With Sound Files -- hello, my name is FELiX ... FELiX 2 that is ... New Preamp Day

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

It can't hurt to contact Grace Design with your problem. Eben Grace was most gracious with his time in explaining to me that what I thought was a concern was really a design fix. Give It A Go Rockabilly!

I've had very good luck contacting them in the past with answers to questions I've had so I will give it a go!

[SpruceTop]

Today's practice recording session with the FELiX 2 and Larrivee D-40M with Dazzo #70 Set, the Steel Guitar Black Box isn't being used today, also includes Samoan Ava and a few brews. Frankly, although the tone I'm getting sounds darn good my playing is very rough as I'm recovering from carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand so it'll be a while until I post any recordings. Thanks for bearing with me and HONK! if you've ever seen a messier music room.

[SpruceTop]

Okay, so the ava and the brews got to me and despite my carpal-tunnel afflictions, I thought I'd post a file of the Larrivee D-40M with a mix of its installed Dazzo #70 (with FELiX 2 set @ 1 MegaOhm input impedance) and an external Shure SM81 Small Condenser Mic at about a 60% Dazzo to 40% Shure SM81 mix. I'm using a Guitar Moose .80mm flatpick and playing moderately-aggressively. You can hear me lightly singing the words to the song in the background so you have a reference for the guitar backing. All EQ is set flat with no effects for both the Dazzo and Shure SM81. Thanks, For Listening & Comments Are Welcome!

Channel 1 Signal Chain: Larrivee D-40M > Shure SM81 SCM > Grace Design FELiX 2 Channel 1 (48-volt phantom power) > Channel 1 Mixed with Channel 2 >
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Combined signal into Channel 1 XLR Input PreSonus Studio 192 Mobile Audio Interface
Channel 2 Signal Chain: Larrivee D-40M with Dazzo #70 Set > Grace Design FELiX 2 Channel 2 (1 MegaOhm) > Channel 2 Mixed with Channel 1 >

[Cuki79]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Okay, so the ava and the brews got to me and despite my carpal-tunnel afflictions, I thought I'd post a file of the Larrivee D-40M with a mix of its installed Dazzo #70 (with FELiX 2 set @ 1 MegaOhm input impedance) and an external Shure SM81 Small Condenser Mic at about a 60% to 40% Dazzo to Shure SM81 mix. You can hear me lightly singing the words to the song in the background so you have a reference for the guitar backing. All EQ is set flat with no effects for both the Dazzo and Shure SM81. Thanks, For Listening & Comments Are Welcome!

Thanks Ken, it sounds great! I thought you would get more air with the SM81 blended 60%. Was it pointing at the 12 th fret?

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Cuki79

Thanks Ken, it sounds great! I thought you would get more air with the SM81 blended 60%. Was it pointing at the 12 th fret?

Hi Cuki, the Shure SM81, as mentioned (clarification made in the previous post), is at about 40% blend and is about 8 inches from the guitar and pointed almost straight (perpendicular to the fingerboard) at the midway point between the neck and body junction and the neck-edge of the soundhole. I didn't really do any placement experimentation with the Shure SM81 other than trying not to get a woofy tone, and to place it in about the generally accepted position for a balanced tone. This sound file is only a beginning and I hope to do more in which I isolate the Dazzo and the Shure SM81 for a more direct comparison between the two modes of guitar amplification.

[douglasfan1]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Today's practice recording session with the FELiX 2 and Larrivee D-40M with Dazzo #70 Set, the Steel Guitar Black Box isn't being used today, also includes Samoan Ava and a few brews. Frankly, although the tone I'm getting sounds darn good my playing is very rough as I'm recovering from carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand so it'll be a while until I post any recordings. Thanks for bearing with me and HONK! if you've ever seen a messier music room.

The Black box is a tube preamp, right? How's it? I got a Radial Firefly if I want some tube character to add in. However, it's quite heavy for using at live. Is the Black Box preamp also heavy?

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by douglasfan1

The Black box is a tube preamp, right? How's it? I got a Radial Firefly if I want some tube character to add in. However, it's quite heavy for using at live. Is the Black Box preamp also heavy?

Hi Douglas, the Steel Guitar Black Box is a tube-based preamp, and although I don't see any weight listed for it I'd estimate it to weigh about 2 1/2 lbs to 3 lbs. It has a variable input impedance from 33kΩ to 1MegΩ. I've found the 1MegΩ input impedance to be perfect for the Dazzo transducer set as when using the FELiX 2 with its selection of input impedances that more than 1MegΩ doesn't really change the amplified tone for the better. To me, with its greater I/O options and control set it looks like the Radial FireFly is more versatile than the Steel Guitar Black Box.

Sarno Musical Solutions Steel Guitar Black Box Webpage

Sarno Musical Solutions Steel Guitar Black Box Features:
*Audiophile carbon film plate resistors and Dale/Vishay metal film resistors for the finest tone
*Hand rolled film/foil audio capacitors
*Rugged, thick-trace, oxygen-free-copper, double-sided circuit board
*300V B+, triple filtered power supply
*Quiet DC heater supply
*Variable input impedance - 33kΩ to 1MegΩ
*Tuner output for silent tuning
*Lower profile chassis (can now be rack mounted in a single rack space)
*No wall wart
*Cool blue LED pilot light

[SpruceTop]

Here are two sound files to hear how well a Dazzo 70 transducer set compares with a Shure SM81 when recorded simultaneously using a Larrivee D-40M as the guitar. This is a vocal backing track to a Bob Dylan song. The recordings feature a moderately-aggressive, flat-picked strumming with FLAT EQ AND NO EFFECTS as recorded through a FELiX 2 PreAmp into a PreSonus 192 Mobile Interface and directly into the computer. The Shure SM81 mic is located about 11 inches away from the guitar's fingerboard at about the 14th fret and pointed back toward the soundhole. Could a better mic tone be achieved? Yes but that seems to be what I keep saying to myself after trying a few different mic locations ...

Correction Made To This Post And Now Both The Dazzo #70 and Shure SM81 Sound Files Are Displayed Below

[jamison162]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

Here are two sound files to hear how well a Dazzo 70 transducer set compares with a Shure SM81 when recorded simultaneously using a Larrivee D-40M as the guitar. This is a vocal backing track to a Bob Dylan song. The recordings feature a moderately-aggressive, flat-picked strumming with FLAT EQ AND NO EFFECTS as recorded through a FELiX 2 PreAmp into a PreSonus 192 Mobile Interface and directly into the computer.

Not to question the Dazzo's (I have a 70T set that came in last week), but can you check and make sure those are the correct sound files? Those two clips look and sound 100% identical! Wow!

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by jamison162

Not to question the Dazzo's (I have a 70T set that came in last week), but can you check and make sure those are the correct sound files? Those two clips look and sound 100% identical! Wow!

Thanks for mentioning this! Even before reading your comment, this morning I replayed the two sound files and indeed the tone and physical aspects of both waveforms sound and look identical. I was in a hurry last evening and must have uploaded one sound file and mistakenly labeled it as being both the Dazzo #70 and the Shure SM81. Let me go back and remedy my embarrassing error in the presentation of these two modes of amplification! Error is now rectified and both sound files are displayed for comparison.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by jamison162

Not to question the Dazzo's (I have a 70T set that came in last week), but can you check and make sure those are the correct sound files? Those two clips look and sound 100% identical! Wow!

Jamison and All, I'm sorry for the initial SoundCloud posting error in which I displayed only the Shure SM81 sound file for both modes of amplification. Corrections have been made and both the Dazzo #70 and the Shure SM81 are displayed in the initial sound-files post and in this post. Thanks For Bearing With Me!

To reiterate:

Here are two sound files to hear how well a Dazzo 70 transducer set compares with a Shure SM81 when recorded simultaneously using a Larrivee D-40M as the guitar. This is a vocal backing track to a Bob Dylan song. The recordings feature a moderately-aggressive, flat-picked strumming with FLAT EQ AND NO EFFECTS as recorded through a FELiX 2 PreAmp into a PreSonus 192 Mobile Interface and directly into the computer. The Shure SM81 mic is located about 11 inches away from the guitar's fingerboard at about the 14th fret and pointed back toward the soundhole. Could a better mic tone be achieved? Yes but that seems to be what I keep saying to myself after trying a few different mic locations ...

[SpruceTop]

IMHO, given both sound files, and given a live-venue situation with any kind of ambient noise, it's easy to hear how well a Dazzo would sound when tweaked-in in comparison to a well-placed mic which can often be a problem to get to sound just right without feedback or tubbiness of tone. Put some distance (10 to 15 feet) between a PA speaker and a listener's ears, and a Dazzo tweaked in for a venue should sound wonderful.

[jamison162]

Thanks for the clarification, Dazzo still sounds good and can be eq'd to come close to the mic I bet.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by jamison162

Thanks for the clarification, Dazzo still sounds good and can be eq'd to come close to the mic I bet.

I think so, too, and enjoy your Dazzo when you get it installed!

[Cuki79]

Thanks SpruceTop!

What is this "zing" noise I hear in both recordings... it is very present on the Dazzo which is mid forward sounding.