ETF tube swap

UK Pete brought 12 of his best friends for us to listen too and all I can say is mesh 50's are yummy.

until those little bastards turn on you.

and force you to a more pedestrian option.

Thursday? at ETF 2019

yep.... pretty similar.... now S6 driving 50...and more and new cartridges... and some new albums in the rotation... 

and of course as soon as they would have us we visited the Norwegians... pure genius.. I expected nothing less... 

acoustic lens from salvaged halogen lamps... I totally feel Torbjorn on this... he just couldn't bear to throw them away... so he kept them... and then this project "found him"...

a wall of inexpensive RCA console drivers... but a lot of them... the bass was quick and clean, but yet warm... I loved it....

and Dunker's new amp... just finished soldering it before getting in the car.... of course.. that is ETF tradition.. 

peace,

me 

(on dave's computer)

day 1 arrival and main system setup

After a few technical difficulties like the tug getting stuck to the plane and and the 9A receiver attachment being temporarily misplaced by the airline we arrived in Belleme.

 

preview - European Triode Festival - ETF 2019

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hello kids!  "kids" seems an apt description as we all wait for ETF like children at Christmas....

I have gotten more than a few requests for what is up for ETF, so blog post time it is... and unlike most years, Tim, our host, is dropping info on Buddybook, so I am not spoiling secrets here on HiFi Heroin...

what you see above is a Shearer bass horn... Tim built a pair for the big room... should be a much better match with the space than last year... but installing something this size and mating it with unknown gear is always tricky... no crossover yet?  crossing in the heart of the midrange?  and with a dozen people contributing?  I would not want to be the guy making the final decisions on getting all of this dialed in... except that I am that guy... this should be fun!  I actually cannot wait!

I sent Tim my RCA phenolic MI-9584 drivers... four!.. and the mating double throats... I actually think these drivers have a wonderful midrange... I am totally OK with them having a rolled top end as that is far preferable to me than having extension coupled to diaphragm breakup..... especially when we have Dietmar's tweeters available.... :^)

the amplifier powering all of this will be Xander's.... 833a running zero bias... but bias is adjustable, if we want to play... Slagle is threatening to make an adapter and bring the 357 tubes for this amp, but we will see.. he has about 24 hours to finish them.... 

he built them into military shell crates!  genius... perfect handles... and already designed to accommodate the weight... 

I would be remiss if I did not mention the rest of the team... I always feel better when Stephan has put the gear through its paces on his bench... I love that dude... and he is also bringing the line stage... very versatile... Frank on turntables.. I know we work together very well already... and, truth be told, Tim's "right hand man", Julien, is very much on top of all of this... I was only asked to coordinate a few weeks ago... he was already working on back up plans for the back up plans... so maybe I just bring some Fred McDowell records... or some Kung-Fu Kenny.... 

oh!  and our humble system... it will likely be nearly identical... we can't store anything afterwards this year, so it all has to come back home in the overhead bins of the plane... but I know dave is planning to be able to listen and compare some identical cartridges with different magnets!  neo, alnico, and samarium cobalt... that should be interesting!

peace,

me

ETF 2018 - pt III.... music!

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it was genuinely wonderful to actually end up just playing records for hours and hours... sometimes we technically obsessed junkies want to talk and experiment the time away... other times, we do not get the sound "good enough" in the tiny amount of time allotted.. but this time, despite never having set this up as a system, and building the amplifier all the way up to and including the day of the flight, we managed to listen to nearly every record I brought... 

and I am honored to have had several requests to post about the music I played... I guess in some parts of the world (most?), the music from Chulahoma, Mississippi is not discussed and played on a regular basis.... :^)

the record above is one of the very few that did not get played... it is a 7"... and I did not bring an adapter... but if you like the rest of the music in the post, seek her out... and an absolutely stunning album by her grandfather, Sid Hemphill... a true master and in many ways the godfather of Hill Country music... his opening drum and fife track on The Devil's Blues is still one of my references for music that is as deep as the human soul can get... 

ok... the photos actually loaded in a sort of genre order... so let's go with it... the above is a classic.. it is hard to argue against Illmatic when someone tosses it up as the greatest rap album ever... it is amazing how you can just keep listening to this record... it never gets stale... and I think I like it even more now than I did all those years ago.. how is it possible to still be growing on me?

you know how they always give awards to people on the work *after* the work that deserved it?  well, here you go.. this is Kendrick's actual Pulitzer... and it also shows yet again that Dr. Dre is truly the king.... he has not lost his talent, he was just bored... and Kendrick was the spark he needed... this is one that truly requires late night listening in that psychedelic seat... eyes closed.. there is so much boing on here.. and totally amazing... 

I know, I know... Junior again?!?!... but Junior is my hero.. it is primal.. and scary.. and real and true... that drone!  those polyrhythms!  "the beginning and end of all music".... 

the Wolf... can't travel without him.. he was singular... and still so much fun... and I am firmly stating that Smokestack Lightning was the first rock and roll tune... yeah, Ike Turner stole that sound for Rocket 88, but we all know that Wolf's band was *the* band in the Delta in the early to mid fifties... so I give Willie Johnson credit... and man!  do I wish I was at the house parties where this band was playing... probably would have ended up black out drunk and stabbed... lying in a ditch waiting for someone to come find me... and then go do it all over again!

yep... more... this one is very different from that simple First Recordings above. this one is electric!  the real deal.. part recorded in his juke joint.. and part recorded at a blues festival/picnic... so good!!

found this one unopened in a dollar bin... pretty sure it is on Excello... rare, but not coveted... go buy it!!  Silas Hogan is featured quite a bit... but mostly this is a "play both sides" record... and this is one that everyone seemed to love in Normandie.... 

another Delta bluesman... pretty sure I have written about him before.. from Pine Bluff, Arkansas... as far west as teh Mississippi Delta reaches.. from a place so down and out that they lose half their population every decade... we lost Cedell a year or two ago.. he is the best and worst guitarist I have ever heard... read his story... watch his videos... pay homage... 

pretty sure we played "Chicken Hawk" and "If You Love Fat Women".. but may have played the entire thing... 

yeah.. this guy... still as relevant today as then... listen to the words.. enjoy the rhythms... 

I mean, who doesn't love guitar from Mali?  Ali Farke Toure...

a bit more of the city sound than I usually listen to, but that strut!!!  so good... he was from a no stop light town a few miles from where I grew up.. no wonder he could not handle Chicago.... 

"Are you somebody?"

if you like Soul music at all, go buy this... now... we lost Charles a year or two ago.. same sad story.. finally makes it and then we lose him... this album has not been filed away since it came out... 

looks like I just changed record stacks... this album is powerful... shocked the Salt Cellar could play it... but it could... "Waiting Room" is one of the best opening tracks ever... these guys were pure DIY... and coined "straight edge"....

one of many Beck masterpieces.. his ode to Prince, "Debra", still makes me laugh... so good... so Southern California... 

I always tell people to listen to Jerry's side projects... better than going to church... he and Merl have an archive of beautiful and funky music... 

this music was important to me.... not quite fitting in in the deep South was something Michael Stipe new very well.. I did not know it then, but I know it know... thank you for providing a comfortable blanket for me through some important years.. 

for Iain... and for Herb... it was the last thing we listened to before turning the system off just before dawn... not sure why Moondog is so perfect sometimes, but it is... his sense of rhythm just jives with mine... 

not much to say about this that has not already been said.. but it changed the way I felt about music.. and therefore changed my life... I must have been nineteen years old... wall of sound... and must be played **loud**....

same year as MBV.. at least for me.. a billion listens.. and still incredible... so much going on.. and so clever... and the beginnings of **wise**.... like Loveless, it changed me... 

more shoegazing... if you like classical music, check this out... big compositions with some space to let the sound just flow... discovered them maybe ten years ago.... and can't recommend them highly enough... 

a gift from a good friend... he knows I do not keep up with the electronic dance scene, so he picks out gems for me... and this one is a gem!  Clap! Clap! .. samples of interesting percussion instruments... dynamic... super fun..

hard to pick which Miles from this era to bring... this one super revived my interest in Miles... I had not been into him since I was probably twenty-four years old... but this band is incredible.. the Complete Jack Johnson is outtakes from the recording sessions... I like it even more.. no Teo cuts to the jams.. I probably would have brought Filles, but we just listened to it back here in New York...  investigate this era of Miles!!

oh, boy.. another must own... buy their first four or five albums.. must own... 90's  NYC Downtown scene... masters!  how a trio whips up that much power is beyond me... I will never forget my first time seeing them... twenty people in a small bar... I walked up to right in front of Billy's drums... they were warming up... starting playing together... I closed my eyes.. forty five minutes later I opened them for the first time... yeah.. super funky jazz improvisation of the highest order... 

Omnispehere is *new*... with the modern classical group Alarm Will Sound.. and just absolutely stunning... best of modern classical with the best of jazz improvisation..... Shostakovich meets Sun Ra... 

a Mingus from an era that most seem to have forgotten... Don Pullen stars on keys... and Mings leads as well as ever... and also shows he can compose with the best.. MONSTER constructions and deconstructions... just mind-blowing stuff... if you like music, go buy this... 

if you know me at all, you know how I feel about John Coltrane.. I brought this one because I was in the mood for it... some fo my favorite dance music... 

super early Sun Ra... a gift from a good friend.. the debut of recorded electric piano, from what I have been told... and that is a key to the Sun Ra sound... can't have Saturn without electric piano... and it also shows how far ahead Sun Ra was at this early date... 

yep... Ornette... not sure what to say about this wonder of the world... oh, I know!  if you have not been able to get into some of his purely free things, perhaps start with this one... beautiful compositions... 

I have been into Charles Earland recently.. funk grooves.. and this LP is always fun... I can't afford the old Blue Notes, but this one was a reissue of Donaldson highlights.. and his highlights are incredible... 

ok... so now you know what I like... if you flow in my genres, please send me similar artists to check out!!

peace,

me