| |  Here are some sound clips of the Blues 112 in action, stored as
MP3 files recorded 24/7/2000 + 28/9/2001 and some RealAudio files recorded in '97.
MP3
On these recent MP3's, I just went through the four preamp
style positions and played whatever came into my head, badly. Recording
setup was the SB Live! 1024, and a cheap mic that came with my AWE-32 years
back. The mic was positioned 18" from the cab off-centre. Due
to the distance you will probably hear other stuff getting picked up, like me
hitting the strings, my watch rattling, etc...
There are two flavours of mono MP3 on here, the 32kbs low
quality ones and the high quality 80kbs ones. Some noise reduction has
been applied to get rid of the buzzes and stuff that seem to surround
PC's. Other than that, the samples are uncompressed, and no EQ has been
applied - this is about as raw as you get...
The last of the MP3's is a tune clip that was hastily thrown
together. It has the additional disadvantage of my harmonica playing - you
have been warned...
| Style |
Notes |
32kbs MP3 |
80kbs MP3 |
| 1 |
The cleanest of the gain/style positions,
although you can hear the slight breakup as the gain is maxed out, using
the master volume to keep things in check. Played with strat on the
middle pickup. |
Download
[75k] |
Download
[187k] |
| 2 |
Position 2 gives more gain, with deliberate
assymetric clipping to get the American sound. Strat on the bridge
pickup this time, for a sharper sound. Gain on maximum again. |
Download
[82k] |
Download
[205k] |
| 3 |
More of a rock sound, this is probably the
one I use most. Nice dynamics on this one, note how the sound
doesn't break up and splatter out as you play harder. No fiddling
with the volume control or pedals on this one, it was all done by starting
off playing light and getting angry. Bridge pickup, and gain on
max. Have a listen a second time, and you will see that the
frequency response of the lightly played guitar at the start is clean and
in balance with the distorted sound later on. |
Download
[225k] |
Download
[561k] |
| 4 |
Most gain out of the lot. The B112
isn't a death metal amp, such sonic preferences are better dialled in with
a tubescreamer up front, and gain/style #3. Thought I would throw in
the sound of style #4 here without FX just for completeness. Bass
was wound up to the 3 o'clock position which was probably a mistake.
Gain is at the 2 o'clock position - it's raw and gutsy, but that's all I
have to say nice about it... |
Download
[132k] |
Download
[328k] |
| N/A |
Tune clip. I like this
one - having just bought a Fender Telecaster, I decided to try it on the
Blues 112 to see what it sounded like. Left/right are the Tele in
open G tuning on style 3 (rock) with gain around the 3 o'clock
position. The bass is a Peavey Zephyr DI'ed, and there's some harp
blasted through the B112 in there too... |
Download
[245k] |
Download
[976k 128kpbs] |
 You can download the dual-ISDN files and
play them locally with the RealPlayer or Windows Media Player.
If you have a slow link, don't forget to shift-click or right-click, or whatever your
browser expects you to do when picking the files for download to ensure they get saved to
disk rather than played....
| Sample |
RA 2xISDN
Download |
| Dynamics - Using my bitza Strat on preamp style #3
(Let's Rock). Highlights the effect of quiet picking followed by hard playing
without altering the guitar volume pot, or altering the amp's controls. |
Download [255k] |
| Thick Tone - Now using a Gibson Sonex 180 with the same
settings as above - you can hear the powerful Gibson crunch.... |
Download [252k] |
| Insanity - The Gibson again, but preamp style #4 this
time (High Gain). I'm only playing one chord on this one... |
Download [196k] |
 Triode Thrash - Back to the Strat on the bridge pickup,
using preamp style #3 (Let's Rock), the gain is at the 12 o'clock position. This
would normally give a clean sound. However, the master volume is maxed, and the
output stage is flipped to triode mode which limits power output to 2.9W RMS before
clipping. Instead of the clean sound, you get to hear those EL84's being pushed past
the limit. Can't wait to try it with a Telecaster for that definitive
"Who" sound. |
Download [120k] |
| Tune Clip - Some bits of guitar thrown together along
with a MIDI backing track. The rhythm part is double tracked and panned hard
left/right. The lead has some chorus applied over the top (and maybe over the top
is the best description).... Rhythm tracks are recorded using preamp style #3, with the
treble control at 9 o'clock.
Lead was with preamp style #4 with the treble control at 10 o'clock.
Note that the MP3 is a remix of the one in the RealAudio
sample, it's not identical source material. |
Download RealAudio [237k]
or...
Download MP3 [484k]
|
RECORDING
Got to be bad news - For the first four samples, I used the mic that comes with the
SoundBlaster cards (really). The frequency response is pretty toppy as a
result. Run straight into the AWE-32, and recorded direct to disk. No effects
etc....
For the Tune Clip sample, I managed to borrow an SM58 and a Studiomaster Diamond 8-2
desk This was recorded along side the MIDI track onto tape with EQ flat.
AMP SETTINGS
 | Style: #3 or #4 as indicated above. |
| Gain: 2 o'clock position except triode thrash. |
| Bass/Mid/Treble: All at 12 o'clock, unless otherwise indicated. |
| Reverb: 9 o'clock. |
| Volume: 9 o'clock. |
| Pentode mode. |
For triode thrash, the volume was maxed and the amp was in triode mode.
|
