Our Little Jewel

Click on photo for larger version. Courtesy of The U.K. Met Office.

I couldn't resist publishing this amazing shot from space, taken at midday today. It appears that we were specially selected for cosmic exposition.

Microwave Smoothing Choke

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This Hi-Fi power supply smoothing choke was made from a microwave oven transformer. The mains and heater windings were removed and the two magnetic shunts punched out. The remaining H.T. winding has a DC resistance of 140 Ohms. The correct gap turned out to be .01 inches. The old transformer was sliced open between the I and E laminations, the gap inserted, and then the two bits glued back together again with 'Araldite'. I glued on four sides and a top, and mounted a set of lugs with captive nuts onto two of the sides internally. All edges and corners were filed down, and a rub of fine emery cloth and 3 coats of black spray-paint will make it fit to grace the deck of any high end audio amplifier. By the way, the inductance measured out at a massive 102 Henrys, with a D.C. current of 160 Milliamps.

Hi Fi Takes Over

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After a very successful guitar amplifier project for Richard, I have started on a Hi Fi construction venture, which has an Op Amp preamp, a stereo tube amp and 2.5 cubic foot speakers with tuned bass reflex ports. The ports will be interchangeable to give a variety of resonant frequencies from 35 Hz down to 25 Hz. The change is accomplished by simply slotting in a different length of gutter drainpipe, somewhere between 3.5 and 8.5 inches long. One of the speakers is finished and sounds just spot on. The photos clearly show the 35 Hz port in place. Some people might wonder where the tweeter is. It's cleverly mounted within the cone of the woofer. There are actually two tweeters, side by side, so the assembly can't be called 'dual concentric'. I don't believe in mid-range units. I'm trying to emulate a particular sound that I encountered at the start of my career in radio sound, over 40 years ago. Some of my favourite loudspeakers were designed in the 1950s by the B.B.C. and were in use up to the early Seventies. I have not heard anything to match them since. They were called 'LSU/10s'. It was great to hear the rich tones of top notch announcers like Terry Wogan, Denis Meehan, John Skeehan, David Timlin, Andy O'Mahony, Leo Mc Guire, Lorna Madigan, Una Sheehy, Diane Lonergan and Catherine Hogan emanating from these loudspeakers. They were the days. Link to photo of B.B.C. LSU/10.

Kraftwerk

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I discovered this grainy photo in my archive. It was taken in 1994, during a camping holiday with Richard and Linda, in Germany, somewhere on the Autobahn between Frankfurt and Stuttgart. The song 'Fahren fahren fahren auf der Autobahn' by 'Kraftwerk' comes to mind.

The Preamp

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This is the upgraded preamplifier for the Leak 40 Watt guitar amp. "Tube sound" purists would scoff at the idea of including solid state components, like op amps, in any valve design but my logic is that when you use state of the art op amps like the LM4562, the sound that goes into the tube amp is pristine and has no influence over the final tone, which will be determined by the tubes, and other elements of the design. "Chicken-head" knobs are "de rigueur" for tube amps; a sort of homage to the great days of Rock and Roll, and the American High School hops of the 50s and 60s.

Job Done

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The Leak amp head and it's 2 by 12 inch speaker cab are now completed. It only remains for me to install the new Op Amps into the preamp and take a listen. I hope it all sounds as good as it looks.

Morning Sky

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Wednesday morning in Ballybunion started with a very unusual sky. These shots were taken about half an hour after dawn. I captured the waxing moon with my 500mm Sigma zoom telephoto, that I bought recently in New York. It was hand-held, which accounts for the less than perfect sharpness.

Rare Machine

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Eamonn Galvin astride his 1972 Honda CL 350 twin cylinder street scrambler. This bike is probably the only example in Ireland, as it was manufactured solely for the U.S. market.

Up And Running

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The workshop and bench are now in service and used on a daily basis.

The Washing

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Because of a severe lack of funds, I have done no travelling recently. Therefore, no new photos. So here's a shot of my superb line of washing. The humidity was high in Ballybunion yesterday, so they took all day to dry, and even then, they were still a bit damp.

Leak TL40

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Marshall, Vox and Fender move over, the Leak TL40 is coming to town. The trusty 1950 Leak TL12 is able to push out 40 watts RMS (no aul "peak music power" nonsense here), when driven to full overload and tube saturation. It will be going into it's custom cab when I complete the preamplifier. It was a nice warm sunny day here in Ballybunion, so I thought I would come out of the workshop, into the fresh sea air and do a bit of sandpapering on the speaker cab.

The Anglebox

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My friend and colleague, Eamonn Galvin got a really great day, at the "meet" (as the Yanks would say), to show off his 1966 Ford Anglia 105E, affectionately known as the Anglebox, I suppose because of it's angular appearance.

The Mother of all Airports

I decided to republish this post today, the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the historic Berlin airlift. I've added some extra photos.












Photos courtesy of "The First Post".

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The magnificent entrance hall of Berlin's Tempelhof Airport, which is due to close in October this year. A referendum of Berlin's citizens last Sunday, 27th of April '08, failed to get the required turn-out of 25%, so it looks like the closure will go ahead as scheduled. It's an awful pity, because it is truly a magnificent building, and has been dubbed "The Mother of all Airports" by renowned British architect Sir Norman Foster. When you enter through the huge doors and proceed to the check-in desks, you get the impression that you are in a cathedral, with it's high ceilings and polished stone columns. It was built in the late thirties and the airport as a whole is still the largest building complex in the world, and the terminal building is the world's 18th largest building. It is best known, of course, as the entry point for the Berlin airlift of 1948/49. Link to the Wikipedia article.


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Linda and Alan

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My youngest daughter, Linda, has just married Alan, in the Unitarian Church on St. Stephen's Green in Dublin.

The Toob

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The KT66 Beam Tetrode valve was described as "the best audio output valve ever made" in the hey day of valve technology. I found out, only recently, that the famous 807 transmitter valve is an R.F. version, with an anode top-cap. This is a modern day copy from China purchased in Canada. I hope it will give the genuine "tube tone" to the guitar amplifier that I am currently constructing.

The Bench

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The new workshop is now complete and my heavy-duty bench is taking shape. This is the third large bench that I have made in the past 35 years. They all have the same sturdy design, with large timbers used for the frame and legs and all the joints bolted through with recessed nuts and bolt heads.

Ready to Rock

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Well not quite yet. All the elements of the guitar amplifier are now tested and working, the Leak valve amplifier, the two loudspeakers and the preamp with tone control. The next phase of the project is to make the cabinet and fit all the internal gubbins.

Tone Amplified

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An hour ago, I finished building the preamplifier stage, with tone control, for the guitar amp. The volume, bass and treble control knobs are machined aluminium and the housing is hammer finish die-cast alum. A test is not far off.

Americana

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A watercolour by my friend Barry, which depicts the obsession of young Americans in the fifties with sex, cars and rock n' roll.

Spuds

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My spuds were planted back in early March and they have shot up in the last 10 days. I don't know what variety they are, because the seeders came out of a supermarket bag.

Hi And Lo

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I've just built a nice little tone control for Richard's guitar amplifier, which I hope to be assembling very soon. It gives a bass and treble adjustment of plus or minus 20 dbs, which should be more than enough to get the right sound.

Making Steam

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A 2 metre oil painting, hanging in the engine shed at the German Technology Museum in Berlin.

Shadows Of The Past

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Two friendly gee gees enjoy a bit of Berlin sunshine watched over by their bronze brothers. This day in the capital was the only warm one in the first half of April.

Speed Bahn

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A commuter train whisks in to Berlin's main railway station, the Hauptbahnhof, as another pulls out.

The Trench

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I've just dug a 15m trench diagonally across the back garden, to bring power to the newly plastered workshop. The cable will run in 3/4" heavy duty plastic water pipe at a depth of 2 feet. The dig was made very difficult due to slow penetration of a layer of building rubble just inches below the sod.

Unholy Lineup

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This unusual view of the former Communist East Berlin TV tower and the beautiful St. Marien Kirche is seen as you walk down Karl Liebknecht Strasse towards Unter den Linden.

Indian Melodies

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This group of South American musicians in Berlin's Pariser platz were wired for sound with every conceivable electronic gadget.

Deadly Transport

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A beautifully restored Mercedes Benz hearse is used as daily transport by a Kreutzberg resident in Berlin. There are lots of cobblestoned streets in Berlin and they are all maintained in good order and definitely never tarmacked over, ever.

First Wall

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9 am. and I am nearly half way up the first wall. Mixing and plastering on your own is no joke.