Help with not annoying my neighbors. Hot Plate? Maybe?

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sean106ESP

sean106ESP

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Hi guys hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving, so I moved into a new apartment in NY and of course I have neighbors above and below and IMO my VH4 for recording or just jamming sounds best when the tubes are nice and hot and loud. So I got my first complaint today and it was only 6PM LOL But I was pissed at my upper neighbor for waking me up every morning with her child doing fucking running and back flips :lol: :LOL: so I pumped her up and jammed out. The VH4S I use for rehearsal every week and gigs, so not an issue. But this VH4 is biased hot at like 49-50?? With NOS Phillips tubes.

Now my band are going to record and EP/LP. We are on a tight budget so we need to do the drums at a studio..........mix them.......then I have a nice Sennheizer e906 I have gotten some great tones out of my VH4 and rearloaded cab recording.......and planned to do all the guitars and Bass at home in cubase as I am a editing fanatic and want to make it perfect......I don't want to have to deal with a producer. Then once it is all mixed........have our vocalist do his vocals at the studio.....and then master it there.

So my question is....I have hear about hot plates. Are they any good? Can I crank the amp, get the true loud tube tone and cleans, yet at a lower volume for recording(and jamming at home)? I moved out of a house (I called of a wedding so I moved out) and don't have a house anymore to raise the roof with and get loud to record like these raw examples (some have no Bass):
(Warning.........not the Brootalz at all. :D )
https://soundclick.com/share?songid=6968933
https://soundclick.com/share?songid=6923809
https://soundclick.com/share?songid=6941600
https://soundclick.com/share?songid=6954579

I DO NOT (no offense POD users) want to get any POD or amp sim..............I want the true Diezel Tone I love. Any advice on hot plates or which ones to buy would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys!!

sean
 
I had one and didn't like it the effect on my amp. Returned it. I suggest you buy one and try it out. Return it if it doesn't work for you.
 
Yeah I was thinking the same thing, of just ordering one from a online sotre where you have 30 days to return it. Any suggestions on what are the best hot plates? Thanks! :thumbsup:
 
sean106ESP":1wdntmek said:
Yeah I was thinking the same thing, of just ordering one from a online sotre where you have 30 days to return it. Any suggestions on what are the best hot plates? Thanks! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

I had a THD 8 ohm one that I got at a GC. I haven't tried any of the other ones. I think Weber is supposed to have a decent one, but I don't think you'd be able to return it.

20% off at MF this weekend.
 
You could look into having a power scaling kit installed...

http://www.londonpower.com

Then you will still be able to get power tube saturation, and it will extend the life of your tubes!!! Once I can get my hands on an Einstein I am planning to install one in it. :rock:
 
All the money you are going to spend on hotplates, etc. should get you enough hours to track your amp in a nice studio loud & proud.

Just my 2c.
 
nbarts":v2p6zfot said:
All the money you are going to spend on hotplates, etc. should get you enough hours to track your amp in a nice studio loud & proud.

Just my 2c.
Click to expand...

Amen.

Barring that, try running a line out of the vh4 to a seperate power amp. Crank the head, and use the power amp as a master volume....should do the trick. :thumbsup:

Good luck with the album :rock:
 
nbarts":n4xyphiu said:
All the money you are going to spend on hotplates, etc. should get you enough hours to track your amp in a nice studio loud & proud.

Just my 2c.
Click to expand...

I hear ya there. I just take forever doing the guitars and layering a lot and then spending so much time trying to get all the volumes to sit right. Plus the studios here in NYC and mega expensive IMO :(
 
sean, try wait for the Axe Fx VST plugins..............I heard a VH4 model and it sounded PRETTY close and mean
 
I've been looking into this a lot lately, and the route I'm thinking looks best is something along the lines of a Palmer PDI-03. The end result is that you would be playing the head cranked into full range desktop studio monitor speakers.

The key is you need a load for the amp. The problem with most attenuators is that the impedance curve doesn't match what an actual speaker cab looks like. For example, I have an attenuator made up entirely of resistors. This gives a flat impedance of 8 ohms across all frequencies. A speaker looks very different, with the impedance spiking very high below 100 Hz and flattening out and then rising in the higher frequencies.

The Palmer PDI-03 or PGA-04 provide both the speaker load which approximates the impedance curve of a speaker instead of just using resistors, as well as a filter to simulate the frequency response of the speaker. A guitar cab doesn't give a flat response, but rather has peaks and valleys and rolls off sharply above the mid-high frequencies.

Another approach is to use something like a Palmer PDI-09. This only does the frequency response simulation of the cab (and apparently does it decently well). Then an external dummy load would be needed. This could be a circuit which models the impedance curve of the speaker or an actual speaker inside a soundproof box. The benefit here would be in using an actual speaker instead of a simulation circuit. But the PDI-03 alone might be close enough.

Bottom line is while I haven't tried all of the above, I think something like it would be best for low volume playing/recording. I tried a quick trial using a cheap (Behringer) DI box I have lying around which can accept an amp speaker input and provide a line-out as long as there is a load. In this case I used my cab as the load. It sounded pretty good! The added advantage is there's no need to fool around with mic placement.

I'd avoid using the cab altogether. To me the amp attenuated through the cab just didn't sound right. And the speakers are large and naturally produce lots of bass. For low volume playing going straight to the studio monitors seems best. Anyway, besides the PDI-03 here are some other ideas.

1. Speaker in a soundproof box with microphone (http://www.amptone.com/demeterssc1.htm, Randall isolation box, etc.)
2. Speaker in a soundproof box as a load with cab sim line-out (same as above, but use Palmer PDI-09 instead of microphone)
3. Speaker simulation circuit (Weber Mass Lite or reactive/resistive circuit) with cab sim line-out (Palmer PDI-09)
 
Hey thanks for all the info.

I read some reviews on those ISO boxes like the Grendall and Randall and I dunno.......their were so many mixed reviews. Some said it sounded great, others found it Hollow sounding.
 
I saw the same, and I'm not sure I'm sold on having a mic in such a small enclosure. That's why I'm thinking the better method is to use a box like that just as speaker load, but instead take the audio as a direct line out.
 
I (was) using Koch Loadbox II. By far the greatest load box I've tried. Although Peter does not recommend using such devices, I found that the Koch ones does sound very good (i.e. doesn't have a sound and does not color the tone :lol: :LOL: :) ).
Stopped using it for the Einstein, since its circuit seems to be magic kind of thingy that does sound good even at (very) low volumes.
 
hey Sean, maybe you could find someone who has one these Iso-boxes Randall etc. offers to try them out...

if not, you could also think about to record just the DI signal at home, all tracks, until everything is tight, and then go into a studio, crank the VH4, and "re-amp" the DI-track - takes you 1 studio day extra.
 
I'm using a Hotplate now and it seems to sound pretty good, I don't really crank the amp up tho. I end up practicing after 10PM sometimes so its at a low volume. I still think it sounds good and i can get some nice crunch out of the amp.

:confused:
 
petereanima":6m2e1u16 said:
hey Sean, maybe you could find someone who has one these Iso-boxes Randall etc. offers to try them out...

if not, you could also think about to record just the DI signal at home, all tracks, until everything is tight, and then go into a studio, crank the VH4, and "re-amp" the DI-track - takes you 1 studio day extra.
Click to expand...

Reamping is the way to go in situations like these. It's really a great tool.
 
Ultimate Attenuator is a lot of $$$ but works MUCH better than the hot plate, wreck, power brake, etc. Those are resistor loads, the UA is a resistor load with a 22w hi-fi solid state power amp that acts as a "reamp." Sounds great.... as long as you don't suck too much. It also works with any ohm.. (you don't have to buy a different one for 4, 8, and 16)
 
I have an e906 that I use as well! Sweet mic!
Now my band are going to record and EP/LP. We are on a tight budget so we need to do the drums at a studio..........mix them.......then I have a nice Sennheizer e906 I have gotten some great tones out of my VH4 and rearloaded cab recording.......and planned to do all the guitars and Bass at home in cubase as I am a editing fanatic and want to make it perfect......I don't want to have to deal with a producer. Then once it is all mixed........have our vocalist do his vocals at the studio.....and then master it there.

So my question is....I have hear about hot plates. Are they any good?
Click to expand...

I use a Grendel Sound deadroom, which is an awesome ISO cabinet. You can load it with your own speaker. Works amazing and sounds great! I actually brought it one day over to the studio where I'm doing some recording for an animation company and they were blown away by it. I'll have to put up some clips at some point soon when I get some time.
deadroomcorey5.jpg


I have a small baby in the home and thus, I need to be able to crank the Einstein to get the sound I want without waking him (or my WIFE for that matter!) It works great!!!! I loaded mine with a Diezel Eminence speaker to sound similar to my cab.
 
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