Manchester Audio meet: Uk Audio meet 2009

A few of my amps that I took to the 2009 Manchester Audio Meet. Thanks to Pedalhead for these great pics!

It was a shame I didn't manage to take my B22 amp to the event. Oh well.

I took with me:
An Aikido valve headphone amplifier
A Beresford dac TC7510
Graham Slee Solo Intro 'Green'
Graham Slee Solo SRGII 2010 model
A modified Musical Fidelity X-can V3
AMB Labs Y1 portable DAC
A Buffalo Dac by Twisted Pear Audio
Millet Max
Sennheiser HD650
Sennheiser HD595

Uk Audio Meet Manchester 2009 impressions/review

Some of my initial impressions/review of the 2009 Manchester Audio meet.

There was some really nice stuff at the event with a really good mix in sounds. There was loads that I liked on the day and each had its own unique characteristics.

Some of my favourite bits were:

Definitely the HD800's. I was very keen to try these out. They definitely have a much more open sound then my hd650's but i didn't find that the 650's were miles behind. I won't try and say the 650's are as good, because they simply weren't. However for the price tag, i still find the HD800's hard to justify compared to the hd650's price. I did love the sound of the Hd800's on the various valve amps and solidstate amps I tried them with.

It was nice to hear the B22 amp. For me this was one of the nicest sounding solidstate amps. This amp was built by Naamanf and the quality of the built was exceptional! The b22 matches really well with the sound of the HD800 headphones. I love the way the b22 sounds detailed, but has much more warmth in tone than other solid states such as the Graham Slee solo SRGII.

The Solo SRGII is by far the most detailed amp I tried. It is extremely crisp, crystal clear and very detailed. I feel this amp really does manage to pull out everything within the music. The solo SRGII is definitely an improvement over my Solo intro green version. For me the only way to describe the difference is it is much more refined and it also helped I tried the SRGII with the PSU1. However, I would have to say I preferred the warmth of the valve amps I tried on the day, mainly as I felt I could enjoy the music mush easier for longer periods of time.

I enjoyed the sounds from both the WOO Audio W22 valve amp and the Dark Voice valve amp. For me the Darkvoice had more presence in sound. It had a really warm feeling about it. Both were great and well worth listening to! My only gripe about these amp is I feel they are over priced.

One of my favourite portable rigs was the iMod, PV-Cap to LisaIII . I couldn't believe how nice they sounded for a portable setup. They sounded much bigger than they really were.

As for headphones, where do I start! There were so many there I found it hard to listen to them all. It was the first time I had heard any Grados, AKG and Dennon's. I found both the Grados and AKG's had similar characteristics in sound. They were both very bright sounding and detailed. I felt they were more focused on providing detail within the music and on some songs I felt they lacked in bass. Still it was great to hear the differences in the headphones.

On a personal note, I really enjoyed the sound of the HD800s on my Aikido valve amp and My X-canv3. I felt they managed to open up the amps a little more in sound. I still feel the 650's perform well on most amps, but the 800s are a real joy to listen to. I also really liked the sound of the Beresford TC-7520 dac. Paired with my valve amps the Beresford had a really warm and weighted feel whilst managing to also have lots of detail. The bottom end was amazing. I already have a modified TC-7510 dac with the LM4562 op amp installed but I did feel the TC-7520 was better.


So what did I learn on the day? I felt that these meet ups were extremely educational in hearing a massive difference of sounds all in the one place. I really felt that it helped me to explore so many options and refine the options in to a sound that I like suited to my own tastes. I felt that there was equipment in a lower price range really provided some stiff competition over some of the more expensive gear. It also confirmed to me that best gear is not always the one with the highest price tag, that is if there is such a thing as 'best gear' in the first place.

I really hope the next audio meet will have a better turn out with even more choice of gear to browse. Come on people, we can make this happen!

Heres a few of my pics at the event (sorry they are not the best quality - the lights were a bit low in the room)

Graham Slee Solo SRGII Headphone Amplifier - Review

Ok so it has been a while since my last blog post, I have been really busy designing my own blog which I will reveal when it is finished and built. Eventually my goal is to transfer form the Blogger account over to my own nicely designed blog which will showcase some of my builds, existing amplifier reviews and loads more...

Anyway, today I received this lovely Graham Slee Solo SRGII Headphone Amplifier to test in a Beta run (thanks you to John and Graham for sending this over to me). I can't wait to give this thing a good listen. I already own a Graham Slee Solo Intro 'Green' so it will be very interesting to hear how it compares. Initially I am hoping my Solo intro isn't far behind in sound quality, but we shall see.



Over the next few days I'll be trying it will all my dacs, headphones and a few friends sets of headphones. (Hopefully the Sennheiser HD 800's). Watch this space!

Tweaking my Volumite board for my AMB Labs B22 amplifier

Today I was doing a bit more work to my b22 amplifier. I needed to figure out a way of installing my Twisted Pear Audio Volumite board in to my b22 amp panels as the thread on the Volumite was far too short to be able to use with 6mm thick panels that I plan to use. I plan to use another volume pot and run wires to my Volumite board and remove the existing pot that came with the Volumite. To do this meant the Volumite board has no means of being fixed to the amplifier chassis. With this in mind I made this simple solution to keep the board neatly secured within the amplifier. This maybe of use to to her builders also wanting to use the Volumite board. Its simple and nothing particularly impressive,but it works. I use a tie wrap (attached via the holes that were designed to hold the existing volume pot) to secure the Volumite board to the bread board that was secured to the chassis via board stand offs. See my pics. Now I all I have to do is mount the new pot in the panel and run cables direct to the Volumite, obviously these wires are as short as possible. The volume pot is not in the signal path so shouldn't cause me any problems in sound with the amplifier.

Creating an LED indicating system for my b22 balanced amplifier

Over the past few weeks my B22 balanced amp has been progressing (slowly),mainly because I have had a couple of issues with getting the speaker switch boards working. With the help of Ti from Amb Labs, we finally got it up and running. The next step was to create some method of indicating which switch was in operation via leds on my panel. The e24 board that i am using doesn't not come with a direct way of hooking up leds that I could use straight away, so Ti came up with a fairly simple and cool solution that worked a treat! Attached is an example of how I want to hook up the LEDs on myb22 panel and below is an example of how it works. I can't wait to get this amp finished!

Epiphone Sheraton 2 guitar review - ebony with gold hardware

Well my guitar arrived promptly after ordering it desperately hoping it would arrive before the weekend in time for me to spend time jammin with my new toy. To my surprise it turned up in two boxes, my first thoughts were oh, surely it can't come in pieces?, can it?...

The company I had ordered it from sent me a free practice amp. Not bad for free! Its a small 15watt practice amp that is made under the Gibson brand but sold on cheaper.

Anyway, for the important stuff. The Epiphone Sheraton 2 review. I went for the Black guitar with the gold hardware and i have to say, it looks very very classy and expensive. The workmanship on the guitar is brilliant! I was worried that with it being made by Epiphone at a cheaper cost in China, it would be a bit basic in terms of finish and quality. But it really isn't! I spent a lot of time looking at the Gibson ES 335 guitars in my local shop before buying and obviously they are a much sought after guitar, but the Epiphone really does it's self justice for the price! This is the first Semi acoustic guitar I have owned and I'm loving it.A couple of things I noticed right from the start when i began playing the guitar, and that is the body really does feel big compared to a strat. At first I found it a bit big to sit with on your knee. The body seemed to dig in to my chest. It wasn't long though before I got used the shape and I couldn't put it down. The guitar is very light too, which is good. I tried a Les Paul in the shop and my god that was heavy compared to this, obviously the weight from the Les Paul is down to the solid wood body.

The sound from the Sheraton is also very good! Its very warm and kind of mellow when playing chords, exactly what I like. It also sounds nice and clean when used in the bridge position. Although the standard pickups seem pretty good as they are, Id still like to upgrade to the Classic 57's at some point for that extra touch. But for now, this baby is rocking as it is!

Good points
The guitar look extremely classy and sophisticated. It is an absolute bargain at the price you pay considering the finish and sound quality you get. Easily up gradeable, should you wish to go down that route. Its a real pleasure to play and very hard to put down.

Bad points
The pick up selector switch feels cheap. It just seems to feel flimsy. Luckily these can be upgraded. I would also recommend upgrading the pots whilst your at it. They feel ok for now, but not sure how long they will go for. I have heard that the gold colour on the hardware starts to fade quickly,but I'll have to see about that over time. For now its perfect.

Summary
A bargain for the price, great looks, great sound! A seriously nice semi hollow electric guitar, but don't just take my word for it, head down to you local guitar shop and give it a try. Its always best to try them for your self rather than relying on reviews all the time (that's what I did).





Here's some techinical highlights and features of the Sheraton 2 guitar:

* Arched maple top, back, and sides
* Laminated maple neck
* Grover tuners
* Dual humbuckers
* Gold hardware
* Multiple bound body, neck, peghead, and F-holes
* Vine inlay on peghead
* Mother-of-pearl and abalone fretboard inlays



(Please not the guitar pics were taken with a cheap phone camera so they don't really do the guitar that much justice).

On order my new Epiphone Sheraton 2 Guitar - Review to come soon!

Over the past few days (since I got back from holiday) I have been looking at buying a new guitar. After many hours thinking bout different guitars and styles I would like to use it to play, I finally decided to go for an Epiphone Sheraton 2. This guitar is clearly inspired by the legendary Gibson ES335. I really love the look of the Sheraton as it just oozes class in the design. I went for the black version with the gold hardware. (photos to be added when it arrives). Obviously the ES335 is much more sought after and this is a guitar I would love to own in the future. A possible consideration for me would be to upgrade to some nice Gibson 57 Classics or the BurstBucker pickups, but for now I plan to rock out with the standard spec.

Whilst researching guitars I found a really good article on the Gibson.com site explaining all the effort that goes in to making their Gibson guitars. It is very interesting to see how talented the guys and girls are who make these guitars, they are made by hand from scratch, a true art form!

Check it out here