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I have been getting back at this..working up to a limited run of these as the STAX SR-X9000 and Audeze CRBN have made that need to happen. But the chassis is extraordinarily expensive and difficult to produce, so I am working at ways to fix that. Also need to put it on the scale, thought it was 45lb but feels more like 60lb haha. It's really not that big of a footprint (13.5x18), but it makes the BHSE look like a toy. Power consumption is 190-200W depending on tubes, with 90-100W of that being heaters. The bottom of the amp is ice cold and the top is pleasantly toasty. The first 3 stages have recessed slide switches on top to switch 6.3 to 12.6v heaters, so common tube types are: 1st: 6SN7/12SN7, 12AU7 and many others w/ 8 to 9 pin adapter 2nd: 6SL7/12SL7, 12AX7 and many others w/ 8 to 9 pin adapter 3rd: 6N6P, ECC99, 12BH7A, possibly others such as 5687 w/ pin-out adapter 4th: Emission Labs 20B-V4

Enjoying it so far, although not nearly as much as A Gentleman in Moscow, which I loved.

Second best thing to a DD in California.

Fun new season. It is like hanging out with old friends again. I love the Nightmare on Elm Street vibes.

Updating more DIY mesh stators. Glue the brass holder to the copper sieve with ERGO 5500 or 5900 then cut off the excess copper mesh with a nicking tool. Stators mesh size in the picture below ranges from #180 to #400，It is better to use a higher number mesh for making DIY mesh stators, the mesh with lower number size is difficult to glue...This may be the reason why stax no longer produce the original omega . Both omega and x9000 use about #80 mesh for their stator, and it is not easy to fix #80 mesh by hand, x9000 solves the problem by using thermo compression bonding...

Very fun, and quite the talent.....!

Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power (1992) I made myself sit through this entire albium. In a word, yick. I had some misgivings when it came out 30 years ago, and I had loved their previous release Cowboys From Hell. At the time, all of my metalhead friendss loved it so I assumed I was missing something. I bought it on CD and listened to it a bunch, but it never clicked with me. The problems with this album are numerous, and center stage is everything to do with Philip Anselmo. His vocals are absolutelty awful. His lyrics are as meatheaded as they are infantile. All his macho posturing is cartoonish and cringe inducing. He's too loud in the mix. In fact, the entire mix of this album is absolutely wretched. Rex the bassist can barely be heard. Vinnie Paul's drums sound kind of flat and compressed. Dimebag (at that point still Diamond) Darrell churns out amazing riffs (as he always does) but his guitar tone is just ...off on this release. The songwriting is weak. There are a few decent moments scattered throughout the album but it is by and large a complete miss. This is to say nothing of all the horrible things that would come out of Philip Anselmo's mouth later on (talking shit about former bandmates, advocating white supremacy, etc.) Pantera are credited for kicking off the 90s nu-metal and "mallcore" sound, which is either a good thing or utter damnation depending on one's perspective. Certainly this album was more or less the end of me caring about the band at all. I'd occasionally hear a Pantera song as the 90s wore on and my opinion was always the same "Man, those riffs are sick but everything else about this is just abysmal." Now here were are in 2022, Dimebag has been gone for 18 years. Vinnie Paul passed 4 years ago. Rex did a hard rock solo album a while back and apparently it's pretty decent. Phil hasn't been hit by a freight train yet and I view that as a great injustice.

the perfect amount of sear.

Wilco’s Cruel Country “reality ruins everything”

Fuck me. My Prophet 5 is my favourite synthesizer of all time.

Oof. RIP Dave Smith. Sequential just announced his passing on their FB page. When Don Buchla was still alive, I referred to Dave as "the greatest working synth designer." When Don passed in 2016, I referred to Dave as "the greatest living" one. The man's work was amazing. He was hugely important in the development of MIDI. He founded Sequential Circuits. 20 years ago he launched Dave Smith Instruments where he released products like the Evolver and Poly Evolver. In 2015 Dave reclaimed the Sequential name and rebranded DSI accordingly. Currently the Sequential site has a popup stating his death. I presume they'll get a proper tribute page up as they are able to do so.