Eric's Music Site

My Grand and Amp

eknapp — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:21:31 +0000

I finally finished my Stick amp. I took it with me to the Interlochen Chapman Stick Workshop, but it was clear very quickly that something was wrong with it. I had to finish it in a hurry before we left and I had wired up something wrong. It had no power and made horrible noises if it was turned up very high. I knew it would be a quick fix if I could only open it up and do it! I hadn’t brought any tools so I had to just wait until I got home. For the technically inclined here’s what was wrong. The woofers have dual voice coils and each voice coil is 8 ohms. I had to wire them together in a series/parallel configuration that had to end up being 8 ohms. I had accidentally wired them at 2 ohms. Grr…

I was disappointed that I couldn’t get any feedback from all the Stick players there. There was nothing to be done so I just played it very softly during the workshop sessions so I could just hear what I was doing. Once fixed it sounds really good! I’m actually surprised at how well it turned out. I started building it during Spring Break and finished during Summer Break. Here’s a front view of the amp. (You can click on the images for a larger view.)

Here’s another view showing the top cavity that holds my Alesis mixer. The mixer can also be removed when I don’t need it in the amp.

The drivers are high-quality parts I had lying around. This was a budget project and I used as many parts as I could that I already had. The drivers are not instrument speakers, rather they are more like studio monitor quality. I used two of each to increase the power handling of the amp.

Here is the rear view showing the back of the mixer, the twin tuned ports, and the power amp. The power amp is a bi-amped unit with a built-in electronic crossover at 3,500 Hz. It only totals about 60 watts, but is loud enough for my purposes. I can also use the amp as the high end of a tri-amped rig and then 60 watts is plenty.

The finish was an experiment, as usual for me. I don’t like wood stains as they kill the luster of wood. I have used wood dyes on furniture when I did that for a living. I wanted a dark amp so I decided to try a black dye on this amp. The wood is Baltic Birch plywood and is very light in color. The dye went on evenly and the hand-rubbed poly varnish finish on top of it looks great. The birch still glows like real wood, it’s just black with the grain showing. Here’s a closeup where you can see the finish better.

I also wanted to experiment with box joints with Baltic Birch plywood. I had to make a heavy duty jig with a very fine adjustment. Once I had the jig it worked great. I think the joints look great after being rounded, dyed, and varnished. Here what they look like.

The amp weighs 32 pounds so it is not a lightweight. I don’t mind since it is a very handy shape and sounds so good. It is nice and compact. Here’s a picture of it with my Chapman Stick. I got the Stick last December.

Since I had setup to take pictures of the amp I thought I should get some more of my Stick. This is a great instrument and I’m having a blast with it. It’s made out of bamboo and has 12 strings. The pickup is the classic old Stickup which has one fabulous sound.
Here’s a closeup of the head and the amp together.

Here’s a picture of it by itself.

And here’s one final picture of the head of my Stick. I really like the color of the dark bamboo.

This was a fun build and I’m really looking forward to my next one.

Whoa!

eknapp — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:03:06 +0000

I must say, this is a bit intimidating:

I just got the suite of applications named Logic Studio. This is a professional level suite from Apple that does audio recording and editing. Lots of the CDs we listen to have been done with this.

I get an insane academic discount or I wouldn’t have gotten this. Now I have to actually learn it! And, I realize that I just lost my last excuse for not recording some of the music I’ve been learning.

New Fever

eknapp — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:13:41 +0000

I’ve got the fever again!

I’m thinking of ordering a new Chapman Stick. I already have an incredible Bamboo Grand 12-string that I just love. The new one I want is the SG12, 12-string Stick Guitar. It is a shorter scale instrument that doesn’t have the low-end of a Grand Stick, but, offers a new range and new possibilities. Here’s what they look like:

Every musician’s current instrument is the best one in the whole world, until they get their next one. I’m certainly not immune to that old adage!

The Next DIY Stick Preamp

eknapp — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 14:39:55 +0000

This was originally posted on the forum on stickist.com. I want it here too.

This is my second Stick preamp project. This one has more to it than my first one.

I have finished the first of three prototype DIY Stick Preamps. This one is based on this circuit from Jack Orman. I bought two Printed Circuit Boards from him:

http://www.muzique.com/schem/mosfet.htm

This is a prototype and I wanted to save money on the box so I used a cheap plastic storage box. Once I have finalized my plans based on the prototypes, I’ll use a high-quality box. Here’s the first picture of it:

It has two channels, as you can see. Here’s the top showing the knobs:

And here’s the insides showing the circuit boards:

And here’s one completed circuit board waiting for its box.

Operation:

It is two mono channels that are completely separate, they even have separate batteries.
The Gain control varies from about a 4db boost to a hefty 30db. This is a lot of gain and you can overdrive most amps with it.

The Input Impedance is a really interesting feature I decided to add. We talk about what the best input impedance is for Sticks a lot on the forum. I wanted to be able to hear the difference on the same preamp. So, I added these rotary switches that can vary the impedance in discrete jumps. This will let you know exactly which one you prefer. The different values, all in MOhms, are 1, 2.2, 3.3, 4.7, 7.5 and 10. I was worried that there would be a pop when the switch was changed but it is dead quiet.
How’s it sound?

I have one of the original simple little preamps like Curtis and Japhlet have made. I don’t have a StepABout to compare it with, though. I was delighted with my first little JFET preamp and I thought it would be hard to beat. But, this mosfet pre is better, and I think it is much better. First, it has gain, lots of gain. This is great even when you don’t turn it up much. When you play a little harder it really gives you the gain. You have the feeling that it won’t quit, it will just keep getting louder as you play harder.

Next, the frequency response is basically straight flat. There is no coloration of tone at all. The JFET circuit is known to add a pleasing coloration to the sound of guitar-like pickups. Pleasing to most people, that is. This mosfet circuit adds nothing, it just gives you all the sound from the pickups.

The input impedance switch gave me a big surprise. The difference in tone and highs from 1 to 10 MOhms was actually fairly subtle. It is quite noticeable but it is not as dramatic as I thought it would be. The other surprise is that I am tending to like the bass side to have a lower input impedance than the melody side. Right now I’m at 2.2 for bass and 4.7 for melody. I think this is a really nice feature. I had originally just planned on this being a prototype feature. Once I found my preference I was going to just hard-wire that in the final version. However, now I’m going to keep the switch. If you are going after a rounder, more jazzy tone, then 1 or 2.2 might be better. If you are going for an acoustic sound 7.5 or 10 might be just the thing.

And then there is the tone. The tone is just wonderful. It is clear and transparent with no nasty edge to it. The highs are crystal clear and there is more bass than I was ever used to. This is a sweet circuit, I can now see why it is one of the most popular ones in the guitar and bass DIY communities. And Jack has been very helpful. I asked him a bunch of questions and he answered them all in good detail. The boards are very high-quality and building them was a joy.

How about noise? The circuit uses a single mosfet transistor. This results in an extremely quiet circuit. You can hear lots of noise if you turn the gain up all the way. But, that would be expected at 30db of gain! At normal levels you need a completely quiet rig and be listening with headphones to hear any noise from the preamp if you turned it up a bit.

Next, I’m making another prototype based on JFETs with more gain than my last one. This is getting interesting!

Take care.

New Headphones!

eknapp — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 00:56:57 +0000

I got new headphones for my birthday. They are a set of Sony MDR-7506s and they are great. Here’s a picture of them:

I haven’t had new headphones for decades and my old ones are falling apart. I had no idea that headphone technology had advanced this much. I play my Stick through headphones a lot when the kids are asleep and these actually have bass. They are so clear that I’m hearing things that I wasn’t aware of before. They are essentially a music-altering experience!

DIY Stick Preamp

eknapp — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 19:58:39 +0000

This entry was originally posted on the stickist.com forum in October 2007. Late December of 2007 the site had a catastrophic hardware failure and all forum posts from five years were lost. I found my post on Google and here it is again.

My DIY Stick Preamp

I have finally taken the time to make myself a preamp for my Stick. While this is certainly not a StepABout, the sound is really great to my ears. I based it on this fairly famous circuit by Don Tillman:

http://www.till.com/articles/GuitarPreamp/index.html

I put 2 of them in one box. Here is the input side of the preamp:

Here’s the output side, it is really simple:

The 2 channels are fully independent and could be used for bass and guitar as well as Stick.

Here’s the Ugly Truth. I haven’t made anything like this for a very long time, so the inside is not very pretty:

Here’s it in use:

The Specs:

This preamp has an input impedance of 3Mohms and a 3db boost. That’s all.

The Results:

WOW!!! Everything you have ever heard about the Stick needing a high impedance is absolutely true! The difference this little thing makes is truly amazing. I was using some stomp boxes as the first thing in my chain with what is normally considered “high impedance”. The difference is dramatic. It is not only that this adds highs to the sound. That’s part of it but everything sounds better, the lows, the mids, and the highs. There is more presence and my Stick just feels more responsive. I was hoping for an improved sound but, frankly, I didn’t expect this big of an improvement. I made it in this box so I could plug it into any type of amplification from Fender Twins to a PA.

I will make some audio samples next weekend, I’ve spent enough time for this one.

[ Update: I have not made the samples yet. I will post when I do.]

The Cost:

I dunno, not much really. Maybe less than $20 depending on what kind of box you use and where you get your parts. The FETs were 12 cents a piece. I was impatient and bought a big bag of resistors to get the ones I wanted, if you ordered them that part would be cheaper. This can also be made very small and put right into a cord but I wanted the most flexibility.

This is just the start of what will hopefully be a full DIY rig. One step at a time…

Final version of Gymnodedie No. 1 by Erik Satie

eknapp — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:31:06 +0000

I have put the final version of my transcription of the Gymnodedie No. 1 by Erik Satie on my Arrangements page. Let me know what you think

My First YouTube Video

eknapp — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 01:31:06 +0000

There was a great thread on stickist.com about virtual performances that others could critique. Since most of us new Stick players don’t have teachers this sounds like a great way to help each other. If we do this more often we hope that the more experienced guys will comment, too.

So, in a moment of inspiration, I made a quick recording of my arrangement of Erik Satie’s Gymnopedie No. 1. I put it up on YouTube! Here it is:

What do you think?

Second Page!

eknapp — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 02:45:06 +0000

Hello,

I have completed the second page of my arrangement of Erik Satie’s Gymnopedie No. 1 for Chapman Stick. This is the main body of the piece. What I have left are the 1st and 2nd endings. I’m getting closer on this learning experience. I have learned a huge amount about the Stick, music engraving, and the art and craft of transcription. Let me know what you think!

Here’s the download link

Here’s my arrangements page.

I’m working on a recording which I’ll also post when I have a good one.

Thanks,

-Eric

First Page of First Stick Arrangement!

eknapp — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 01:34:44 +0000

Hi, all.

I have finished the first page of my first Stick arrangement. It is the Gymnopedie #1 by Erik Satie and I am really enjoying playing it and transcribing it. Here is the download link.

Update I have made some corrections and uploaded version 0.2.2a

I would really love to get comments since I’m sure that I have lots to learn about music engraving. If you see any mistakes let me know and I’ll put up another version quickly.

I also have a page that will have all my arrangements here.