Ar9Jim

A group of members that all seem to log on in the mornings about coffee time, were chatting this morning and having a good time enjoying each others company, like we do most mornings. One of the members commented on how nice it is to have the site back up and reliable again, and suggested that we thank Greg for his service to the site we all enjoy so much. Couldn't agree more!! Here's to you Nahash5150 our friend ! Thanks for driving this bus through the storm and high winds and keeping it on the road and safe.. We enjoy it very much, and thank you kindly for your service to the rest of us.. Here's to Greg Garska! Who had big shoes to fill after the great RichP, a man who was nothing short of genius.. Great job Greg! Give a shout out to this man if you enjoy Carversite..

Welcome to Carversite Ron. Several members around here from Canada. Enjoy..

Glad they worked well for you Steven..

Prince died. Like him or not, he was a hell of a guitar player.. Sad to see him go. 57 yrs old.

On tonight.. Worth recording for sure..

Yep, that's the one and it was excellent!

Watched this concert on MTV last night. I have no idea how old it is or how long it has been re-running. It was awesome!! If you haven't seen it yet, its worth looking for and recording. Amazing guitar playing. Never been a big fan of Joe until last night. Man is he impressive! Do you have a favorite Satriani record to recommend?

Sorry about the shipping damage. Painful for guys here to look at. Welcome to Club Carver.

Interesting reading about distortion and tubes as they pertain to guitar amps. Totally different than HiFi.. They talk about hard they have to overdrive tubes, before they "bloom".. It seems that tubes have a tough life in guitar amps. I don't think I would by "vintage" tubes from a guitar guy.

In the vinyl vs digital post Nahash mentioned that Unclemeat likes distortion. True statement technically isn't it.. I like my distortion as well. In reality , Greg measurers things and would know that adding a tube buffer after a CD player would make its measured performance worse if I'm not mistaken.. None the less many of us enjoy them. Same with turntables vs CD or even solid state vs tube amps. I love the sound of tube amps although its common for them to have near .5% distortion at full power. A solid state may have measurements 10 or 100 times better for distortion. I thought it was interesting that Greg, being scientific and dealing with measurements, was stating a fact that could almost sound critical of Unclemeat, although the fact is, that many of us enjoy certain types of distortion. Some types may sound more life like. It's not a perfect sonic word that we live in daily. There are different types of distortion and I know little about them, other than some can be perceived as good, and others as bad. Distortion can be like added spices to food. Sounds crazy but I think its the truth.. Nahash, do you know which one's are more common to perceive as good or lifelike? Like the ones added by a tube buffer.

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

Hi Billy. Welcome to CS..

Welcome aslan7. You found "the place to be". Enjoy.

No biggie. A C9 is a great way to start. Its a great example of Carvers innovation for you to experience. Enjoy.

Welcome 4x4! Enjoy.

Welcome Charlie. Very nice system you have.

Welcome Tillerman. Enjoy!

Don't know. You would almost assume so based on knowledge. Phase Linear looks like a good sized company in its day. Bob's work in his lifetime is awesome, if you think about it. Must have taken an incredible amount of energy and drive.. Not to mention designing revolutionary products! The story of a great American. Should be a documentary made about him..

By any chance would any of the Carver historians around here have photos to share of the outside, inside, or hopefully both of Carver Corp. in its prime, during the years when most of our toys were built.. How many people worked for Bob at the peak? I find Bobs achievements as far as business man, and the company he built very interesting. Brilliant engineer, also brilliant business man, or we would be saying, "Bob who"? Would love to see what the company looked like!! Hmmm, maybe the Great Zumbini? He's like magician with pictures! Would anyone else find pictures interesting?

Ok, I got one. Its a karma story but its funny. By the way, I am just an observer about the karma thing. I know its real but have no explanations or real understanding of it, any more than you do, probably less. This guy named Tony who worked at my shop several years ago as a Tool Maker, was at a wedding in a church. He was a bit hungry and noticed that in the church refrigerator there was a snickers candy bar.. He thought, "I'd sure like to eat that damn thing, but no, I can't steal it, especially in a church". So he has his own little battle going on between good and evil in his head.. Finally evil wins out and he says Phuck it! He grabs the candy bar and rips open the paper, takes a big bite, and hears a crack noise. As he pulls back the candy bar from his mouth, one of his front teeth is still imbedded in the snickers bar! Standing there with his broken smile, looking like a jack o lantern says " damn it, I knew I should not have taken the candy bar"!! Cost him $600.00 to fix his tooth. Instant Karma..

What are the odds? Thanks for sharing bro.. The story you are telling is a karma story.. It all comes around. Even the help or price break that you may give to someone like Steven, who is recovering from surgery. You may consider the help small or no big deal, but its pretty cool when it comes back around, for no apparent reason! Seen it a lot in my life.. No surprise when good things happen to you Kevin, its the good coming back to you. Best part is, your old and set in your ways.

Thanks Bill.. I must admit I was just using Radio Shack 60/40 rosin core.. You were likely using the high silver, solid type and separate flux with a higher melting temp? I cheated, but don't tell anyone. I hope you enjoyed building up those new boards as much as I did. Really enjoyable work. I really like the idea of audio upgrades and complete products in kit form.. You can take as much time as you want, because its your baby. Not like in a production environment, trying to make a quota or a certain number per hour or day.. Also your not receiving a product that may have been built by someone in an unknown state of mind at the time, like personal issues, mad at the boss, hates the job they have, and on and on.. I bet the techs here at CS have opened up more than one unit full of cold solder joints and though "what was the assembler thinking about when they built this"? The DIY stuff lets you put a bit of your "heart and soul" in it.. Does that make it sound better? Maybe.

Thanks so much guys for checking out my project. The work that CS members post is inspirational to me. After hanging with you guys for just about a year now, and looking back at old threads from many years back, it was time to do something. Hopefully this inspires other guys to do the same. Thanks Dennis Miller for posting pictures of your work. Pics of your fine work are truly worth 1000 words, and your attention to detail, awesome. Thanks Kevin P for the hardware and the support. Knowing I have a friend on the other end of the phone, that I can call for help is "priceless" and enabling. Thanks OTD for sharing your projects. I watch all of them, and enjoy them very much. I learn something valuable every time. Very inspirational. Now, I have enough confidence to be dangerous. New guys ( like me) remember to discharge the caps. Just cause the cord is unplugged doesn't make it safe! If you don't have a variac for start up, its a good idea to replace the fuses with ones of maybe 1/3 the normal rating, and use fast blow instead of slow blow, until it checks out ok.. Jim

Hi 4K, Yeah, it was nice and easy, about my level. The board with eyelets made the soldering easy too.. I'm just a rookie at best and this was my first project since High School electronics class. I paid attention here, and armed with my Carver site education and a U- tube video on "how to solder", pulled it off. Looking forward to some more of it. It was certainly no achievement like a MKII or a BillD but it was a great "baby step" and fun.. That domino thing was likely a capacitor, guessing by what replaced it on the modern board, but I'm totally making an assumption. I'm just a greenhorn. Certainly no Old Texas Dog.

The first photos (if I didn't screw up the order) is the old boards with the black caps. I built up the new driver boards from a kit and gave these old girls a refresh. Had fun doing it and it turned out great. The speakers in the pics are AR9s as you may have guessed. The AR90s behind them are in need of a crossover recap but have new surrounds. Those are my next project. Sorry for the sideways view. I'm not much good at this and the wife isn't home to help.