rickp

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

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.

wow - way to figure it out! lucky the sv1 has audio inputs - hope I don't run into that situation - neither of my boards have audio inputs... One easy solution is with a Mackie 802VLZ3 or 4 series mixer (at a cost not much more than some quality stereo D.I.'s); run one board out of the mixer's main XLRs to FOH, engage the 3/4 switch on the other board's channel to cut it from the main output and run that board to FOH via the mixer's 1/4"TRS 3 and 4 outs (which easily convert to XLR with adapter); choose main and 3/4 as signal sources for stereo control room outs to run both boards mixed together back to SS3 from those outs.

^^ So - was it the Portland microwave or the yellow handtruck???

High-mid is cut a bit, rest are 12 o'clock, horn switched off. Nice specs on your Ibanez!

Aspen mentioned in a prior post working on a comprehensive FAQ page for the Center Point Stereo website; looks like he has completed much of that and addresses many of these recent questions HERE.

Although not a GK, I use a TC Electronics 1-12 Digital Bass combo with great results coming out of the ss sub out. I can also throw a small Rolls 2 way crossover into the signal path and direct the HF to the SS and LF to the bass amp I just replied to timwat's PM to me regarding my GK use with an SS3, but in regard to the crossover discussion above, I think pairing the SS with a quality small bass amp works great without a crossover. For one thing, I think overall sound benefits from the SS's 8" and a small bass amp's 10" or 12" overlapping and having excursions into each other's freq ranges - and the result is a smooth gradual and blended transition from one to the other as you move up and down the keyboard, without abrupt changes due to a crossover's fixed point of directing signal feed. And, the "rolloff" Aspen built into the SS as freqs lower totally leaves the SS's higher region unmolested to my ears if/when a small bass amp is attached via the SS3's sub-out, even when the left hand is split to acoustic bass at aggressive volumes. If/when a small bass amp is attached, the SS seems to me to ignore the low stuff more than it does with nothing attached, and with the lows seemingly grabbed by the bass amp, the SS3 pumps out the higher stuff just as nicely as playing the right hand alone (I've experimented with this extensively since I play LH bass most of the time and wanted to be able to do it when necessary with a split CP4 running directly into the SS3 with no separate bass amp feed). Don't ask me why it seems to work that way, I just drive the car and leave the set-up and tech to the guys who know the hows and whys.

Played an annual hotel reception event last night, took a CP4 and the SSv3 along with a GK MB210 (400 person seated size room). My only request was to be placed far away from the peanut and sesame oil-burning wok stations that nearly kept me in tears last year (I know you can't technically be "downwind" indoors, but the HVAC air stream sure made it seem that way), and I wound up being placed in the middle of the back wall in a square-ish room with 20+ foot ceilings. With the nearest wall for SSv3 reflection over thirty feet away, I berated myself (a common practice, it seems) for poorly planning for such a placement, as I had been in a nice corner in prior years. Perhaps the peanut and sesame oil smoke wouldn't be so bad after all . . . As I was struggling to think of something to use as a reflecting surface (car sunroof perhaps?), I remembered one of the gospel vocalists I record backing tracks for left a folding music stand (a $12 cheapo that collapses down to the size of a 3 cell Maglight) in my back seat. I "borrowed" a large faux-leather folding menu from the restaurant, set up the stand about a foot from the SSv3 (which was perched on the GK MB210), placed the unfolded menu, binder side out, on the stand and angled the whole stand-reflecty-shebang toward the center of the side wall. I left the backside of the side-firing speaker unimpeded (really more out of time necessity than choice). With CP4 running in 1/4" direct, the SSv3's volume at quarter and all other settings at a half, and the MB210 brought up and EQ'ed just enough to fill out low end, sound from a USB piano recording I'd made for sound sampling/setting seemed to swirl throughout the room, nice and full at a volume level that made quiet conversation a breeze. When I started playing, I noticed the surround-sound sensation lessened a bit as the room filled. I nudged the CP4's volume knob a fraction and it returned. Several people commented on how nice the sound was (noticeably lacking were any compliments on the playing - only on the sound) and asked about the piano, apparently not knowing the amp's role in the whole thing. What really got my attention though was the staff supervisor commenting as I was packing up that he'd never really thought the room's in-ceiling speaker system was much good for music before this event. I told him I was not running through the room's system, and he looked at me like I was stupid for not knowing that it must have been, waving his arms overhead and saying the sound was very even and seemed like it was coming from all directions. I decided to let it go at that (also a common practice, it seems, if it doesn't pass the two-week test ["is this something that will really matter to me two weeks from now?"]). So - any way - the whole point of this inartfully worded post is that a cheapo-easily-stowable-fully-collapsible music stand with a 14x16 or so reflecting surface to place on it works well (if you happen to have the SSv3 sitting on a amp or sub or rack) positioned 10 to 20 inches from the SSv3 and 45-angled, leaving the back side of the speaker open to eventually reflect off a more-distant surface. That rig is nothing at all to pack in existing gear bags/containers. As for the reflecting surface material, I'm sticking with a faux-leather menu for now . . .

You can definitely tell the difference if you cut into them to customize lengths; differences are very apparent then. Outside overall gauge is much different too, which translates to some additional toughness as well. I'm not advocating the stuff audiophiles talk about (speaker cables north of $150/foot, chasing specs that are discernable only by machine and not human ear); relative to the cost of our equipment, the differential cost of these cables isn't outlandish. But, whatever works for someone works for them - no universally right or wrong answer.

Oh man, at great risk of touching off cable debate, since you've asked and no one has answered yet, I'll put neck squarely on block and say I'm a Monster Keyboard Cable fan (and Monster XLR mic cables too). Tying so many different components together, one bad cable or connecter can introduce noise or wreak havoc; my usual stage rig uses 14 Monster cables (including 4 XLR's running to FOH), they're all several years old and they're dead quiet. And value-wise, you'll buy cables once, since they have a lifetime warranty, but these things are tough and substantial enough that you'll likely not need it. I for one have never understood people spending thousands of dollars on keyboards, amplification and speakers but then tying it all together with the cheapest cables they can find . . . trite but true, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. So there it is - neck squarely on block - swing away!

Thanks! Cables are all Monster Keyboard Cables, which I think have been discontinued but are still floating around. For this rig, I bought 2 12' cables, did some measuring to determine the unequal lengths needed to have upper and lower board cables to be of equal lengths on the mixer end of the "snake," and made 4 cables from the original 2 with some extra Monster plugs found on eBay. If you try this, Monster's cables are directional, so attention has to be paid to that, and the shielding is attached to the source/keyboard end plug but is not attached to the mixer/amp end plug - part of Monster's noise elimination scheme. I know exactly what you mean about the SK1 supply, it seems very delicate. That power cable is tightly bundled in the "snake" that runs from the mixer end (where the power "brick" is) up to the various keyboard/mic/IEM amp cable ends (wrapped tightly at 6" intervals with Velcro cable ties, double wrapped at each end), and that power cord is wrapped in a way that it is fully supported from below and extends free-standing from the rest of the cabling exactly at the plug-in's level - so it exerts no vertical or horizontal pressure on the socket when plugged in. It is the last thing I plug in, I'm a bit paranoid about that connection.

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd292/rickpoling/Out%20Rig/IMG_0636_zpsgix8b3qf.jpg http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd292/rickpoling/Out%20Rig/IMG_0640_zpsyi2xsp0z.jpg http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd292/rickpoling/Out%20Rig/IMG_0706_zpset9q8dzt.jpg http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd292/rickpoling/Out%20Rig/IMG_0514_zpschbln82q.jpg Primary playing out rig. Left-hand bass on R3, right-hand S90ES midi'ed out to SK1 (FC7 pedal controls SK1 presence/volume/expression). The two items keyboard players who check it out comment on most: the Rolls PM55 velcroed under left end and a $5 gooseneck USB light plugged into the S90ES's USB port to illuminate the control panel area under the top board. Sometimes it's the little things . . .

Red??? Did someone say "red?"

Excellent point

I've been thinking about attaching an old set of 14" Fender tilt-back legs I have laying around (I think DanL first mentioned that idea a few dozen pages ago). If they could be set out far enough from the cabinet with a spacer to accommodate attached 12" tall deflectors when they're folded in against the cabinet (attachment idea also first mentioned by DanL, I believe), the legs could be deployed first to tilt it back, the deflectors deployed next . . . and it would start to look like some sort of solar collector/generator device (befitting of the "Spacestation" nameplate). So now I'm thinking sheet metal or aluminum wings . . . Seriously though (not that I'm totally joking about building a space station Spacestation), some really good ideas floating around here for when a back wall or side reflective surface isn't available. Thanks.

Here's a wife-pleaser - your relatively small expenditure and ingenuity saved a bit of green; an equivalent commercial product (using A2 panels in 1' width) costs a cool $84 ($28 per panel part A2-1) plus shipping.

I almost have down-pat a method for adjusting the width (requires a few trips between width control, keyboard, and out in room); there is a point at which some of the sound begins to seem like it's coming from the direction opposite the SS3's position - uncanny.

You snooze - you ... No snoozing here. I just found out about them a couple weeks ago. Understandable, Calyx, since it hasn't been reviewed yet in "Keyboard" or similar mags (although a thorough review will be appearing sometime soon from this forum's Dave Bryce) and you wouldn't even see it for sale anywhere unless you specifically peruse Sweetwater's keyboard amp section. But-for the savvy and heads-up folks in this forum, I wouldn't have had any idea about it either. I see you just registered; hope you enjoy and benefit from the forum as much as I do!

I think they may be talking about the dimensions of the case itself, not its interior capacity. Exactly. It's the same case/same dimension listing as when I bought it from Amazon, and the SS3 is nice tight fit - no extra room inside.

Not quite as cheap as it was when I bought it from Amazon, but just checked and it is not a whole lot more at $89.99 with free shipping HERE.

Stereo IEMs can be pretty darn nice when you have means to dial them in and control them yourself via iPad/iOS device or individual console (HearBack or similar) - can get amazing layering level and vocal accuracy with them, plus ability to easily change and adjust what's most dominant in your ears from song to song as needed if/when additional channel focus or isolation is desired for vocal lead, harmonies, subtle layers, etc. But, I don't think using IEMs negates the need or benefits of SSv3 - not an either/or sort of situation - folks using IEMs still want to give everyone else the best sound they reasonably can.

Just thinking of things to try (the SS3 will get very loud cleanly), if you've already checked all the cables involved: 1) You mention that the mixer channel indicators were well below red; you may want to try to saturate the mixer channels more with your keyboard output controls - seemingly small gains there make a big difference; 2) With your mixer channels fully saturated but not clipping, try running into the SS3 with its volume at mid-point - I've had many, many amps through the years and it has been my sense with keyboards (and guitars can be vastly different in this regard) that all of them, even the higher-end tube amps, have diminishing returns and/or nothing good happening much past mid-point (some Fenders even at the 3 1/2 or 4 mark), and the way pots are structured, there definitely isn't a smooth linear curve all the way through the range of the pot of volume selected vs. volume achieved; 3) Are you using a power conditioner or filter? Some components are really sensitive to power anomalies, and it only takes one thing acting up to power supply with so many things connected together with TS cables to produce some really puzzling problems; 4) You mentioned running to FOH as well; since the main thing is how it sounds out front (and "the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing"), you may have places that you simply have to let the FOH pick up your levels . . . my own FOH strategy is usually to have stereo FOH carrying the bulk of the load and anything I have on stage set just loud enough to provide decent self-monitoring (if not using IEMs), to provide some sound position-anchoring, and to fill the front-center that may be somewhat skimmed by the mains (particularly when they are very high or very wide). Plus, FOH guys also are always appreciative of players managing stage volumes, and they seem to work harder when they aren't nullified by stage levels. Sorry if none of this is particularly helpful or applicable, hope you get it worked out.

. . . I'm guessing that stacking one on the other will be good enough, since I'm thinking about those teeny tiny stages I've started to play. I seem to recall some discussion/affirmation waaaay back in this thread about supplemental speakers needing to be placed on the same vertical axis as the SS3's 8" main to not disrupt the atmospheric/sound wave disturbance the side speaker array creates to produce the stereo magic . . . and I may be waaaaay off on that. Stacking has worked well for me though.

Great description of the Mackie ProFX8 - one other great feature of that mixer, especially for the money, is USB record/streaming capabilities. And, internal power supply is always a huge plus in a small mixer. If I didn't need the extra output bus/channeling options for separate bass routing, I'd be on it.

One other 802VLZ4 trick to use it as a stereo IEM amp as well as a FOH/SS3 stereo source: Use the XLR main outs for FOH, use the 1/4 main outs to SS3, feed a stereo return monitor mix into a stereo mixer channel and hit that channel's 3/4 button to take that out of the main mix; On the control room/headphone section of the mixer, choose to monitor the main 1/2 channels and also the 3/4 channels; you can then use the headphone jack to hear your keys AND stereo monitor return (mix the monitor feed vs. your keys via the monitor channel's fader, adjust mix volume via headphone volume knob).