twelvepoint wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 10:55 am

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 10:48 am

Nate Dort wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 10:27 am Looks like somebody did a teardown of one of those here: https://www.freestompboxes.org/viewtopic.php?t=30423

Two FETs, looks like they simulated it and it produced a gain of 2.9 V/V (~9 dB).

One FET, one BJT. The first schematic in the thread is incorrect.

In that thread someone referred to a gain of 10, or 3dB. Seems pretty weak for something that's described as a transducer preamp. Was that thing meant for acoustic piezo transducers or something?

Further down that thread, they revised the gain calculation after correcting the schematic.

Regardless, a voltage gain of 10 is 20 dB, not 3 dB.

Nate Dort wrote: Fri Nov 19, 2021 7:56 pm
Regardless, a voltage gain of 10 is 20 dB, not 3 dB.

Oops, that’s more like it! my bad

Alembic F1X preamp.

The only thing I suck at more than playing drums, is tuning drums so I bought one of those Tunebot drum tuner things. It still takes forever to tune a drum with it, especially the bottom heads, which is where I usually have a hard time. The results are OK. I always have a really hard time getting the floor tom to sound good and now it is... fine. Better than I have been able to do it. Kinda worth the price because now after a ton of time tuning the drum, it sounds ok instead of still bad.

C+

Kniferide wrote: Mon Nov 22, 2021 3:10 pm The only thing I suck at more than playing drums, is tuning drums so I bought one of those Tunebot drum tuner things. It still takes forever to tune a drum with it, especially the bottom heads, which is where I usually have a hard time. The results are OK. I always have a really hard time getting the floor tom to sound good and now it is... fine. Better than I have been able to do it. Kinda worth the price because now after a ton of time tuning the drum, it sounds ok instead of still bad.

C+

Are you trying to get to actual notes on the drums? And are you doing some kind of unison or perfect interval on the heads? If I have a drum that has already been seated and tensioned I’ll just go clockwise and get every lug to a reference. However, and here’s where it gets weird: if a particular note at a lug isn’t getting a clear pitch, it’s usually another lug, often adjacent, but not always so, that is out and throwing me off. So it’s like a “do what you can and fine tune it the next time around” situation. Do these drum tuners have you work in a similar way?

twelvepoint wrote: Mon Nov 22, 2021 3:23 pm So it’s like a “do what you can and fine tune it the next time around” situation. Do these drum tuners have you work in a similar way?

It works like a guitar tuner. you place it next to the lug, smack it, and it tells you the Freq in HZ that that lug is tuned to. Its fairly accurate, but as you move around the drum you gotta keep adjusting as usual. I don't care about specific notes. My issues come with getting consistant results with the top and bottom heads. Deciding if I want a thud or a ring, and making it happen. I have a hard time getting the bottom head tuned in a way that is complimentary with the top. after fudging around with it forever, I end up tuning everything too high, and have to start over. Tuning drums specifically feeds the worst parts of my OCD. having a number on a thing to shoot for gives me a "Stopping point" so I can walk away.

Again, I am NOT a drummer. I can barely keep my guitar in tune and I've been doing that for almost 30 years.

Kniferide wrote: Mon Nov 22, 2021 3:39 pm after fudging around with it forever, I end up tuning everything too high, and have to start over.

Instead of starting over, if you get to the point where the drum is in tune but too high, just go around the lugs and drop them all the same amount. Really helps to have two drum keys and do this on opposite lugs in pairs. Just back them off like an 1/8 turn at a time, keep going till it sounds nice. This should get you better results than starting over from scratch.

Very generally, having the bottom head a 4th or 5th higher than the top head is a good place to start.

Don't get discouraged! Tuning drums is hard, especially toms, and extra especially floor toms.

Don't feel too bad about struggling with floor toms, I do too. I even watch instructional videos on YT and think those floor toms sound bad half the time. I really can't stand the 'boooow' pitchy effect, which is theoretically supposed to go away if the bottom head is tuned tighter than the top. But I often still hear it, and often add a little tape to the bottom head to minimize it without over deadening.

I picked up a home-built TL606 cab loaded with an Eminence Gamma 15A from Music Go Round for $150. Sounds good, substantially smaller and lighter than the Peavey Black Widow cab I've been using for a few months. Seems pretty well built, just had to add a speakon and put proper wire in it and replace some missing screws on the casters.

thecr4ne wrote: Sat Oct 16, 2021 11:07 am Just picked up a MiniDSP UMIK-1. I'm converting an 8ftx12ft room in my garage into a control room and this will be used with Room EQ Wizard to do measurements and hopefully acoustic treatment once the walls are back up. Currently working on new electrical and isolation via GenieClips + furring channel, insulation, and adding mass to an exterior wall.

Haven't used this mic to take any real measurements yet, but my aspiring control room is back together...as a room that is, mostly. The isolation (as described previously) turned out better than I'd hoped, and it's not even 100% yet.. I still need a better door situation and to put up the inner pane of my window.

Now things stall through the holidays. if I'm lucky it'll have flooring done in a week or two. If not, January. Then I can start working on the acoustic treatment, which will be another whole ordeal.