Most controversial mic pre thread ever?

[bounce]

Okay, so after all the flutter and whoopees going on around the web about the Electro Harmonix mic pre, I picked one up to try (thanks, Joel, for the tip on interesting cheap gear). I thought to myself "Hey, this thing sounds kinda cool. I think I'll rack it." Okay $180 (absolutely my cheapest pre-nice!), I don't mind destroying all hope of warranty and taking it apart. So I get it apart and decide to check out the components.
Okay, here's the Area 51, play-the-record-backwards-and-it-tells-you-to-buy-more-cereal, da vinci code part. I look on the printed circuit board and there, next to the mini torroidal transformer is, plain as day, the phrase "Listen to elvisbeatlesgod." I was like, "Hmmm, now that's an odd name for jumper 2 grid 4 wire 3." Then, more messages from EHbove...Right above the same transformer the words, as plain as the same day at the same time on a sunny afternoon, "Buck Fush." Now I guess you could rearrange the "B" and the "F" and get all profane and stuff. Is this the true Harmonix Convergence? I think with this pre I got WAY more than my money's worth? Alright then, maim, squabble, or rejoice amongst yourselves ;-)

P.S. My digital camera is WAY bad. The photo attached is very blurry but I think it totally adds to the Bigfoot factor ;-)

McKay Garner
Bounce Inventive Audio
Los Angeles

[c7sus]

This is apparently pretty common. A google search should turn up tons of examples. One I remember seeing a while back was I believe an Intel chip with the "Where's Waldo" guy etched into it.

Some of this stuff might be anti-counterfeiting measures, some of it a joke to whoever conceived it. Like easter eggs in sw.

[bounce]

I figured this is a company or operator stamp for some purpose (maybe like coders who put hidden levels in games). I think I may have seen this kind of thing before, just thought it was interesting that it went political and religious all at once ;-)

[Halion]

That made me love EH even more Thank you.

[gemsbok]

this is a common thing. i saw it on a show a couple years back. some people collect them. the presidential comment means i will spend my money elsewhere. not that i would ever buy there cheap garbage. i loved the big muff back in the day. you would step on the pedal and it would bend and warp just like cheap garbage.

[synthi aks]

EHX gear is cheap, fun and sounds fantastic! BUCK FUSH!!!

[Sonic Idiot]

I was already munching on purchasing this EH box based on the low price/high buzz factor (this would satisfy my gear lust through the holidays, I reckoned). The Buck Fush takes me over the edge. Where's my wallet?

The question remains: is the box pretty cool? I've read Joel's positive comments. Anyone else got something to share about performance? Starved plate issue?

[ozraves]

The EH guys were one of the different animals at AES. They are cool in an industry that loves to manufacture coolness.

[Joel Hamilton]

I laughed so hard when the designer of the pre pointed that out to me. The original prototype was hand wired, then the next revision I got had the "buck fush" on it.... So awesome.

[bounce]

I thought it was great as well :-) I got the pre all racked and used it today (doing a track for ther show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"- fun session). I gotta take some photos once I get the labels on the knobs, etc. Thanks again Joel for the nod on this little pre. I think I'll pick up another. The knob pcb is separate from the tube pcb so I had to make a ribbon cable to extend the reack from the 2 so I could mount the knobs/leds/switches on the front of the rack and the main tube board on the floor of the rack casing. Pretty easy once I got the bare ribbon cable and connectors. Drilling the holes in the front of the case was actually pretty easy as well since I already had the EH casing as a template. I just put the EH casing on the front rack panel and marked the holes already cut into the EH case. I still need to do some surface mount xlr connectors on the back of the rack case. Right now I have a couple of pigtails for the XLR connections.

McKay

[mshilarious]

With an 8 year old daughter who can read far beyond her grade level, I wish people wouldn't put such juvenile bumper stickers on their cars, but on their PCBs Whatever. Really, if you think about, what other two words could potentially force me to explain politics and anal rape to a child?

[mrface2112]

Originally Posted by mshilarious

what other two words could potentially force me to explain politics and anal rape to a child?

it's no worse than hearing "received oral sex from his intern" on the 6pm news every night for months straight back in 98-99. in this case, consider yourself fortunate that you're not having to explain THAT one to your daughter.

on principle, i hate seeing manufacturers get political. i didn't have much of a desire to pick up the EH pre in the first place.....but they've just assured that i will never buy one of their products. this is just as bad as springsteen or dave matthews telling me who to vote for when i've paid them money to perform. if i wanted preaching, i'd go to church.


cheers,
wade

[mshilarious]

Originally Posted by mrface2112

dave matthews telling me who to vote for when i've paid them money to perform. if i wanted preaching, i'd go to church.

And you live in C-ville? Heretic!!!!

[mrface2112]

Originally Posted by mshilarious

And you live in C-ville? Heretic!!!!

yes, and i worked for dave and coran back in the Trax days.

dave is (or at least was) one of the most humble and gracious people i've ever known (coran....not so much ). the banter on Election Night 92 among the boys in the band was actually quite funny, and the tapes back that up.

but it's one thing to banter....it's another to ram your personal views down my throat from a bully pulpit.....and i didn't pay you money to hear you tell me for whom i should vote--i paid to hear you sing and play.

i don't care who you are or what you believe--i don't want to hear it. as alice cooper said, "we're musicians--it's not like we sit around reading the Wall Street Journal all day....how informed can we possibly be?"


cheers,
wade


PS--there's a reason i call c'ville "the people's republic of charlottesville".

[mshilarious]

Y'know, I was looking at that picture again, it's kind of blurry, but I believe that's probably the power supply section. I hope when word of this gets out, no kids are stupid enough to pop open the case and accidentally touch something near there with the power on pretty good amount of voltage there

[mrface2112]

Originally Posted by mshilarious

pretty good amount of voltage there

a nice, fat, wrongful death lawsuit delivered to EH by the family of a dead stupid kid would sure put a damper on the jubilation over their "creativity", now wouldn't it?


cheers,
wade

[gemsbok]

it is still cheap garbage and dave mathews should buy a whole bunch of this and maybe his songs would sound a little different than his last couple albums. he is so boring . now sting is something else.

[Walter Tore]

Originally Posted by gemsbok

it is still cheap garbage and dave mathews should buy a whole bunch of this and maybe his songs would sound a little different than his last couple albums. he is so boring . now sting is something else.

I disagree the EH is garbage. I have 3 and the sound difference from my most recent recordings, compared to ones made over the summer, with art TPS pre amps, is very obvious to the ear. You can hear a bunch of songs I recorded in the last couple weeks, using the EH pre's. Remember when listening, this all is done live,one take, and with my limited skills as a recording engineer. Timothy Lawler makes incredible recordings IMO, and he is loving his EH. The hum problem has been no problem on my end. Walter


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...?bandID=157137

[Good Friend]

I dont hate bush and i dont like bush. I cant believe adults care enough about this kind of thing to go to all this trouble. Bush isnt fucked up, osama isnt fucked up, human nature is fucked up. The human mind is fucked up really. Anyone who has read even a little human psychology and anthropology stuff would know that the reasons we kill each other and hate each other and fear each other is hardwired into humanity and it is not escapable. We would not even be here if we didnt have this nature to survive and kill to live. Hey, im a big dumbass peace loving war hating hippy, but the more i read about science and the mind the more i see that life is bigger than idealism. Ideally a president would do a perfect job or should do a perfect job. But IDEALLY we wouldnt need a president at all. I do believe that war, hate and crime is poison and should be avoided at all costs, but that is idealism. If i would have been a caveman or a monkey in the early stages of mans evolution what would i have done? Fought to live, fought to survive, fought to protect my family. And my children would survive to be the same. Its sick and its mother natures way of making its creatures do its bidding to carry on genetic code. But what seperates man is his will to override his genetic programming. Kindness is mans only true element that he can control. So do with it what you will.

[Good Friend]

Sorry that has nothing to do with eh preamps. Ill say this though, my friend bought one and we were all psyched but it was lighter than two pencils taped together and had horrible hum. But i dont hear any hum in walters sound samples. So who knows.

[bounce]

Aaah, as I thought...this thread and the $189 EH pre with it's enigmatic internal tattoo have come together to inspire us, humanity, to champion the points of art vs. money vs. politics vs. survival vs. Starbucks vs. the fancy good Mr. Dave Matthews. I had a feeling this stamp would raise the roof.

Now, here's a question for thought. Is it so that a consumer (maybe an artist himself) can pay an artist a concert fee and expect that only the approved songs can be performed? That only the commonly acceptable monologues can be displayed (ever been to an old Prince concert?)? Can she expect to only hear the songs about love and fishing, the things the consumer believes in? Is art not a reflection of life? Are some of those reflections from an artist, be they in song form yet or not, just that, a reflection? I pose this thought not in anger or protest, just as a thought ;-) Heck, when I pay $60 to hear "the poopypants remix concert" I'd like not to get 3 hours of "lettuce is bad for ferrets" and 4 minutes of "poopypants" but where's the gauge for this one? Anyone? Long live poopypants!

Some of the best musicians of our time have given me great music and disgusted me as human beings all at once. I remember when I was 13 I went to a Buddy Rich concert. After the show I was able to go out to his bus for an autograph. In the 50 seconds I was in the bus i was able to ascertain that this guy was an absolute ass to people. The way he talked to some of the kids in front of me and another adult on the bus just nailed that case closed. I found out years later that this was often his demeanor. But, Good Lord, what a gift! What a great show! What a great performance! I guess it's kind of like how you go to the same barber for a few years because of his amazing skill and thoughtful insight into your lovelife and the repair of your 1979 volvo wagon only to have him one day, on a perfectly good Saturday with sunshine and everything, make some racist remark that forever destroys his total worth to you. What a drag! Such talent. Such wisdom! I've heard many comments from the pulpit of art that were not requested. Heck, I've heard some songs from artists I love that I thought sucked as well. If those same artists only wrote what they should write instead of what they were passionate about we might as well all live in elevators. Heck, I'm a huge Opponent of first person shooter rap (I like some rap, though. Bad times? Report it don't propel it, I say.) just like I don't buy White Supremacy records. I think they do more harm than good. But, I guess somebody feels it deep in their heart regardless whether or not I subscribe to it and wish it didn't exist. CursEd artists always mixing up art and income. It's hard to find a soapbox without somekind of sneaker ad or campaign sticker on it. I guess we all gotta believe in somethin'. Trick is, when can we say it? Should we hold it in 'til we get out of the place where it might travel the farthest, be heard the most. Heck, I don't know. I just wanna get this thing racked.

And that's the way it might is, Wednesday December the 1st, 2005
Happy Birthday, sis!

McKay Garner
Bounce Inventive Audio
Los Angeles

[mrface2112]

Originally Posted by bounce

Now, here's a question for thought.

the way i look at it is this: if i want to hear political propaganda, people on a soapbox preaching about who i oughta vote for, etc., i will go to a republican't or demokratik rally. when i go to a MUSIC concert, i expect to hear MUSIC.

now, if the *songs* are political in nature (dylan, joni mitchell, etc), one would think that as a paying customer and fan enough of the music to shell out $$$ for a ticket, i would be aware of that and *expect* to hear political themes in the music. but still, i don't want to hear a 10 minute treatise on a candidate, or about a war, or about greenhouse gases, etc, in between songs. and i love me some dylan.

you see.....as a listener, i like music to take me AWAY from the nonsense that's going on in my everyday life.....not to keep bringing it up.

i don't mind ANY type of music--i think it all has a place. i'll listen to country and gangsta rap back to back......but i think that if you don't think that country and gangsta rap aren't helping perpetuate the problems in their respective communities, you're mistaken. but i live in neither of those communities, so i don't really care.


FWIW, the only place i consider an "acceptable" soapbox in the context of a concert is at Farm Aid.

regardless, i think these sorts of shenanigans by a company like this are juvenile at best, and i have no desire to support them with my money. some might think they're great, and this will drive them to buy the unit. thank neil peart for freedom of will.


cheers,
wade

[mshilarious]

I think if I wanted my product to be political, in that vein, I would put moveon.org or something on the outside of the product. That's a bit less junior high school.

[corban]

This thread needs 35% more controversy if it doesn't want to be sued for misrepresentation.

[mrface2112]

Originally Posted by mshilarious

I think if I wanted my product to be political, in that vein, I would put moveon.org or something on the outside of the product. That's a bit less junior high school.

LOL

not to mention, in 5 years, "Buck Fush" will simply be a coded reminder to straight guys who don't get laid all that often and forget how to do it.


cheers,
wade