Author Topic: Spoiler controls (Read 468 times)

pete ballou (pete) · « **on:** January 21, 2003, 05:15:14 PM »

Hello fellow Alembicans

I have owned a spoiler for about 15 years and am thrilled to particpate in this community. I have two questions:

1) Can ANYONE out there explain the controls to me...what the heck is the little toggle switch all about???

2) How do I get rid of this god-awful radio interference (Q105.7 FM to be exact)?

I throw myself upon the mercy of the court.

Thanks,

Pete

mica · « **Reply #1 on:** January 21, 2003, 06:02:02 PM »

That's a Q switch. It works with the low-pass filter (tone control). In normally, the switch provides an 8dB boost at the cutoff frequency of the filter when in the down postion.

To test if yours is installed in this direction, hold a sustained note and rotate the filter control back and forth. Then do it again with the switch in the other position. Whichever one produces a wah-wah sound is when the Q is on.

If you hold a sustained note and flick the switch back and forth, you won't hear much difference as the Q affects mainly the attack of the note. A general rule of thumb - Q on for slap and rock, Q off for blues. But feel free to break this rule.

For the radio, I'm guessing you haven't been experiencing this for 15 years, or we surely would have heard from you before today. We've had s few reports about this and now believe the requirements for digital televsion broadcasters are driving the high powered FM stations way lower on the towers than they've ever been. Ron is researching how to resolve this, and we're confident he will since his background in engineering is with broadcast and radio, so he understands it quite well.

To help us fully understand your problem with radio, please test to see if it is equal in both pickups. Your help will be appreiciated, since he is currently working on this solution.

pete ballou (pete) · « **Reply #2 on:** January 21, 2003, 06:52:24 PM »

Mica,

Thank you for your response. My babies are all in bed now so I will unfortunately have to wait until tomorrow to experiment with the mighty Spoiler. I will let you know if there is a difference in radio signal strength between pick-ups.

No, this has not been a 15 year problem. It just surfaced about 4 years ago and I have been on an upright for most of that time.

On a personal note, I love this guitar. As a young punk, I saw Stanely Clark play an Alembic and have viewed it ever since as the gold standard. I bought mine from some headbanger firend of mine who didn't like the sound. Ha Ha Ha. At any rate, I've made a solemn vow never to part with it.

Paul Lindemans (palembic) · « **Reply #3 on:** January 21, 2003, 11:51:58 PM »

Hi brother Pete,

you will soon be welcomed by our official welcomer who is the other Paul but anyway: welcome to the club from my side of the pond.
When the babies are in bed maybe it's the moment to grab that old pentaclickon-camera and provide us with some nice pictures of that Spoiler huh?
Stay at the low-end!

Paul

Jonathan Johnstone (stoney) · « **Reply #4 on:** January 22, 2003, 05:04:49 AM »

Hey Pete,
Welcome aboard. How 'bout posting a pic of you and your spoiler on the intro page. Regarding radio interference, did you check to see if you have a ferrite bead installed in your bass. A ferrite bead is a cylindrical object about one inch long and a half inch in diameter. It is hollow and the pickup wires run through it. I was getting interference while running my bass wireless. Ferrite bead installed, end of problem. I believe all Alembics come with ferrite beads now but yours may be too old for it to be stardard. Anyway, just a thought.

stoney

Paul Ellsworth (elzie) · « **Reply #5 on:** January 22, 2003, 06:16:28 AM »

Welcome Pete!

Nice to have you aboard. I will echo the other posts of pics. I will also be tweaking my switches after reading this. Thanks for the info Mica!

pete ballou (pete) · « **Reply #6 on:** January 23, 2003, 08:06:04 AM »

Hey Now...

We'll Mica's explanation of the Q switch worked exactly as described.

Regarding my radio signal, it is equally strong in both pick ups.Regarding the ferrite bead, I assume I can just open up the backside and see if that rascal is in there. If it is missing, can I buy one from Alembic?

Micah, is ferrite bead the official cure for the radio problem or is there something else in the works? Based on what you said, I guess not. I am just wondering if I should wait before I take it in to my local guitar craftsman, the most excellent Mr. Joe Wilson of Charleston SC.

Thanks,
Pete

mica · « **Reply #7 on:** January 23, 2003, 10:53:10 AM »

Glad the Q switch explanation was useful. Thanks for the additional information about the signal in the bass. You can see if there is a cyllindrical dull greyish tube the pickup leads pass through. This was originally installed to make the bass able to be used with a wireless system.

There is a newly developed environmental problem with the radio transmitters. I doubt the ferrite bead will solve the problem, but email me your address and I'll be happy to send you one so you'll have the option to use wireless with the bass.

The radio reception is an electronics issue and while I trust you know your local guitar craftsman well, I wouldn't waste his time trying to solve something that you've lived with for four years and we are currently working on unless he is also a closet electrical engineer.

Dino Monoxelos (dean_m) · « **Reply #8 on:** January 24, 2003, 09:12:45 AM »

AAAHHHHH!!!!

So that explains why I couldn't use a wireless on my old Spoiler. This was of course many years ago but....

See you learn something new every day!!!

Thanks Mica!!!

mica · « **Reply #9 on:** January 24, 2003, 10:26:53 AM »

Do you still have that bass? I remember your Elan, but I didn't even know you ever had a Spoiler.

Dino Monoxelos (dean_m) · « **Reply #10 on:** January 27, 2003, 06:38:28 AM »

Unfortunately no!

I sold it for my Elan. This was when I was a student back in '91. Otherwise, I would have kept the Spoiler. That was my first Alembic. I do have some pictures of it. I'll have to post them.

Edward J. Orr (oggydoggy) · « **Reply #11 on:** March 06, 2003, 08:07:06 AM »

would someone please help with my dilema on thread spoiler or not? i would would be very greatful

Gregg Juhlin (slugbass) · « **Reply #12 on:** March 27, 2003, 08:35:50 AM »

I got my first Alembic yesterday (an 84 Spoiler Exploiter) and couldn't be happier. I expect it to be a very nice compliment to the Les Paul my brother plays in our band (Al...I'd like you to meet Les. Now you two boys play nicely together!). But I do have a couple of questions regarding what I guess would be the filter control.

Is this basically a pick-up selector switch? There's four positions, and the top position (switch pointed up towards pick-ups) seems to be off. I get no sound. The other positions seem fine...wondeful as a matter of fact. Just curious.

Please forgive the dumb question on my part. In tooling around a little bit in the club, it seems like you're all a great bunch, and very supportive of each other, and your instruments.

Thanks in advance.

Author Topic: Spoiler controls (Read 468 times)

pete ballou (pete)

pete ballou (pete)

Paul Lindemans (palembic)

Jonathan Johnstone (stoney)

Paul Ellsworth (elzie)

pete ballou (pete)

Dino Monoxelos (dean_m)

Dino Monoxelos (dean_m)

Edward J. Orr (oggydoggy)

Gregg Juhlin (slugbass)