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Post by j4gitr (John) on May 30, 2016 18:11:42 GMT -7
I've tried the Brake Lite with my Antidote and it seems mighty fizzy to my ear. I'm wondering if the Antidote at 45 watts is too much for it. Would an Air Brake be more in line? The Brake lite seems to work well with the Ghia, but the Antidote not so much. I'm loving the Antidote, but I would like to open it up more. Without attenuation of some sort, I'll drive the family out of the house.
Has anybody used a BL with an Antidote, or for that matter the Air Brake with the Antidote? I suppose I could always sell the BL and upgrade. I'd just be out the few extra bucks it would cost me for the AB.
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Post by j4gitr (John) on May 30, 2016 18:21:43 GMT -7
Well I guess if I had looked at little more, I would have found the answer here ztalk.proboards.com/thread/56547/airbrakeStill anybody who can weigh-in with their feelings or insights on the matter I would love to hear opinions.
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Post by jb on Jun 13, 2016 10:19:29 GMT -7
I use the AirBrake with my Route 66 and think it is very transparent and works really well through position 4. Things change in the Bedroom settings and get more compressed, but that is to be expected, and is still useful when you need to be real quiet.
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Post by daveyk on Jun 13, 2016 21:07:09 GMT -7
Using the BL with my Maz 38 I've found a few scenario where the amp sounded fizzy.
1. The 12ax7 in v1 was going microphonic and there was an excessive fizziness the more clicks I used on the BL. I replaced v1 with a new tube and the fizziness went away.
2. Fizziness started coming back the more I used the BL. It was about time for a power section retube, so I replaced all el84's and the fizziness with the BL went away.
I know this is a different amp you're talking about, but in my experience fizziness with the BL was related to tubes going bad or being warn. Also, I only noticed the fizziness with the BL engaged.
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Post by dergit (Markus) on Jun 15, 2016 1:07:16 GMT -7
The BL does next to nothing to the sound signature of the amp. What you're hearing is most likely a) less speaker interaction at lower volumes and b) psychoacoustics. Louder seems better and we tend to hear different frequencies pronounced differently at higher than at lower volumes. Also, bass frequencies are felt more than heard after a certain point and you're just not going to get the walls shaking at bedroom volumes. Also, along the lines of what daveyk is saying... massive volume is going to mask defects (tube rattle, microphonic fizz, impact noise from the amp/cab enclosures etc.) more and you're going to hear more detail at lower volumes so maybe the BL is just unveiling something that's wrong with your amp/tubes? Is your speaker cable okay? Maybe it works well with low amp output but somehow overloads when you crank the amp on the way to the BL? Use short, sturdy cables and make sure the connection is reliable (strike a chord and rattle the cable to test if the connection drops). All that said, if you don't like it, the Air Brake isn't going to fix it. It does exactly the same, just more of it. The only possibility would be that the 45 W are too much for the BL and it's somehow overloading if you're cranking the amp completely. But in the thread you linked, the Dr. said that it's "safely rated" at 45 W so I find that hard to imagine.
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Post by daveyk on Jun 16, 2016 20:36:18 GMT -7
Also, along the lines of what daveyk is saying... massive volume is going to mask defects (tube rattle, microphonic fizz, impact noise from the amp/cab enclosures etc.) more and you're going to hear more detail at lower volumes so maybe the BL is just unveiling something that's wrong with your amp/tubes? Great point. Engaging the BL sometime unveils rattles and microphonics otherwise not as noticeable with louder volumes.
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Post by j4gitr (John) on Jun 17, 2016 4:01:34 GMT -7
As with most things putting in a little time and effort has rewarded me with more positive results. I have now been able to realize the beauty of the Antidote at manageable volume levels. Rehearsal went smoothly. Tonight will be the first gig with the BL. I would usually bring the Maz18 or Ghia for this venue, but the Antidote sounds so good, I can't resist. Antidote + BL+1x12 Creamback..
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