Have amps, will profile the SB50: Lets make some profiles...

    In this thread we will profile the Friedman Smallbox 50.


    Since CH-2 of the Smallbox is a BE channel and it's very close to the BE100 BE channel which we have already profiled in another thread I wanted to focus on CH-1 which is a "Classic Plexi" type channel according to the manufacturer. But if you want to try CH-2 (the BE channel) then by all means let me know and we'll give it a go.


    I think it's important to realize that the bright switch on the Smallbox is your standard bright switch that would work with the gain control, in other words, it is basically a bright cap placed across the gain control (at least that's my theory), so as the gain is increased the effect of the bright switch gets less and less noticeable and once the gain is maxed out the bright switch does nothing. There are three positions on the bright switch, left, middle and right. I think left and right are different value bright caps and the middle position is off. So, as the gain is increased you might want to add some more treble or presence, just a thought...


    Please note that there are no high-gain or metal tones to be had here, but, if anyone is into classic rock or blues I am hoping that you will find some useful tones or at least some inspiration to ask for some custom profiles, who knows, maybe if you throw a stomp in front of these profiles you can get some nice hard rock tones, who knows?


    I tried to cover a few bases in this first profiling session so you would have a baseline to work off of. Please give them a try and let me know if you want to try any other settings or mic position/mixes or whatever. Check out the readme.txt file for notes on what I did and what the file/profile names mean. There are also a few photos in the folder of the equipment used during this session.


    The profiles can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hmh…-0QldJCaW9arGGjIZQna?dl=0

    Thanks Tim, these are awesome.I'm in a bar cover band and I believe these will work nicely. I do like the high gain of the HBE but these are more realistic of what I need.
    Thanks again for all your hard work.

    I'll be trying these out tomorrow, but I'm confident they'll live up to the HBE profiles; you've done some sterling work, Tim. I for one would love some direct profiles, but maybe I should wait and see which of the first batch tickle my fancy the most first. Many thanks, man.


    Cheers,
    Sam

    Quote from sambrox

    I'll be trying these out tomorrow, but I'm confident they'll live up to the HBE profiles; you've done some sterling work, Tim. I for one would love some direct profiles, but maybe I should wait and see which of the first batch tickle my fancy the most first. Many thanks, man.


    Cheers,
    Sam


    DI profiles are not a problem, however, I'm only doing them on request because we don't know if firmware 3 will change anything and it would be a shame to have to redo every DI profile. That being said, please do audition the studio profiles and if you decide that you do want some DI profiles let me know and we will get it done, no problem.

    Tim, many thanks also for this set of profiles.. I have scrolled through them quickly and signed those I like the most..(10 profiles) I have also reamped with these SB50 profiles one audio clip I made with M/A audio test profiles.. now used only the stack section.. no reverb, no delay, nothing added, only your untouched profiles.. if anybody interested here you can listen to it.. and also compare to that other clip where reverb was used if I remember well.. I prefer much more this SB50 sound..


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    I cannot help myself.. but KPA is the only gear where I often do have no need to switch on any reverb or delay and love the sound as raw as it is.. contrary, I often switch off reverb and delay if engaged.. :)

    Quote from timowens

    I tried to cover a few bases in this first profiling session so you would have a baseline to work off of. Please give them a try and let me know if you want to try any other settings or mic position/mixes or whatever. Check out the readme.txt file for notes on what I did and what the file/profile names mean. There are also a few photos in the folder of the equipment used during this session.


    Hi Tim, if possible I would try 4 profiles with these settings:


    SB1 Gain 03, 05, 07, 09, always BR P6 B6M4T7


    thanks! ;)

    The Smallbox Phase-3 profiles are up.


    In this session I wanted to test the Yellow Jacket YJ Short's. These little devices let you use EL84 tubes in place of EL34's. IME, they work good in some amps and don't work so good in other amps. This is the first time that I've tried them in the Smallbox so it will be a surprise for all of us. After I made the profiles I realized that I might have ran the master volume a bit too high for the Yellow Jackets, you can see that the distortion level is higher with the Yellow Jackets so that almost certainly means that they were being overdriven, which might be good or bad, that's up to you to decide.


    I'm curious what you all think about these. Not only do the Yellow Jackets let you use EL84's, they also run in Class A mode while the stock EL34 tubes run in Class A/B mode.


    The profiles can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/82h…gqWLU61mPZRmuDpRMnOa?dl=0

    Quote from Hallan

    Tim, many thanks also for this set of profiles.. I have scrolled through them quickly and signed those I like the most..(10 profiles) I have also reamped with these SB50 profiles one audio clip I made with M/A audio test profiles.. now used only the stack section.. no reverb, no delay, nothing added, only your untouched profiles.. if anybody interested here you can listen to it.. and also compare to that other clip where reverb was used if I remember well.. I prefer much more this SB50 sound..


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    I cannot help myself.. but KPA is the only gear where I often do have no need to switch on any reverb or delay and love the sound as raw as it is.. contrary, I often switch off reverb and delay if engaged.. :)


    Thank you so much for sharing this, it sounds great and I really enjoy hearing other peoples sound clips. I'm curious what kind of guitar and pickups that you used for this.

    Joining in a bit late, but will check these out and give feedback. Lovin' the HAWP concept & communal aspect of it! Great work Tim! These sessions are teaching things just by following from aside, but let's keep digging deeper as well.

    Quote from timowens

    Thank you so much for sharing this, it sounds great and I really enjoy hearing other peoples sound clips. I'm curious what kind of guitar and pickups that you used for this.


    Tim, if making the audio clips is the only way we can thank you.. you´re very welcome!!!! I am really happy that you like your sounds.. ;)


    I use(d) Carvin AH (Allan Holdsworth) signature model with 2 humbuckers.. I have also split coil button on it.. but I usually use 95% of time the bridge humbucker.. very rarely switch to SC mode.. and consider that I ordered this Carvin AH guitar without having any possibility to try it.. it was like buying "a pig in a poke".. :D I only trusted to Allan Holdsworth´s (whom I infinitely admire) "thoughts" and Carvin production.. I was pretty anxious and nervous when the guitar arrived (in november 2014) but immediately after having tried it, playing up and down the neck, I calmed down and realised that this is the guitar of my dreams.. uffff.. it is better than I thought and expected to be.. I´m simply loving it!!!


    regarding pickups I would qoute: "The HH2 comes equipped with our Holdsworth H22 humbucking pickups. Carvin uses vintage plain enamel magnet wire and seasoned Alnico-5 magnets to achieve Allan's tone. Each coil has 11 polepieces, all of which are fully adjustable to customize individual string volumes. The H22N neck pickup is rated at 7.3k ohms, and produces fantastic singing characteristics, while the bridge position H22T, rated at 8.6k ohms, produces smooth sustain..."

    Wow amazing work man !


    I did a quick run to your profiles and they are full of a common vibe , very voxey to me.


    Your profiling is rich but still very tweakable with definition on 5 on most rigs. Thx for all the great doc also.


    I'll try to do some clips , this is great.

    Quote from timowens

    Hey Hallan,


    Here you go, these will be the SB50 Phase-2 profiles. Thanks for the detailed request, it made it very easy to make these profiles.


    They can be found here: dropbox.com/sh/d11lzxbv0fzuaik…gckCnFwXUg5hU3a6HvNa?dl=0


    thanks for the profiles.. (we can "loop" these words!!!) :thumbup: I decided to post this simple clip although I do not know (doubt) if anybody will like this sound.. but yesterday evening I played only this one rig more than 2 hours and was unable to stop playing because I was sooo much enjoying the sound.. but I will repeat, do not know if anybody else will like it.. it is a bit maybe exaggerated.. the profile I use here is SB2 G07 with BOOST TB Fat preset added from the KPA presets.. power sagging on 3.0 and compressor in amp section at 0.9.. that´s all.. no other parameter changed.. as usual, no reverb, no delay, nothing in effects section switched on..


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    Yeah lots of different tones out of this great box ! I had fun with the tweaks , thx Tim :)


    here is my take on the amp , only one profile SB01G10 BL P5B6M8T6, with lots of tweaks and gain adj.


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