I'd like to dip my feet in and introduce myself here before I start chiming in on anything.
I've been recording and creating music for over 25 years. Being very discriminating about gear for the brunt of that time (the good stuff and the flavorful bad stuff -- which I indeed dig) I've finally arrived at a point where I'm going to do something about wanting to know what makes these things tick and sound so beautiful or beautifully ugly. I started with stalking this site and grabbed a copy of Electronics for Dummies. I've been a bit obsessed and just juggling this data gathering in between studio time and woman time and dogwalking. I've got a hunger to get to the bottom of all these why?'s I have regarding audio electronics. And as the veil is slowly being lifted off I still must say that it's all magic really. You all are some magicians. I respect your innovation, perseverance and ethos of sharing. After months of thread reading and link clicking I started with a Lazy Sprocket pedal from BYOC. Plugged it in after putting about 10 hours into it and VOILA - without a hitch. Lovely, crying guitars. My soldering skills were way better now than when I barely successfully cabled up my old Sound Workshop desk replete with injuries and burned pants a decade earlier. So now I've started in on the Hairball 990's and I'm just having the time of my life with this old soldering gun. It's kind of like a nice zen retreat for me with a reward far beyond calmed nerves - better sound, gear, knowledge and respect for designers and builders. Woohoo. But it hasn't been all perfect I must say. I've always prided myself on detail sticklering but I've made my share of misplaced resistors and upside down caps. But that's learning. And stretching myself. You thought you're a retent? No, you're not ENOUGH of one. Keep your head on the PCB and schematics and guides, fool! I feel a hell of a lot better when I read posts and see that it's normal to screw up a bit. That is indeed part of the learning. I've also faltered a touch on the 1176 Rev A that I'm starting on so I got myself a Hakko 808 and a new PCB on the way (yikes) because I want it to be pretty and I want to beam with pride about my build while it's still open and being worked and afterwards when I'm squashing the hell out of a drum.
I'm sure this a long post and I'm sure it's all been said before over and over by newbies and this thread will just take up server space but I don't care because I've got to introduce myself and, mainly, THANK all of the members here for creating such an awesome resource and community that has me all lit up.
I've been recording and creating music for over 25 years. Being very discriminating about gear for the brunt of that time (the good stuff and the flavorful bad stuff -- which I indeed dig) I've finally arrived at a point where I'm going to do something about wanting to know what makes these things tick and sound so beautiful or beautifully ugly. I started with stalking this site and grabbed a copy of Electronics for Dummies. I've been a bit obsessed and just juggling this data gathering in between studio time and woman time and dogwalking. I've got a hunger to get to the bottom of all these why?'s I have regarding audio electronics. And as the veil is slowly being lifted off I still must say that it's all magic really. You all are some magicians. I respect your innovation, perseverance and ethos of sharing. After months of thread reading and link clicking I started with a Lazy Sprocket pedal from BYOC. Plugged it in after putting about 10 hours into it and VOILA - without a hitch. Lovely, crying guitars. My soldering skills were way better now than when I barely successfully cabled up my old Sound Workshop desk replete with injuries and burned pants a decade earlier. So now I've started in on the Hairball 990's and I'm just having the time of my life with this old soldering gun. It's kind of like a nice zen retreat for me with a reward far beyond calmed nerves - better sound, gear, knowledge and respect for designers and builders. Woohoo. But it hasn't been all perfect I must say. I've always prided myself on detail sticklering but I've made my share of misplaced resistors and upside down caps. But that's learning. And stretching myself. You thought you're a retent? No, you're not ENOUGH of one. Keep your head on the PCB and schematics and guides, fool! I feel a hell of a lot better when I read posts and see that it's normal to screw up a bit. That is indeed part of the learning. I've also faltered a touch on the 1176 Rev A that I'm starting on so I got myself a Hakko 808 and a new PCB on the way (yikes) because I want it to be pretty and I want to beam with pride about my build while it's still open and being worked and afterwards when I'm squashing the hell out of a drum.
I'm sure this a long post and I'm sure it's all been said before over and over by newbies and this thread will just take up server space but I don't care because I've got to introduce myself and, mainly, THANK all of the members here for creating such an awesome resource and community that has me all lit up.
