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I will tell you if there is 105 dB real SPL at your ear, you will not hear a person next to you well enough unless you are shouting. I agree because that's exactly what happened when I was talking to some guys in the back of the room. We still had to put our heads together and raise our voices to talk. I chalk that up to marketing but overall though I can't wait to get mine. Bob Bob is standing on his front porch, waiting for that brown truck.  " Did you hear that? Was that a truck??? "Did it sound like a UPS truck?
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UPS trucks do have a very distinctive engine sound quality. Whenever I've got something on order that I'm anxiously awaiting, the sound does have a Pavlovian effect on me!
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Well, I got it. Now that tax season is finally over I called Aspen this afternoon because he said I could meet him at his studio and try one out with my Hammond SK1. He said he had a session scheduled for 7 this evening to do a new demo with better quality piano sounds and said if I can make it early I might be part of the video so I showed up and played for about 45 minutes or so.
I don't want to gush too much but this amp is the bomb. It's the best sound I've ever had from one amp, period. Everybody there said my SK1 sounded great and it really did and now I'm in the video, don't know if I'll get 30 seconds or 5 minutes. You know how when you get lucky and have a really good sound you get inspired to play? That's what happened. I also played the SK1 piano, rhodes and clav through it and they all sounded really good.
As for volume, when I grabbed all the drawbars, hit the leslie button and did some smears to a high chord, that thing was screaming. The next thing is I have a bar gig next Friday, 4 piece with a girl singer. I think it's going to sound great by itself but I'll have my EV112P PA speaker in case I need more juice but that Spacestation by itself has some balls to it.
I needed to clear out for Al who's a solid pianist who was the real reason for this session. He played the new Casio P5S piano and his Nord Stage that sounded really good too. While he was warming up I walked behind him and behind the amp next to the drums and it sounded just great. Everything was very full and clean, not muddy when you go behind any regular amp or PA speaker.
Nothing else I can say, I like this amp.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Good for you! Wish I could come and hear you play, but I'm 2,428 miles away. Knock em dead!
Regards,
Bob
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Hi Bob. Does the SS have socket so it can be placed on a speaker stand? Ray
Last edited by raymb1; 10/18/14 07:36 AM.
Asus Q500A i7 Win 10 64 bit 8GB ram 750 HD 15.5" touch screen, BIAB 2017, Casio PX 5s, Xw P1, Center Point Stereo SS V3 and EWI 4000s.
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No, you would have to install a pole mount yourself. Aspen has posted on the KC forum about that along with why it only has one pair of stereo inputs. If you use two keyboards for example you need a mixer but lots of folks doing singles or duo's use a mixer anyway because of the vocals.
Yesterday I was able to get mine out of the car and set up in my living room. It sounded just as good as the one in the studio. Not just the organ but the AP sounds too. Very clean, crisp and full range.
I know I'm sounding like I just went to work for Aspen, trust me I haven't. No endorsements or anything like that other than he's said I'll be in the next demo vid because lots of guys want to know how a SK1 sounds through it.
We keyboard players are famous for searching for that perfect stage sound because keys are so hard to get right especially the acoustic grand sound. I've got 2 Eon's, 4 EV's, two Barbetta's and my old huge JBL rig with a separate horn sitting on a big, heavy 15" K145 speaker cab powered by a heavy 400W Peavey boat anchor power amp. That one is my make your ears bleed festival rig that I haven't used in years. They all sound more or less good but to get stereo for the organ leslie or all the cool sweeping Rhodes or Wurlie effects you really need two speakers on stage so I've tried all kinds of ways to get that. Oh yeah, I also have a pair of Berhringer 8" monitors for smaller stages.
This amp is the holy grail for me. The stereo effect is real and strong (as long as you're using a good stereo patch in the keyboard) and the overall sound quality is right up there with the best I've heard. And, it's surprisingly powerful.
This is from my personal pov as a keyboard player. I don't sing so this is just for my keys. But, after seeing it in action at the amp show three weeks ago it's a helluva PA amp too.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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"No, you would have to install a pole mount yourself." You could try one of these: http://www.zzounds.com/item--MUPEB9760 I installed one on a much lighter amp (works great), but it might work on the Spacestation if you can through-bolt it.
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Here's a technical tidbit for you guys. I've been inspecting this thing closely and here's what it has.
The top half is the 8" woofer with a small horn in the upper corner. The bottom half is the 6.5" Emminence. I thought there were two 6.5's but no, there's just one mounted perpendicular to the woofer right in the middle of the box. The cabinet is completely open to the sides on the bottom half so the front and back of the Emminence is firing directly sideways and there's little triangular cutouts behind the front grill too so some of that stereo sound is firing to the front.
I hear clear and obvious stereo coming from that speaker so it's like you said, somehow he's taking both the L and R signal and getting that one speaker to shoot the L and R in two different directions. So the tri-amping he talks about is between the woofer, the horn and the 6.5" sideways one.
It's also very solid, well built and weighs 39 pounds.
Here's something I saw in the studio, he has two big versions of this along the wall. One was really big, about 4 1/2 feet tall with what looks like a 15 facing front and two 12's mounted on the bottom facing each other. I mean directly bolted together, no space between them mounted sideways. I can just imagine what that sounds like on a big stage with a lot of power driving it.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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"Here's something I saw in the studio, he has two big versions of this along the wall. One was really big, about 4 1/2 feet tall with what looks like a 15 facing front and two 12's mounted on the bottom facing each other. I mean directly bolted together, no space between them mounted sideways. I can just imagine what that sounds like on a big stage with a lot of power driving it." Say, Bob..... What was the address of that studio, and is there anyone there after dark? ROAD TRIP!!!!! 
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Bob, the way that this works is not one speaker shooting stereo. The top and bottom speakers are doing Mid/Side type projection, rather than Mid/Side recording like you do with a figure 8 mic and a cardioid mic.
The bottom speaker, because both sides are exposed, radiates sound like a figure 8 mic records sound. When coupling this with the front projection of the common mono signal that is common, it creates the L & R signals out in the listening space. If you switch off one of the speakers, you'll hear the stereo effect fold down to mono.
It's a brilliant idea, actually. Send me a PM to let me know how much you paid.
-Scott
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The bottom speaker, because both sides are exposed, radiates sound like a figure 8 mic records sound. When coupling this with the front projection of the common mono signal that is common, it creates the L & R signals out in the listening space. If you switch off one of the speakers, you'll hear the stereo effect fold down to mono. Wow, I know you're an engineer so I believe you but that really does sound like sonic voodoo. So the stereo is not coming from the bottom speaker? That's just so counterintuitive. Sweetwater is the only authorized distributor but Aspen can sell them direct as well which is how I got mine. The price was $599. Bob, I was sorely tempted to take some pic's of the studio especially that big unit but I was a guest and didn't think that would be too cool but he's got some interesting stuff in there. Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Bob, have you ever investigated how Mid/Side stereo recordings work? Two mics are used, but not usde as a left mic and a right mic. Here's an article: http://www.uaudio.com/blog/mid-side-mic-recording/Think of the way this amp works in reverse - playing out sound instead of recording it. The unbaffled speaker at the bottom of the cabinet pushes sound one direction while the other side of the speaker is simultaneously 'pulling' sound. In the article above, this is like the figure 8 mic, with the out-of-phase switch enabled on the copy of that signal. With the bottom speaker, that 'phase reversal' happens naturally because the back side is exposed to the air. The speaker on the top is playing what is common to both but the back side of that speaker is enclosed in a cabinet so the 'pull' on the back side is not effectively creating sound out in the room. It's like the analog of the carioid mic that is on top. On a Mid/Side recording - you can widen and narrow the effect by the relative balance of the mid mid, versus the magnitude of the two channels of the 'Side' recording. I've only done this a few times, when I had a Cascade FatHead ribbon mic. I tried it with acoustic guitar recordings, but found that a good-old two-mic spaced recording gave me a much easier setup (It's hard to get that M/S setup without a bunch of precise placement of mics - and both mics I tried it with had shockmounts - which makes it a little difficult to get the two capsules close - and the effect wasn't all that great on acoustic). I have since sold the Cascade - it needed a cleaner preamp than what I had available at the time. It's not voodoo - it is a bit surprising nobody has tried this before now to be honest. It makes perfect sense as the 'playback' version of Mid-Side recording.
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All right, that makes sense. In his studio Aspen uses two mics, the lower one appears to have two sides that come together vertically. That's the bottom one and a small circular mic is mounted right on top of the two sided one. This rig is pointed right at the SS amp about 12 feet back.
As far as nobody else doing it Aspen says it's because he holds the patent on it. He brought in dinner for everybody during a break and we talked about this. It goes back to his Groove Tube days, when he sold the company to Fender the only thing he kept was the patent for CPS. He said Fender wanted it but he refused to give it up. This new one is V.3 he produced two earlier ones years ago under the GT name. He's not a young guy, it's possible he may be the originator of this concept.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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"He's not a young guy, it's possible he may be the originator of this concept."
Mid-side has been around for a long time. From the article Scott cited:
"Mid-Side microphone recording is hardly a new concept. It was devised by EMI engineer Alan Blumlein, an early pioneer of stereophonic and surround sound. Blumlein patented the technique in 1933 and used it on some of the earliest stereophonic recordings."
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After Bob's review along with other reviews and checking out the videos, I've ordered the SS V.3 and the SKB case. Delivery will be sometime in Nov. Later, Ray I might pick up this: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ISOL8R200Sub
Last edited by raymb1; 10/22/14 09:57 AM.
Asus Q500A i7 Win 10 64 bit 8GB ram 750 HD 15.5" touch screen, BIAB 2017, Casio PX 5s, Xw P1, Center Point Stereo SS V3 and EWI 4000s.
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Wow, didn't notice until now, over a thousand views. There's more interest in this amp than I thought. The unit is starting to get delivered to people on the KC forum and a few reports are coming it. Everybody just loves it as much as I do.
Unless your ears are really weird Ray, so will you. Seriously, this thing is a game changer. And again, it's a game changer as a PA amp too. It really fills the room with vocals, guitar stereo effects, all that stuff.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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Just saw your video at Aspen's studio on Kybrd Corner. Good sounds. Can't wait to get my SS. Are you going to post your video on PG? Later, Ray
Asus Q500A i7 Win 10 64 bit 8GB ram 750 HD 15.5" touch screen, BIAB 2017, Casio PX 5s, Xw P1, Center Point Stereo SS V3 and EWI 4000s.
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That's actually a pretty decent price.
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Here's the vids that were produced when I was at Aspens studio last week. Two with Al and the one with me. It's definitely funny seeing myself like that. I've heard myself on recordings lots of times but this is the first good quality video. Kinda strange. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL9-51bIWNw&feature=youtu.behttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRNKZbPNKxshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTQA0XE5yuc&feature=youtu.beBob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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I did my first gig with it last night in a bar that holds 140 people, we had maybe 100 more or less. It's pretty loud in there. Small stage, 5 piece with a girl singer. This is the place I was worried about concerning the power output of the Spacestation. I'm jammed right next to the drummer with my back against the wall so any amp I use is beside me so everything sounds muffled to me but I've been told I sound good out front. I've been using an EV ELX112P which they rate as 600W. I think that's too high, it's probably around half that continuous power but it's still a powerful powered PA speaker anyway. The SS is about two thirds that size with an 8" woofer while the EV is a 12 with a big horn.
All I can say is WOW! I had the EV in the car in case the SS wasn't loud enough but it has plenty of power. I agreed with your earlier assesment 90DB about how can such a small woofer put out like that. I don't know but this thing rocked the house. We had a guitar player who's too loud, a drummer who really gets into it, a jammin bass player, a sax player, a girl singer and me with a double rack keys rig. For the first time EVER I heard myself clearly in stereo from one little amp jammed up right between me and the drummer. On the first break the bass player said it's the first time he could hear me like that and the drummer was even more enthusiastic, he pointed down to the amp and said he simply could not believe how much sound that little thing put out. Even though it makes no sense, Aspen is right when he said the stereo 300 degree dispersion carries the sound so well you don't need nearly as much power in order to be heard. That effect that Scott described really makes a huge difference. There's now several more guys on the other forum including a Hammond fanatic in Germany saying the same thing. This thing kicks serious [*****].
And to top it off, I wasn't pushing it. The organ and pianos were crystal clear, no distortion at all. I'm sure there was more power left. I had the master volume set at about 1 o'clock.
I don't know what else to say, every keyboard player in the world needs one of these and don't forget what I said earlier, this is a great PA amp too.
Bob
Biab/RB latest build, Win 11 Pro, Ryzen 5 5600 G, 512 Gig SSD, 16 Gigs Ram, Steinberg UR22 MkII, Roland Sonic Cell, Kurzweil PC3, Hammond SK1, Korg PA3XPro, Garritan JABB, Hypercanvas, Sampletank 3, more.
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