TomKittel
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Posts posted by TomKittel
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This is my new setup for live playing. For the first time ever I got all three keybeds I need in a very compact and lightweight setup: Roland RD64 hammer keys for piano/rhodes, Uhl X3-1 waterfall organ, Roland A800 synthkeys for synths and everything else in the Integra 7.
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Just updated my DIY HX3 and my Uhl X3-1 organs with the new firmware and soundengine. The update procedure was a breeze. It's just one mouseklick and it took about two or three minutes. Wow, the new C/V is just terrific! It has THIS velvety shimmery beat you would expect from a well maintained B3. Just glorious. This update is highly recommended.
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I just got this. Incredible product. A real Swiss knife for just everything PC or iPad audio/midi related. It's a audio Interface for PC with low latency ASIO, it's a patchbay, it's a Midi Interface, it's a iPad Interface, it's a iPad charger... and much more. Love it!
http://www.iconnectivity.com/images/products/iCA4plus/galleryicon_iCA4plus_frontangle.pngiConnectAUDIO4+
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I did run out of faith in my own ability to do the all the updates and use flash tools etc. etc. I don't really live in that world.
About a year ago I sold my HX3 module for the very same reasons. The never-ending update and remote software hassles were a ongoing pain and it was always a toss-up if the update would work as intended or not.
Instead I bought a Uhl X3 this summer. It works like a charm and it sounds terrific. Uhl doesn't adapt every single HX3 update. He only releases properly customized Uhl-X3 updates after he thoroughly tested and approved them. Absolutely hassle-free as it should be. I never looked back.
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HX-3 models the console preamp / leslie amp paradigm so closely, that it presents the same problem that we all had with our original tonewheel rigs - you can't control overdrive separately from volume. That's more inconvenient than the way Mojo handles it.
The Uhl X3 organ also handles this better. It has two separate control knobs for volume and drive.
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There is just the right amount of key click, IMHO. Listen to samples on youtube or uhl-instruments.de or http://www.keyboardpartner.de/referenzen.html
HTH
Most authentic key click I ever heard on any clonewheel. It can be kind of adjusted with the treble control in the display menu. Call up treble control, adjust it, press the dial knob for two seconds to save it, done.
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Looking into an amp stand to try the "aim the side speaker sideways" trick. Anyone using something like this one? Seems like it might work, keep the SS3 closer to the floor but give room for the side speaker to fire down.
I have both, the earlier mentioned Gator stand and this one. I prefer the higher position of the Gator amp stand. It seems to space out the 3D sound of the SSV3 better. But it's all a matter of taste of course.
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Enthusiastic advocate of the SSV3 here. Just recently I took advice from some KC posts and purchased an amp stand:
https://photos.google.com/search/_tra_/photo/AF1QipOO94GViZ_50V6BIiKhfIokT779ZjD00wwn67rf
This amp stand is highly recommended. Cheap and handy. Unlike other amp stands it folds flat. As far as I can tell the SSV3 sound seems to benefit if it's raised from the floor a little bit. I get the best sound if the SSV3 is placed sharp angled to my ears instead of equiangular.
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I've done a few more gigs with the SS.
- Rock gig: CP4/E4D/SS along with pro sound system/guy running keys in stereo. Sounded awesome. Positive feedback from band and audience. I could hear the overall mix very well. There was excellent interaction among band members because we could hear ourselves and each other clearly (i.e., better than previous gigs where I used something other than the SS).
- Jazz organ trio with LH bass: Nord E4D->SS->BD1200. Sounded great. I previously gigged with E4D->BD1200->SS which didn't produce acceptable pitch definition for the LH bass. Running the SS pre BD1200 resolved this issue. The SS / BD1200 is replacing a chopped Leslie 145 / home theater subwoofer combo. The guitarist and drummer said the SS/BD1200 sounds as good as the chopped Leslie 145/home theater subwoofer. The owner of the restaurant said a patron in the back asked if we could turn down. The owner said she couldn't understand this request because she thought our volume was fine (and she's someone who doesn't hesitate to call us out on volume). We really were playing at a low volume but turned down to comply. I think this is a testament to how the SS fills the room with sound in an unconventional way.
- Uplugged kind of rock gig without drums: NE4/SS, decided to not connect to PA. Sounded great. Had the bass player play before we went on and walked around to check the sound. Really filled the room in an even and pleasing way.
Generally speaking I don't like the SS on the floor. For the first and third gigs I had it vertical and tilted back on a Gator Amp stand. For the the second gig it was on top of the BD1200.
Thanks for this report. How far away from you did you position the SSV3?
PS: Did you retire your RCF TT08 speakers?
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The real question for me is "how does it sound as compared to your C2"? Most of the clones are bright, sounding more like late 60's hammonds (like my L100P does). I prefer the more mellow sound like my 57 B3. So I'd be interesting in understanding whether the tone is more mellow (dark) or bright as compared to the C2. I have a Vent so if the leslie doesn't cut it, I don't necessarily care as the Vent will take care of that although I would like to be able to leave the Vent at home and am hoping that the internal leslie is good enough.
It really depends on the tapering setting of the HX3 (or U-X3). You have the choice between "1955", "1972" and "Recapped" organs. The 1955 setting is the most mellow setting and "Recapped" the brightest. In addition to that the "Tone" dial also changes the sound from bright to dark. As to the HX3 rotary simulation I like the internal HX3 sim even better than the Vent. And it is customizable to your own taste.
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Check out Jim Alfredson's many YT vids comparing first the Hammond XK3 and then his SK1 to his 1957 killer C3. He produced some blind test vids and most of these fanatics right here on this forum could not tell the difference. Ask yourself this question:
How much room does that leave for these guys raving about how much better this HX3 is compared to an SK1 or Mojo?
Bob
Indeed Jim Alfredson sounds awesome on his SK2. Leaving aside that Jim is an outstanding organ player I was always wondering why I wasn't able to get such great Hammond tone out of the SK1 myself. To me the SK1 always left something to be desired. Without a Leslie or Vent I found it nearly unusable. It sounded best through my Leslie 147 of course. The Vent also substantially improved the tone but it still wasn't there, especially not in the upper two octaves of the keyboard. The SK1 never spit out such a great fat rock tone like in this video:
My new Uhl-Instruments X3 which is based on an individualized HX3 sound engine delivers that sound right out of the box. No matter which stereo amp or speakers I play it through, it just delivers fat authentic Hammond/Leslie tone in spades. No additional rotary sim needed. For me the Uhl X3 is a game changer - just like Aspen's CPS Spacestation V3.
JMTC
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Brotha'men, ...
Think of the SSv3 as a tri amped Bose Home stereo x 25.
Well, I don't dislike the SS, but by that logic you could also call it a miniaturized set of Bose 901s, with or without 350 improvements since 1968, with too much direct sound, too much HTF considerations and that would fail the power burn in test. Stay realistic.
Maybe it escaped me that you guys own a SSV3. If not, why does someone who never used or owned a SSV3 feel a vocation to give a professional opinion on it?
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Does anyone have some tips for improving the Casio PX5S Acoustic Piano sounds through the SSv3? thanks
Simple answer: get Dave Weisers PX5-S Gig Piano Pack. http://www.weisersound.com/#!sound-sets/cfwa
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Thomann answered to me (andree)they had heard nothing about this product and manufacturer! This answer is from Simon Feig/ PA department 9.3.2015. There must be a misunderstanding somewhere? Just trying to get SS v3 quickly
Just a thought: maybe you need to talk with somebody in the keyboards and synthesizers department instead of a PA guy?
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Aspen, could you give the exact specs for the SS fuse? Thanks, Ray
This would really help. So far there aren't any fuse specs other than a posting buried somewhere in these 61 pages here.....
I think Aspen should put a FAQ with all this info on his web site, and link to it in his sig here. [/Quote]Great idea. Should be easy. Thanks!
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Several years ago, I played with an electric band where it seemed that louder was better. And we got gawd awful loud -- the drums couldn't keep up without amplification sometimes.
I don't play with them anymore (thankfully), but that's where I learned the value of 2000w+ of stage amplification.
Hope you used some ear protection plugs back then! ;-)
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While you may find it "tiring to read", realize that some of us have not had a stellar experience when playing in loud situations, even after setting gain structure correctly. SS doesn't go "as loud as you want"; Aspen himself gave max volume info here, and when you exceed that...it distorts. When you're in a situation where the SS's volume doesn't keep up, it just isn't loud enough, period.
@Daddyg3042: What made you change your mind? Remember your posting from Feb 4? I may quote you: "but if you need loud...that's altogether possible. I'm a pretty happy camper. I can't wait to pair these up when the band gets together again. Volume...you want more volume!! I'll show you!"
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have not yet run into any distortion issues with my stage2 - but loud enough with my sk1 not using a sub woofer to keep up with a very loud band, to the point of being painfully loud... completely clean and without distortion (I actually do like loud, even very loud for driving rock jam music...) to lead me to believe this thing can be as loud as I'd ever want...
I second this. The SSV3 can get as loud as you want it to be. It's somewhat tiring to read time and again that the SSV3 might not be loud enough for this and that. C'mon folks! Get a grip on the gain structures of your instruments and mixers and don't blame the Spacestation if you don't know how to do that. Just pay attention to some basic rules which Aspen has explained repeatedly with abundance of patience in the past 58 pages and the SSV3 will deliver more volume than you can bear, really. These "not loud enough" postings should not be be misleading for all those interested in the Spacestation. It's more than loud enough if used properly.
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Running thru the Yamaha MG60X mixer that someone else here used, I immediately found that the lefthand side of my Korg CX-3 alarmingly blatted out the SS's woofer at anything over a small volume. *Loud* was out of the question -- and I don't mean garage-band-loud; I mean above conversation level. This was partly because I was applying about +5db +to the low EQ on the mixer, to reproduce the fullness of the KC60s I used previously. Flatting out the mixer EQ gave me more room, but still not as loud as the KC60s on half-volume.
Not sure what you are doing wrong....but you must be doing something completely wrong with your setup. A crap Roland KC60 louder than the Spacestation?? You must be kidding!
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Klaus, thanks for your detailed assesment!
Re: Mixers- you will never go wrong with a Mackie 802 VLZ4 --- or any Mackie Analog Mixer (NOT PRO FX-!!!!!!)
The 802 VLZ will be the best $199 you'll spend. Clean, quiet and lots of headroom. Built like a tank.
I second the Mackie recommendation. With two keyboards the more compact Mackie 402 would also do the job. It offers three pairs of stereo inputs (including one tape input). Yamaha's MG series also offer good audio quality but are not as rugged as the small Mackies.
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Just curious, I want to get a spare fuse or 3. I can't find a 50mmx5 fuse anywhere, just 20mm. Help, or was the above info size mistaken?
Thanks
You need a 20mm fuse.
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Does the back need to be unscrewed to change the fuse? The fuse block doesn't seem to be removable.
The fuse sits between the power jack and the power switch. It's the same at all models, 115V and 230V. The socket can be levered out with a small screwdriver.
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Yesterday I had an unpleasant experience with my Spacestation at a gig. During the sound check all worked well. It sounded great again. But soon after the show started the Spacestation lacked power. It turned out to be a blown fuse. It may sound silly but in 25 years I didn't have a single blown fuse at any instrument or amp. Of course I didn't have a spare fuse! I never ever even thought about carrying spare fuses. It was somewhat disappointing that the fuse box in the SSV3 provides a holder for a spare but it was empty. I really wish a spare fuse would be included out of the box. An electrician who attended the show said that the blown 1.6A fuse seems to be a little weak for a 280 watts amp. After we were able to pull a 4A fuse out of a fog machine I was able to finish the show.
My recommendation to all Spacestation owners: make sure you have spare fuses in your bag! And you might want to use a higher ampereage than the one supplied.
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Yesterday I had the third rehearsal with a new funk band project. Last time I used my 750 watt RCF TT08A active speakers for my keys (old Korg SP200 and Kurzweil PC3LE6). For those of you who don't know the RCF TT08A: it's RCF's top-notch premium speaker line. A pair of these RCFs is around 3,500 bucks! I used them as monitors wedged on the floor. While I liked the RCF sound I got complaints from my bandmates. For some I was too loud, some found my sounds too shrill, some others couldn't hear me at all.
These complaints completely stopped yesterday after I brought my Spacestation and a small Mackie 402 mixer. I put the Spacestation 9 feet away from me. It was placed next to the bass amp, tilted against a wall. The bass amp shielded the side speaker a little bit. It sounded just terrific! Full, warm, loud, very nice stereo field everywhere in the room. Really, really magic! Right after the first song everybody asked me where the f... that wonderful sound would come from! No one wanted to believe that my keys just came from this little 8" amp on the floor and that the keys were not at all plugged into the band's amplification system in the room. And you know what? This first song was Real Mother For Ya with the fat Moog synthbass line and a sax brass section, all coming from the PC3LE6. No sub needed for that fat synth sound, not at all!! During the course of the evening I used strings, rhodes, clav, piano, organ, synthbass and synthlead sounds. We had a whole lot of fun playing and all keys sounded pristine, just right there! Really the best playing experience I had in a long time.
After the rehearsal everybody in the band said that this was the most homogeneous sounding rehearsal they ever had with any keyboard player. No need to add anything to this comment... and it makes me proud of course ;-)
BTW: I criticized AP sounds a little bit in my last posts. This criticism is dust! The APs also sounded great yesterday. I think I learned my lesson on how to use the SS V3 best:
1) Don't judge your AP sounds from playing them solo with SS. Play them in a band setting and you will absolutely love them (just don't use Nord piano samples ;-))
2) Don't put the SS too close to you! This would hamper the magic!
3) Put width just a little bit below 12 o'clock
4) Adjust Highs and Mids according to the room's requirements. Don't overdo the tone controls! Keep them close to 12 o'clock - in one or the other direction as necessary.
Finally my message to all skeptics: do yourself a favor and get a Spacestation. Once you own it accept the learning curve which comes with it. The learning provides higher feelings and less higher feelings. In the end the higher feelings will be overwhelming! I went through that. I LOVE this amp!
Dig My Rig--Let's see your setup!
in The Keyboard Corner
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I hear ya. But I like the RD64 piano action a lot. And it surprises me again and again, how little I miss the two cropped octaves... just push the octave shift button if needed. It has the exact same width as the Uhl X-3. And you can put another keyboard directly on top. Very handy.