Reflector Sessions

Music

N5X British Overdrive amplifier part 2

I found a second hand Wide Body Mesa Boogie Mark IV combo housing and ordered a corresponding
Aluminum Chassis Mesa Width Style and got some special delivered chassis straps for it and put the DIY Ampmaker NX5 inside

combined with a B-Stock 12 inch 16Ohm Celestion G12H anniversary speaker
for now running with a Mesa 12AX7 and a JJ EL844 😄

One of its greatest features, is the Power pot, a VCB/VVR voltage control kit going from 256 Volts at maximum to 21 Volts at minimum (actual measurements), making overdriving the tubes by diming both Gain and Master pots a breeze, for tasty rock sounds in the living room.

It will pair up with my Marshall DSL-5CR

This was a fun and educational (9 months!) build !
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ZZ Top – The Complete Studio Albums 1970-1990

ZZ Top – the Studio Albums 1970 – 1990 is a 10 CD boxset of the band’s classic studio albums from their Warner Bros. Years. This compact, clamshell boxset features each album in a mini, vinyl replica card sleeve with original artwork, including replicated original gatefold sleeves for Tres Hombres and Tejas. Most importantly the original audio tape versions will finally be available, for the first time, on CD for three of the albums: First Album, Rio Grande Mud, and Tejas, and the original masters for Tres Hombres and Fandango will also be included. Much discussion has been had on the quality of the mixes released on CD in the 1980s but now the original audio will be available once and for all in an amazing boxset!

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MIDI Reimagined

a next-gen MIDI controller
100 banks, more than 80 messages per switch, stackable messages, and flexible MIDI routing are just the beginning. The BRIDGE6 is a compact, next-gen MIDI foot controller with no compromises. A lightning fast ARM processor and plenty of storage means regular and ongoing firmware and feature updates.

Come out of the Dark Age
Connect everything – your gear, apps, and plugins – and control them exactly the way you want with RGB colour feedback and a high-contrast, easy-to-read display. White OLED graphical display and 12 RGB LEDs let you customise labels and text.

Control everything
Configure to your needs with our sleek, intuitive web editor. Export your layout, and use our huge device library to save you hours of setup time. Add wireless MIDI with CME WIDI devices.

Never lose track of time
With two independent MIDI clocks on board, LFOs sync’d to those clocks (or not), and the ability to turn the tempo into analog switch output, or pulse output, you really do have the best of all worlds.

Flexiport Magic
Two 1/4″ TRS jacks give you 12 options from MIDI Out (all TRS types) to Expression In, Aux Switch In, Sync Pulse Out, and our unique Device Link protocol for high-speed communication between PIRATE MIDI devices with Flexiports.

Community driven
Many of the awesome features we’ve implemented have been the result of lots of discussions with you – the one who actually uses the device! We continue to closely and personally interact and chat with anyone who wants to be a part of our community. You can suggest features, tweaks, report bugs, and give us ideas on how to improve your user experience.

https://piratemidi.com/

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Analog Man Prince of Tone overdrive

Description

The POT is pretty much the same as half of the King of Tone, with an external MODE switch standard. It is the same as the KOT with HIGHER GAIN option, so you can use the full range of the DRIVE knob and it has a little more drive at the top than a normal gain KOT. The DISTORTION mode is improved though, for a louder, stronger distortion sound. See http://www.kingoftone.com for more info.

Power Jack is standard on the POT –

The TREBLE trimpot is inside, just like the KOT.

There are also two new DIP switches inside! They are a bit subtle at some knob settings and modes:

DIP1 : LO-MID lift switch. The tone from your lower strings will be enhanced a little when DIP switch is ON.

DIP2: TURBO switch- with higher gain settings you’ll hear deeper compression, especially in DIST mode. You will hear a brighter, crunchier sound with this on at higher DRIVE settings when this DIP switch is ON.

The three modes, as on the KOT, are:

1) Normal Overdrive mode (OD mode): This is the standard King Of Tone sound, – a touch drive available than a tube screamer. Can get much louder than a tube screamer. The RED side of KOT has this setting from the factory.

2) CLEAN mode : This mode has less distortion, it can be used for clean boosts or clearer, louder sounds. It’s sort of a cross between a true clean boost and an overdrive. CLEAN MODE is even less compressed and louder than the OD mode. I love this mode with high drive settings too! The YELLOW side of KOT has this setting from the factory.

3) DISTORTION mode : more drive than the standard mode- a touch of hard distortion. The sound is more compressed, yet retains the pedal’s character. Same volume as OD mode.

At low DRIVE settings, or when playing softly, there is not much difference between the three modes, they all can get pretty clean and have the same level at low drive settings. The ability to clean up when playing softly is a very useful feature of this pedal. The Drive knob works like the KOT with HIGHER GAIN OPTION, so you can set it anywhere and get great tones.

The DRIVE knob taper is different than the KOT. It comes up faster and more linear, while KOT has a lot going on from 2:00 to max. So comparison to a KOT with HG option will not be the same at the same knob position unless it’s up all the way, where they are the same.

We are making these by hand in China by the same people who are making our Analog Delay. Though it’s made in China, we use the same parts as the King of Tone – best Japanese chip and capacitors, not cheap Chinese parts. No surface mount parts, NO ROBOTS, everything is vintage style and hand wired for easy maintenance and repairs unlike most Chinese pedals and most USA “boutique” machine-made pedals which are disposable if they have any problems like a pot, jack, or switch that wears out.

POWER SUPPLY: A Standard Boss PSA120 type 9V DC adapter will work fine. Center is negative. The pedal uses only about 6mA of current at 9V. You can get a fuzzier sound if you want, at lower voltages, for example the SAG mode on the pedalpower2. When your battery dies you will notice the pedal will not get nice and clean, the sound will be hairier. Use a good Alkaline battery or a power supply for best results. You can use higher voltage for more headroom, 12V is common, 18V is safe too. Clean boost may be improved the most with higher voltage.

CHIPS: You can also try other standard dual op-amp chips in the Prince of Tone. Just make sure you put it in the right way, with the pin#1 dot on the side with the chip socket cut-out. The TS-808’s JRC4558D chip sounds good in this pedal, especially with single coil guitars and smaller Fender type amps. You can try a high fidelity chip for the CLEAN mode which may work well.

Size
We made our own case for this pedal, it’s lower and a little shorter than our Beano Boost / Orange Squeezer / large SunFace box, and a little bigger than the Astrotone / Peppermint / small Sunface size.
Size is 2.5″ wide x 4.5″ long x 1.5″ tall, not including switch/knobs/jacks.

Buffer option
If you run through some long cables to your amp, or through some tone sucking pedals (volume pedals, etc) you might want to add the optional buffer inside the POT. If you run the POT into a pedal with a good buffer like our ARDX20, then it’s not needed at all. There is no room for a battery with the Buffer option. The buffer will work great at higher voltages like 12V or 18V also. See our BUFFER page for more info.

Source: Analog Man Prince of Tone overdrive

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Boss ME-80 Guitar Multiple Effects

Hands-On Access To A World Of Great Tones
Mobile, battery powered, and filled with a diverse selection of flagship-quality BOSS amps and effects, the ME-80 is the ideal compact tone processor for performing guitarists. A friendly knob-based interface makes it simple to dial in great sounds in seconds, while easily selectable operation modes offer the flexibility of individual stompbox-style on/off or instant recall of complex multi-effects setups. Unique new footswitches deliver twice the control of previous designs for efficient and intuitive effects switching, patch selection, and real-time sound shaping while playing on stage. The free BOSS TONE STUDIO software unlocks even more tonal possibilities, providing a cool graphical interface for tweaking and organizing sounds on your computer, plus a web connection to BOSS TONE CENTRAL for direct access to free gig-ready patches created by top pro guitarists and much more.

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