The Sand-Castle Artist

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This artist needs to constantly spray his creation to stop it drying out in the hot Spanish sun.

Lunchtime in Torrevieja

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Una mas por favor. There's nothing like a good lunch in southern Spain. It's one of my reasons for going back time and again.

Linda Strikes For Home.

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Linda cuts a path through the exhausted and puts on a final spurt at the 8K mark, to finish well up in the women's Mini Marathon in Dublin on Monday.

A Place of Stones

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Urban Art on the banks of the Landwehr Kanal in the heart of Kreutzberg in Berlin. It was on the route of my 5K fast walk every day during my recent stay in Berlin.

Crumbling Remnant

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There is still a 1Km section of the Berlin Wall standing, which runs down the north bank of the river Spree at Friedrichshain. It's referred to locally and in guide books as the "East Side Gallery" because the authorities have hired some professional graffiti artists to adorn it with fresh works. A lot of it is in a bad condition and I wonder are there any plans to restore it structurally. It would be a pity if this historic symbol of the 'Cold War' were allowed to just crumble away. It's possible to see the old East Berlin TV tower straight ahead in shot number one.

Beautiful Combination

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This lovely combo was spotted parked on the footpath in Mainzerstrasse in Berlin. The bike is a 425cc 4-stroke single cylinder, with shaft drive. The whole thing seems to be new, rather than a restoration. A nice bit of retro design.

Spring in Kilmainham

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I took this shot at the end of April when Spring was well underway in Dublin.

May Day in Berlin

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May Day in Berlin's Kreutzberg district was blessed with stunning warm weather (25C). There was no trouble, mainly due to the heavy Polizei presence, unlike the previous night, which is called Valpurgisnacht in Germany, when the Far-Left went on a violent and destructive rampage, with many injuries suffered. This blogger enjoyed a few cool beers at the Myfest festival. It was like the sixties, with lots of Neo-Hippies, and no sign at all of Neo- Nazis, who usually show themselves on May Day to counter the left wing demos. By the way, if one looks closely at the larger version of the shot of the bambino's cyclo-pram, it can be seen that it is equipped with disc-brakes. Even Hippie transport evolves through the decades. What a great day!

Treble and Fuzz

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The Distortion/Treble Booster box is finished. It's very compact and easy to use, having only two controls, a power switch and an o/p level adjustment knob. It was a challenge trying to source a suitable stomp switch, but I eventually got one on Ebay from China, which is just the correct size and height, with it's multiple contacts allowing the unit to be operated in 'true bypass' mode, with the I/P completely isolated from the O/P when the foot- button is deactuated. The circuit itself draws only 150 Microamps of current, from a 9V PP3 battery, so I calculate that if the Axe Man forgets to turn off the power for 8 weeks, the battery will still produce 7.5 Volts, which is enough to operate the system. As for the sound; well it's awesome. Those guys, back in the 60s knew a thing or two about guitar effects. Of course, the idea of using a germanium transistor was purely accidental, as they were the only solid-state devices on offer at the time. However, it was fortuitous that it produced the results that it did, and all because of a basic weakness in the semiconductor technology of that era, namely that the germanium transistor exhibits a reduced gain, or hfe, when the input signal level increases substantially and drives the base current towards zero, leading to an unusual sounding compression and soft clipping of the audio signal output. This weakness was exploited to the full in the original 'Dallas Rangemaster' design, of which this stomp box is a copy, or indeed a clone, in terms of circuit design and component values anyway. Long live Rock and Roll.

The Stomp Box

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Now that my Hi-Fi project is wrapped up, it's back to guitar matters. This is the basic physical layout of the new Treble Booster, with the all important Germanium Transistor. The electronics were designed in the late sixties, and the original Dallas Rangemaster as it was known then, was used extensively by all the great guitar heroes of the 1970s. So here's hoping that it will do the business for Richard, who is a budding guitar hero of the present era of Metallic Rock.

Suspended Wall Mounting

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I've mounted the right speaker on a hinged shelf which is supported at the front by two thin polypropylene lines from the wall. The adjustment, including the firing angle, is made by means of two turnbuckles. I found a nice spot on my computer table for the pre-amp and on top of it, on a plinth, the tube output stage. Long live Rock an' Roll.

The Beginning of the End

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I've moved into the boiler- house workshop to do the wiring on the last stage of my Hi-Fi project. It should all be finished in the next 24 hours.

Wood and Metal

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The bench comes into it's own for a bit of metal and woodwork. It's great to have lots of space to lay things out. The two "hi-end" o/p transformers from Hammond in Canada are waiting in the wings, before being mounted atop the finished chassis. The cut-outs for the 4 tubes and 2 front panel meters are visible. I decided to include the meters in the design to indicate the onset of clipping in the class A triode o/p stages.

The End is in Sight

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My Hi-Fi project, that I started back in November last year, is nearing completion. All the metalwork for the power amp. is finished and I have acquired two nice pieces of Ash for the side panels, which have been shaped, sanded and varnished.

Stylish Power

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The Power Supply for my Hi Fi tube amplifier is now ready for service. I've added the 100 Henry choke to the HT supply and a 31,000 Microfarad condenser to the heater supply. Hopefully all residual hum will be extinguished.