KingBollock

If I can work out what the component parts of gramma pad are, and I know people have linked to them on here in the past, hint hint. Then I might have a crack at making my own. If it doesn't help at all at least I won't have wasted quite so much money, and you never know, I might have need for it in the future.

Every time I think I have the perfect tone from my rig, I go back the next day and hate it and have to start again. If I thought I could actually hear 0.001mhz difference, I'd probably hate it the next time I heard it. The brain is a fickle thing. If all that really mattered was that you believed that you hear a difference that you like, then they wouldn't have to invent so much pseudoscience and bullshit to sell it, surely? And I'd still like to know the cost of the components. How much mark up do they make from just making up words? Perhaps that's it? Perhaps what you're paying for isn't a mains cable, but poetry? That would actually make more sense.

Looks like someone tried to paint it with hammerite. Badly. If I found that thing in a skip, I'd leave it there.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1399170197' post='2441748'] Because it's 40 years old. [/quote] Yes... I don't know why [i]he[/i] chose to mention 30 years in his post, because it is irrelevant due to the bass being 40 years old. Objectively, 30 years isn't old, so in that he was correct, just irrelevant. I was trying to be humourous but it seems I am as good at humour as Slartibartfast is at threats...

I wonder if when an audiophile has spent £300 on a power lead, and is convinced that it makes a difference to their system's sound, when they decide to "upgrade" to a £1000 lead, does the old lead go back to sounding like the bog standard lead that it really was in the first place? How far can the placebo effect go in an audio sense? Can it just keep going up as long as you keep adding zeros to the price tag, or does it have to compensate with a two steps forward - one step back kind of system? Also, does it work as well if you're listening to someone else's "superior" system that you have either no intention or chance of ever owning for yourself? How would it effect your appreciation for your expensive system if a friend, who is also an audiophile, whom you believe to be an expert with superior knowledge and experience, came to listen to it and started reeling off deficiencies with it, deficiencies you thought you had fixed with recent expensive upgrades? This is why I prefer science to wishes riding a puff of wind. It seems that all it would take to waste all that money (and yes, until the point when you're brought back down to Earth, I can see how one might feel the money worth it) is a stiff breeze. I'd also love to know how much these things actually cost to make. I bet I could save a shed load of money by buying component parts and making them myself, even if it meant weaving each strand of wire. Might take some time but I bet it would be a fun project.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1399154761' post='2441672'] Why do you accept these essays as being incontrovertible truths? They are just as prone to being mythologized as the myths they are supposedly debunking. [/quote] Because they don't start every explanation with "We believe..." and end it with "Just £3.500!"?

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1399149984' post='2441615'] Flyfisher's point assumes that the power supply is sufficiently imperfect to render cables irrelevant. What and where is the evidence to support that ? If some cables sound better than others, they sound better. At a practical level, that is you really need to know [/quote] Well no, that's not all [b]I[/b] need to know. I am very aware of how easily fooled human beings are, I would want to be certain that there is solid science behind it so that I can be sure that once the demonstration and honeymoon period are over, I am still going to get the benefit I paid through the nose for.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1399148861' post='2441600'] So you genuinely believe that all cables sound the same? [/quote] I think Flyfisher's point is valid. I can't see how that last metre of power cable can have an effect unless you can ensure all parts, from power generator to the amp's transformer are perfect, or you're replacing a faulty lead.

Well, at least they're not making bomb detectors.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1399143694' post='2441527'] Your maths would be my guess. [/quote] He's right, 30 years isn't old. Don't know why he chose to mention it in here though... Doesn't the word "antique" technically mean over 100 years old? I suppose I should look that up before I press post... Edit: It's not technically, but it is common practice to use it as such, apparently. Though it gets bandied about all the time now, so I imagine it'll change, along with every other bloomin' word.

If the jack socket is mounted on the side of the body, is there a straight, unobstructed path that a long drill bit could take from there to where you want it to go?

That's one problem I don't have. My wife knows how much playing means to me a never complains about the noise, unless she thinks it's getting late and it might annoy the neighbours. But then I tend to be pretty good about when I play and if it's late, and I have to play, I use headphones. I'd use headphones more often but mine are cheap and don't like anything below the A string if there is any bass present at all. One day I would like to have a dedicated music room, but for now it has to be many things. Many, many, noisy things.

In case you're just having a brain fart... You need something like this.

Yeah, that's what was worrying me. I need to get into a band so I can use this thing properly. I can get some brilliant sounds from it but it is all wasted. I'll see if I can find something to experiment with. The problem is all the tool drawers, and boxes and tins and jars full of screws, nails and stuff.

I keep my rig in my little music/computer room. It is a ridiculously large rig for home practise but it's what I've got. The biggest problem I have is with frequency response in my room. The frequency I really want to boost, on my 7 band eq, is 100hz, but because my room is also a workshop and full of [i]stuff[/i] using that frequency causes my room to rattle somewhat. It sounds like a one man band falling down an escalator. Would a gramma pad help with this? If it would, I remember seeing a bread where people talked about making their own, but I can't find it. So does anyone have any advice on a DIY pad?

[quote name='Diablo' timestamp='1399052723' post='2440547'] It only works properly if you are in a rocking chair, drinking moonshine, and have less teeth than banjo strings. [/quote] And a pet Alligator on a length of string. One day... One day...

It looks as though there used to be a tweeter fitted which, along with the port, would explain why the brace doesn't go all the way up.

I've just remembered. The only Fender instrument I own is a Banjo. So now where do I stand?? Am I now UltraHipster or UltraUncool? Anyway, I'm off down the river to see if I can find a fat man to bugger.

He could probably double the asking price if he took and angle grinder and a blow torch to it...

But I like looking at stuff I can't afford (which is everything...) and I wouldn't want to have to sign in anonymously for fear of being shamed! Perhaps the different sections could require different passwords, made up of either your annual income or your monthly mortgage payments?

Planning on putting together my own board this year and I want to make some simple, but useful, pedals of my own. A looper, amp switch pedal and an effect order switcher. The order switcher is nice and simple. I am sure that if you didn't want to make one for yourself then there would be a company that would make one for you. I found this diagram for it. Thought I'd mention it in case anyone might find it useful. The hardest part might be finding a 4PDT footswitch, but if you're not bothered about the indicator LEDs then you can get away with a 3PDT switch. Which would mean you wouldn't have to power it, too.

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1398958516' post='2439458'] Ummmm, before I did my art degree course I did a degree in astronomy at UCL (way back in the 70s) and at the end of the second year we each made a small metal cannon... a turned steel barrel, brass carriage, steel wheels... had to learn how to use a lathe, make some pieces accurate to a few thousanths of an inch, even made our own threaded brass bolts - in the years prior to my course they even bored out the barrels, put black powder in and fired them! [/quote] That's something I would love to make, a tiny, ball bearing firing cannon, ever since I saw one on mythbusters, in the same episode that they make one from gaffa tape.

I can't remember what it's called, but you can also get modelling clay that sets, without a kiln, like wood and can be carved like wood once it is set. And there's Sugru, which is similar to Polymorph but sets like rubber. http://sugru.com/about That's really popular on the crafting channels that my wife likes to [s]drool over[/s] watch.

[quote name='surfguy13' timestamp='1398957173' post='2439439'] What an absolutely brilliant product! I really wish I'd known about this for loads of jobs. I reckon it would be relatively easy to make a mould into which this stuff could be pressed. The best bit is that it can be re-heated if you need to tweak it. I think I'll get some anyway! Another excellent idea.......we have Cambridge just up the road and there's nothing but colleges! One of our neighbours is a teacher at a secondary school and [i]I think [/i]he teaches metalwork, or engineering or something like that so maybe he could get a class to do a project?! Why not, it's worth an ask. Thanks again...... [/quote] I only discovered Polymorph for myself recently. My mind instantly flooded with ideas for it, however my main project that I am concentrating on will require metal work. Speaking of, I wish, wish, wish we had had a metal work course at secondary school. We had woodwork, and an electronics class that consisted entirely of playing with technic Lego. I went on to do electronics at a local college. I keep thinking to myself that if I ever had the opportunity to do a college course again I would do metal work. I can make stuff with it but it is all very amateurish, lacking elegance, would love to learn how to do it properly.