TNX for the post.
During the pandemic, company's like Lowes, Home Depot, Menards, garden supply companies etc. are all doing extremely well.
During the pandemic, company's like Lowes, Home Depot, Menards, garden supply companies etc. are all doing extremely well.
Think people are so busy from home that I cant find a contractor to remodel a mudroom and bathroom.
Interviewed six contractors.
But, what's great is more people are getting into diy audio and that's good for all of us here and out there...
Interviewed six contractors.
But, what's great is more people are getting into diy audio and that's good for all of us here and out there...
Both are happening, more DIY and more professional renovation. Treated wood was often out of stock during the summer. Around Labour Day they announced a shortage. I was whining to my brother in Sep that all framing lumber went up in price. He said be thankful, where he was the shelves were bare from hoarders.
I'd like to read that article, but I refuse to turn off my ad-blocker.
What a pain those sites are! 😱
Same here. It found and fixed a malware infection on this PC that was planted by a pop-up ad that my AV program did not detect.
I went through about 10 PC's late last year and early this year upgrading them from W7 to W10. Most of these belonged to relatives who didn't want to buy a new PC, but MS or Best Buy told them that their current PC would not run W10. All are now happy with their old PC on W10. Three of those were heavily infected with unwanted stuff despite using one of the more popular AV programs. Malwarebytes fixed the problem.
Nice article that hints at a resurgence in DIY audio equipment building, but presents no hard data. My sales numbers do not reflect this at all. I got ONE board order for all of August, and three for September.
Board sales have been less than half of a normal year ever since March. They did return to almost "normal" in April and early May, coincident with the stimulus checks, but dropped back to well below normal by late May.
The current political climate brings uncertainty which does often curtail discretionary spending but is the situation continues, or worsens, Tubelab Inc. may not exist next year.
There's lots of assembled boards available that make DIY audio easier to get started in. Plus Arduino makes control circuit design (and more) available to a lot more people.
I recently had a young man pick my brain about how to build a decent quality Bluetooth speaker. Like a lot of people, he's confident in his carpentry and refinish skills, but sketchy on electronics. I pointed out all the assembled boards and kits available on Parts Express. I'm trying to help him achieve his goals while avoiding pitfalls.
When I started DIY, most "kits" were useless from a practical point of view. You were left to roll your own. DIY electronics became popular in the 1950s and was still into the 1960s. It seems that once tubes were out of fashion, DIY electronics lost its popularity. Some of us (like me) were lucky enough to know an older mentor or tutor.
I recently had a young man pick my brain about how to build a decent quality Bluetooth speaker. Like a lot of people, he's confident in his carpentry and refinish skills, but sketchy on electronics. I pointed out all the assembled boards and kits available on Parts Express. I'm trying to help him achieve his goals while avoiding pitfalls.
When I started DIY, most "kits" were useless from a practical point of view. You were left to roll your own. DIY electronics became popular in the 1950s and was still into the 1960s. It seems that once tubes were out of fashion, DIY electronics lost its popularity. Some of us (like me) were lucky enough to know an older mentor or tutor.
I find myself having the mindset recently "What do I have just lying about that I can make use of, without having to go to the store?" "How about those cutouts from my 18" OB install - I bet they'd make a nice "flower" OB for my little 4" fe103ens - which cant get below 150 anyway".
Rather than going shopping at the depot for candidate project materials. From my observations, the supermarkets, thrift stores and hardware stores are all packed - forget "social distancing" or "limiting" it's a joke - every isle has someone there and there's often a confluence of people you have to wade through just to get to something you'd like to look at!
Rather than going shopping at the depot for candidate project materials. From my observations, the supermarkets, thrift stores and hardware stores are all packed - forget "social distancing" or "limiting" it's a joke - every isle has someone there and there's often a confluence of people you have to wade through just to get to something you'd like to look at!
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Between Parts Express, Amazon and Ebay I have found enough pre-built boards to build several projects......none of them have any tubes though.
I hit the thrift stores every time I venture out of my small town and head toward Pittsburgh. Most of the thrift stores do a good job of limiting the customer count and eliminating the "people clusters." My best Goodwill "score" was a fully functional Hammond M-3 organ from 1958 for $39.95.
It's a simple fact that less people are entering the tube amp hobby that leaving it. Overall Tubelab sales peaked in about 2009 and have slowly dwindled since then except for the up-tick right after the 2016 election.
I have revisited another hobby from my past, electronic music synthesis, and am considering adding some synthesizer boards or modules to my product line if funds are available.......could there be a vacuum tube music synthesizer in Tubelab's future?
I have a large stash of stuff that I sort through when putting together a project. We have the knowledge to re-purpose this "junk" in a useful way. We can design and build a line level circuit or power amplifier circuit from "scratch." |
A lot of people don't come close to having these skills. Some can barely assemble a circuit board from instructions. DIY stuff allows them to build and learn.
I'm re-purposing a 5.1 AV receiver as a 4 channel bi-amp. I'm reusing the amplifier and power supply circuit boards, and the transformer. I'm building the rest from scratch. I consider that to be a good re-use of large, expensive assemblies that would otherwise be reduced to scrap for recycling and disposal. Electronic waste is nasty to dispose of.
A lot of people don't come close to having these skills. Some can barely assemble a circuit board from instructions. DIY stuff allows them to build and learn.
I'm re-purposing a 5.1 AV receiver as a 4 channel bi-amp. I'm reusing the amplifier and power supply circuit boards, and the transformer. I'm building the rest from scratch. I consider that to be a good re-use of large, expensive assemblies that would otherwise be reduced to scrap for recycling and disposal. Electronic waste is nasty to dispose of.
That's awesome. Those units can be repaired and revamped practically forever (if you can get some of the parts) and the old Hammond organs are still used by some musicians (notably jazz musicians) today.
Some of the classic rock oldies use a Hammond organ in what I consider to be a wonderful way. Look at the organ tracks from Deep Purple. They may have been an early "heavy metal" band (my father HATED them and tried to force me to stop listening to that Satanic music so I knew they were good
) but their songs are actually very melodic and nuanced behind the grit. And their organ riffs are just sweet.
Seems that everyone needs a little something to keep them occupied. I finally decided to take the plunge and get a travel trailer. Usually takes about 8 weeks from the time you order till delivery. Apparently that's not the case these days. After I had put down the deposit, I enquired when to expect it. The sales agents were slow to answer. They looked at the floor, then each other and finally back to me when the female said, "we are hoping for early spring."
I find it interesting that McIntosh might get back into the DIY audio game.
They have many fans.
They have many fans.
I'd rather see Heathkit get back into the game.
So far, they've only issued a few tiny kits recently, nothing audio like they used to have.
And they made some very nice pieces as we all know.
I have been a Purple fan ever since "Hush" hit the radio in 1968. Jon Lord (RIP) was one of the early masters of the Hammond B3, as was Keith Emerson (RIP), who was responsible for my first journey down the music synthesizer path.....starting with a PAIA kit in 1971 and ending when I sold my entire collection of ARP, Korg and DIY analog stuff in the early 90's for something like $200. That old white faced Odyssey would be worth stupid money today.
For my parents the breaking point was Gypsy the Acid Queen from the Who's Tommy, and Fresh Garbage by Spirit. Both of those records were destroyed by my father, but they couldn't find my RTR or 8 track tape! Deep Purple didn't even set off their radar.
I saw Deep Purple in Miami sometime in the mid 70's. The performance was mediocre at best and the guitar player (Tommy Bolin) was found dead the next day of an overdose of "multiple substances." I lost interest in them after that night.
Speaking of controversial albums...
I came home from work one day, and mom started yelling at me about a record she saw in my collection.
Now mind you, I was in my early 20's and liked my rock n roll ya know..
The record was Grand Funk's "We're an American Band", and she was all upset over the inside cover!
LOL!
"Why you buyin' these horrible records with naked guys on the cover!"
I had to laugh! - and I still have that album
I came home from work one day, and mom started yelling at me about a record she saw in my collection.
Now mind you, I was in my early 20's and liked my rock n roll ya know..
The record was Grand Funk's "We're an American Band", and she was all upset over the inside cover!
LOL!
"Why you buyin' these horrible records with naked guys on the cover!"
I had to laugh! - and I still have that album
Attachments
I had their first album, Grand Funk Railroad. I got so much crap from my guitar playing buddies that I never bought any of their later stuff. I did make a RTR tape of my brother's second (red) album since it was good stuff to annoy the neighbors with. Even in 1969 I had about 150 watts of tube amp power and two large speaker cabinets with 4 X 10 inch speakers in each.
I played in a garage band with some guys who said that Grand Funk was music for people who couldn't play guitar. To me it was easy to play, and sounded good at extremely loud levels.
Speaking of parents and music, my mom spent too much time in front of the TV, and she liked 4 idiots called the Monkees. She said things like why can't you listen to this kind of music? Mom, they don't even play their own instruments or sing their songs, they are fakers. She refused to believe, and watched every week.
One day myself and some friends were making a racket with guitars and drums and mom said something like I'll buy all of you tickets to the Monkees show next month if you will go. We all laughed and declined. A few days later one of my friends shows me an advert for the show, and tells me that this opening act is really good. Go see if your mother will still send us to the Monkees show. I had never heard of the opening act, but watching that 45 minute show convinced all of us that we would NEVER be rock stars. The time was 1967 and the opening act was Jimi Hendrix. That man could PLAY the guitar, even while it's on fire. I also decided that I had to have one of those grey boxes that he worked with his feet, the first gen Echoplex. It was an analog version of a modern looper that used magnetic tape.
Fast forward about 30 years. My teenage daughter comes in from the mall with her friends. She is obviously hiding something, but I get hold of a bag full of music CD's. After looking them over and finding some goodies like Nine Inch Nails song Closer which contains the words " I want to Fxxx You Like an Animal," I picked out 3 of the CD's and said that you need to take these back. Of course I was met with "it's my money, you can't tell me how to spend it." I said that she could keep the CDs, but it would cheaper if she just borrowed mine. She had no clue that daddy listened to "good" music.