Heads-up: SpaceStation keyboard amp is apparently back

[mak1457]

Thanks for starting to organize some of the info on this uber-long thread.

 

Have there been any videos posted on the SSv3 at NAMM yet?

[AndyW]

 

Settings on the V.3

The width level sets the balance between the front and side systems. Use the Width control to balance the Side speaker level (L-R, the unique and "widest" parts of the stereo signals) with the Front speaker (L+R, or the mono compatible parts of the stereo signals). The wider patches will bring out more side level, and so you will hear far more pronounced differences b/w the various AP patches than you would in your former mono system.

 

 

The width is not the balance but the actual volume level of the side speaker which of course alters the balance between the front speaker and side speaker. This adds more of the 'effect.'

 

Ultimately this amp is not hard to use but just so different that it is difficult to understand without one in your possession. Once you hook it up, play some tunes, turn some knobs--you WILL understand it. This is one reason Aspen left off a mixer and other items and the controls are as easy as the 'effect' will allow.

[AndyW]

Thanks cedar for the organization! Maybe mods can sticky those posts.

[HAMEGZ]

I appreciate all the work certain people are putting into a wiki type users guide,especially for first time owners and perhaps lurkers afraid to take the plunge.

 

but this amp is really plug and play,and the controls are so minimal that slight adjustments will render satisfying results, some adjustment may be required from venue to venue, but once you trust your ears its set it up and forget.

[cedar]

The width is not the balance but the actual volume level of the side speaker which of course alters the balance between the front speaker and side speaker. This adds more of the 'effect.'

 

My recollection is that the language you corrected was actually written by Aspen. But my hunch is that he used the term "balance" more as a short-hand term to discuss the relationship with the front speakers, as you basically suggest.

 

To be clear, my summaries above represent no independent analysis, but just an attempt to organize what others wrote (with very slight editing) so that the info is in one place, more or less.

[AndyW]

The width is not the balance but the actual volume level of the side speaker which of course alters the balance between the front speaker and side speaker. This adds more of the 'effect.'

 

My recollection is that the language you corrected was actually written by Aspen. But my hunch is that he used the term "balance" more as a short-hand term to discuss the relationship with the front speakers, as you basically suggest.

 

To be clear, my summaries above represent no independent analysis, but just an attempt to organize what others wrote (with very slight editing) so that the info is in one place, more or less.

 

Agreed. Width is used to balance the effect but is not a balance like a pan would be.

 

And I agree with Ham&Eggs too. The SSV3 is very simple. I can't wait to hear what the 87 of you who have waited so long will say in the next few days!

 

I live in Wilmington, NC and if anyone near by wants to hear it just pm me.

[Dglavko]

[/quoteI can't wait to hear what the 87 of you who have waited so long will say in the next few days!

87+ more posts coming?

[DanL]

I picked up this storage tote to use as a case. I need to put a little foam in it but the SS3 fits in it with a little space around it in each direction.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-20-Gal-Storage-Tote-17200553/204774811?N=5yc1vZcaq2

[Doerfler]

I picked up this storage tote to use as a case.

 

nice find, Dan. Price is right also.

[cphollis]

Apologies in advance for those of you who are waiting for yours.

 

Gig report: backyard party at a huge house. Five piece band, fully electric. Yet another great gig with the SSv3.

 

Had the SSv3 optimally positioned 3-4' behind me, tilted up. Turned the width control up as we were outside. The other musicians kept getting louder, and I was right there with them. No shortage of watts, period. Pounding APs, heavy B3 sound w/leslie, gritty EPs, -- all there in spades.

 

For some reason, I seem to have to dial up the treble when I'm indoors, and dial it back down when I'm outdoors. Haven't figured out why, though.

 

I heard myself clearly, the audience heard me clearly, and the band members all said I sounded great. Big stereo all over the place. For small-to-medium gigs, hard to beat this little champ.

[Danny Linguini]

Two questions: How's the low end? One thing I love about my EV is the nice full and clean low end, and I don't want to lose that. I don't have a sub and greatly prefer not to have to haul one around to use this as my duo's PA. A few people have said the SSV3 is better than a Bose L1 - is that all by itself?

 

And ... I thought this little box was $599? It's now $749 at Sweetwater. Or did I read/hear wrong?

[Raymb1]

$599 was the early bird price. $749 is the new price. Ray

[Danny Linguini]

$599 was the early bird price. $749 is the new price. Ray

 

Well that's a bummer. Anybody know if there'll there be a Rip Van Winkle special for those of us who slept through the early bird?

[Raymb1]

Just heard from my Sweet Water rep. They expect SS delivery on 1/28. Ray

[Aspen]

Just heard from my Sweet Water rep. They expect SS delivery on 1/28. Ray

 

My tracking report says Feb 27, tomorrow. Either way, we are close! But the last port "slow down" cost us 22 days.

 

The good news is that our next (ever larger) shipment is on the water now, due Jan 31st. The bad news is we still have the west coast port "slow downs" from the Longshoremen and the federal mediator just backed out. So if we get a total strike, everything grinds to full stop. So I am not optimistic for a quick turn around. Will keep you all posted.

 

[NosPup]

We are so close I can almost taste the SS! But now Mother Nature is dumping snow on those of us in the Northeast, so delivery may be delayed a bit. Arggggg!!!

 

 

[Aspen]

Hey folks, adding to the continuing "wedgie" discussions:

 

If you recall in our last episode, we've been discussing that in a close proximity gig a slight tilt back helps you monitor you v.3a, and if a wall is not handy then a small item wedged under the front of the v.3 does the trick.

 

Being a repurposing cheapo type, I suggested various under $1 items laying around the house, and for the more professional solution an ordinary tire chock available from any auto parts store. In fact, I used a ordinary rubber tire chock at NAMM over the last 4 days. I also places the v.3 and chock on a 14" lazy Susan so I could whip it around and show the rear panel...and my KB demo guy Al Moratta immediately wanted to know where to get one!

 

But this morning while answering a question off line from one of you considering buying the "amp wedge" (not a bad solution but wider that a v.3 and fairly expensive), I did some searching for "rubber door stops" and found this "ultimate wedge"...man, I LOVE it. Funny thing is the company is in Encino, about a 10 minute drive across the Valley from me!

 

It's under $10 on Amazon (see 1st link), the top end on my cheapo budget, but the specs seem perfect for a v.3": it's 2.5" wide, lightweight Lexan plastic so it fits in your pocket, has rubber stops top and bottom, and they make it in several cool day glow colors (see 2nd spec link) so it would be easy to see on a dark stage!

 

http://www.amazon.com/Wedge--Ultimate-Door-Stop-Black/dp/B00070FYZE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422290215&sr=8-1&keywords=wedge+it+door+stop

Specs:

 

http://www.wedgeit.com/specifications.html

[Mitch Towne]

I got to meet Aspen at NAMM and he is an even nicer guy in person than on the forums! He gave me a full demo of the sound of the SSv3 (or, at least, as good of a demo as he could at NAMM) and then spent a ton of time talking to my 17 year old son who is an amp building and repair prodigy. (When I first started reading about the SSv3, I asked my son, "Hey...do you know who this Aspen Pittman guy is?" Dain turned to the bookshelf in his workshop and pulled out "The Tube Amp Book," and said, "Um...yeah.")

 

My SSv3 should be arriving from Sweetwater pretty soon and I am more jazzed about it than ever! Thanks, Aspen for the demo and, more importantly, for taking the time with a budding young tube head!

[cphollis]

Two questions: How's the low end? One thing I love about my EV is the nice full and clean low end, and I don't want to lose that. I don't have a sub and greatly prefer not to have to haul one around to use this as my duo's PA. A few people have said the SSV3 is better than a Bose L1 - is that all by itself?

 

And ... I thought this little box was $599? It's now $749 at Sweetwater. Or did I read/hear wrong?

 

For what I do, the low end is reasonable, but not in the league of a 12" or greater. I don't bring an extra unit to go with the SSv3, and so far so good.

 

I think a comparison can be made with the Bose L1 Model II in terms of sound dispersion -- everybody hears great sound in the room. I don't have my Bose any more (sold it), but as I recall, it was more pristine in the upper registers. Mono, of course, so the stereo effects sounded like @ss. And like three times the price.

 

If I was going to a small gig and had my choice between grabbing a SSv3 or a Bose L1 Model II with bass module, I'd go with the SSv3: smaller, louder, simpler, does stereo and sounds pretty darn good.

[Danny Linguini]

Two questions: How's the low end? One thing I love about my EV is the nice full and clean low end, and I don't want to lose that. I don't have a sub and greatly prefer not to have to haul one around to use this as my duo's PA. A few people have said the SSV3 is better than a Bose L1 - is that all by itself?

 

And ... I thought this little box was $599? It's now $749 at Sweetwater. Or did I read/hear wrong?

 

For what I do, the low end is reasonable, but not in the league of a 12" or greater. I don't bring an extra unit to go with the SSv3, and so far so good.

 

I think a comparison can be made with the Bose L1 Model II in terms of sound dispersion -- everybody hears great sound in the room. I don't have my Bose any more (sold it), but as I recall, it was more pristine in the upper registers. Mono, of course, so the stereo effects sounded like @ss. And like three times the price.

 

If I was going to a small gig and had my choice between grabbing a SSv3 or a Bose L1 Model II with bass module, I'd go with the SSv3: smaller, louder, simpler, does stereo and sounds pretty darn good.

 

Very helpful. But damn, I sure wish I could hear one and make up my own mind. Anybody here in RI got one coming?

[Brad Kaenel]

http://www.amazon.com/Wedge--Ultimate-Door-Stop-Black/dp/B00070FYZE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422290215&sr=8-1&keywords=wedge+it+door+stop

Specs:

 

http://www.wedgeit.com/specifications.html

 

Dooooo-doo-doo-doo. Duh-doo, Duh-doo. Wedge it! Wedge it GOOD!

[Doerfler]

$599 was the early bird price. $749 is the new price. Ray

 

Well that's a bummer. Anybody know if there'll there be a Rip Van Winkle special for those of us who slept through the early bird?

 

most likely if demand keeps up the price will be raised to $999.

Seems to be a hot ticket.

[Aspen]

$599 was the early bird price. $749 is the new price. Ray

 

Well that's a bummer. Anybody know if there'll there be a Rip Van Winkle special for those of us who slept through the early bird?

 

most likely if demand keeps up the price will be raised to $999.

Seems to be a hot ticket.

 

Sorry about that price increase Jan 1 guys, but I was actually losing money during this introductory 2014 period but I decided to do that rather than cancel all SW orders and rebook them. In the end, I chalked it up to cheap advertising because at $600 nobody (well at least not many) thought twice to give it a try. And well as you can see, I made the right decision because the word of mouth by my early faithful adopters have delivered results no amount of magazine advertising dollars could ever have.

 

But still you may wonder why I had "under priced it", was that a "scheme"? I can tell you honestly, that was never my intention.

 

I had thought I could build it for about the same $ as the last run of MK2 I made about 7 years earlier, and still make improvements. Sweetwater agreed to advance order a bunch and in so doing put me back in business (bless their hearts!). So $599 was the street price of my last Groove Tubes MK2 run that Fender finally received about 6 months after I had sold them my company. At that point, they didn't see any business there and chose not to continue MK2 productions. So they quickly dumped this last run to SW for pennies on the dollar, who in turn sold them off very cheap (and quickly) to many of you.

 

The fact that the last ones were sold for $300 (or less) kinda lowered expectations for the "next version"...it meant I had to stay "close" to the last MK2 "street price". And again I really thought I could retail these profitably in the $550-600 range by going direct w/ SW who was financing my "reentry" and helping me promote it which would keep my overhead low. That was what I was thinking early in 2013 when I started to design the v.3. Then "stuff happened".

 

FYI, I had priced it 18 months before I released it to market..and that was probably a mistake in hindsight. And probably, I could have just made another MK2 and kept the price around $599. However, while I was finalizing the product design and it's component BOM I kept making "design decisions" included better and more expensive components, such as scrapping the Chinese speaker samples I had been using for MK1 and MK2.

 

After several disappointing Chinese speaker samples, I decided to "go American". I had Eminence produce the 2 primary Front coax speakers in the USA (the most expensive part of the v.3). I even coaxed (pun intended) these wonderful production partners into reviving an older high end 8" coax...the CX2008...long after it went out of production. Frankly, I had several of these speakers in my old (upgraded) MK2s and they just out performed everything else. But also, there would be the added time and cost of shipping these components to the Eminence China factory for assembly. They are also the heaviest part of the v.3...by far.

 

Then I decided to improve the amp design too, and use 4 amps with an active xover instead of passive xovers and L-pads (lke my MK2 upgrade had). So now each of the 4 v.3 speaker components has it's own computer designed dividing and filtering network and is driven by it's own Class D amp! Pretty sophisticated, but this is the way modern studio monitors are made as well. Also, this design approach allows the owner to fine tune the v.3 to his source material. So, the old MK2 had 2 amps, while the new v.3 has 4 amps!

 

These are the primary reasons why the v.3 costs more than the MK2 and/or my introductory price for the first several shipments, and (I hope finally) explains why I needed to raise the price in Jan 2015 now that it is fully under way. I can not afford to lose money forever!

 

But frankly guys, I forget about all this every time I crank up this little speaker and look at the faces (as I hope you will too when you see those happy audience faces!)

 

Frankly spoken, nobody expects an shopping bag sized amp to put out full range 105dB Max SPL, much less deliver a 300 degree 3D stereo sound field! But I wanted to exceed, and not just meet expectations...the 3rd time was the charm I was looking for.

 

All that considered, and to answer your other speculation about a pending price increase;

 

NO, I am not increasing the price to $999, or even $799.

 

Trust me on this; the SS v.3 will remain $749 "street price" for some time to come. My bigger concern now is making enough of them to fill the demand at $749...which IMHO Is still cheap and folks continue to agree with me by ordering more of them! FYI, we have doubled our run sizes, and doubled again our frequency of runs. So if order entry stays consistant, I believe by end of February we will have stock on the shelves and no more back orders!

 

But then again, demand could double again too, so much of that is up to you guys! But if it does double, so I will I in order to meet the demand. On that you can also trust!

[HAMEGZ]

Sometimes it pays out to be an early adopter on a product, and take a chance.

 

I am a little down that Aspen "dug in his own pocket" for the first production or so, we chatted offline and he shared things with me as he is doing here on line.

 

I am happy the unit is a success, and the early price is a win win for Aspen(the word of mouth) and those who bought it at the early price.

 

Aspen deserves some financial success again, and peace and tranquility. He IS CPS, a guy really like you and I in most aspects, except I don't have the business acumen to produce a world class amp, nor write a great tube book.

 

Would I love to see a company purchase the rights to his amp so he could retire to another project with a pocketful of money?

Yes, as long as he had a major say so in the product after the sale.

 

Thanks Aspen for this product.

 

My back thanks you for the weight,

my ears thank you for the sound,

my brain thanks you for the aural and sensory experience, without the use of any stimulant.

[mak1457]

Just checked SW: mine has been shipped! Maybe tomorrow I'll get it? Maybe Thursday? But who cares! It's a comin'!

[Raymb1]

Just received the same message from SW. Really anxious now!! Ray

[B. J. Love]

Yup. From my rep:

 

Hey BJ,

Our shipment arrived and your order should be shipping later this afternoon :-)

 

Woohoo!!!!

[SpPiano]

If your rep hasn't contacted you yet, call them. After reading the news from you guys this morning I decided to call myself and was told that my order was put on hold until they could get in touch with me. Well, nobody tried to get in touch with me, but I'm sure they were on their way to doing so. After a 3 minute phone call, my SS is on its way! Expected to come either "Thursday or Friday at the latest".

 

I've got gigs Friday and Saturday night, so I'm looking forward to finally getting this thing. Will be using a Nord stage for the first one with an rnb act in a small club and a Ravenscroft/VB3/U-HE/Omni/etc mainstage rig for the second in a 1000 seat theater.

[Danny Linguini]

Sorry about that price increase ...

 

Hey, no need to apologize -- I know you can't give these things away. It just means I have to make upfind a few more deductions on my tax return. But thanks much for the background info!

[steveb]

Mine is on the way!!

 

"Date Jan 27, 15

Your order has been picked, packed and transferred into the FedEx system. It can no longer be changed. More tracking information will be displayed just as soon as FedEx makes that information available. Fort Wayne, Indiana"