04:38:33 PM
I think this sounds awesome!  Great job!

What is the signal chain though?  IE - is the guitar going straight into the cassette adapter or is there a preamp or pedal first?  Any added distortion circuitry?
#19
Preamps and Effects / Tone Experiments with a casset...
Last post by blackcorvo - February 01, 2025, 03:09:22 PM
TL;DR cassete tape recorder sounds cool when pushed by a headphone amp, here's two vids showing it off.

First, recorder directly pushing the speaker cab:

Second, recorder into TPA3118 amp:

Long version:

A while ago, I acquired a Sony TCM-S64V "cassette-corder" to experiment with lo-fi recording. Recently, I discovered I could use it as a guitar amp by plugging a tape adapter into a headphone amp, pressing "play", then engaging the pause switch (which stops the motor, but keeps the audio circuit on). Since I kinda like it too much and was afraid of possibly damaging it with this experimentation, I found a similar (but more bare-bones in features) TCM-S63 "cassette-corder", cleaned and repaired it, and proceeded to use it in front of my headphone amps and got the exact same great tones as my other "cassette-corder".
It feels just like pushing the front end of a big amp.
I especially like the very compressed start of the attack in the notes. I wonder if it's core saturation from the tape heads, kinda like if you pushed a tube power amp so hard the output transformer started saturating...

I'll leave the analysis of that to you all.
#20
Amplifier Discussion / Re: Ampeg PF-500 Fault
Last post by Tassieviking - January 31, 2025, 10:40:19 AM
If I have to remove any components I usually cut all the legs off first and then I can remove them one by one.
Components are cheap and unless I have to remove an expensive part just for a test the legs get snipped.

Why do I always get a cold shiver when I hear or say snipped?
It must be a guy thing I guess.