Heads-up: SpaceStation keyboard amp is apparently back

[Tombsalley]

Austin is His spy name. Yea baby!yea!

[junkcar]

Good deal today at gearfest too. Thanks Aspen!

 

Does that mean it was less than the Sweetwater price, which is $750?

[Redknife]

Good deal today at gearfest too. Thanks Aspen!

 

Does that mean it was less than the Sweetwater price, which is $750?

Yes, it was $6 something (sorry for the inexact $; they used my receipt for drive through pickup and I didn't get it back)

[Tombsalley]

Drive through? Did you get a hot apple pie with that?lol

[TimA]

Yes....at Sweetwater they have the Pie Hole Cafe.....

[Autumn Pittman]

Austin - Aspen... It happens all the time, you don't suck. I am happy you are now part of the family!! And a great deal!

 

You should see what they do to our names at Starbucks!!

And now I live in a country that Autumn isn't even in the vocabulary and the direct translation is masculine. LOL!

[TimA]

Thanks Autumn for moving past my lame joke. I thought I might be on the chopping block.( maybe I still am come to think of it..... Nobody get any ideas here)

[El Lobo]

Guitar player showed up without an amp. Long story, but point is he needed sound. That powered speaker had one, count 'em one input, and he needed it for the mic. So I ran him into my little mixer and through the SS3.

 

Do other people run thru a mixer to SS3? I double on sax & keyboard. I like to run both thru Mackie mixer and out to QSC powered speakers. I want to get SS3. Will it work to run sax and keys into mixer and out to SS3? What will happen to volume, tone, etc.?

 

This is my 1st post in this forum. I just found it when searching for info on SS3.

[endlessummerkeys]

 

yes I run my 3 keyboards and my sax mic through a mixer and I add a little delay just on my sax and run it all through my SS and then out to my sub and they all sound great.. My Selmer Mark 7 tenor sounds great that way!!!

[El Lobo]

yes, that's why I want to put sax thru mixer - add a touch of 'verb. I don't like to put sax or keys thru PA for small venues. Just vocals in PA. But I want to simplify rig to horn + Nord + mixer + SS3. Sounds like a plan.

[endlessummerkeys]

yeah would work great and the SS really takes the effects and expands it. had many guys tell me the sax has never sounded as good. make sure your effect is stereo and it will sound awesome

[garnermike]

SSv3 saved me yesterday. Playing outdoors as a smallish benefit concert, stage sound was being provided by the organizing band. Really quality set-up in terms of mains/monitors/subwoofers. The bands playing previous to us sounded really good. The common backline of gear was to have included a keyboard amp run to FOH. As we were only to play for 50 minutes and all bands only had 10 minutes to rush the stage and play, I was planning on foregoing playing through the SSv.3 and just playing through the provided kb amp/FOH. Last minute, I decided to throw the SSv.3 in my car---mainly to have it handy if other kb'ists there wanted to see one.

 

Well, first thing I discovered is that there in no kb amp in the backline; I'd be playing through FOH only. Next, when the band before us played, the monitors and/or mains on my side of the stage kept cutting in and out due to the heat (sunny and 97 degrees). Thinking "better safe than sorry," I retrieved the SSv.3 from my car and, when it was our turn to play, I ran my keys into it and then sent the subwoof link to the FOH. Sure enough, during our slot, both the mains and monitor nearest me cut out for good; all I had to give me any sense of what I was sounding like and how loud I was was the SSv.3.

 

Yeah, I suppose any amp could have played this rescue role, but what the other musicians and a few audience members told me afterwards made me smile. They all pretty much said that my keys resonated more clearly, were much more well-defined, and ...well... had a more "intimate" (to use a word one of them used) feel to them. This was playing under a large eave and projecting out to a big, wide-open space.

 

 

[hardware]

I'll be in the same kind of amphitheater this weekend too.

Anxious to see how it works on Concrete.

 

Have a wooden riser I built stuffed with Foam, about 4 inches high and 14" x 14".

So far that sounds the best.

I tipped it backwards last night at the gig and like it just a few inches off of the ground better, Noon on all settings.

 

A guitarist I work with on ocacasion is waiting for his.

He has always had a stereo rig with rackmounted FX.

Let him hook up his rig to my SSv3 and he loved the straight sounds with the PCM80/91 combo he uses, then he got dirty and it did sound really good.

 

Much more punchy than using 12's or 15's.

[MathOfInsects]

I had three jobs this weekend. One outdoors on a large stage, two inside on smaller stages. Expensive concert sound team on outdoor gig, local sound guys on smaller stages. Outdoor gig had the worst sound I can remember in a few years. One of those "watch everyone's fingers and hope you're counting right" gigs. Smaller gigs were both pretty well stage-monitored.

 

At the outdoor gig, two different guys in the group commented less than favorably on my sound at different points. One guy backed up and asked if I was using "more chorus" than last time we'd played together. Same patches, same signal chain, so I interpreted that to mean that he was getting too much side signal from SS3. I brought the width way back to 9 or 10 o'clock. Another guy looked over at one point in a song and squinted his eyes, like he wondered if I was playing the wrong chord. I swear by all that is holy that I was clam-free at that moment, so I was guessing ghost tones...which is not inconsistent with the first guy wondering about "chorusing."

 

Point is, with such crappy monitors, I have to blame the SS3 for some of these sonic anomalies. (Or Alzheimers, but I think I'd know if I HEY, THAT'S MY DEAD AUNT ROSE OVER THERE!!) Somewhere in the sonic soup of bleeds from mains, slapback from building across the field, and my own stage sound, something went wrong on that one.

 

Now for the flip side. Both bar gigs were on tighter stages, played to (I'm happy to say) packed houses. I think that last bit helped out: all those reflection and refraction points. First night, another bass player made a point to ask what the hell amp I was using that sounded so good--second one in two weeks to do so. Bear in mind this is the same night as the earlier outdoor gig: same rig, same amp, same sweaty black jeans. The next night was a similar set-up in a different bar, same result: a woman who books another club and who had been parked at the front of the stage made a point of finding me during break to ask what I'm "using for sound," which could partially have been the new Vent and the fact that the FOH guy ran me stereo this time, but also was at least in part because of what she was hearing RIGHT THERE--that is, right in front of my keys, where the SS3 was most independently discernible FOH.

 

So, a poorer result on the outdoor gig with no real reflection points, and two positive ones from the crowded indoor shows.

[Doug Robinson]

You blame your amp for creating ghost tones? Have you ever heard ghost tones coming from your amp? I've played outside in huge spaces but never got that effect. Are you sure the horrible sound man didn't have more to do with the problem? I once had a guy who, without telling me, put delay on my boards, saying it made them sound fatter...but it threw everyone's grooves off till I figured out what was happening.

[Al Quinn]

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.

[TomKittel]

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?

[MathOfInsects]

You blame your amp for creating ghost tones? Have you ever heard ghost tones coming from your amp? I've played outside in huge spaces but never got that effect. Are you sure the horrible sound man didn't have more to do with the problem? I once had a guy who, without telling me, put delay on my boards, saying it made them sound fatter...but it threw everyone's grooves off till I figured out what was happening.

 

Well, I never blame one single thing for ghost tones, it's usually a perfect storm of craptastic-ness. But given that the monitors were so lousy, I have to think my own stage sound source played at least some part in it. Maybe any amp would, of course. It was just that, coupled with the "chorus" comment, I couldn't help but wonder if the physics of the box made it less than ideal in this one isolated case.

[Jazzmammal]

Had my first duo gig with the SS on Sat with my sax player buddy. Until now all my SS gigs were full bands. He likes a big fat bass sound which is why he always runs me through his PA, a Yamaha powered head going into a pair of 15" Eons and I would use my EV 112P as my monitor. This time I ran the sub out from the SS into the PA. The setup was my SK1 and the BURN.

 

We don't use tracks or drum machines, just organ and sax doing real book jazz stuff which for the first time allowed me to really hear my setup in a loud live situation without a full band blasting away. The sound was really good. The bass going into the PA was very full and fat. I EQ'd the highs and mids down quite a bit in my PA channel. I was still overdriving the SS because I use the Man pedal bass so I turned up my PA channel a bit which took more of the strain from the SS. Once I got it dialed in it really sounded like what the pedal bass sounds like out of a Leslie 122.

 

To people who ask about the BURN, I did a comparison using the SK1's leslie sim and the BURN. The difference was dramatic. We did a tune and I told Gary this is what the Hammond by itself sounds like and he thought it was very good. The next tune I told him this is using the BURN and wow, what a difference. The cabinet sim really changed the sound, the bass especially was fuller and fatter yet still clear, the whole organ was just fatter and warmer sounding with a really good but mellow overdrive. I can't hear that big of a difference when I'm doing the bar band thing but in this situation it really makes a big difference and of course the SS still did it's thing. You could still hear the stereo effect but the PA did take some of that away because it's mono.

 

Overall we both thought this was my best sound yet for our jazz stuff.

 

Bob

[Al Quinn]

 

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?

 

Because of space limitations I've positioned the SS at distances varying from 2 and 8 feet away. I found that it can be close to me and sound good, especially if there's a wall close by to reflect the side speaker; a couple of times I used the hard cover for the mixer case to create a reflective surface for the side speaker to reflect forward. I haven't gone the route of baffles as others have but I certainly understand the appeal. As other have said before it does sound better at a distance. When I place it close I notice there's a "less than sweet spot" directly in front of it so if there isn't a wall nearby I turn the SS so that I can hear some of the side speaker which then provides a sense of dimension where I'm sitting. I played my rig with a midi file at home and walked around the room. The "less than sweet spot" was obvious as I moved around. I'm calling it a "less than sweet spot" to distinguish it from a "sour spot" since it certainly is much better than that.

 

My RCF TT08A's are not being retired: they're just taking a break while I make sense out of the SS and BD1200. I think I'm almost there. I was just thinking earlier today of an upcoming jazz gig where the need is to create an authentic acoustic piano sound. I'm struggling with the idea of leaving the TT08's at home for that gig. I'm going to try at home putting a TT08 on top of the SS (or perhaps on a pole) and run the SS sub out (which I understand is full range) to the TT08. Then fiddle with the dials so that the TT08 and SS side speaker are the dominating sounds (i.e, I'd like to hear the TT08 much more than the SS front speaker in this case as the TT08 is a noticeably higher fidelity, and higher priced, piece of gear). Who know's, this might sound good. Conceptually it's a nice combination of accurate and clear sound reproduction with the omnipresent effect. I'll try it out soon. All in all, I'm loving the SS for what it does and the TT08A's for what they do.

[junkcar]

Well, I just took delivery of a SSv3 from Clearwater and got it set up w/Roland RD700gx.

 

Very impressed...loudness with clarity, and able to carry on conversations without blasting noise. Very nice.

 

Thanks Aspen, and all the others here that have given their reports.

[DanL]

Had my first duo gig with the SS on Sat with my sax player buddy. Until now all my SS gigs were full bands. He likes a big fat bass sound which is why he always runs me through his PA, a Yamaha powered head going into a pair of 15" Eons and I would use my EV 112P as my monitor. This time I ran the sub out from the SS into the PA. The setup was my SK1 and the BURN.

 

We don't use tracks or drum machines, just organ and sax doing real book jazz stuff which for the first time allowed me to really hear my setup in a loud live situation without a full band blasting away. The sound was really good. The bass going into the PA was very full and fat. I EQ'd the highs and mids down quite a bit in my PA channel. I was still overdriving the SS because I use the Man pedal bass so I turned up my PA channel a bit which took more of the strain from the SS. Once I got it dialed in it really sounded like what the pedal bass sounds like out of a Leslie 122.

 

To people who ask about the BURN, I did a comparison using the SK1's leslie sim and the BURN. The difference was dramatic. We did a tune and I told Gary this is what the Hammond by itself sounds like and he thought it was very good. The next tune I told him this is using the BURN and wow, what a difference. The cabinet sim really changed the sound, the bass especially was fuller and fatter yet still clear, the whole organ was just fatter and warmer sounding with a really good but mellow overdrive. I can't hear that big of a difference when I'm doing the bar band thing but in this situation it really makes a big difference and of course the SS still did it's thing. You could still hear the stereo effect but the PA did take some of that away because it's mono.

 

Overall we both thought this was my best sound yet for our jazz stuff.

 

Bob

 

Not to get off topic, but have you ever tweaked the SK internal sims? I got them sounding good enough that I only use my vent on gigs where I bring my rack. The overdrive is still better on the vent but the other parameters can be adjusted to make a great sound.

[Jazzmammal]

No I haven't but does the SK have different levels of cabinet sims? I was referring to the actual tone more than the leslie effect. The BURN has the tube overdrive plus a great 122 cab sim. I think you play in full bands too, correct? In a loud band situation it's harder to tell any difference.

 

To show what a geek I am I just bought a Vent 2 from Outkaster, it should be delivered tomorrow. I've wanted to know how those two compare and I realized the only way is to own them both and test them. I'll probably sell one or the other, or not...

 

Bob

[MotiDave]

No I haven't but does the SK have different levels of cabinet sims? I was referring to the actual tone more than the leslie effect. The BURN has the tube overdrive plus a great 122 cab sim. I think you play in full bands too, correct? In a loud band situation it's harder to tell any difference.

 

To show what a geek I am I just bought a Vent 2 from Outkaster, it should be delivered tomorrow. I've wanted to know how those two compare and I realized the only way is to own them both and test them. I'll probably sell one or the other, or not...

 

Bob

Been thinking of getting a V2 for quite awhile now ...

[cphollis]

OK guys, you have to back off on this stuff. My wife is going to kill me.

 

I had a Vent 1, and loved it. But then I upgraded to a NE4D (love it!) which convinced me that I really didn't need a Vent, so I sold it.

 

But then I went from an amplified self-powered PA setup to the SSv3. The leslie effect as you all know is so much more pronounced. So now I'm start to feel a real itch to get back into the Vent thing (or the Burn thing) just to see how hard I can drive the SSv3 to make those cool, swirling sounds.

 

It never ends, does it?

[Aspen]

I had Aspen demo the ss3 at gearfest today. I actually didn't come to buy the ss3 but after I heard it I had to take one home. It was interesting to hear starting with the mono and then turning the width(?) up to hear the stereo effect. Sounded great even in a gearfest tent environment. It did help to have Austin walk through through the device. Nice size for lots of applications. Good deal today at gearfest too. Thanks Aspen!

 

My first Gearfest was a total blast....what a scene. This was one of the best organized gear shows I had ever experienced, amazing staff and facility....everything was top notch!

 

Last time I visited Sweetwater was 8+ years ago, I had just released the SS MK2 and did a presentation on it there. But the next year I sold the company to Fender and too some time off the heal myself and get well. They had started Gearfest right after this time so I never had a chance to attend one before. But now I will never miss one again (God willing) !

 

It was like a mini NAMM show (which frankly are too big anyway) with every major brand represented...however at Gearfest the VIPs were the Sweetwater customers, the musicians from every walk...and not the "dealers only" vibe.

 

I met folks who came from New York and New Orleans, many from Nashville to Chicago...and everywhere between. Had a chance to one on one with players and show them my SS v.3.

 

Plus had a special day on Thursday to meet over 100 Sweetwater reps in my own private demo room in the big building they called "office hours". The reps can take a 15 minute break and stop in and meet me and see/hear the new SS3, the new DT1 mic and the DuoTonic tube pedal I just released. It was non stop and the 6 hours just flew by! Hard to imagine, but most every one of those sales guys had sold a SS3 since we released them....but had never HEARD one! Well, we fixed that.

 

Best moment for me was finding Chuck Surack himself (SW founder) standing at the front door greeting every customer who came thru the door. The cool factor at Sweetwater starts at the top, Chuck is real people and a pretty good musician himself. He told me that he "owed me an apology"; and that when they were setting up the KB department in the totally new in house mega store, that he played a SS3 for the first time. He told me he was "mesmerized", and that he "played for 45 minutes straight"...and he was apologizing because he had never actually heard the V.3 either! How cool was that?

 

Anyway we were all set up in tents, basically with outdoor acoustics, and lots of background noise. But still that little v.3 cut thru it all...just radiated everywhere...and even surprised me! As always I gotta real kick showing the 3D effect to all kind of players for the first time...I'll never get tired of that!

 

And I know for sure we also sold several to small guitar/vocal groups, so the SS3 fan club is growing beyond our KB brothers...which was very encouraging personally for me because I believe that is another important application that is broken and that CPS can fix.

 

I'd like to thank Redknife for coming out and stopping by our little stand with an open mind, and also thank him for his support...much appreciated.

 

Now for all of you who now have a SS3 and are using it out live, I'd like to remind you to please bookmark our CPS Family Facebook page where you can post and promote your next gig, along with giving others a chance to hear a SS3 live! See:

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/810801589001231/

 

 

[Alan Steinberger]

Just playing the CP4 through it this afternoon, the amp sounds the best with sounds that have tremolo, vibrato, chorus or other swirling type effects associated with it. As opposed to just straight acoustic piano.

 

Dave, I've done several concerts on the Hall of Liberty stage at Forest Lawn. That room is so dead it's almost an anechoic chamber. (Fill in your own joke about playing in a funeral parlor.)

 

I've added fairly liberal amounts of room reverb to my Nord piano, and while it's certainly not nearly as dramatic as a stereo Rhodes or swirly B3, at least the SSv3 manages to add back a bit of life to the sound.

 

We have another concert coming up in a week and a half. You're welcome to swing by one of the rehearsals if you want to try my rig in that unforgiving space.

[DanL]

No I haven't but does the SK have different levels of cabinet sims? I was referring to the actual tone more than the leslie effect. The BURN has the tube overdrive plus a great 122 cab sim. I think you play in full bands too, correct? In a loud band situation it's harder to tell any difference.

 

To show what a geek I am I just bought a Vent 2 from Outkaster, it should be delivered tomorrow. I've wanted to know how those two compare and I realized the only way is to own them both and test them. I'll probably sell one or the other, or not...

 

Bob

It has various Leslie types- 122,147, the solid states, and you can choose the cabinet size (small, large, stationary) along with just about any other parameter you can think of. The only drawback is the distortion. I like to use the EPAmp mode, it's a little softer/mellow than the tube sim.

[endlessummerkeys]

I think the Fazioli sounds amazing through it, but you will have to form your own opinion also. Sometimes the NORD piano samples to my ear sound a bit flat sometimes, although very realistic. I add just a touch of reverb from my effects section on my Stage 2 and it really jumps out. One thing that I think NORD did well is capture the true piano sounds, and they are probably fairly MONO in design and the SS seems to flourish more in a Stereo environment, so the Verb really adds to it. I also tend to increase the highs just a bit because my ears over the years are not reproducing the highs very well anymore. It would be interesting to get a younger set of ears and the opinion might be different. Anyway still very happy with the NORD/SS combination and am not afraid to enter any level of venue with that combination and be able to impress anyones ears.

Makes me feel very confident as an old Fart when I just smile at the younger guys and crank up my system. Kind of reminds me of my youth when I had an old Dodge 4 door that I had put a monster engine in with a turbo,but it was an old rust bucket outside. I would pull up beside the younger kids and offer to race them. they would just laugh and floor it out of the intersection. I would then proceed to beat them by about a half of a block!!! HA Wonderful memories!!!

[Bossbandbob]

Head's-up: SpaceStation keyboard amp has apparently been delivered and is in my studio now!

I have only tried it with the VR-09 so far, but the organs, sim, and Strings sound awesome, and yes, even the Rock Piano never sounded better. A bit disappointed with the EP's as they do not not have enough bottom end but that is probably inherent in the board. My Casio PX-5s EP's always seems to have more balls and fullness than this Roland's. I played along with several LOUD MP3's this AM and the SS showed the keyboards tones through nicely. I may try the SS at my very LOUD Stones Tribute band's gig this Fri...should be interesting..Lotsa Piano and EP in the Stones music.