Two projects completed at once

[Underthebigtree]

A couple of weeks back, I finished the first of my Gyraf Pultecs:

It worked perfectly the first time I powered it up, which is a miracle for me. Just a couple of comments on construction: I used nearly all matching polypropylene caps from Digikey. In order to get so many in the same family, I had to use 400V caps, which take up a ton of room. As a result, they are soldered to both sides of the board. I used the Fastron inductors from Mouser, and a pair of Amveco 62082 toroids for the power supply, as per another thread around here. For the coupling cap, I found some fancy shmancy high grade cap at Parts Express, for about $4.

As soon as I powered the unit up, I was blown away by the smoothness of the EQ. It did exactly what I hoped it would - created gentle curves that seem to sound good no matter what. I was shocked at how much midrange I could add without it sounding edgy.

I'm currently creating the ambient backgrounds for the upcoming James Bond video game "From Russia with Love". For lo tech high tech, I ran tons of servo motors, telexes, manual typewriters, etc. out of Pro Tools and into the Pultec, then into a Revox PR99 1/4" at 15 ips, then back into Pro Tools. Instant early 60's vibe.

Thanks to Jakob and Gustav for the design and boards. This device truly sounds great, and I'm looking forward to building another 4 units for use in my studio.

The other project is more prosaic, but definitely cool. I spent 4 weekends cleaning all the crap out of my garage, then build a workbench, put up pegboard, and organized everything. As a result, I was able to move my electronics out of the studio and into the garage, making a far better place to work, and cleaning up the studio mess at the same time. Here's my new DIY space:

 

[Milkmansound]

dude - thats an awesome stool! Does all of the air squish up your shorts when you sit down? For some reason that happens to me whenever I sit on my keyboard bench :grin:

 

[CJ]

Cool on the James Bond stuff. I just bought the movie soundtrack for Goldfinger on Capitol at the KFJC record swap today. This one guy was selling 3 LP's for 5 bucks, so I loaded up. All classic frisbee material that you can't get on CD yet.

Let's see, what did I get, Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Marino, Cheach and Chong... :razz: "Hey red freak, wanna ride, mon?"
If you guitarist think you have your chord chops together, download the music for Goldfinger title track somewhere and have a hack at those augmented stretches.



:green:

Now where are those V-76's?

 

[chrissugar]

Nice box and bench. :thumb:

chrissugar

 

[Underthebigtree]

Replying to the stool question -

Funnily enough, that used to be my keyboard stool for gigs. It spins around, is cool looking, and very sturdy. Some time during the high point of each show, in the middle of a big Hammond solo, I would keep playing the solo while climbing up onto the top of the stool, standing up while wailing away with pedal to the metal and Leslie whirling on the fast setting. A cheap parlor trick, but the audience screamed every single time.

But that's my only stool story. It's too big for the Rav4 I now use to take my Hammond to gigs, so it stays home. And no, it doesn't blow air anywhere...

 

[bcarso]

Awesome rolling tool chest as well.

And let's not forget that Blaine MO is the Stool Capital of America.

 

[SonsOfThunder]

[quote author="bcarso"]Awesome rolling tool chest as well.[/quote]
Is that a Matco? Looks like one that I wanted way back...til I saw the price that is...! Nice box, nice DIY workshop. Wish I could make myself clean out my garage!

 

[Underthebigtree]

That cabinet is a good old Husky, bought from Home Despot or OSH. For those of you in Europe, Home Depot is a gargantuan home improvement warehouse chain that has everything under the sun, but is truly the arena of last resort - the lines are incredibly long, and the cashiers are so dimwitted that every trip there is an exercise in pain. But they own the world. At least the good old US of A.

Anyway, the cabinet was a lot - I think I paid $600 for it, but I bought it during the building of my studio, so it was lumped in with many other expenditures. Very worth it for a studio - lots of drawers for tapes, headphones, and various geegaws.