Jimi Hendrix' Gear and Mods at West Coast Organ and Amp

[Xplorer]

makes me think that i'd need an sm57 !!

[JimiJames]

Yes, get one. If it is a newer model, then try a Tape Op mod to it. Like turning a humbucker into airy P.A.F. That should put you into the E.K. recording dept.

[Xplorer]

Yes, get one. If it is a newer model, then try a Tape Op mod to it. Like turning a humbucker into airy P.A.F. That should put you into the E.K. recording dept.

great ! yes, first reflex, i saw that there are mods to do about the sm57, changing the transformer and some other stuffs. tape op, i'll see what this means.
who's EK ?

[bill bokey]

I believe the Tape Op mod is when you remove the transformer
EK = Eddie Kramer ?

[daveweyer]

Littlewyan,
The pic of the circuit board on the Woodstock wah did not show the soldered-on cap. I did that purposely to keep a little secret, but then decided what the hell, just let the whole world know. So when Antoine came here to do the video, I showed it all. Sort of a last minute decision to let it all hang out. It didn't take long either, I started getting reports right away that folks were offering the mod on pedals they were making. Tek showed an analysis of the Q and bandwidth of the circuit here which pretty well spells out the secret of that pedal and what kind of tone and response Jimi wanted.

[Xplorer]

I believe the Tape Op mod is when you remove the transformer
EK = Eddie Kramer ?

thanks bill

[daveweyer]

Niknik,
Loved the sound of the gear. No apologies for your playing either. The more of these mods you guys do, the better I like it. It always takes me back to 1969 and the mods I did for Jimi; I remember him lighting up when he heard those kinds of sounds coming from his amps. Of course that made me very happy too because I believed I was steering him towards what local Hollywood guitar hero Dennis Edwards drilled into my head and dubbed, "the holy grail of guitar sound", a particular quality from modded '59 Bassmans that could be ported over to Marshalls, conditioned of course by his listening playing, and approval or rejection.

[daveweyer]

Xplorer,
The removal of the transformer just means that you have to use your mic preamp to make up the difference in output from the mic. A neat trick is to run the SM57 coil into a low impedance input, like the input of the fuzzface (don't use a fuzz unit for a mic preamp). It is a very low voltage level, but the coil will deliver current. If you drive a summing amp directly, you will create a current mode input, which means that the cable and other capacitances will have little effect; the result is that the mic sounds like a capacitor mic with very good high frequency response, and an ability to "hear" the environment as if there were no distance between the mic and the signal source. You can also create a very low noise input this way.

[Xplorer]

Xplorer,
The removal of the transformer just means that you have to use your mic preamp to make up the difference in output from the mic. A neat trick is to run the SM57 coil into a low impedance input, like the input of the fuzzface (don't use a fuzz unit for a mic preamp). It is a very low voltage level, but the coil will deliver current. If you drive a summing amp directly, you will create a current mode input, which means that the cable and other capacitances will have little effect; the result is that the mic sounds like a capacitor mic with very good high frequency response, and an ability to "hear" the environment as if there were no distance between the mic and the signal source. You can also create a very low noise input this way.

niknik, was your SM57 modded this way ?

thank you Dave for the explanation. i'm not sure to follow everything, i thought i'd just have to remove the transformer and plug the mic into the soundcard.

[niknik]

Niknik,
Loved the sound of the gear. No apologies for your playing either. The more of these mods you guys do, the better I like it. It always takes me back to 1969 and the mods I did for Jimi; I remember him lighting up when he heard those kinds of sounds coming from his amps. Of course that made me very happy too because I believed I was steering him towards what local Hollywood guitar hero Dennis Edwards drilled into my head and dubbed, "the holy grail of guitar sound", a particular quality from modded '59 Bassmans that could be ported over to Marshalls, conditioned of course by his listening playing, and approval or rejection.

Dave,
it's an huge honor for me only the fact you listen to my clips, and thanx very much for all you shared in this forum! Little by little I want to perform all the mods you shared, amps, fuzz and also 5687 driver mod (just purchased a nos rca.. )

[niknik]

Xplorer,
SM57 used in my clip is a stardard one, current production, I think it's a very good mic, also inexpensive. I can't figure a recorded guitar without at least one of these..
I have got another SM57, modified swapping the transformer in the way described by JimiJames, but I never directly compared the two..
I'm going to do another take with two mic side by side (good thing my crappy mic pre is stereo), and I will post the clip, so we can listen the differences.

[Xplorer]

Xplorer,
SM57 used in my clip is a stardard one, current production, I think it's a very good mic, also inexpensive. I can't figure a recorded guitar without at least one of these..
I have got another SM57, modified swapping the transformer in the way described by JimiJames, but I never directly compared the two..
I'm going to do another take with two mic side by side (good thing my crappy mic pre is stereo), and I will post the clip, so we can listen the differences.

that's a great idea, opportunity, and a great material to do the comparison, yes please do it !

[Littlewyan]

That makes sense. I did try these mods to my wah pedal last night just to see what they sounded like and they were just too dark for me. I do play a Les Paul with Humbuckers though so that probably had something to do with it!

[niknik]

I did no realise one thing about recording the clip with my two sm57: my preamp is stereo yes, but the input of my pc sound card is mono!
so I can't do a single sound take with separate tracks, one for each mic..
I can record only one take by one, one mic at time, so maybe the test of the mics will be less accurate, but who knows?
I'll do of my best!

[niknik]

ok,
I did the comparison clip of sm57 mics.
unfortunately I had to play each riff two times, one by one each mic, 'cause my PC soundcard only has a mono input..
the gear an setup is the same as previous clip, maybe a little lower fuzz control, that I accidentaly touched.
Same flat settings in preamp mic channels, except for an higher output vol for the modded sm57, to match the standard one (modded sm57 is considerably lower in vol).
main differences are in mid freqs, less prominent in modded mic.
I don't know which I prefere..

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