bob_m_54 Posted November 13, 2020 Share Posted November 13, 2020 20 hours ago, xlr8or said: Hopefully you missed some and they're still buried in the backyard. I'm ready to come over with the shovel. Nah, we were pretty good shots, and the bigger output bottles were a pretty easy target .. LOL 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAH BLAH Posted November 29, 2020 Author Share Posted November 29, 2020 (edited) Well the stars of the show have been missing for a few days now...their vocalized solos are an absolute stand out and listening treat...always leading the performance with the others following suite...Some where's around 4.30 am in the morning the Kookas would clear their throats and then let forth with full throttled streams of hearty laughter...First once again! Then from all the others...the faint answering calls the various murmuration of tweets, chirps, whistles all gathering volume like a huge swelling wave of undifferentiated furious bird calls and song as it peaks and breaks over the top of the house then slowly retreating into discernible individual squawks and calls...listen to me...me...I'm next!..no I am! me...me...meee....the whole gestalting performance a 5am regular standout! Underneath it all the second wave arrives through the open window...the constant unvarying dull low roar of traffic tyres...sometimes I imagine it's the distant ocean...not always! (It's hard to fool oneself into imagining the roar of a Harley motorbike in early morning traffic is a speedboat on seawater) Then I hear it...Sasha my russian blue cat...like clock work awaking moments before 6am...practising his child like vocalisations in english...allohh...Aaahhh Lowww...all without a hint of a russian argkzent! I do not know who is following whose routine here...and I get up!...then on comes Mr Goggle dead on time at 6am...bing bong...bing bong...and I reply STF up Mr Goggle...silence! With a flick of the electrical switch I hear the stampeding hooves of the mysterious herd of horses that reside in my kettle heralding the thundering bubbles of boiling water...click...morning tea! I decide to retire my lil 12W PP Triode Valve amp into the holding area for my amps...I canna cope with the warm evenings and long hours of dusk dulling its magnificent light show! It's hard to maintain a receptive mood with the valve experience in the Summer heat regardless of air-con...the only bottles I am interested in now are the cold frosted ones that leave my fridge to be drunk. See you next winter I say as I close the sliding door...thunk! Out comes the black faced Sansui AU-999...long time no see! no hear! I hook up the Sansui behemoth speakers the SP-5000's with Bills silver cables...then connect the new kids on the block the black faced Geiseler Kompakt DAC with Bills hybrid Argentum/Copper RCA's...I also decide to hook up the black faced Marantz CDP 63 MK 11 K.I.Signature for a listen with Bills Copper RCA's. As Los Bravos use to say...Black is black, I want my baby back...It's grey its grey since she went away, oh oh...What can I do, 'cause I'm feeling blue...On comes the Jazz CD...Face to Face with "Baby Face" Willette on Organ with Fred Jackson on TSax, Grant Green on guitar and Ben Dixon on drums. Plenty of detail and an expansive soundstage a listener can seriously get lost in...such a vinyl analogue smooth sound without losing musical definition... Edited November 29, 2020 by BLAH BLAH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyr Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 1 minute ago, BLAH BLAH said: Well the stars of the show have been missing for a few days now...their vocalized solos are an absolute stand out and listening treat...always leading the performance with the others following suite...Some where's around 4.30 am in the morning the Kookas would clear their throats and then let forth with full throttled streams of hearty laughter...First once again! Then from all the others...the faint answering calls the various murmuration of tweets, chirps, whistles all gathering volume like a huge swelling wave of undifferentiated furious bird calls and song as it peaks and breaks over the top of the house then slowly retreating into discernible individual squawks and calls...listen to me...me...I'm next!..no I am! me...me...meee....the whole gestalting performance a 5am regular standout! Underneath it all the second wave arrives through the open window...the constant unvarying dull low roar of traffic tyres...sometimes I imagine it's the distant ocean...not always! (It's hard to fool oneself into imagining the roar of a Harley motorbike in traffic is a speedboat on seawater) Then I hear it...Sasha my russian blue cat...like clock work awaking moments before 6am...practising his child like vocalisations in english...allohh...Aaahhh Lowww...all without a hint of a russian argkzent! I do not know who is following whose routine here...and I get up!...then on comes Mr Goggle dead on time at 6am...bing bong...bing bong...and I reply STF up Mr Goggle...silence! With a flick of the electrical switch I hear the stampeding hooves of the mysterious herd of horses that reside in my kettle heralding the thundering bubbles of boiling water...click...morning tea! I decide to retire my lil 12W PP Triode Valve amp into the holding area for my amps...I canna cope with the warm evenings and long hours of dusk dulling its magnificent light show! It's hard to maintain a receptive mood with the valve experience in the Summer heat regardless of air-con...the only bottles I am interested in now are the cold frosted ones that leave my fridge to be drunk. See you next winter I say as I close the sliding door...thunk! Out comes the black faced Sansui AU-999...long time no see! no hear! I hook up the Sansui behemoth speakers the SP-5000's with Bills silver cables...then connect the new kids on the block the black faced Geiseler Kompact DAC with Bills hybrid Argentum/Copper RCA's...I also decide to hook up the black faced Marantz CDP 63 MK 11 K.I.Signature for a listen with Bills Copper RCA's. On comes the Jazz CD...Face to Face with "Baby Face" Willette on Organ with Fred Jackson on TSax, Grant Green on guitar and Ben Dixon on drums. Plenty of detail and an expansive soundstage a listener can seriously get lost in...such a vinyl analogue smooth sound without losing musical definition... Did you used to write for TAS, BB? Andy 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAH BLAH Posted November 29, 2020 Author Share Posted November 29, 2020 1 hour ago, andyr said: Did you used to write for TAS, BB? Andy Ok I will bite...what is a TAS?!? @andyr... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyr Posted November 29, 2020 Share Posted November 29, 2020 21 minutes ago, BLAH BLAH said: Ok I will bite...what is a TAS?!? @andyr... Aah, you out yourself as a "non-audiophile ", BB! 'The Absolute Sound'. Andy 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAH BLAH Posted November 29, 2020 Author Share Posted November 29, 2020 5 minutes ago, andyr said: Aah, you out yourself as a "non-audiophile ", BB! 'The Absolute Sound'. Andy Nahhh I never ever give anything away! I knew that! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAH BLAH Posted March 7, 2021 Author Share Posted March 7, 2021 (edited) Ahhhh the late night battle of the sounds (without the comfort and treat of a Hoadley's choccy bar)...I swear I must live in the S.E. suburban Bermuda Triangle of demented party holders who only come out stirring vocally late at night...the over the back fence pool parties with after midnight karaoke singalongs into the wee small hours of the early morning (doesn't anyone go underwater in that damm pool?!?)..and the right side neighbour's late night open door garage soirees. We don't talk at these parties...no way!... we screech/shriek aloud avoiding any chance of small quiet chit chat to survive...at all times we must yell/scream out...for music selections, choice of drink/food, topic of drunken conversation, what the feck ever and ever!...demented shrieking sulphur-crested cookatoos the lot of them...all the sounds seem to find their way over the night air towards my man-cave window like a giant focused funnel...agghhhh... Sometimes it's the stirring resident possum...sounds of a 50 ciggy a day smoker's ragged and torn breathing...rasping the night air like a carpenter's hand saw crescending and peaking...then the mad scarpering top run along the wooden super highway of my left sided neighbours fence...sometimes breaking a paling fence top discarded like a broken tooth...only to restart again quietly see-sawing... Or the local cats seem to find themselves grouped outside my laundry window hoping to catch sight of sasha my russian blue...the line up for seats must get hectic and crowded for the look of such an exotic cat as my sasha by these moggies for inevitably their is an outbreak of ferocious cat wailing heralding approaching destructive tornadoes that eventually expire into fizzing furry sky rockets disappearing over the back fences... Or the slow winding down of my fridges compressor...intermittent gasping sounds of cold hearted survival...like a dying blue bottle fly on it's back helplessly buzzing in circles...louder and louder then enough! I'm too scottish to replace that fridge yet while it still works! Sometimes it's the wail of police cars...ambulances...truck engine brakes...roar of motor bike exhausts...always funnelled towards my man-cave window... Ahhh but now it's the sound of my black faced SS Sansui 999 amp that gives me concern...or lack of...one of the channels has mysteriously dropped out...the swapping around of Bill's speaker cables confirms a channel issue ...my Tech is sympathetic on the phone...bring it in, it will be a loose connect somewheres...So now I have reconnected up my 300B SET 12W...and swapped out the Wharfedale E90s for my Sansui SP-5000s...I am partial to it's warmer detailed sound...not better just a change to the E90s clarity...I put on a Cd...The Bill Hardman Quintet..."Saying Something" featuring Sonny Red, Ronnie Mathews, Bob Cunningham, Doug Watkins and jimmy Cobb...I listen to this music repeatedly...I never tire of it and yet it never nestles familiarly in my brain like pop music...how many different ways I can humm and change...george bakers little green bag...but not TBHQ...every track sounds new and wonderful...That's the wonder, the wonder of you (Wonder of you)...You give me hope and consolation, the wonder of you... Edited March 7, 2021 by BLAH BLAH 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlr8or Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 (edited) This thread needs a few more photos. Here is a few to kick off proceedings ... Edited March 8, 2021 by xlr8or 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAH BLAH Posted March 10, 2021 Author Share Posted March 10, 2021 (edited) 274B mesh plate rectifier bottle of my 300B SET...helping to pump out Don Wilkerson's Preach Brother CD...ably assisted by Grant Green, Sonny Clark, Butch Warren, Billy Higgins...music with a wonderful glow even on a gorgeous Melbourne Autumn Afternoon... Edited March 10, 2021 by BLAH BLAH 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAH BLAH Posted April 25, 2021 Author Share Posted April 25, 2021 A pic of my one and only 300B SET...what a bottler!!!...currently my audio gateway to musical listening paradise... Apologies if I have shown this pic before, I canna help it I am like a proud new parent wishing to show of the new baby... ...the 300B, B, B, Beeee... hmm that's interesting about the B's in my life I recall working and programming a music/interview show at Bellingen's 2 BBB FM Mudbrick Radio Station many years ago...bbbloody terrific it was too and also still going strong too...hopefully my 300B SET will last just as long...and that includes me too...ahhh but I digress! Ahhh what the heck I may as well reveal my re-capped Sansui SP-5000's that it is currently connected too...they were in my hall way waiting patiently for weeks to be swapped out with my Wharfedale E90s...and the Wharfies are no slouches when it comes to sound...hence the delay! These SP-5000's are old school style, hhheavy, very large, with 7 drivers, but super efficient outputting sound at around 102dbs...derogatory referred to by all and sundry as 'kabuki style' but I disregard that chattering noise as I do enjoy their warm analogue sig...warm sound plus warm bottle glow makes for warm reception...'ear, 'ear! 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crtexcnndrm99 Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 Very sweet combo Any comments on the mesh plate rectifier? The SE amp I've used for the past year has had that it came with... The Sansui speakers are good 'uns! Just yesterday I was looking at the SP-3000's online. At 104db efficiency, I couldn't say no if I ever came across a pair! No doubt they sing with the 300B SET 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAH BLAH Posted April 26, 2021 Author Share Posted April 26, 2021 (edited) On 26/04/2021 at 11:33 AM, crtexcnndrm99 said: Very sweet combo Any comments on the mesh plate rectifier? The SE amp I've used for the past year has had that it came with... The Sansui speakers are good 'uns! Just yesterday I was looking at the SP-3000's online. At 104db efficiency, I couldn't say no if I ever came across a pair! No doubt they sing with the 300B SET Hi @crtexcnndrm99 thank you for your kind words...sweet it is! As to the 274B Mesh Rectifier...I have no comment to make other than post that it's my only experience with the 274B mesh bottle and I have no way of judging it's performance other than going to the trouble/expense of buying another simply for the purposes of comparison...I mean I like it visually as it is a glowing bobby dazzler! My understanding is that the 274B mesh plate delivers a more airy sound which compliments the SET sound whilst the solid plate delivers more bass and slam...you pays your money and you make your choices! I personally find that my 300B SET with the 274B rectifier delivers a notable spacious sound without over doing the honeyed smoothness or blurring...musical detail delivered in space...spades of it...without fatiguing glare to the ears...a tad more air than my little silver faced 12W PP Triode Valve Amp with it's Mullard GZ34 rectifier and accompanying 6L6GC RCA Black Plate bottles...though I do feel the higher efficiency of your speakers the more premium sound output! Hope this helps you out some on your sonic journey! Re the Sansui speakers I'm pleased that your a fellow fan...not many of us about!...and I concur they are good 'uns! Go those SP-3000's hunt of yours! My understanding is that the SP-5000's are a rare beastie and difficult to source...I managed to snaffle/import my minty pair from the States (even rarer over there!) when the aussie dollar was worth $1.15usa...came bundled up beautifully on a small wooden pallet that needed two men to lift and shift out of the delivering ute! I am pleased with their sound...smooth and edged with detail...plenty of volume...whilst my Wharfedale E90's are a tad more forward in presentation...a nice listening change from each other...I'm lucky to have both! Edited April 29, 2021 by BLAH BLAH 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlr8or Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 8 hours ago, crtexcnndrm99 said: Very sweet combo Any comments on the mesh plate rectifier? The SE amp I've used for the past year has had that it came with... Just remember one key thing here. If the mesh plate is woven wire that is intertwined and layered then definitely keep it. If it's a flat stamped plate with multiple small holes in it to mimic a mesh plate then bin it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAH BLAH Posted April 26, 2021 Author Share Posted April 26, 2021 @xlr8or...Woven swoven or not I'm still keeping mine out of the bin... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xlr8or Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 (edited) Let me present the bishop: And now the queen: Edited April 26, 2021 by xlr8or 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAH BLAH Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 Pleasant Sunday Arvo in Melbourne...Inspired by the TV series Bosch and Bosch's playing of Jazz pieces on his Hi-Fi vinyl setup...in particular...'Patrica'...I am playing a second-hand Discogs bought CD (which has thankfully managed to survive intact from the rigors of a long USA post, I'm impressed!)...The Return of Art Pepper...The Complete Art Pepper Aladdin Recordings-Volume One...featuring one of Bosch's favourite tracks 'Patrica'...T8... Which has also inspired the return of the silver faced little 12W PP Triode Valve amp from the back of the graveyard closet to frontline musical duties in the man cave... Immediately I notice the silver faced amp's 6L6GC RCA black plates are not quiet as airy and glorious as the 300B SET...but the soundstage is still wide and clear...after an hour it's all sounding sweet with those 6L6's and my foot is tapping along to Art's sax on T2...Broadway....smooth as...nothing better than being totally absorbed in the musical here and now, totally relaxed and focused...even Sasha my russian blue comes in for a sticky beak to see what's up and quickly leaves...a casual and light fingered stroking of his backside not enough to keep him content...I'm into Art now, sasha I don't think is... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAH BLAH Posted May 25, 2021 Author Share Posted May 25, 2021 (edited) Melbourne weather ahhhh the vagaries of...cool, grey clouded and windy...no hint of rain/moisture! Now who would have thought that that was ever possible! Melbourne without possibility of rainfall would be like Paul without John...like Simon without Garfunkel...unrecognizable for some!...the rain will prolly get blown here eventually on the flapping coattails of this hissy fit wind that roils, surges and heaves constantly outside my man cave window...weather seeking attention or just to give me the plain irrits ...for who knows it seems to have a mind of its own...bloody air head! It has no rhyme, reason or rationale...just a manic persistence in seeking to find that dead treed branch to snap off and unceremoniously drop down from way up high, wooden fences galore to repeatedly creak back and forth with awkward placed gusts, shrubbery to be bustled involuntarily into the weirdest possible frayed shapes of hysterical surging excitment...weirdly reminiscent of...we come from Tigerland a fighting fury we're from tigerland... The roaring great congregator of fallen leaf, he/it/she who must be obeyed (SWMBO)...brown shapes humped in heaving/rustling/surging mounting waves crashing up against the immovable ...the windy creator of swirling leafed circling eddies and whirlpools of bronzed/red/brown ...all the leaves are brown (all the leaves are brown) And the sky is grey (And the sky is grey) California dreaming on such a winters day....The odd low whipping branch frantically/endlessly leaving its indecipherable helpless scribble on dusty grey parchment of ground... like a well worn wooden pencil tip blown back and forth manically seeking the right written magical hieroglyphic for stillness. Well that then...I think...is all the more reason to turn on the little silver faced 12W PP Triode Valve Amp with it's new fake Accuphase 40th Anniversary power cable stuck out its rear end...very slinky with its hefty gold pythonick sheen...if I do say so myself! (thank you @MattyW for the heads up!) turn its volume up and now listen, focusing to some music! This so called fake power cable has suprised me with its ability to transform the musical output of the little silver faced amp...would not have believed it possible for such a small outlay and form...but it has certainly worked some hi-fi magic...just a tad more revealing in both the detail and sound-stage...I don't understand why/howdidodee but I like it, who wouldn't! Cheap as chips and at half the price! Jeez the choice of what music to play can be so difficult and time consuming at times...drum roll please, envelope handed to me...opening it to reveal the lucky musos chosen to play!!! Well what do you know the lucky winners this afternoon are Steely Dan! Good choice...excellent choice...ok so on goes CD 3 of 4 from MCA's green packaged Citizen collection...Don't take me alive...and i wait for T6's opening Eagles style guitar playing...and then the Desperado style vocals...can you hear the eagle cry the lies and the laughter...totally out eagled The Eagles! magic! Steely Dan just has the wonderful ability to stop me totally in my tracks make me drop what i'm doing and have me listen intently....music/lyrics so textured, complex and interesting, just like a fine SM Whisky! What wind?!?!? Edited May 25, 2021 by BLAH BLAH 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibbeebee Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 great read I dont have any valve gear but ive been really enjoying the journey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyW Posted May 25, 2021 Share Posted May 25, 2021 (edited) Good that the power cable worked out for you too. I don't think anyone who's tried one has been disappointed yet. Something of a nice surprise really Edited May 25, 2021 by MattyW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAH BLAH Posted June 21, 2021 Author Share Posted June 21, 2021 Hi @MattyW that power cable recommendation of yours is certainly a pleasant revealing surprise...sound wise to my ears...my audio memory of it's initial impact is now fleeting but I do recall being immediately impressed with it's cleaning/firming up of instrument/vocal detail...a clearly noticeable difference between the before and after power cable installation... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyW Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 Yes, it was a real eye opener for me. Power cables really do make a difference. That said, apparently I'm not allowed to recommend it anymore as it's not compliant with Australian standards not having the plastic halfway down the pin's. Still, I recently ordered another one for the Farad Super3 I have on the way for my OCXO clock. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAH BLAH Posted June 22, 2021 Author Share Posted June 22, 2021 (edited) Ahhhhh Briggsey how could I forget...old childhood mate of mine...from Melbourne's working class inner suburbs. We both shared in the same stupefying heat and the constant frown upon frown from bone headed attitudes that dulled our smiles and well spring of youth. Ahhhh Briggsey you introduced me to Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band in the cool dark of your parents well worn furnished lounge room. I had no idea who the beatles were at the time or why they were so important for you...I do recall I was unimpressed with the sound of the music thinking it all sounded rather old fashion, noisy trumpets and such. I simply contented myself with just trying to recognise all the various faces crowded onto the front of the LP cover. I do not recall your reply in fact I do not recall any of our conversations together...the sound of your voice and whether you said smart things or whether you revealed a sense of humour/intelligence...i don't recall... I just have jumbled oft repeated images of our friendship and times spent together...Oh, I get by with a little help from my friend(s)...Mm, I get high with a little help from my friend(s)...Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friend(s)...I do recall though that you had two older sisters that you totally ignored much to my disappointment, very much so...one dark haired and one blond...that I wished would show up when we were listening to SPLHCB...Lovely Rita, meter maid...Lovely Rita, meter maid...Oh, lovely Rita meter maid Where would I be without you? Give us a wink and make me think of you...but alas it was never to be...one worked while the other regretfully spent all her available time with her Italian boyfriend. I do remember your tall grey haired old man who dressed in bulky olive green woolen military pants that were held up both by braces and cinching black leather belt...the olive green pants clearing the top of the waisted belt by inches resulting in a weird military frill. A taciturn man who rarely spoke...who instead sent up clouds of impenetrable smoke from hand rolled...crooked and thin like his stature...white rollies from a yellow/red written Capstan packet containing a never ending supply of brown loose spilling shaggy baccy. Your mum both thin dressed and monosyllabic in conversation...hello...tea?!?...goodbye...I fleetingly wondered how that relationship could have produced three children...When I get older losing my hair Many years from now Will you still be sending me a valentine Birthday greetings, bottle of wine? If I'd been out till quarter to three Would you lock the door Will you still need me, will you still feed me When I'm sixty-four?... Ahhhhh Briggsey how could I forget...old childhood friend of mine...from Melbourne's working class inner suburbs. We both shared in the same stupefying heat and the constant frown upon frown from bone headed attitudes that dulled our smiles and well spring of youth...Good morning, good morning...Good morning, good morning...Everybody knows there's nothing doing. Everything is closed, it's like a ruin....Everyone you see is half asleep And you're on your own, you're in the street... Ahhhh Briggsey...you introduced me to under aged drinking at our local...black cold sweet sticky portagaffs for me till I heaved up the sour sticky stinking mess in the toilets and staggered home red eyed surrounded by your amusement...past mum and dad...The erratic driving of your first car a metal boxed FC holden that you bounced repeatedly off grey guard rails as you failed to take/make a tight corner. Me white faced and bug eyed...rigid in the front seat from the experience. You...calmly...both hands on the wheel trying to regain control...Ahhh their is lots more to reminisce about but I digress...Then I heard you got a job and I continued with High School and our lives silently diverged...Wednesday morning at five o'clock as the day begins...Silently closing his bedroom door...Leaving the note that (s)he hoped would say more...(S)he goes down the stairs to the kitchen clutching his handkerchief...Quietly turning the backdoor key...Stepping outside, (s)he is free...Then life got in the way. And then I heard you had drowned trying to save someone else from drowning at a beach, I felt numb...Ahhh Briggsey I never knew that you had it in you to do such a brave and gallant action (and I wonder if I have it in me to do the same?!)...I read the news today-oh boy...About a lucky man who made the grade...And thought the news was rather sad...Well, I just had to laugh...I saw the photograph...He blew his mind out in a car...He didn't notice that the lights had changed...A crowd of people stood and stared...I read the news today-oh boy.. It's taken me a while to think of you again Briggsey...vale old mate...Just like it's taken me a while to warm to SPLHCB after all these years...CD of Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band played by my little silver faced 12W PP Triode Valve Amp...what I cannot get over is how much I enjoy the singing by Lennon and McCartney over their choice of music. McCartney's vigorous singing opening track...powerful and confident...boy can he sing Billy Shears! Lennon on A Day in the Life...so young and expressive. I just love listening to McCartney's singing...and then Lennon's...Yes I admit...It's getting better all the time (Better, better, better) It's getting better all the time (better, better, better)...Jeez a young Lennon and McCartney said more on this record than Briggsey, me and et al ever did...And it really doesn't matter if I'm wrong, I'm right...Where I belong, I'm right...Where I belong...That Indian sitar on...Within You Without You..is a trip...but I'm not sure about...Henry the horse dancing a waltz.. (I just wonder what Briggsey would have had to say about that?!?) Edited June 22, 2021 by BLAH BLAH 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAH BLAH Posted July 4, 2021 Author Share Posted July 4, 2021 (edited) Another cool windy Melbourne winter's morning...grey clouds peeking through the curtained window gap of the mancave, I see you, now I don't!...the external gas heater is pumping warming wafts of air through the floored air vent...keeping all those melting frosty Antarctic icebergs/fields at bay. I sit contented and sip percolated coffee, I love it's warm aromas just like the mouth watering smells of bacon, toast, chicken all are my familiar signposts to an ordered life. I wonder what/how the poor people are all doing this morning and I take another slow sip of coffee...quickly! I contemplate the little 12W P/P Triode Valve amp parked forlornly at rest and push the start button on...aaahhhhh more light and heat (lightening/fireflies revealed in a valve/bottle) that can only be a good thing I reckon! Am I in a receptive mood for the joys of music...I wonder?!!... or will it just be another case of background music added to my morning ritual?!? I choose a CD and a track...you know Briggsey I reckon this track could easily have been chosen for SPLHCB...It's just another day...it's just another day...So sad, so sad, Sometimes she feels so sad...it's neck and neck with SPLHCB's...She(What did we do that was wrong)...Is having(We didn't know it was wrong)...Fun(Fun is the one thing that money can't buy)...both have that sense of hard times nostalgia sweetly recalled and beautifully/elegiacally sung by McCartney. I press another CD track...I reckon someone ought to call the fire brigade cos McCartney is on fire singing here...slow brooding drum and guitar intro followed by a slinky vocal entry...Oh woman, oh why, why, why, why...What have I done...Oh woman, oh where, where, where, where, where...Did you get that gun...I reckon AC/DC listened to this singing and collectively went WOW WEE...we need some of that! all asking Bon Scott did ya hear that then?! can ya sing like that then?!? can ya?!? can ya?!? Huh?!? Huh?!? Just a rock god vocalist at the top of his game! I really think that McCartney's whimsical/playful lyrics are a short burning fuse that lead to an explosion of wonderful amalgams of song and singing...explosions of startling musical genius. I press another CD track...And the horrible sound of tomato...Ketchup...Soup and puree...Don't get left behind...Ketchup...Soup and puree...Don't get left behind...Hahahaa I love it Catch up...don't get left behind! The song roars onto the finale with McCartney just imploring...growling...yelling...gibbering and screaming hisself into a state of scat paroxysms. At one stage his voice just breaks ever so slightly under the awesome strain but he is undeterred/focused/relentless and continues roaring to the finish...just another day in the office for Macca! Ketchup...don't get left behind! Phew I canna.... I press another CD button and I hear John Cleese like singing...We're so sorry, Uncle Albert...But we haven't done a bloody thing all day....We're so sorry, Uncle Albert...But the kettle's on the boil and we're so easily called away....followed by a chorus of...Hands across the water (water)...Heads across the sky....I'll be honest here none of it makes sense to me...none of it. And yet it is a tribute to McCartney's musical genius that he can take some whimsical lyrics add a beguiling repetitive chorus, guitar and deftly create a masterpiece of sound that is a joy to listen to. Round and round like a carousel it goes...jump on board...Ketchup...don't get left behind...a magical mystery tour of crazy lyrics/singing/music...genius at work...hands across the water... Edited July 4, 2021 by BLAH BLAH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLAH BLAH Posted July 30, 2021 Author Share Posted July 30, 2021 (edited) Well well well...here we all are confined within a fifth Melbourne Covid lock down(...Ladies and Gentlemen This Mambo number five! One, two, three four five...Everybody in the car, so come on, let's ride!...) for one thing I canna get over how still and quiet the night here becomes with such a reduction in social movement...Ah sure remember the night moves (night moves)...aint it funny how you remember (night moves)...Funny how you remember (night moves)...Oh I do remember cars, trucks, barking dogs/motor bikes, parties late at night...lots and lots...but now it's nada, nix, nope, nothing to hear as the night moves/slides silently onwards towards morning. I sit in my man-cave dimly illuminated by the bottle glow of the lil 12W PP Triode Valve Amp...so still...I swear I can hear my heart thump...so still I can hear my breath rasp...so still I have become a tableau of a renaissance oil painting...dark and mysterious, illuminated by a solitary wane candle(...hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again...)...a sorcerer at work(without the pointed hat or cloak or long white beard!) conjuring up all sorts of crazy magic to create music...musical sounds from flat spinning shiny silver orbs...beguiling celestial sounds by a simple index finger pointy press of a small black plastic square...ahhhh listen the angels do sing...listen....do you want to know a secret, do you promise not to tell, whoa oh, oh...closer... But wait...wait...what's that sound...There's something happening here, It's time we stop, Hey, what's that sound? Everybody look - what's going down?...I hear it outside...it's blown in by the gentlest of wind gusts...a slight noise a fingernail scratching across a blackboard?!?...it becomes louder...a group of mice is it?!? holding a quorum of jagged high pitched shrill screeches that grows loudly out of control?!?...the wind gusts louder...(Who's tripping down the streets of the city, Smiling at everybody she sees? Who's reaching out to capture a moment? Everyone knows it's Windy...)...and louder...I twig to what the sound is...it's the finger lime growing outside the man-cave window that I have failed to prune! The lime's grey barked arms arise out of the ground and stretch upwards towards the guttering of the house in a frantic bid for more space and freedom. Multi green finger lime bushy nails just falling short of the guttering as it struggles for purchase/grasp...the sound is crazy...nail upon nail is clawing at the guttering for noisy purchase but alas she is too short! Haven't I looked after you enough oh little finger lime?!? Why the need to move on...?!...I wait for an answer but the wind subsides and i hear no more frantic nail music! Ah well...time for more music magic says the sorcerer...and a shiny spinning silver orb is released into the ether...A CD...The remarkable CARMELL JONES featuring Harold Land...Carmell Jones on trumpet, Harold Land on sax, Frank Strazzeri on piano, Gary Peacock on bass and Leon Pettis on drums...what glorious Jazz sounds comes out of the lil 12W PP Triode Valve Amp driven speakers this night...magic! Edited July 30, 2021 by BLAH BLAH 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cafe67 Posted July 30, 2021 Share Posted July 30, 2021 https://www.stereophile.com/content/gramophone-dreams-51-feliks-audio-arioso-amplifier-western-electric-300b-tube-page-2 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts