Fun with wire + audio-duct-tape

[chrisj]

It's ridiculously too late but I had to go 'wee hoo!'

Proud owner of a new 'not really a SM7' :D

Yes, it's the old 'take the transformer out of a SM57' trick. I recorded a bunch of various vocals with the original mic, a 58, and then the rewired version, and I am _very_ pleased though I don't have a proper SM7 to compare it to.

Still, it turned out very nice, my API is totally happy to make it sound good and has no problem supplying enough gain, and for certain things this guy is ridiculously better than the other mics I have (none very amazing- like a C1, a e609 etc)

Hit it with a bit of bright ambience, and whee :) I spent too much time happily (and crappily) doing my Michael McDonald imitation to Yacht Rock hits, bloody hell does this do The Smooth properly. I don't care if it doesn't do ANYTHING else right, it's nice what it does for vox.

Next, I take the transformer and use it in the effects loop of my marshall pre, replacing an existing transformer which is nice but is not a 57 tranny...

[dwoz]

Next, I take the transformer and use it in the effects loop of my marshall pre, replacing an existing transformer which is nice but is not a 57 tranny...


Is there anything that could be considered "more cheap, and more ubiquitous" than the xformer in a '57?

or am I blowing smoke?

(nice line from the movie "meet Joe Black"...."stop blowing smoke up my ass, it'll ruin my autopsy".


dwoz

[chrisj]

No, I mean that I'm going out the effect out real hot into a little plastic box that has only a transformer in it, and from the other side of that back into the effect in. FX on all-wet, and Bob's your uncle :D

It'll definitely be different from the generic tranny I'm using now because the SM57-sourced one is much shorter and squatter. Like a P90 coil compared to a Strat coil. So I'm giving it a try. (actually I've never seen a cheap transformer like it anywhere else, probably because it's intentionally fucked...

[chrisj]

Actually I never got round to sticking the transformer in the FX loop- I found something more fun to do with it.

I put it in a little box with two TRS jacks. It's set up so you can plug a bass into the higher impedance side and go into a mic input with the lower impedance side. It's a horrific impedance mismatch and kills the clankiness of direct bass way better than the tone control.

Then you can plug it in backwards, with the bass into the low impedance side and go into a mic input with the high impedance side, and it's an even more hideous impedance mismatch and sounds kinda like the bass on Pink Floyd's "Echoes" :D also, ultimate reggae-tone. The tone control on the bass doesn't even do anything, the mismatch is so bad. Also- passive tone shaping: dead quiet.

Here's an example. First is bass into the high impedance input of my API pre (considered a good tone, I think). Then, the normal 57-tranny DI, convolved with a SVT cab. Then, the backwards hookup, convolved with a deeper SVT cab impulse.

I had FUN :D

The bass playing isn't to anything, it's just making noises, more's the pity. Next, actual music!

[stevep]

Then, the backwards hookup, convolved with a deeper SVT cab impulse.

I like the backwards hookup thing !:lol:


sweet





steve

[chrisj]

Yeah, it's two TRS jacks and you wire the transformer to tip and ring of each. That way anywhere you plug in a mono jack you get hooked up to the transformer properly, and anywhere you plug in TRS you get a balanced out :)

Shorted the grounds together, though I suppose that is optional. It seemed useful to me.

I've had two AE or musician types bug their eyes out when I told them I got a 'Echoes' bass tone... :Twisted: yay really GRATITUOUS impedance mismatch...