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Daddy's got a brand new bag
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 3:39 am
by endsjustifymeans
Well My Mig 50 has a little company, and dare I say it... a little competition.
I'll see about making some sort of demo for you guys, but here's a page with some good info on it:
http://sunn.ampage.org/site/museum/betalead/
I haven't been able to crank it, but I have been playing around with all sorts of settings. Dynamic is an understatement for this thing. I'm not saying it's as good as the best tubes out there, but it certainly gives my mig a run for it's money in terms of tone and it's FAR more dynamic with the channel switching and blending, seperate channel reverb and tone controls, seperate channel effects inputs... crisp warm cleans and brutal yet surgical filth from the gain.
I think it's true love guys...
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 3:50 am
by Will
It looks like it came out of the Death Star's basement. What is DIGITAL C-MOS technology?
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 4:00 am
by endsjustifymeans
DuoSonicBoy wrote:It looks like it came out of the Death Star's basement.
All hardware should.
DuoSonicBoy wrote:What is DIGITAL C-MOS technology?
What is this "Digital C-MOS Technology" anyway?
The Beta series uses a 74C04 digital chip, sometimes called a hex inverter, in the circuitry around the drive control. The Beta Lead further uses a 74C04 chip for the reverb drive circuit. This chip is manufactured using "Metal Oxide Semiconductor" processes which gives us the MOS. The "C" in front of C-MOS stands for "Complementary" and means that each of those six inverter units inside the chip are made using both n-channel and p-channel FET (Field Effect Transistor) devices - in order to obtain the high gain and low power consumption required of digital devices.
Sunn was one of the earliest amplifier pioneers to use FETs in their solid-state amps to make them sound closer to a tube amp. While others used FETs, only Sunn used them in circuits meant to be intentionally overdriven, as in the Sunn Concert Series from the early 1970s. The Beta series continues this tradition using a digital component to get the FETs. By applying feedback through a resistor, the extremely high gain of the inverter is reduced and it becomes a very linear analog audio amplifier stage!!
If this sounds familiar, you might recall that Craig Anderton in his book "Electronic Projects for Musicians" presented his "Tube Sound Fuzz" built around a hex inverter chip. EH produced a distortion device called "Hot Tubes" which also used a hex inverter. However, both of these devices use a CD4049 chip. It may be subjective and personal preference, but to my ears, the CD4049 chip doesn't have the softer clipping characteristics of the 74C04.
Edit: I really have no idea what the fuck any of that means, but I like the way it sounds.
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 4:45 am
by Haze
are the speakers angled?
to maximize face melting i assume?
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 4:47 am
by Reece
do want an demo.
what are the cleans like?
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 4:50 am
by endsjustifymeans
Haze wrote:are the speakers angled?
to maximize face melting i assume?
They are angled towards each other, weird square magnets on them too.
Face meltage is the goal here.
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 4:57 am
by endsjustifymeans
Reece wrote:do want an demo.
what are the cleans like?
Pristine and deep. Lay on the highs and get some country twang, lay on the lows and get some jazzy tones... I'm having alot of fun playing with it, my mig is really a one trick pony (a trick it does very well though) so I'm not used to having this kind of range to play with.
I wish I was a better player so I could take more advantage up it, but it's certainly a great amp to grow into.
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 5:09 am
by Mages
Haze wrote:are the speakers angled?
to maximize face melting i assume?
kind of gives you no way to close mic it however.
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 5:20 am
by endsjustifymeans
The grill comes off easy enough but I would probably put it through a different cab for recording.
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 5:23 am
by Mages
ah cool.
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 1:55 pm
by Doog
Looks like awesomeness. I woulda thought the angled speaker would make for some weird phasing issues though?
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 2:05 pm
by Bacchus
I would have thought that too, but I suppose you'll get that from any two sound sources close together. A straght 212 will give you phasing, and it doesn't put people off.
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 2:08 pm
by Doog
BacchusPaul wrote:I would have thought that too, but I suppose you'll get that from any two sound sources close together. A straght 212 will give you phasing, and it doesn't put people off.
It's gonna be fairly marginal with a straight cab, but with that cab, it looks like you'll be in extra trouble.
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 3:19 pm
by robroe
im sure they did it for a good reason.
they just wouldn't be all like THIS LOOKS FUCKING AWESOME ALL ANGLED N SHIT DUDES LETS DO IT at the factory
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 3:25 pm
by Bacchus
Yeah, because we all know that amp manufacturers never,ever do anything gimmicky that has no real effect on the sound but that might intice people into buying it.
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 3:25 pm
by robroe
Critical Angle
The angle of refraction depends on the angle that the waves has when it enters the new medium. As the angle from the wave to the barrier between the two mediums gets smaller, the angle of refraction also gets closer to the barrier. When the wave’s entering angle reaches a certain point, called the critical angle, the refraction is parallel to the dividing line between the mediums. The critical angle depends on the two mediums the sound is coming from and going to. The speed of sound is different in every medium. Because of this, even if the sound hits at the same angle, the angle of refraction will vary for different mediums. The greater the difference in speed between the two mediums, the greater the critical angle will be.
If sound hits the new medium with any angle smaller than the critical angle, it will not be able to enter. Instead it will bounce off, or be reflected, from the dividing line. When a wave is reflected, it returns with an angle equal to the one with which it hit. Whenever sound hits a new medium, part of it is reflected back. The rest enters the new medium and is refracted. Imagine sound is traveling through the air and hits the wall of a brick building. Some of the wave is reflected, but much of it enters the brick. The part of the wave going through the brick is now going faster than the part in the air. This is because brick is a solid whose molecules are closer together and can transmit sound more quickly. This difference in speeds caused the wave to bend, or be refracted. Suppose that the wave hits the building with an angle that is smaller than its critical angle. This time, the wave cannot enter the brick and all of it is reflected. If the wave struck the wall with an angle of 15 degrees, it would reflect back with the same angle from the other side. Since there are 180 degrees total, the reflected angle would be 165 degrees, 15 degrees measured from the other direction.
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 3:29 pm
by robroe
other factors will affect the sound too. like size of the room, objects in the room, materials of the walls, floor, and roof
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 3:54 pm
by James
robroe wrote:Critical Angle...
None of that stuff relates to this. It's about how sound interacts when it hits objects. With sound as a wave in the style of light it is describing this sort of thing....
The problem here is that with the speakers aimed directly across each others paths, more of the direct sound is likely to be cancelled through phasing. You will always get some phasing with more than one sound source, and you will even get some phasing with just one sound source if there are objects for the sound to reflect on (walls, well.. pretty much anything that isnt just plain open space will have this), but here having the two sound sources aimed across each other seems to be a way to increase the amount of phase cancellation.
I'm explaining this badly, but basically it's a different idea to the ones in that quote.
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 4:00 pm
by endsjustifymeans
Any advice on making a demo, or has someone already done a "how to" post?
I've got a digital video camera but I'd assume all amps will pretty much sound the same through the mic on the camera, or will that work out ok?
I've played through and heard people play through SS amps several times and usually it sounds... well, boring and cold. This amp's sound is much more on par with the tubes I've heard, although the distortion it creates is way more aggressive than it is on my Sovtek. Both channels are identical but all of the tone knobs are extremely sensitive and give you a really wide range of sound on knob. You can really make A and B sound like to completely different amps, and then use the the "Both" button to blend them. Haven't gotten a chance to put some pedals through it yet, but I imagine it'll handle them on par with my Mig 50.
I'm exceptionally happy with this amp. A friend of mine is borrowing my 4x12 cab so I haven't gotten a chance to put the amp through that yet, but I'm sure it'll sound immense.
I'm sure alot of you guys will be turned off by it just because it's SS, but if it's good enough for Buzzo... it's good enough for me.
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 7:03 pm
by Sloan
Supposedly the Beta Lead was like Slash's first "real amp" or something. I can't remember the story. There's a Sunn head in a local shop that I was looking at, but not sure if it's alright. Can't remember the model, maybe beta studio or something studio, not sure.