09:25 – A date that will live in infamy.
Barbara is off running errands this morning. I’m doing laundry. I just shipped another forensic science kit, so our top priority kit-wise this weekend is to build another couple dozen sets of subassemblies for the forensic kits.
One of my long-time regular email correspondents who lives in Edmonton emailed me to say that their high yesterday was -24C (-11F), not counting wind chill. I also note that, probably not a coincidence, Heartland wrapped shooting season seven yesterday. It films in a Calgary studio, with location shooting in the High River/Okotoks/Millarsville area south and southwest of Calgary, so the temperatures generally aren’t as cold as Edmonton, but even so. It’d be hard to film if your cast, crew, and horses are frozen solid.
I wish I still had it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bob-Dylan-Like-A-Rolling-Stone-45-Record-1965-/271289819308?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item3f2a2220ac
Thanks, but that one wouldn’t be mine, or at least it’d be very unlikely to be the actual copy I had.
All the 45s and LPs I’ve ever seen physically here in Oz have had spindle holes about 5 mm in diameter. The ones I see illustrated in Youtube have a large chunk out in the middle: 5 cm or more I should guess. What’s up with that?
That’s the standard form factor for 45 RPM discs here. They made adapters that fit inside the large hole on 45’s to allow them to be played on a standard 33 RPM turntable. One sort of adapter was sold in packs and more-or-less permanently clamped into the larger hole on the 45 to provide the small hole used by turntable spindles. The other type of adapter was put over the thinner spindle on a standard turntable to allow you to swap standard 45 discs on and off the turntable. I seem to remember that there were also 45-only record players (mostly bought by teenage girls) that had a much larger spindle so they could take 45 discs directly.
Cannot find any confirmation quickly, but I am pretty sure the 45 rpm form factor came from RCA. RCA of that era was on the forefront of moving recording techonology. Their audio recordings are pretty much technical masterpieces all the way back to the time magnetic recording was invented. Super-clean, completely undistorted sound. They definitely came up with 33.3 rpm “long-playing” technology and the 45 rpm single, I am pretty sure. They manufactured the equipment from microphones to audio mixing equipment to the cutter lathes and stamping presses to make viny discs. And they also distributed their own recordings.
I am a child of the technology age. I simply love all the stuff we have today. There is no question that had iPods or Walkmen existed when I was in middle and high school, I would have flunked out. It was bad enough that I spent every spare moment out of class at the college radio station when I was attending there. At 12, I had the very first transistor FM radio made as far as I know, which was sold with the nameplate Matsushita back in those days. Cost $200 (fortunately, it was a Xmas gift from my parents).
Nothing beats the sound of properly mastered CD’s. On the radio project, we carry a Canadian program that plays nothing but girl groups songs from the ’60’s.
http://tomorrowyourheart.com/
Most of the stuff they play comes from vinyl. Not sure how they get that to digital, but most vinyl does not sound that good—by a long shot. What is left of my vinyl collection sure does not match their quality, but that does not come from just slapping it on a turntable and playing.
Having well over 3,000 songs and growing on a 2.5″ piece of spinning magnetics is an improvement over danged heavy vinyl, too.
Ah, thanks. I’ve seen vinyl that has the small spindle hole with a much larger one that was intact, but could be punched out.
It’s been so long since I’ve used vinyl I’d forgotten that you could play them in stacks.
When I was having the house renovated I chucked quite a lot of stuff, and various ones asked if they could take the stuff I was chucking. One of the painters noticed my stack of vinyl and asked if I was keeping or chucking it. Even though I don’t currently have a player I decided to keep them and perhaps buy one in Adelaide. Just as valves are making a comeback vinyl seems to be too.
Chuck wrote:
“…I had the very first transistor FM radio made as far as I know, which was sold with the nameplate Matsushita back in those days. Cost $200 (fortunately, it was a Xmas gift from my parents).”
I remember in the early Sixties (about as far back as my memory goes) my parents had a big old valve radio that ran off the mains and was permanently in the kitchen, it was already pretty ancient and I think it was turfed out in about 1970, when we got a transistor radio. This was in the days that such appliances boasted the number of transistors they contained: this one had seven, I think.
Now the term “trannie” has a somewhat different meaning.
Sometime in the Sixties my folks got a big old radio/turntable that could play 16/33/45/78 RPM. One of my nieces, who goes for old stuff like that, still has it. Not sure if it still actually works. I think I’ll have to mention to her and my sister that it’s not to be chucked out, I’ll take it if it ever becomes surplus.
Yeah, I really do not understand the attraction to tubes (valves). A lot of people who call themselves “purists” insist that tubes sound better than solid state devices. That is quite true for the first generation of digital devices, but certainly not true now.
Cornelius Gould, one of the designers of audio processing equipment for broadcasters, regularly spars with the tube aficionados on various broadcast forums. He correctly states that the first generations of CD decoders sounded stiff and lifeless, but as development work continued, there is nothing the digital domain cannot now do better. Tube characteristics amplified even harmonics more than odd, and that is the cause of that “warm” sound tube-faddists are so attracted to. Digital processors and effects equipment can easily duplicate that nowadays, with a low noise floor that tubes simply cannot possibly match. And if you care, tubes are a terrific waste of energy. Give me digital—all the way.
Partly it’s sentiment. The system I’m referring to is around 50 years old, I also wish I had my parents old mains powered valve radio and 7 transistor battery powered radio.
My parents cured me of sentimentality. Having grown up during the Depression, they saved everything. When they were both gone, we had 3 estate sales, because, instead of just getting rid of the old stuff when they moved and got new furniture, they put it all in storage. They certainly spent far more for storage than the goods got at auction. They had more than 3 full sets of house furnishings in storage—then the stuff in Tiny House.
I am a minimalist. When we travelled, Jeri always took a suitcase with her, until her last year, when I was finally able to convince her to take only a backpack, like me. We could then travel unfettered by concerns about retrieving the luggage before moving on to the next stop. Like with Steve Jobs, Tiny House has only the bedroom and kitchen furnished. Since I have no intention of staying in Tiny Town long-term, I am not buying stuff that I have to haul with me to the next stop.
Border collies sneaking up on each other:
http://www.wimp.com/findfun/
And speaking about how cold it is:
http://www.wimp.com/blowsbubbles/
Very typical prairie people, BTW.
I thought I’d already posted the sneaky border collie vid here but maybe not; senility sets in….
Those prairie folks sure got them a accent; I about fell over laughing. Standing around in that and blowing bubbles for the vid cam. Yup. Us hardcore Yankees know when to git in outta the dam cold, unless we just gotta be out in it. Or us yuppie-duppie x-c skiers and snowshoers and ice fisherfolk, I guess.
Latest talking point from the warmists, as predicted:
http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/354006/Climate-change-warning-Killer-winter-storms-for-next-THIRTY-years
At 12, I had the very first transistor FM radio made as far as I know
I acquired a transistor radio at my eighth birthday, February 1959. Don’t know how that relates to the timing of your acquisition.
Yeah, I really do not understand the attraction to tubes (valves)
Tubes do not clip as bad as transistors as tubes have a roll off instead of a cliff. Transistors just max and chop, tubes will distort and the sound is not as “scratchy” when tubes clip.
Having well over 3,000 songs and growing on a 2.5″ piece of spinning magnetics
How about 6,000 songs on a piece of silicon. Along with six HD movies. It also makes phone calls and accesses the web. HPFM
OFD, maybe you did post it already. Senility works on both sides of the border! And yes, they sure do got themselves an accent. You can always pick out the prairie in people. You can take the people out of the country, but you can’t always get the country out of the people.
As for tubes vs. digital, there really is no comparison for live music. Tubes rule. However, my son’s favorite amp isn’t even an amp, but a Line 6 Pod 2.0 amp emulator. It can get jacked into an amp, or directly into a PA/sound board. It also have a mic jack. However, he uses that solely for at home play. When he’s on stage he uses his trusty Peavey 5150 Mk I.
As for tubes vs. digital, there really is no comparison for live music.
I have heard that from several people that do live music. Tubes all the way. Transistor amps are for kiddies. Tubes can handle tremendous power, a single tube doing the work of several power transistors. Heat dissipation seems to be a problem with transistors in the large power systems whereas tubes just continue to glow red without harm. Over power a tube and it will just wheeze whereas a transistor will spit and sputter is how one chap described it to me.
I acquired a transistor radio at my eighth birthday, February 1959. Don’t know how that relates to the timing of your acquisition.
Gotcha beat by one month. I got mine for Xmas 1958.
Transistors just max and chop, tubes will distort and the sound is not as “scratchy” when tubes clip.
Yeah, but the point is not to overdrive either into the clipping range. I admit that is harder to do with digital signals.
How about 6,000 songs on a piece of silicon. Along with six HD movies. It also makes phone calls and accesses the web. HPFM
Geez and I’m the guy pushing for modernization.
As for tubes vs. digital, there really is no comparison for live music. … When he’s on stage he uses his trusty Peavey 5150 Mk I.
My preference is for anything Marshall. They were the first to go beyond 1-10 on the volume dial to 11!
Seriously, well manufactured tubes are just not out there today. Since US sources quit making essentially all of them, the choices are Russia and China. There are serious quality control problems with both. We had increasing problems with our old 3kw tube transmitter at the radio project before going solid state. Hundreds of dollars for each tube that started fading with less than a year on them, when the US tubes formerly could go 3 years and cost less than $100 each.
I am really death on overdriving circuits, whether tube or transistor. You want distortion, create it with electronics that keep the audio clean in the process. You want more loud? Double the power capacity of your amp and speakers. Don’t overdrive weak systems that are not up to the job in the first place and claim that tubes are superior for doing that.
Just so I’m clear, I have both digital and tube amps. Digital amps are light, have greater features and work very well in small areas. Tube amps are heavier, come with less features and work best in larger venues. There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to making music.
Chuck, you raise a good point about tubes. Russian ones are superior to the Chinese ones, but in reality you always had to match tubes even the US made ones. When we put new tubes into the 5150 we went through 15 tubes before we found 4 that worked together. Back when the US rocked the tube world, you would probably only go through 5 or 6.
Marshall amps are excellent and are famous for their “crunch”, but they really got their start when Fender started refusing to sell their amps to rock bands. Fender was aghast at the distortion the bands were forcing out of his amps, and he thought it sounded terrible. He wanted them to play clean. Fender amps were also frightfully expensive for the UK market, and Jim was looking to build a cheaper amp.
If my memory serves, it was Ritchie Blackmore and Pete Townshend who pushed Marshall into designing his first amps. Jim essentially copied the 4×10″ Fender Bassman, using 5881 US mil-spec valves, instead of the classic 6L6 of the Bassman (and the later 5150). Where he shone was separating the head unit from the speakers, creating the now famous Marshall “stack”. BTW, those huge walls of speakers and amps that rock bands use on stage is mere landscape. Most of them are empty boxes.
I prefer blues to rock, so I’m firmly in the Fender Bassman camp, but a Marshall amp is a thing of beauty, whether tube or solid state and wouldn’t be turned away. My son is a fan of Eddie Van Halen, so the Halen designed 5150 was his choice. What I really want is a little vintage 15 watt Fender Blues Jr. but they’re worth more than I’m willing to pay.
The thing that baffles me, is that we in the US did not know anything about quality control when we started manufacturing. How is it there were far fewer problems with it here, right from the get-go, than in China after almost half-a-century?
Russians know perfectly well how to do quality control, they just don’t.
Heavy isn’t the word for tube products. The power transformer alone for our 3kw tube transmitter was 800 pounds. The transformer sat on the ground while other stuff filled several levels of 2 rack units wide stuff. It was built to military standard jungle operating specs (but needed cooling).
One person alone can manage the solid state 3kw unit which is 3 rack units high and just slightly too wide to fit in a standard rack. The solid state unit whines like a jet at take-off with its high capacity fans, but the air coming out the back is only barely warm. We had a real problem keeping the tube transmitter cool on the 100+F days of summer, but no problem with the solid state. We never had to heat the transmitter shack in winter with the tube unit, but have a ceramic heater going there now, so the shack temp will not fall below 50°F.
I think it’s the strong work ethic of the Scots-Irish, combined with German immigrants. China have very few of those! The Chinese business model also seems to be based on provided one level of quality at the beginning, with the eventual switch to poor quality if you don’t pay attention.
I also think we’re talking orders of magnitude of difference between tube guitar amps and tube radio transmitter. If a guitar amp was to weigh in at 800 lbs, roadies would be much better paid!
The solid state bass amp I have also whines like a jet on take off, while the tube version hums. But I could easily augment the heating of my house merely by warming up all the tube amps I have!
Yeah, efficiency was the real problem with the tube transmitter—barely over 60%, compared to over 90% for the solid state, both putting out 2950 RF watts. Our electric bill got cut in half with the solid state unit. No killing high plate voltage in the solid state, either.
Chuck wrote:
“Russians know perfectly well how to do quality control, they just don’t.”
It never pays to underestimate the Russians. During the Soviet era they built an atomic bomb only four years after the US, and before the UK and France (admittedly they used espionage, but that only gained them a year or two, and Stalin insisted that they do all the work over again to avoid disinformation.) They had a deliverable hydrogen bomb before the US did and had some brilliant guys in their weapons program. Their guidance systems on ICBMs weren’t very accurate, but then they didn’t need to be as they used big warheads and didn’t care much, at first, to minimise civilian casualties in the targets they attacked.
They could do good work, and did when it mattered. A lot of the time it just didn’t matter. When they wanted to reward the head of their bomb project they imported Italian craftsmen to build him a very nice house, while the plebs made do with shoddy Russian constructions.
As Al Stewart put it in a song he wrote about the “history” of an early English rock-n-roller:
“I may not know much but I do know I’m partial to an E-major chord through a stack of Marshalls.”