Hi Sef, tanx, glad to know that you got alot out of the session.
Qstn 1.
regardin the different operating voltages of USA & SG. If a US artise or band is gonna perform in spore. they amps or electrical equipment will be the standard USA operating voltage. how they gonna solve the voltage issue if they wanna perform in SG or any country with the same UK operating voltage? since u mention dat its not safe to buy transformer from sim lim cos the wattage & the frequency difference...
Ans:
Power Voltage Conversion. This is actually quite a difficult question to answer with a one stop solution. In my interview with Yngwie Malsteen back in early 2001 (or 2002) I queried him about his gear choice for recording and performing and he was actually very keen to discuss abt it and revealed that he was using his own 50watt Marshall heads powering locally supplied 4x12 Marshall speaker cabs. To the best of my memory he had 4 stacks onstage but 2 were actually used and the other 2 stacks were locally supplied backups for those "just in case" situations. He did say that it's a challenge playing overseas because his amps do sound different and if it was not the speaker cabs it was likely the local voltage. His shows in Japan also seem to sound different but in a nice way strangely. Apparently the German band Scorpoions and Uli Jon Roth also faced similar situations when they brought their amps from Europe over to the US to record or play live. These guys were advised by their techs that it was due to the local voltage difference even tho professional grade step up transformers were used to convert US to European voltages for their Marshalls. It is not impossible to use step up or step down transformers to convert foreign amps to our local use but it's really complicated and quite a controversial topic to discuss, dabate or resolve as there are many opposing camps of thoughts and theories as to why there is a difference. Personally, I'm with the camp that acknowleges that there is a difference. It is also not impossible to find suitable power converter transformers locally but do note that there's a difference between "Rated output wattage" and "Real Output Wattage". This also happens to be the case for replacement "switchmode" power supplies for PCs that you find in SL Square. This is because some of the "cheaper but can do the job" power supply units out there will drift out of spec when subject to sustained heat and power consumption stress.
Qsn 2. during the session u mention abt power amp distortion & preamp distortion. issit possible u can give some bands or artiste for reference on the 2 types of distortion mention above.
Ans:
Preamp Distortion. The popularity of Preamp and pedal based distortion was prominent especially in the 80's. This trend seems to have started when amp manufacturers started introducing amps with master volume controls so you didn't have to crank the amp up too loud to get the desired oversaturated level of gain. Also it's interesting to note that the
Roland JC120 which is like solid state version of the Twin Reverb became the new must have hip amp of that era. It seems to me that Boss and even Ibanez was making their drive pedals to suit the popular JC120. Of course with the natural course of progression players started experiementing with tube preamp into solid state power amps. This ushersed in a new trend in amps called the "
Hybrid Tube Amps" I think Racer X is a good example of using high saturation from Tube preamp units like the then very popular
ADA MP1 (followed later by the Marshall JMP1 and later the Mesa Boogie Triaxis) driving solid state power amps into clean high wattage speakers. Others of course along the way started experimenting with different ways of using drive pedals to kick their tube amps in deeper saturation from both the pre and power tubes. Players like Eddie Van Halen, SRV and Eric Johnson are just some fine examples of this type of pre and power tube gainy toned players.
The sound of the late 60's into the 70's hard rock and early metal is simply turning up the amps till starts to "bark" and then kick in a fuzz or booster pedal dialling in the "sweetspot" between amount of drive against pedal output to get the amp to scream even more...when intended of course during solos. You'll notice that the saturation character has more dynamics, sag and girth to it. This is the charm of saturating Power Tubes. This classic rock sound came back into popularity in the 90's with the Grunge era int modern day. Paul Gilbert's tone through the years seems to have evolved /expanded ever since he played with Mr Big and now in his own solo career.
From early 80's Thrash Metal into Industrial Rock came about the sound of Modern Metal styles like Nu Metal. I described the sound as "Give me all the saturation I can get from the pre and power sections (tube, solid sate, hybrid, modelled or whatnot) and more, more more if possible but Hey! No Sag or Flab from the speakers ya coz the bottom's gotta sound like a nuclear explsion and the highs gotta cut like sharks' teeth! Oi! N Don't forget the NOISE GATE!
O wow, Ok this has gotten pretty long already... I'll take a breather here. Hope my reply somewhat addresses ur questions ya
