Gearslutz "Pimp My Gear"

[pan60]

Originally Posted by piotr

So is the one you posted the picture of, a "one-of-a-kind" piece?
Did you carve the aluminum frame by hand or is it a cast?
Just curious of the process...

p.

yes that was.

i personally made about twenty, and only a small number were hand carved. maybe five or six, i can not remember?

they are all machined from billet 6061 and hand fitted with corrosive resistant stainless steel screens. nothing magnetic.

[mikebeck]

Originally Posted by piotr

Hi,
Here is the thread premise:

Yer pal,
p.

Well, hey - that Meek preamp sure looks familiar!

[piotr]

Originally Posted by mikebeck

Well, hey - that Meek preamp sure looks familiar!

;-)

p.

[SMC]

Not a 'From Scratch' job... but fun nonetheless

The SMC Custom Console 9600 Heh ....
(M3500+M3700+US2400=SMC9600)

More Info: The SMC Custom Console SMC9600

Some crappy pics:

[girlthatdrums]

I did the well known mod of putting the back panel of my epi valve jr head onto the front once i had a mod done to it. looks MUCH better now.

[piotr]

Originally Posted by girlthatdrums

I did the well known mod of putting the back panel of my epi valve jr head onto the front once i had a mod done to it. looks MUCH better now.

Sounds interesting!
Do you (or anybody) have a picture of that?!
Would love to see this transformation!
p.

[piotr]

Hey, SMC,
That looks like a massive "custom" project!
Impressive!
p.

[FreshSkweez]

Originally Posted by SMC

Not a 'From Scratch' job... but fun nonetheless

The SMC Custom Console 9600 Heh ....
(M3500+M3700+US2400=SMC9600)

More Info: The SMC Custom Console SMC9600

Some crappy pics:

Beautiful job man!

[ianbryn11]

i have some purple chicken head knobs that i bought at the Dallas Guitar show a few months ago... I put em up next to my Ma5's a few nights ago.. They look cool! havent done it yet because i have no problem with the original knobs... BUt when i do... damn they are gonna look good.....

[piotr]

Originally Posted by ianbryn11

i have some purple chicken head knobs that i bought at the Dallas Guitar show a few months ago... I put em up next to my Ma5's a few nights ago.. They look cool! havent done it yet because i have no problem with the original knobs... BUt when i do... damn they are gonna look good.....

Sounds like fun!
Take a picture when you do that!
;-)
p.

[sameal]

Here's one i did for a fellow slut.

It's a one card Allison research rack unit i got that needed alot of help. originally it came with a rack face that the holes were two large to work with the rack screws, so i took it off and through it away. I worked with a shear operator for a short time and got to cut my own rack face from a sheet of steel while i was there, and took it home. I cut a hole in it with a grinder (not the best route!) and filed the edges till the box fit through, then i took it to work, sanded it down and filed the sharp edges. took it home and drilled out the rack holes, filed those down and painted. took the Allison card box and sandblasted the face off all sides but the schematic side, and painted. After that i just cleaned up the card connections on the back and wired what i could.

[Brad Blackwood]

I use a mix of custom and modified off the shelf stuff here:

[piotr]

Originally Posted by Brad Blackwood

I use a mix of custom and modified off the shelf stuff here:

Looks good!
Care to point out the customized pieces?
Or can anyone spot alterations?
;-)
p.

[danetate]

I used to sell and install Mackie SR mixers before I got tired of them breaking and switched to A&H. Anyway, I was always bugged by the 4 EQ knobs being black (3 boost/cut and 1 freq.), which looked at a glance exactly like the 4-band EQ on the stereo channels.

So I bought several hundred red knobs from Mackie one day so I could switch out the frequency knobs. The lady I talked to at Mackie thought that all the EQ knobs already were red. Funny.

[Brad Blackwood]

Originally Posted by piotr

Looks good!
Care to point out the customized pieces?
Or can anyone spot alterations?
;-)
p.

Top left: custom attenuator panel
below that: Custom Davelizer EQ
below that: Custom Barry Porter EQ
below that: Crane Song IbisM EQ
below that: Custom active M/S matrix
below that: Custom Wedge EQ

Top right: Little Labs Digital Audio Router
below that: Crane Song Hedd192
below that: Custom meter panel
below that: Crane Song STC8M
below that: Custom filter / headphone panel
below that: Pendulum OCL2
below that: Custom Analog Transfer Console

[piotr]

Originally Posted by Brad Blackwood

Top left: custom attenuator panel
below that: Custom Davelizer EQ
below that: Custom Barry Porter EQ
below that: Crane Song IbisM EQ
below that: Custom active M/S matrix
below that: Custom Wedge EQ

Top right: Little Labs Digital Audio Router
below that: Crane Song Hedd192
below that: Custom meter panel
below that: Crane Song STC8M
below that: Custom filter / headphone panel
below that: Pendulum OCL2
below that: Custom Analog Transfer Console

Beautiful!
I especially like the EQs!
Very, very slutty!
p.

[Gajdzin]

Not much of a pimping achievement, but I didn't like the original, cheap, plastic knobs on my FMR RNC, so I bought it a new set of METAL knobs for its birthday. I think it looks a bit more classy this way. Devil is in the detail

[sameal]

that's the way they should have made them!

that actually looks pretty sharp considering. big improvement.

[piotr]

Originally Posted by Gajdzin

Not much of a pimping achievement, but I didn't like the original, cheap, plastic knobs on my FMR RNC, so I bought it a new set of METAL knobs for its birthday. I think it looks a bit more classy this way. Devil is in the detail

Hi Marcin!

That looks beautiful!
It really does look like it was "supposed to" be this way!
Nice pictures too...

Excellent: and thanks for sharing!
p.

[Gajdzin]

Thanks, guys! On a technical side, it was a bit difficult to find knobs small enough. 12mm is absolutely the largest diameter you can afford without obscuring the markings on the front panel. Also, the knob's height cannot be greater than ca. 12mm or it will leave an unsightly gap between its edge and the front panel. However, the pot shafts are plastic and if you find a really nice knob that's a bit too tall, you can always file the pot shafts by a couple of mm.

Finally I found this product: small knob. It's just 12 mm tall, so no pot shaft filing was necessary. This internet store is European (Polish, to be precise), but I think US online stores specializing in electronic parts will have similar products.

Regarding the photo, it was taken with Canon EOS40D, 50mm f/1.4 USM lens. A very bright, inexpensive lens, perfect for gear photos - highly recommended As you see, I'm not only AUDIO gear slut...

[sameal]

I pimped a mxr phase 90 recently. put it together for the photo and to see what it would look like finished product.

i took the cheesy looking plastic l.e.d. holder out, and drilled for a nice solid metal one. then gave it a rat shack knob. it didn't have the original.

now all i gotta do is fix it!


i did a lab series k-5 awhile back. when i got it it was wrecked. there was a 1 inch wide, 2 foot long section of the tolex left on the amp and that was it. the reverb tank had two springs missing and was free floating in the back of the amp. there were two Pyle driver speakers in there, one of the tweeters in front was blown, the front grill cover was ripped to shreds and the wiring was all shitty and thin.

i re-tolexed the entire amp, replaced the grill covering (which the wood was nailed to the amp cabinet, i had to removed all that and replaced it with Velcro) got a new tank and bag for it and fastened it to the bottom of the cab. re-coned the tweeter, replaced all the wiring in the back with thicker much nicer cable and dropped a set of celestion truvox speakers in there.

it's quite and sounds great! i have left this amp on for days before because i couldn't hear the thing.

[rockerdude]

Here are a couple of mine.I found a military airplane controller on eBay for 50.00,I think it's from WW II.
It is now a two channel Api 312 clone preamp with phantom power, DI,polarity switch and it's own power supply.This thing sounds amazing.My other is slapping some red chicken head knobs on a Bellari compressor.

[piotr]

Originally Posted by rockerdude

Here are a couple of mine.I found a military airplane controller on eBay for 50.00,I think it's from WW II.
It is now a two channel Api 312 clone preamp with phantom power, DI,polarity switch and it's own power supply.This thing sounds amazing.My other is slapping some red chicken head knobs on a Bellari compressor.


Attachment 204397

Attachment 204398

Attachment 204399

That's what I am talking about!
Amazing looking piece!
Great work rockerdude!

p.

[sameal]

that airplane controller gets my vote!

[rockerdude]

Originally Posted by sameal

that airplane controller gets my vote!

Thanks guys!

I get a lot of comments on that thing.We call it the"missile launcher" around here haha.....Couldn't get those meters to jump though,but they look cool.

[amishsixstringe]

I didn't like the way my compressors sounded so I made this one from a schemo I found online with NOS UTC transformers and a JBL opto.





And there it is in the desk I made for my old home studio.



Neil

[piotr]

Originally Posted by rockerdude

Thanks guys!

I get a lot of comments on that thing.We call it the"missile launcher" around here haha.....Couldn't get those meters to jump though,but they look cool.

You should definitely make that happen!
it's too cool to leave it like that.
Have you tried using a VU buffer kit with these?
I got and built a bunch of these from JLM for some projects, and they work very well. And are pretty affordable.
If the buffer kit will not work with the meters built in your piece, I would consider getting some meters and swapping...
BUT I guess it depends on how much work do you want to put into it.
The buffer kit is pretty simple to assemble BTW.
p.

[sameal]

Originally Posted by piotr

Have you tried using a VU buffer kit with these?
I got and built a bunch of these from JLM for some projects, and they work very well.
p.

hmmm. i got a few akai reel to reel pre's that might benefit from this.

[danetate]

[QUOTE=rockerdude;6021627]I think it's from WW II.

That's awesome.

I used to have a turn and bank indicator sitting atop my console, but it's still in the box after the last move.

[piotr]

Originally Posted by amishsixstringe

[...]

Hey Neil,
Nice work on that compressor!

AND, I also see that you have one of those ART pres that got this thread started!!! Funny! ;-)

p.