Heads-up: SpaceStation keyboard amp is apparently back

[onthecorner11]

Hey all, I know this has come up a few times here. I've read through the last 20-30 pages of this thread and have seen some fixes that worked for others but I'm not having any luck ...

 

I got one of these amps and right away I noticed some buzzing/vibrating when I hit some lower frequencies. It was most noticeable when I started around the D below middle C on my Nord Electro 5 , for an octave or so below that, using the rhodes mk 1 patch. It ends up sounding like a slight overtone for a couple seconds, and it's noticeable at fairly low volumes (12 o'clock on the Nord and the amp).

 

I posted my issue on the Spacestation Family facebook group and it was suggested that I make sure the driver on the main speaker was tight. It was.

 

I asked Sweetwater to send me a replacement. That arrived last week.

 

This time, the side speaker does some very loud buzzing/vibrating around those same frequencies when I have the panning effect on the Nord. You hear it pretty clearly with each "pan." If I turn the "Wide" knob all the way down there's no buzzing. If I turn panning off, there's a little buzz, but much less than before.

 

(Yes, I could turn the panning off, but I want that herbie hancock sound!)

 

I have tried this with many sets of cables (including some brand new ones) and two different mixers.

 

It's not the Sub Out "Fart" - I plugged a cable into that output, still have the issue on each amp.

 

I read here some had an issue with the fuse cover next to the powersource. I placed my hand on that cover while playing and the sound is still there, on each unit.

 

Any ideas? I am at a loss ...

 

 

[Raymb1]

There were a few posts some time ago about loose screws inside. If you don't mind opening your unit you can probably find the loose screws.

[onthecorner11]

I'll take another look. In both cases I think the sound is coming from the side speaker which is tougher to get to. I did make sure the screws around that speaker were tight.

[cphollis]

I have two of them, different vintages. No problems so far. Best of luck!

[JesseC]

This time, the side speaker does some very loud buzzing/vibrating around those same frequencies when I have the panning effect on the Nord. You hear it pretty clearly with each "pan." If I turn the "Wide" knob all the way down there's no buzzing. If I turn panning off, there's a little buzz, but much less than before.

 

When I got my unit I had a similar side-speaker buzz/vibration thing going on. I took the speaker out (very easy to get to 4 screws on the grill in the side cut-out, just keep a hold on the speaker from the other side as you remove them) and discovered that there were splinters from the edges of the hole cutout that were protruding and touching part of the speaker cone/surround. Sanding those off and replacing the speaker cured the buzz for me. Definitely worth checking.

 

 

[TomKittel]

[

 

When I got my unit I had a similar side-speaker buzz/vibration thing going on. I took the speaker out (very easy to get to 4 screws on the grill in the side cut-out, just keep a hold on the speaker from the other side as you remove them) and discovered that there were splinters from the edges of the hole cutout that were protruding and touching part of the speaker cone/surround. Sanding those off and replacing the speaker cured the buzz for me. Definitely worth checking.

 

 

Sounds like poor chinese craftsmansship...

[onthecorner11]

This time, the side speaker does some very loud buzzing/vibrating around those same frequencies when I have the panning effect on the Nord. You hear it pretty clearly with each "pan." If I turn the "Wide" knob all the way down there's no buzzing. If I turn panning off, there's a little buzz, but much less than before.

 

When I got my unit I had a similar side-speaker buzz/vibration thing going on. I took the speaker out (very easy to get to 4 screws on the grill in the side cut-out, just keep a hold on the speaker from the other side as you remove them) and discovered that there were splinters from the edges of the hole cutout that were protruding and touching part of the speaker cone/surround. Sanding those off and replacing the speaker cured the buzz for me. Definitely worth checking.

 

 

Interesting. So you took the side speaker out completely to do this? Removing the grill from the speaker side and the screws from the back side?

[JesseC]

This time, the side speaker does some very loud buzzing/vibrating around those same frequencies when I have the panning effect on the Nord. You hear it pretty clearly with each "pan." If I turn the "Wide" knob all the way down there's no buzzing. If I turn panning off, there's a little buzz, but much less than before.

 

When I got my unit I had a similar side-speaker buzz/vibration thing going on. I took the speaker out (very easy to get to 4 screws on the grill in the side cut-out, just keep a hold on the speaker from the other side as you remove them) and discovered that there were splinters from the edges of the hole cutout that were protruding and touching part of the speaker cone/surround. Sanding those off and replacing the speaker cured the buzz for me. Definitely worth checking.

 

 

Interesting. So you took the side speaker out completely to do this? Removing the grill from the speaker side and the screws from the back side?

 

 

Oops, yes, remove the speaker with screws on the back side. You may not need to remove the grill side as the issue with the splinters was only on the speaker side.

 

[Morrissey]

I picked up an SS3 a few months ago. I finally got around to using it at a gig last night. Awesome! There are plenty of detailed positive reviews in this thread, so I'll be brief, but let me add my voice to the choir.

 

I set up the SS3 vertically about 10 feet behind me, elevated about 5 feet. It was close to the rear wall, and I angled the SS3 slightly to the side, so the side-firing speaker could reflect a bit off the rear wall.

 

Everyone could hear me better: me, the band, the audience. It inspired me to play better. The sound dispersion was fantastic. I don't need to repeat all the praise... but the hype is real... awesome product!

 

 

 

 

[MathOfInsects]

Oh, cool--I'm glad someone finally started a thread about this. I hear is a pretty cool amp. Can anyone tell me anything about it?

[MotiDave]

Oh, cool--I'm glad someone finally started a thread about this. I hear is a pretty cool amp. Can anyone tell me anything about it?

 

I'm no expert though I did own one - for 5 days. What I heard was its thin on LF response, lacks SPL power and inexplicably burps and makes crackling noises at unpredictable moments. yet the legions grew larger and an army of technologists were deployed globally for 2+ years to devise augmentations and adjustments to optimize the performance of the curious device.

 

Glowing reports from the battlefield abound and victory has been triumphantly declared. A world rejoices.

[MathOfInsects]

All the really good amps need plastic wings attached to them and can only be positioned one way to sound good. Is this like that, or is it one of those useless, "Sounds good just like it is" amps?

[Doerfler]

All the really good amps need plastic wings attached to them and can only be positioned one way to sound good. Is this like that, or is it one of those useless, "Sounds good just like it is" amps?

Are you referring to mono amps, or other stereo amps?

[MathOfInsects]

All the really good amps need plastic wings attached to them and can only be positioned one way to sound good. Is this like that, or is it one of those useless, "Sounds good just like it is" amps?

Are you referring to mono amps, or other stereo amps?

 

ALL GOOD AMPS NEED PLASTIC WINGS. Or else how do you know they're good???

[Doerfler]

did you start drinking again? :idk

[vanderSchoot]

I liked it when the spacestation slowly collided with a star destroyer awesome cgi........ oeps,....... wrong topic......

[jpst]

Mental note: get plastic wings for my KC550, to make it sound amazing...

[PianoMan51]

All the really good amps need plastic wings attached to them and can only be positioned one way to sound good. Is this like that, or is it one of those useless, "Sounds good just like it is" amps?

Are you referring to mono amps, or other stereo amps?

 

ALL GOOD AMPS NEED PLASTIC WINGS. Or else how do you know they're good???

 

They also need a sub. And a high-end FRFR self-powered PA speaker to sit on top of it.

 

That's how you tell!

[cphollis]

Laugh all you want, mine still gets used plenty for informal rehearsals, super-small venues, low-volume "wallpaper" gigs and the like. Can't always bring a pair of PA speakers on poles.

 

No plastic wings, no FRFR speaker on top, no sub.

 

But I do have a nice stand that aims the side-firing speaker at the ground.

[Raymb1]

Laugh all you want, mine still gets used plenty for informal rehearsals, super-small venues, low-volume "wallpaper" gigs and the like. Can't always bring a pair of PA speakers on poles.

 

No plastic wings, no FRFR speaker on top, no sub.

 

But I do have a nice stand that aims the side-firing speaker at the ground.

 

Exactly how I use mine. No problems whatsoever.

[MathOfInsects]

Mine is used for 99.7%-100% of all playing situations, everywhere, for everything.

 

Was just poking fun at the Thread That Will Not Die.

 

Tough crowd!

[Danny Linguini]

Mine is used for 99.7%-100% of all playing situations, everywhere, for everything.

 

Was just poking fun at the Thread That Will Not Die.

 

Tough crowd!

With or without plastic wings?

[MathOfInsects]

No wings. Sub maybe once a year, maybe less. In my mind, I bought an 11x11-inch stage monitor for a reason, and it can't help it that it sounds just good enough that people want to use it beyond its intended scope. On the other hand, I am almost never my own FOH, so maybe that's a factor.

 

The one thing I do use is one (1) roll of gaffer's tape, which I wedge under the SS3 to angle it up toward me a bit (or more than a bit if it's too close).

 

Right now, with my NE5D usually serving as my only board, and my SS3 as my monitor, my set-up is one trip even without a cart, and takes up very little real estate onstage. I love my rig right now....

[AnotherScott]

Right now, with my NE5D usually serving as my only board, and my SS3 as my monitor, my set-up is one trip even without a cart, and takes up very little real estate onstage. I love my rig right now....

You go straight from the Nord to the SS3? It drives it hot enough to get you enough volume?

[MathOfInsects]

Right now, with my NE5D usually serving as my only board, and my SS3 as my monitor, my set-up is one trip even without a cart, and takes up very little real estate onstage. I love my rig right now....

You go straight from the Nord to the SS3? It drives it hot enough to get you enough volume?

 

Again, with the caveat that almost all my gigs run through FOH...yeah, I rarely use my mixer anymore. I am going to add the Key Largo to my signal chain at some point, so this will be moot, but, the day I ran my NS into my NE and ran that to my SS3 was the day I felt liberated from the tyranny of signal-chain clutter. One less object to find a place for and plug in. In spite of the thousands of pages in this thread, the truth is that if you're not using the SS3 as FOH sound, it barely matters where you put it, IMO. Sit it close enough so you can hear it, give it a nice reflection point somewhere, close up the spread a bit, and stop all the fussiness. FOH will worry about whether it "blooms" out there or not.

 

I am shorthanding, because I do bring the mixer and never go one-size-fits-all. But lately, more often than not, I'm either one board into SS3, or one board into the other into SS3.

[roygBiv]

.......Again, with the caveat that almost all my gigs run through FOH........ In spite of the thousands of pages in this thread, the truth is that if you're not using the SS3 as FOH sound, it barely matters where you put it, IMO. Sit it close enough so you can hear it, give it a nice reflection point somewhere, close up the spread a bit, and stop all the fussiness. FOH will worry about whether it "blooms" out there or not.

 

Preach it Brother Math!

 

My thoughts exactly - with 9 people in my reggea/ska band, and almost every venue having varying degrees of FOH, this is pretty much what I do.

 

What with the scramble of getting everything set-up, including swapping stuff on stage (if we are sharing the bill with another band, which is the majority of gigs), dialing in the 'optimal' SS3 positioning has dropped down on my to-do list.

 

I pretty much find something to lean it back against, point the center speaker at my head, and try to make sure there is something with reflecting surface for the side firing speaker, plug in my keys, turn it on and go.

 

Since most FOH situations are giving you the option of some keys in the monitor mix, I"m finding extra time tweaking things is simply not worth it. I spend that time fussing with my iPad apps for extra sounds

[TomKittel]

I used to be a staunch advocate of the SSV3 and I still like it. But the moment I plugged my keys into the MotionSound KP500S I immediately knew what I was missing. Still, the SSV3 is unrivaled at it's size and price point.

[garnermike]

Garnermike here. I began this incredibly long SSv3 thread back in June 2014. I don't follow it very religiously anymore, but a few posts I read recently prompt me to offer these comments:

 

-I use the SSv3 about half as often as I used to. Totally depends on the venue. If the room is one big open space or outside, I don't use it. Instead, I'll use two PA speakers (one for each kb channel). If the room is smaller with partitions/turns, I'll use the SSv3 connected (via the sub out) to either a 12" PA speaker or a 12" kb amp. Like most folks on this thread, I do this to capture/throw frequencies lower than the SSv3 can handle and to have the kb's sound seemingly "turn corners.".

-I never use the SSv3 alone. My band requires the keys to project solid lows.

-I have used the SSv3 with the side speaker (1) facing me; (2) facing away from me; (3) facing up to the ceiling; and (4) facing down onto a hard floor. I realize it's all "to each, his own," but I don't hear any substantive differences among any of these set-ups. And, as far as I can determine, the audience in various areas of my venues can't either.

-I'd love to own the newer bigger version of Aspen's brainchild (such that hauling and connecting two amps would not be necessary), but 64 lbs and $1100 make the bigger unit a no-go for me.

-Have used balanced and unbalanced cables in using/connecting the SSv3, and just cannot detect any advantage to using one type over the other.

-the one clear advantage I hear in using the SSv3 over other amp set-ups is being able to project a keen high-frequency tone/voice that other amps can't deliver. Playing a lot of reggae and rockabilly, one of the SK1 patches that I created and use a lot is a harpsichord or 12-string guitar "extra voice" layered over a B3 organ voice. The SSv3 does a superior job in projecting a sharp, cutting, stringy guitar-like sound in that layered-on voice.

 

[MotiDave]

64 lbs and $1100 is a pair of decent pro grade stereo PPAs.

[AnotherScott]

64 lbs and $1100 is a pair of decent pro grade stereo PPAs.

Yup. The basic decision remains... do you want traditional stereo that sounds best within a sweet spot, or do you want a spacious pseudo-stereo effect that works everywhere in the venue.