Heads-up: SpaceStation keyboard amp is apparently back

[Bossbandbob]

Aspen. That may have been the funniest post I have ever read. That small hole in the rear can make the most amazing sounds.

 

Well "the amp is only human." It's also giving me bad GAS!

[Doug Robinson]

Ok, time to report in--this has been the busiest week of music-making I've had in a while now.

 

Tuesday was a rehearsal for the big show on Wednesday--just my SK1 and SS3 in a friend's recording studio, packed with 14 of the most amazing players. Great clear sound from my rig.

 

In the 400 seat theater the next day, the sound man (who had heard me play through the SS3 the week before and was amazed that it held its own against fully-miced Southern blues/rock bands at a festival party, outdoors with 200 people) insisted that I'd need to go through the house. It wasn't that he had tested it, just that he really believed it. I was the show producer and even though I wanted to prove him wrong, and I thought it sounded fine, he took the outs of my little mixer (I also brought along my Yamaha S80) and plugged it into the sound system. I insisted that he keep it low in the system and was very happy with 80% of my sound coming from the stage. It was Latin jazz fusion, blues and funk that night, and it was not only great sound, it was a killer night of music for a good cause (Children's Art Foundation, a charity that provides art classes to rural schools here in central Mexico).

 

Listening to the various videos people filmed--including the raw footage of a pro 3 camera crew for a documentary DVD in the works!--I'm just so pleased with my sound. I can't say I'm stunned, as I've been through that phase already, but I'm playing better than ever through this thing. I really feel my keyboards.

 

I did use the trifold but wish I hadn't--I think it blocked some of the sound for the players on the other side of the stage. They didn't say anything so maybe I'm just worrying about nothing up.

 

The show was a smash--I'll put up a video of the big opening number, a bolero version of For What It's Worth sung by the incredible Iraida Noriega (daughter of pianist Freddy Noriega, for those fans of Mexican jazz-pop music of the '70s). I played vibes, timbales, congas, organ, keyboard and acoustic piano, plus I sang my latest Randy Newman-ish song "Too Old to Die Young."

 

The following night, I brought the bassist--a six-string funk prodigy--the drummer, the tenor sax and trumpet players and Iraida to a club I work fairly often and we blew the roof off. I can't believe people aren't getting enough volume out of their SS3, as it was LOUD and filled with fire, some of the hippest music I've been a part of. I don't do left hand bass, so that isn't an issue. I had Iraida play my keys for a minute so I could walk around--sweet.

 

I left my SK1 set up for tonight, a birthday party for the singer of the blues band with whom I work regularly. 2 hours of powerful blues jamming, propelled by drummer Rick Shlosser of Van Morrison's band. Good lord, at one point the drummer asked me to turn down (the crowd on the other hand, gave me my biggest ovation of the evening).

 

One nice thing: the SK1 makes the Dark Grand preset of the S80 sound almost like a freaking acoustic piano. Quite amazing, how it brought that instrument back to life for me.

 

The challenges I've had are sitting too close to it, or the singer being too close in front of it--I had to turn down so low I could barely hear myself last week in a situation like that.

[HammondDave]

You mean it can't compete with this???...

 

 

http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff374/hammonddave/image.jpg1_zpsuqpcnbwk.jpg

[garnermike]

In a post above, cphollis makes an important point, IMO.

 

I have played more gigs than anybody I know using Aspen's technology, via a SpaceStation MarkII and now the v.3 (well over over 350 gigs total now). Setting the volume is a learning experience. For small venues or for low-volume gigs, I get away using just the MarkII/v.3 without using the sub-link. For louder gigs/bigger venues, I do find that turning the units' volume up past 2 o'clock seems to create some distortion---as Aspen says, you are ultimately playing through a 8" and 6" speaker. So for those venues/gigs, I use the sub-link and keep the MarkII/v.3 volume setting less than 2 o'clock.

 

The most important thing to remember is that, unless you are positioning these amps waaay far away from you, you really have no idea how "loud" they are in the room. "Loud" may not be the right word; "ear-embracing" or "room-filling" may better describe the effect. I pretty much try to keep the volume setting on these units as close to 12 o'clock as I can, regardless of band's wall of sound or the venue's size. Using the sub-link, helps to add volume and bottom w/o distortion.

 

If you find yourself really concerned (and have a spotter telling you) that the v.3 isn't loud enough, you of course have the option of running the sub-link to a channel in your band's powered PA/mixer, with heavy setting on the lows. Just don't over-do that volume-wise, or you may negate the stereo effect from the amp.

[Aspen]

In a post above, cphollis makes an important point, IMO.

 

I have played more gigs than anybody I know using Aspen's technology, via a SpaceStation MarkII and now the v.3 (well over over 350 gigs total now). Setting the volume is a learning experience. For small venues or for low-volume gigs, I get away using just the MarkII/v.3 without using the sub-link. For louder gigs/bigger venues, I do find that turning the units' volume up past 2 o'clock seems to create some distortion---as Aspen says, you are ultimately playing through a 8" and 6" speaker. So for those venues/gigs, I use the sub-link and keep the MarkII/v.3 volume setting less than 2 o'clock.

 

The most important thing to remember is that, unless you are positioning these amps waaay far away from you, you really have no idea how "loud" they are in the room. "Loud" may not be the right word; "ear-embracing" or "room-filling" may better describe the effect. I pretty much try to keep the volume setting on these units as close to 12 o'clock as I can, regardless of band's wall of sound or the venue's size. Using the sub-link, helps to add volume and bottom w/o distortion.

 

If you find yourself really concerned (and have a spotter telling you) that the v.3 isn't loud enough, you of course have the option of running the sub-link to a channel in your band's powered PA/mixer, with heavy setting on the lows. Just don't over-do that volume-wise, or you may negate the stereo effect from the amp.

 

Thanks Mike, good points and very well said. I am in 100% agreement.

 

Interesting though, that Hammond Dave's pix is the infamous Grateful Dead back line PA, in which, every member had an amp (McIntosh MC75) and speaker (all JBL alnico....sweet) dedicated to amplifying their own instrument. Then these speakers were placed like bricks in a wall (hey, is there a song in there...?) so that they could all be heard from the same "center point" of reference. TMK, that was a first and only attempt at anything like that, those guys were always thinkin' out side the box.

 

Worked better on paper than in reality (as I recall, but then again, I was a SF Digger back then doing my best to alter my reality on a daily basis :>) ...but I remember it was really LOUD! (even moreso for the band members, which is why the concept soon died out, gratefully.

 

It was also a REALLY expensive for a multi-channel PA. You could part that rig out to the Japanese Hi Fi geeks for millions! But it just goes to show how long we have been trying, and how much effort and money has gone into trying to just HEAR our band's mix CLEARLY on stage, and, all this came about because the DEAD wanted to hear what the audience heard!

 

Like wow man, I think Hammond Dave just gave me a Hippy Flashback idea; what if I built a 30' tall 5,000 watt CPS "Golden Gate Park" system? I could mount it on giant crane and suspend it over the band and audience...and mix the whole band down to one LOUD CPS 3D stereo feed.

 

Just think; no amps, no PA, no monitors...just one massive 3D CPS system and everybody hears the same mix at 135dB and with 300 degree dispersion!

 

Hmmm, maybe I better sit down now until the thought goes away :>{

[HammondDave]

I expect a royalty....

[Doerfler]

Like wow man, I think Hammond Dave just gave me a Hippy Flashback idea; what if I built a 30' tall 5,000 watt CPS "Golden Gate Park" system? I could mount it on giant crane and suspend it over the band and audience...and mix the whole band down to one stereo feed.

 

Just think; no amps, no PA, no monitors...just one massive 3D CPS system and everybody hears the same mix at 135dB @ 300 degree dispersion!

 

WORD!

[Theo Verelst]

... Setting the volume is a learning experience.....

Just don't over-do that volume-wise, or you may negate the stereo effect from the amp.

 

....

Interesting though, that Hammond Dave's pix is the infamous Grateful Dead back line PA, ...

Worked better on paper than in reality (as I recall,...

I was a SF Digger back then..

...but I remember it was really LOUD!...

The closest to promoting the arts with free live I've been was a involuntary stay in an investment object with some artists, and I suppose that often the reasons, besides upsides, also have downsides, like finding the society locally, or the society at large, somehow in error. I was born in the 60s (unfortunately not in S.F.) but I think the (IMO) wonderful ideas aren't equally applicable to fight contemporary problems. Some people though certainly won't sit down with a good wine and wait until their bad musical thoughts are *over*, that's a sure bet.

 

what if I built a 30' tall 5,000 watt CPS "Golden Gate Park" system?

 

Somehow that sounds a bit like familiar systems...

 

I think about the power limitations that it may well be like the following at times. Picture my monitoring system with hundreds of Watts clean drive power. There are small, say 4 inch, added speaker in the main systems to add a bit of low-mid response speed. Probably they are about 20W continous sine power or something, and they have a simple cross over filter, so it's easy when feeding the 12 incher some power, to get them to reach maximum power. Normally, that's not a problem, and usually I don't push the power limits of the system. However, some sounds and certain (non pro) audio materials make me almost cringe with disgust because they contain frequencies and wave patterns that almost sound designed to make those small added speakers distort and blow up. Usually, it's just a very ugly sound component, like someone has tried out the tiny monitors, and invented a mean wave to make them do "something really special". Other times, it's just a strange frequency component, maybe per accident, that happens to drive small, loosely hung speaker cones into nasty resonances. If I use a microphone, my speakers, also with some power, sound almost boring in neutral sense, nothing colorful or exciting going on, so it's special signals it's about.

 

With synthesizers and digital workstations, of course you can create a lot of wave forms and frequencies you like, so in principle a full range PA system should be able to play all those possible waves with no problem. If you don't use flappy large cones and/or really slow or low current amps, there's a lot of digital sounds out there that are going to ask for the wrong type of crunch of your PA speakers.

 

I suppose it could well be the SS responds a bit wrong under heavy load, because of the sound at it's input being faulted in some ways that do not always directly call for attention.

 

Theo V.

[rickp]

Just want to give a shout-out of thanks to garnermike for starting this whole thread that has resulted in so much information.

 

I wonder how many of us with the SS3 would have one if this thread didn't exist? I know I wouldn't.

 

 

[Raymb1]

I first heard of the SS3 on the Band in a Box forum from Jazz Mammal, which led to this forum. SS3 is the best speaker/amp I've ever had.

[Analogaddict]

Like wow man, I think Hammond Dave just gave me a Hippy Flashback idea; what if I built a 30' tall 5,000 watt CPS "Golden Gate Park" system? I could mount it on giant crane and suspend it over the band and audience...and mix the whole band down to one LOUD CPS 3D stereo feed.

 

Just think; no amps, no PA, no monitors...just one massive 3D CPS system and everybody hears the same mix at 135dB and with 300 degree dispersion!

 

...and how loud would the sub out 'fart' be on this system..?

[TimA]

Some would liken it to a sonic boom......

[HammondDave]

Some would liken it to a sonic boom......

 

My wife would argue that she experiences this every morning...

[spazzkey]

Some would liken it to a sonic boom......

 

My wife would argue that she experiences this every morning...

 

[J Free]

can we please get back on topic

[mate stubb]

can we please get back on topic

 

This has been the most on topic thread I can remember for a long time.

 

Stab! Stab! Chicken Foot! Stab!

[timwat]

Well, since you said "please".

 

I cannot reiterate enough how pleased I am with the amp for my jazz gigs.

 

In addition to the solo piano "wallpaper" gig last week (and playing again tomorrow), also did a jazz sextet gig Friday PM. In both settings, there are multiple benefits to using the SS.

 

There is of course the sense of "size" or "width" that the multi-dimensional projection aspect of this amp provides. It makes the CP4's acoustic piano so much more life-like, and enjoyable and appealing to explore.

 

If you've ever cringed a little inside because your conventional powered PA speakers rendered some aspect of your AP shrill, or brittle (and sometimes it was just one region of the keyboard in one particular room on one night), I can say that's all gone away for me now. AP is warm, natural, large and woody.

 

I also find myself digging into the Rhodes on the CP4 more - not afraid of transients and barks "sticking out" as they sometimes did on my traditional amplification.

 

I'm sure those on this thread that already own the amp already know what I'm talking about.

 

But if you're on the fence about buying one of these, and you play a lot of acoustic jazz-level gigs, and you turn to AP and EP a lot, well, you really need to consider this amp.

 

For louder stuff, my GK MB112 is supposed to be delivered tomorrow. I am hoping it is delivered before I have to leave the house - I have a funk band rehearsal tomorrow night after my jazz gig, and would love to try the combo out there if possible.

 

Okay, we're back on topic, J Free.

[Doug Robinson]

I am right there with you Tim. I'm listening to video of the post-concert jam I did last week and it's incredible how it filled the room without being too loud. And I have an acoustic piano sound dialed in on my SK1 that sounds perfectly fine. This amp is changing everything for me as a player, honestly--I like the way I sound again.

[Brettymike]

"width" "size" "woody" "sonic boom" - sounds Wonderful! , where's hard?

 

Brett

[hardware]

I find that the SSv3 is perfectly suited for fake Hammond B3/147 work.

Haven't used the real thing for 20 years, then had Oberheim, Voce, Motion Sound combos that never got that sound nailed but worked OK.

But with recent software, a QSC KW153/181 series PA and the SSv3 I am getting several authentic tones, and hearing it stereo is as pleasing as the old dual 147s.

These little Emminence speakers love Distortion.

Bet the SSv3 would be a killer Guitar rig too, the old MKIIs were crunchy, but crunch + width might be even better.

 

This thread deserves a bump from me after every gig...

 

[SK]

Finally decided to buy the SSv3 today and called Sweetwater to place the order. The salesman said the item, as of just recently, is no longer delivered to Canada or anywhere outside the US. Still available for US orders only.

 

Oh well, does anyone have info on when/if it will be available again? Thanks.

 

EDIT: Sweetwater just called back - it was a problem in their system showing it wasn't available outside the US. So all's fine - product ordered.

[garnermike]

Hey, rickp, thanks on the kudos for my starting this thread, but, I gotta say that I think I have benefited as much as anyone from each and every one of its umpteen pages! Just about every poster seems to have added something of interest----if not on questioning the v.3 or about playing through a v.3, then about playing kb through an amplifier they either have, or wish they had, or wish they didn't have. It has been a remarkable and informative read!

[Doerfler]

Finally decided to buy the SSv3 today

 

good for you, Steve. did they give you a lead time? I'm real close to ordering myself.

[SK]

Finally decided to buy the SSv3 today

 

good for you, Steve. did they give you a lead time? I'm real close to ordering myself.

Thanks - 2 weeks for them to get it back in stock, then 2-5 days for delivery.

[rickp]

Hey, rickp, thanks on the kudos for my starting this thread, but, I gotta say that I think I have benefited as much as anyone from each and every one of its umpteen pages . . .

 

It has been a remarkable and informative read!

That it has . . . my notes page runneth over . . . and no end in sight!

 

 

[timwat]

Just finished a solo piano gig with CP4, SS and my brand spankin' new GK MB 112 combo bass amp.

 

The GK just got delivered, I unboxed it, plugged it in, and then packed the SUV for the gig.

 

This is a match made in heaven.

 

The GK is just wide / deep enough to provide the perfect platform of the SS, while still leaving unimpeded access to the input jack and all the knobs. Setting in the input gain as 12 o'clock, dialing off the High and Mid High EQ knobs, while leaving the Low as 12 and dialing the Mid Low down to about 10 o'clock makes it a perfect complement to the SS (always helps to read the manual to see where the intended EQ freqs are on the GK).

 

The sound on the gig of the AP is just luscious. When I got the volume right, it really did allow for the occasional "suspension of disbelief" to feel like I was really sitting down at a real piano. I kid you not.

 

Now, that may sound like a sales pitch, or hyperbole, or hallucinatory exaggeration - and maybe it is a little.

 

But suffice to say it's a very complementary combination so far. Keep in mind, this was a "piano only" hotel gig, I'll find out on Friday's gig how it fares in a full on electric jazz format with a loud drummer and guitar player.

 

So far, so good. Stay tuned.

[Aspen]

Finally decided to buy the SSv3 today

 

good for you, Steve. did they give you a lead time? I'm real close to ordering myself.

Thanks - 2 weeks for them to get it back in stock, then 2-5 days for delivery.

 

Just a quick delivery update on the next A&A and SW SS3 delivery, we've had a setback.

 

We had a whole batch of inductors fail upon receiving them, so that pushed back our electronics assembly about 3+ weeks. We had enough left over inductors from the last run to complete a partial (very) short run. And even though that really adds to my importation cost I decided to do the short run and ship these ahead of the rest so that we can maybe fill the SW back orders just a bit sooner when they arrive.

 

So this current partial run shipment has been packed out and is on the dock waiting for a vessel right now. Our hope is it leaves this weekend. Then it's 3 weeks on the water and another week to SW.

 

I have just tonight updated the SW delivery status, so what they told you today was what they saw on their computer planning page. That should be updated by tomorrow. So to be realistic, better plan on late April at the very earliest.

 

Very sorry guys, but believe me this hurts me much more than it does you. The rent is still do every month, and when my payday is pushed out an extra month it really hits me hard. The SS3 is my only APD product in release right now (4 more start very soon), so when I am not delivering, I am not eating...

 

Just a bit of insight to my world; there are a hundred or so components in every SS3 that we have to buy long in advance and then confirm (QC) before we start to build every SS3 run. Our production plans are made (and PAID) 120+ days in advance of any delivery...and sometimes even longer. Then one bad apple pops up and everything waits until we can replace that component. If you've followed this thread from the start you now this is not the first time we've been plagued with a single component derailing our delivery schedule.

 

This April run was a triple run quantity, our biggest ever. We called it the "pipeline run", because we'd finally fill the pipeline and wipe out all the back orders for the remainder of 2015. If all had gone as planned we'd be set for 3 months of supply....and following runs 2 months apart would assure us no shortages. But now we'll get about 1/3 of our pipeline run in late April, and the 2/3 balance in late May.

 

FYI, we have to plan production 120+ days in advance because so many components are custom made for the SS3, such as our CX2008 coax Front speaker. So, we are already building the late June run now, which will see our first deliveries to Europe (Thomann Musikhaus) an Japan (Ikebe).

 

Just a glimpse into my world, sorry to burden you all with that. I want to you to know the honest facts, even if they are not pretty, and also to assure you that I'm doing everything I can to increase the supply and meet the demand....but also to keep the quality high.

 

 

[KingstonCrim]

Last Sunday at my regularly scheduled church gig, our bass player was out of town for a family funeral so I planned to cover for him with some LH bass parts. This smallish church (250-300) has powered speakers suspended from the ceiling, and a largely unused 15" Mackie sub sitting on the floor near the organ console. I decided to take advantage of this otherwise unused sub and try it with the SS3. I didn't have the exact correct cables but made a workaround by running the PC3 outs first directly into the Mackie sub, then taking the balanced XLR hi-pass out (>125Hz) into my little Behringer Eurorack mixer at unity gain and then the mixer outs (unbalanced) into the SS3. I have to say it really did sound nice and added a lot of "Oomph" (to use a technical term) to the sound.

 

Just playing around with some of the PC3 bass-heavy presets was much fun. Of course I had to test out one of the nice Pipe Organ setups on the Kurz by jamming on a little Tocatta in Dm... loved those 32' pipe sounds!! Sounded way better than the church's real organ. I'm not a professional organist, but for few moments I felt like one! (I used EvilDragon's Gothic Pipe Organ setup, a favorite of mine.)

 

I had myself running at what I thought was a comfortable volume level, and I was seated about 25 feet away from the SS3/Subwoofer stack so I could feel the bloom. But the house sound guy helped me adjust downward to achieve better balance. He turned the sub down from 12 o clock to about 9 o clock, and brought my feed into the SS3 down about -10db on the Master fader from unity. It took me some time to adjust to this lower level, but it really did balance out nicely once we got the guitar mic'd properly and the singers into the house mix. The AP sounded better than ever. They record every service and afterwards while packing stuff up we usually get to hear the playback. I don't usually like playing AP on my PC361, probably because without the weighted keys it doesn't "feel" like playing a real piano, but in the playback mix it sounded great. Ironically, on one of the the other songs where I did actually play on a real AP, it sounded much less real than the PC361 did on the recording. I don't think I'll buy a sub just yet, but if it's there waiting to be used, gotta love it.

 

[Danny Linguini]

Hey Aspen, not a burden at all to hear what's going on behind the scenes there. Sometimes we need to be reminded that you don't just fold your arms and blink these things into existence from inside a magic genie bottle. So sorry to hear about these setbacks; hopefully once you get your 'pipeline' run completed you'll have enough of a cushion to withstand any future hiccups.

 

 

[HammondDave]

It always amazes me how small businesses can survive in this crazy conglomorate controlled industry. I love cruising the basement of NAMM to see and meet these amazing entrepreneurs. Bravo to Aspen and his crew for working so hard on this, and for being so transparent.