| Author | Message | ||
| s_wood
Advanced Member Username: s_wood Post Number: 400 Registered: 5-2002 |
There is a useful and informative thread over at Talkbass discussing the Fender/Alembic tone stack as used in the F1-X. If you use an F1-X and want to get a better handle on exactly how the EQ works I highly recommend it. http://www.talkbass.com/threads/fender-alembic-bbe-tone-stack-explained.491699/ | ||
| ed_zeppelin
Member Username: ed_zeppelin Post Number: 70 Registered: 2-2010 |
Fantastic explanation. You have finally managed to drive insight into my thick, yet rather handsome skull. It would be interesting to ask Ron Wickersham who designed it, or if it's one of those things like cars or planes, invented independently by umpteen people building on innovations and observation. In the comments, one person linked this brilliant little sucker: http://duncanamps.com/tsc/index.html (Message edited by Ed_zeppelin on August 28, 2015) | ||
| gtrguy
Senior Member Username: gtrguy Post Number: 917 Registered: 9-2004 |
Good stuff! I also think you have to factor the actual tube into the mix, as various ones sound different. I also record with the F-1X a lot. I will set it up as an input to my computer and fire up the software and set it so I can set the input level up to where I can see the noise floor with no sound coming in. I then try various tubes to see which are more quiet (Don't get shocked doing this, turn the thing off). There is a noticeable variation with all the tubes. Not all tube brands will physically fit into the shield though. You could also try various 12AX7 derivatives, like 12AU7, etc! I don't know what Alembic has to say about doing this, but I am curious. I don't remember if input #2 is 'buffered' or more quiet, like on a Fender amp (probably not the right technical term), but it can be a useful gain staging tool if it is, so you could tame a very hot signal coming in. | ||
| mica
Moderator Username: mica Post Number: 8613 Registered: 6-2000 |
The original Fender circuit was designed by Tom Walker. We mention it on the F-2B product page. | ||
| charles_holmes
Senior Member Username: charles_holmes Post Number: 433 Registered: 3-2009 |
Can an extra "Deep" switch be added to the F-1X? | ||
| wyrtti
New Username: wyrtti Post Number: 6 Registered: 12-2002 |
Thanks for the link! The explanations in that thread make excellent sense! | ||
| ed_zeppelin
Member Username: ed_zeppelin Post Number: 73 Registered: 2-2010 |
Thank you for the link, Mica. Now I just need one go along with the manual. I hadn't read the manual, since I've never owned one. But I will, because now I want one. I mean, HAVE to own one (now comes the tricky part: convincing the Foghorn that an Alembic preamp is more important than a Sunsetter awning). But I've ran across F-2B's in people's racks over the years, especially David Gilmour and Stanley Clarke fans. (Stanley uses two F-1X's now) I don't mind admitting to being a moron simply because it's better than pretending that I don't notice. I've been twiddling knobs for years, and I can't tell you the number of times I've gone; "what the heck?" And. Now. I. Know. This is a red letter day, like when I learned to tie my shoelaces (which is why I wear Birkenstocks, come to think of it) or finally figured out Rocco's bassline on Tower of Power's "What Is Hip?" Even better, now I can SEE it. I just didn't get the connection between the knobs. And it's [insert adjective] GENIUS. The reason I asked about how it came about is because I played bass for Nokie Edwards of the Ventures, and he knows or knew everybody. Leo Fender, Les Paul, Semie Mosely, Seth Lover, Paul Bigsby, Tom Dowd, Chet Atkins (who was head of RCA, y'know), and he tells the most terrific stories. All without a trace of ego. He's still a Cherokee kid from Oklahoma, completely enthralled by the instrument, and truly the nicest, humblest guy you'll ever meet. He told me a story that Les Paul had told him, about going out for a big night on the town with a friend and their wives (Mary Ford was married to Les at the time), who had complained for months that they never got to go out on the town. They got dressed up and went to a fancy restaurant and during the course of dinner, Les told his friend about an experiment he'd been performing with a tape machine, altering the sizes of loops and playback speed and moving the playback head around. His friend said; "why don't you put another playback head BEFORE the record head?" That was it. Dinner was forgotten, even though their food had just arrived. Les said; "let's go!" and went home and invented multitrack tape recording, working with Bing Crosby's company, Ampex. (When he demonstrated it for W.C. Fields, he said; "my boy, you sound like an octopus.") and Ron Wickersham worked for Ampex. That's why I asked, because I like to see the historical connections to acts of inspired genius, especially the mad genius stuff that starts with things like Les Paul running his Epiphone archtop through a bandsaw and sticking an electrified four-by-four in there, or Paul Bigsby messing around with spare motorcycle parts and coming up with the whammy bar. Another piece of the puzzle falls into place, that ends up with me opening my road case of my Alembic, the ne plus ultra of luthiery and electronics. The. Best. One time Nokie said Semie Mosely (a Preacher, by the way) wanted to lure The Ventures from Fender. So Semie invited Nokie over and sat in front of a drafting table and said; "whatever you want." Nokie said that he noticed that difference between Fender and Gibson back then was that Gibson ads featured Al Martino in a tux, sitting on a stool, cradling a big ornate archtop. Fender ads showed a guy wading into the surf with a Strat. Nokie wanted something between a Strat and a surfboard. So Nokie told him; "I want a Strat, but with Gibson pickups." Semie grabbed his own Strat, flipped it over and traced around it:  And that's how you create an ugly guitar. (I imagine it's not that great as a surfboard, either, but Gidget played one. True). Nokie says it's hard to understand unless you were there. They didn't really think of it so much as "theft" but inspiration and "boy, I wish I'd thought of that." There was competition and a certain amount of stealing/innovation, but like Apple and Microsoft "borrowing" Xerox' innovations years later, those guys were slapping the same coil pickups Lloyd Loar came up with for violins in the 1920's onto planks and selling them. (And suing the pants off each other.) Leo Fender and Seth Lover didn't invent pickups, but Alembic perfected them. Now I'm entering the world of Alembic preamps. Oh boy. Wish me luck. Especially with the Sunsetter awning thing. That's going to be tricky. |
