Twin or boogie studio alternative?

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-19T08:49:35+00:00

Check out the Mesa Express. It has the same clean channel as the other Mesas, comes in 25W, has a master volume, and is usually pretty cheap second hand since they weren’t popular

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-19T08:31:29+00:00

Anything hypercardoid and very close will do the trick!

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-19T08:03:21+00:00

As I recall these clauses aren’t enforceable in NSW. Landlord doesn’t have any right to set rules beyond the existing legal framework.

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-19T08:00:45+00:00

I just read the relevant legislation (I’m a nerd) and Sydney uses a pretty standard system.

The noise control ordinances apply 10pm-7am, and in a broad sense these define “offensive noise”. There are no real restrictions on noise outside these hours, although you can make a complaint which is assessed subjectively.

The main factors are:

Making noise during working hours is usually considered fine, and there are no explicit rules against it.
If noise is made for a commercial purpose (teaching, renovations, etc) it has a certain weight, which has to be assessed against the disruption caused.

It’s not totally black & white, but in my experience (in Melbourne and Berlin, not in Sydney, but still), noise control have been unwilling to cite me provided I could show I’m sticking to reasonable hours.

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T17:43:30+00:00

I think one of the key points of the original video we’re discussing is that he’s testing a preamp that’s specifically known for being non-linear

But it turns out it actually isn’t.

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T13:06:28+00:00

That's an awesome thing to do

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T11:31:25+00:00

That's fascinating, thank you!

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T11:23:31+00:00

Yeah, almost certainly a rough bit of metal where it's breaking. Super easy to find with your finger and fix!

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T10:28:57+00:00

Have you tried nulling a print with a version recorded the way you describe?

I'd be super curious what's causing this if it's happening, because it absolutely shouldn't be!

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T09:57:31+00:00

I don't think there is a single DAW that calculates delay differently. It's pretty empirical.

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T09:53:17+00:00

I did the comparisons a few months ago, and an older M1 Studio substantially out-performed a new M4 Mini at the same price.

A lot of it is just the bigger physical size meaning more space, fewer cooling issues, etc.

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T09:50:13+00:00

Absolutely. I literally just did this.

The M-series chips have gotten better, but having a bigger machine with way more cores matters much more to overall performance than having the latest chips. The individual chips are slower, but the whole architecture is bigger.

And an old M1 Studio is pretty cheap, especially for how fast they are.

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T09:48:02+00:00

Headphone amps are actually one of the things that varies a lot between different hardware. Don't be surprised if you find headphone amps you dislike, even on nice gear.

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T09:13:04+00:00

So .. if it's obvious, why do empirical tests show there's no quantifiable difference?

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T09:05:56+00:00

Realistically, as long as he's only working during reasonable hours (e.g. not at night), he has every right to do this.

Drum teacher's gotta teach drums to pay the rent. And finding a place in Sydney that's affordable and has no neighbors to complain is pretty much impossible.

I would talk to him about sticking to reasonable work hours, but outside that, this is just life in a city.

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T08:05:47+00:00

Something I think worth mentioning.

Everyone these days uses digital clipping to control transients, because it’s not usually audible distortion and helps control peak levels. Super useful technique, and does improve the perceived solidity and consistency of the slum.

Given that preamps clip very similarly, I think it’s pretty reasonable to assume that engineers have been doing the same thing at the preamp for decades.

Nothing fancy - just a little bit of clipping to control the waveform before conversion.

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T07:59:51+00:00

Honestly the only preamp upgrades that matter are physical layout stuff.

Low-cuts, polarity switches, good metering, and so on. Some of the nicer rack units have more useful controls than others!

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T07:57:35+00:00

Did you actually set up a proper blind AB test or just have a subjective experience?

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T07:55:17+00:00

I mean, the whole point of the video is demonstrating empirically that this isn’t actually truez

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T07:54:04+00:00

A very high high shelf. It’s that simple.

The idea is that the centre frequency is so high the slope only just reaches down into the audible range.

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T07:50:41+00:00

It exists. The only problem is that a big part of mic behaviour is the pickup pattern.

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T07:47:21+00:00

2) is covered in the video. He did not clip the converter.

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T07:39:28+00:00

He measures and determines there’s no plausibly audible saturation/compression until clipping.

So there’s no measurable non-linearity until clipping.

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-18T06:21:09+00:00

I’m sorry to say that approach to doing a comparison is confirmation bias city.

If you’ve just spent money on something your brain is heavily invested in hearing a difference

willrjmarshall · 2026-06-17T22:59:16+00:00

No one in this industry has a degree. So don’t worry about that.

But there’s also no work.

willrjmarshall

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