Plexi Jr Build.... It's alive!!!!!!!!!!!

Plexi Jr Build - Day 1

So, it took almost two whole day to finish it all up! but for the first fire up, smokes came out of the Power transformer!!!!!! damn!

Troubleshoot it with the help of Razi for a couple of hours until i realise that the rectifier used was not compatible with the PT. took out two of the 1N4007 off the ground and no more smoke...

but wait! the tube won't light up! tried bypassing those 100R (R1 & R2), and also no connection between pwr tube's pin 8 and filamen lines, but still to no avail!

turns out that connection of pin 8 and filament lines was suppose to act as an artificial center tap, but my PT already has a center tap for the low voltage 2ndary!

but that wasn't the problem though....

The problem was simple. I didn't forced the tube into its sockets hard enough! I had to go to Razi's house to know about this! haha

How does it sound now? couldn't really say much now. too early to tell much. caps havn't burnt in yet and all..

but lots of bottom end for sure. the TMB does make the tonal possibilites wide. overall volume output is not that loud though.

but the gain! it does has a lot of gain. but won't be able to reach into metal territory though without any pedals. great classic rock (say led zep) tones though!

with my modded TS9 in front, it really is a rock monster! not really metal territory yet, but for those modern rock tone, it's great!

so i pushed it with TS9, now i push it harder with my Dr Boogie! with it's gain set below 9 o'clock, the amp turned into a metal monster! Muahahaha! lots of gain with bottom end that the Plexi Jr has! Krraaannnnkkk!!!!!!!

however, the only problem now is the bias. the stated schematic cathode resistor gives too cold of a bias (around 10 watt instead of 14watt plate dissipation voltage). this would probably be because my PT's HV 2ndary is 220V while in the schem is260V.

probably it'll sound better after biased right?

Soundclips/vidz would be up when i hav the time. for now, below are some pictures!

PLEXI Jr. Build -DAY 1

I've mod pedals, then mod my tube amp, and then build pedals. a quite addictive hobby i must admit.. so, next?

I'm building an amp! Been playing with that idea in my head for quite a while now. Hi-Octane was one of my target. but then i found... Plexi SE!

It was designed by the guys at sewatt.com (initiated by z_stingray) and was intended to be as a drop replacement for Epiphone Valve junior. The Plexi SE pcb can be bought at guitar amplifier pcbs website.

But the board cost USD30, thats RM100+ after conversion n shipping! so, i designed a layout of the schematic, in a PTP turreted style. all the ground would go on one line and grounded one point on the chasis.

This is the layout i've done. btw, its not gonna be build on a stripboard as shown, its just that software i use for my convinience. those red dots (cut tracks symbol) is the turret.

Components are bought from Jalan Pasar and from Nik Azam of ceriatone. chasis and transformers are from Razi of rseaudio.

as of now, i've already soldered most of the part on the turret board except about 4 parts coz i bought wrong values of resistors! and also, i have to drill some of the holes on the chassis to increase those hole sizes.

Below are some pics!

package unpacked!

Drawn up layout on the board as markings when drilling (forgot to took a picture of it after drilled an turreted though)

turret board 90% soldered up

full pic with the chassis, output transformers, and power transformers

In the night shall fall

Darkness creeps
music soothing in the air
lost in the waves of harmonics
finding way through the darkness
i will not fall
holes that i did not see
this darkness holds
the light that darken
the night that lights up
shall i go through?
still
hold still in the state of mind
steady state holding still the voices
would they ever be silenced?
controlled to the very least of comfort?
slave is what they have made me be...

Me

Me..
What am i?
Who am i?
what do i wanna be?
direction of my life?
planned lots of things in ma mind
but did so little
thought a lot
never did enuff
dream high
but nothing in reality

discipline and determination
perseverance and consistency
focus and concentration
all of which i should have
all of what i thought of i should be
excuses by excuses
i lay out on me

when would the road really be taken
when would i would wake from this?

only me
only I
Hadi Hasannudin
could answer that

2.06 a.m.

Hungry at 2.06 am,
sitting on my bed infront of this,
sinking inside the soothing music of my collection,
need i say more?

the season is in,
as the flu 'flu' around hoping from one to another,
infecting others in sight or upon touch,
annoying as it is,
distracting normal life and its activities.

sleepy eyes,
blurry and blurry it gets,
but still
scribbling away by pressing
this written words of no directions
hoping to go somewhere
but hopeless without plan n direction

these are the words
that hav no meaning or direction
and it will
it will
it will
STOP!

Dr Boogey build - Finished!!!

Dr Boogey build (Day 1)

Dr Boogey Build (Day 2)

Finally, the beast is alive!!!! After weeks of debugging, i finally succeed! Right after all the parts arrived, i wired everything up. Thought quite a lot about positioning of the knobs though when the drilling the enclosure.

The problem started right away after everything was wired up. Got sound when bypassed (using true bypass) but nothing when enganged! Damn! Checked all the solder and wiring, everything looked ok. Then, i took the jfet's reading and post it at diystompboxes.com forum. The guys told me that the voltages of my Q1 and Q2 (the jfet's) weren't right. At Q1 the voltages were nearly the same for all feet (D, S and G) while at Q2, there's no voltage at S while G shows high voltages reading. I replaced the Q1 with an j201 laying around (used for the MT2 mod but took it out) but still nothing. Then decided to resolder the components around Q1 coz my soldering job there was f****ng bad! and walla! there's sound coming out of the box... but DAMN it was ugly! very fizzy and thin!

Asked again at the forum and the guys suggested that it was the Q2 that might caused it. So i ordered up some j201's from farnell with sets of sockets too! See, as explained by ultraman_cosmo (from jamtank.net), jfets are very sensitive to heat. so, by using socket, i won't worry bout frying up the j201. and i can easily swaps the jfets coz apparently, each jfet (even same type) can affect the end sound!

Then, all soldered up, setting the drain voltages of Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 to 4.5v, i fired it up! And the beast; Dr Boogey is alive!!!!!

The tone? fat sounding distortion with lots of balls! haha. suprisingly very quiet though. but still need some jfet biasing to be done to really nail the tone that i want. However, recoded a clip using my digital camera. It sounds kinda 'tubey' though the clips but can get you the rough idea.

Here's some pictures 1st..

the workstation!

Gut view

Another gut view

The beast itself.... Dr Boogey!

Last but not least, the demo!

of graduations, MEng and BEng...

Damn, i wish i could be there watching my frens of Nottingham University graduated juz now. but some unforseen circumstances wouldn't let me. Only got to watch the pictures taken by Nik Izzat.

So, they graduated. They chose to end after 3 years with a Bachelor Degree. and i still have one more year to go to straightly graduate to Master of Engineering. am i doing the right thing here? how big of advantage am i getting? questions been asking to myself for quite a while. I guess we'll juz wait and see.

the status of this British system of MEng is somewhat still blurry. I heard, JPA only looks at it as a degree coz its an undergraduated course; direct 4 years without graduating 1st as a 'Bachelor'. if so, how about British's system of BEng? a lower degree? same level?

Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM) only accredited 4 years of MEng from university of Nottingham. According to the BEM's website, this means that only through MEng (for University of Nottingham), the graduated students can register with BEM as a 'Graduate Engineer'. The BEM justify it by saying that students must go through 4 years of engineering programme for 'em to be qualified to register as 'Graduate Engineer'. Every other BEng programmes in other local University (which has a duration of 4 years) is accredited and the graduate can register as 'Graduate Engineer'. This is a list from BEM's website.
http://www.bem.org.my/v3/pdf/listofaccreditedprogrammes.pdf

What does this say then to my fellow frens who juz graduated with BEng from University of Nottingham? I'm not sure but I certainly haven't heard my seniors has a hard time finding job because of that technicality. One even earning over RM20k a month working at Schlumbeger with juz a BEng in Mechanical Engineering.

So, what's the difference actually? Asked around at the UNiM's career fair some months ago, all (Shell, Cameron (oil&gas), Sime Darby) said that they do differentiate MEng and BEng. mostly with a higher salary for MEng. guess, to really know it, i juz have to look at my seniors who graduated with MEng.

Btw, below is an explaination by Dr Stewart McWilliam, director of studies for Mechanical Engineering about MEng/BEng.
________________________________________________________

Dear Hadi,

BEng (Bachelor of Engineering) and MEng (Master of Engineering) are both undergraduate courses.

MSc (Master of Science) is a postgraduate course.

The BEng and MEng Mechanical Engineering courses are accredited by the Institution of Mechanical Engineering (IMechE). This means that the courses are recognised by the Engineering Council in the UK. The MEng is the preferred route to becoming a Professional Engineer – in the UK a Professional Engineer is called a Chartered Engineer. A student with a BEng qualification needs to study to a higher level (possibly an MSc) before they are eligible to apply to become a Chartered/Professional Engineer.

In Malaysia only 4 year MEng courses are accredited by the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM). If you wish to be a professional engineer in Malaysia it is advisable to take the MEng. The Malaysia Campus had an accreditation visit by the BEM approx 3 weeks ago. As yet we have not recieved the final verdict, but we are hopeful that the Mechanical Engineering MEng course will be accredited by BEM.

In the UK we offer an MSc in Mechanical Engineering. Currently we do not offer an MSc at the Malaysia campus. The UK MSc offers students the possibility of upgrading their BEng qualification for the purposes of becoming a Chartered Engineer. Many of the modules studied on the MSc are identical to those offered at the Malaysia campus. The majority of modules on the MSc are at level 4 (MM 4 CFD is a level 4 module). The MSc is a full year course starting in September and finishing in August, involving 180 credits, 60 of which are for an individual project. In contrast, the 4th year of the MEng is from September to June and involves only 120 credits. A significant difference is that the MEng involves a large Group Development Project (40 credits). This project is design related involving writing a business plan, conceptual design, design evolution, proof of concept, and possibly manufacturing a prototype.

In summary the MEng is more focused on the needs of engineering industry than the MSc, whilst the MSc is used to enable a BEng student to study to the required higher level to become a Chartered/Professional Engineer. Ultimately the choice is yours. If you are intending to embark on a career in industry my advice would be to take the MEng. Alternatively you could take a BEng and then an MSc. One final point is that you should check the requirements in your country for becoming a Professional engineer, as this may help you decide.

I hope this is helpful,

Regards,

Stewart

Director of Studies

Faculty of Engineering

Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering

________________________________________________________________________________________

Anyhow, in the BEM's list of accredited engineering programmes in M'sia, MEng of Mechanical Engineering isn't there. Their accreditation team was in UNiM in May for evaluation. Hope that everything goes well and the MEng of Mechanical Engineering will be in the list soon.

Dr Boogey build (Day 2)

Dr Boogey build (Day 1)

Well, it's not actually the 2nd day, but wut the hell. Soldered all the components on the board already! just need wiring up the power jacks, in and out jacks, pots, and switch.

Went to Jalan Pasar on Monday (6/7/09) to buy the remaining parts and straight away heat up my soldering iron after reach home! but damn, dunno why my iron suddenly wasn't hot enough! hardly can solder anything. so i rush to the nearest hardware store for a new soldering iron. but damn, that iron was useless. very hard to solder up things. i was sooooo pissed then!

but then, i decided to give the old iron a try. Wallla! all metls easily and soldering on that veroboard seems very easy! Long story short, last nite (wednesday morning) at around 4 am, i finished up soldering!

checked all the continuity, fixed whatever wasn't connected that was supposed to be. and cut all the remaining parts' legs. and below is some pictures!

Under the board before cutting the legs

Legs cut!

Above of the board after all soldered up!

Dr Boogie build (Day 1)

As an intro, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier is a very well known amp for its brutal and crushing distortion that's very sinonim in the world of Metal music scene. but the price is however ridiculously pricey especially here in Msia; >RM10k.

So, i decided to build this Dual rectifier emulator pedal called Dr. Boogie which was designed by a guy called Electritab from diystompbox.com forum. Below is the perfboard schematic of it which is based on the revised circuit by gaussmarkov.



So, finally the parts came today (saturday, 4/7/09). and i started building it just now. however, what i did was only putting the components on the perfboard base on the schematic above. Soldering will be done later coz there's still missing parts. gotta go to Jalan Pasar to get 'em.

the present work

Finally, demo of my modded MT-2

Yeah! I finally got off my lazy ass to find a camera to record a demo of my pride n joy; My modded MT-2! Btw, this is juz with the germanium/diode clipping (my favourite!) mode.

Here is where i rant about wut i did with it the last time.
Metal Zone... Modded!

However, i changed the JFet clippings with a pair of silicon diodes which give.... kinda the same sound as my favourite; germanium diode & silicon diodes. But somehow to my ears, germanium/silicon clippings has a bit tighter distortion than silicon pairs. Think i'm gonna try silicon/LED sometimes later.

p/s i know, i know.. i suck in that video but hope it'll give some 'picture' of the tone. and also sorry for the video quality. had to convert it to reduce the size coz the limit is 100mb

United we stand, Divided we fall.

Tonite's post gonna be a quite serious one. I was surfing facebook and suddenly saw the Group about banning Ganyang Malaysia. Apparently, there are alot of 'Hate Malaysia' kinda group in fb with large followings compromising of mostly (if not all) indonesians. This is a very sad thing to be seen to me.

We come mostly from the same ancestors (the malays) or 'serumpun' to simplify it. but why so much hate? i dunno how much of the indonesians joining the group are muslims. but that's what makes it worst. we muslim are too divided right now. That is our BIGGEST WEAKNESS in my opinion. Even in Palestine alone, they are divided with sometimes bloodshed between 'em. What we do here is actually making the Zionist a big favour. The Zionist rule the world coz they unite and they work hard to get there. We should too. Calling 'Jihad' with intention of bloodshed to overcome it WOULD NOT solve it. The 'Jihad' that we must do is within each self. Unite is the first thing IMO that we should do. The Arabs have to be one. The Malays in M'sia hav to be one. Even the Indonesians hav to be one.

Damn, i could not go on with this post for my head is spinning around coz too much durian. Well, i'll end this with a simple phrase.

Bersatu kita teguh! Bercerai kita roboh!

Midnight rantings

its 2 sumthing in the morning. without my shirt wit juz my sweat pants. sitting in this attic room of mind.

what am i going to write about today? politics? music? i've been meaning to write a review for an album. but never got to it. heck, i've been meaning to do lots of it and end up not doing it at all! thought of starting this blog also held up for almost a year before i really make it. procastinator i am then!

a dreamer! that's what i am too. but sometimes, or.. Ok Ok, most of the time actually, too much of it. dream is good. but like all other things its bad. hmm.. that's something else i like to do. relate things to other things and make it as general. why do i do that? no idea.

been meaning to write a full song actually, but never got to it. got ideas once in a while. end up forgetting about how to play it. usually would remembr the notes or chords, but not the melody itself. and also quite lazy to arrange. usually stuck when writing the next line for a melody that i thought of. or forgot about the original melody when manage to make the next line.

oh, this is long already. so.. that's all for 2nite!

Summer break part-time job...

Hmmm... failed yesterday's interview. already got the call for the result. so, the tally is 2 failed rejected interview and 2 rejected jobstreet calls coz they only have a minimum of 6 months contract.

The question is, will i continue hunting? or do i juz lazy around in the house for 4 months. 1 months i think is ok. but 3 months? mati kutu aku! n i won't get any extra money also! but quite lazy to go to work. sigh... Asked The Guitar Collection about their vacancy yesterday but the downside is... 12 hours working for 4 days and 9 hours for 2 days; all for every week! if 9 hours for 4 days and 12 hours for 2 days i think is quite ok, but 12 hours for 4 days?? damn.. will i get to play guitar for most of the 12 hours? or will i juz sit around in the shop for 12 hours? Guitar shop isn't a shop that has lots of customers in and out regularly. at least in M'sia. haish...

So.... work? or not to work? guess i'm off to jobstreet.com.my after this... juz try my luck..

Homecoming

The 3rd year term is finnish and i'm back home for 4 months. It's summer break again! Supposed to be in Kelantan rite now but my mom caught a fever last night. So, i'm here in my room writing this post.

Damn my room was full of dust juz now. Vacuum it all and rearranged the room a bit to accomodate my 4 guitars better. Not really sure with the current arrangement but i'll juz let it be for a while. Change it if i think i would(or rajin enough).

Wut 2 do this 4 month? Money is what i want! for next UNMC term (4th year) cost of living and for a bit of expense money in Melbourne in the coming Sept! Got an interview (or a small chit chat as they said it would be) this monday with Reckitt & Beckinsale at Mutiara Damansara for a 3-4 months temporary job as a "Packaging Administrator". Wuteva that is. The target for this monday would juz to do my best in the interview at least in my book.

Another 4 months of mem'buncit'kn perut!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zombie

2 AM
Heavy head
Blurry eyes
Fighting to stay awake
Heat transfer
Numerical techniques
Conduction, convection and radiation
oh the assignment
should i go to the neverland
or should i stood strong
shed light into my head
with knowledge of might or might not be used
damn!
I'm off!

Reasons of negativity

Thoughts of skies and above
Creeping with light from the darkness
Mistrust rising above all
Reasons of negativity
Gave it all to me
Should it set you free
See of left and right
Brings you to nowhere but down
Dig up Dig up
Crossing over the river
Over to the tree that hopes
Reasons of negativity
Its all that matters
Giving unto the negativity
So bring me down
Down below the bottom

EXAM!!!

So tomorrow is my first paper. MM3 AUT, introduction to automotive technology. Not sure i'm prepared or not. but i'll do my best. got lots more to memorise and understand. lots of assumption done! haha

4 papers this sem. studied heat transfer already but did no excersice yet. gotta straight do the coursework tomorrow night coz its due on friday! also gotta touch a bit of management studies B coz only hav one day gap after heat transfer.

Then, only one will be left... Control n Instrumentation! most mechanical guys really hate dat subject. maybe coz of Hazeem or maybe coz of da subject itself! hmmm.. but still, hav to study it.

Target is to get above 60! up to 2nd upper!

Gud luck for us all!!!

Boredom post..

..and so i'm bored. exam's two weeks away. started already studying a bit for Heat transfer. too lazy to study. too bored to do anythng else. hmmm....

but that's wut a guitar for! muahahaha. the song Ruin hav lot to practice and learn. the solo part of Unforgiven III sounds interesting. perhaps, i should continue learning it instead of knowing the first three notes only. hahaha.


*listening to As-Sahar's Meditation Embum Pagi.. raw sounding black metal album...

Queen of Langkasuka, and FA cup final..

Damn, what a day yesterday was. Went to Stadium bukit Jalil at noon to buy da FA cup final ticket. Then, head to bukit bintang/imbi by LRT from there. went to Pavillion aslo where we (me, Nik izat and Dann)watch da movie, Queen of Langkasuka.

Oh, buy what a movie. Claimed to cost 20million USD. The movie was epic! simply epic. revolved around the Langkasuka empire under the rule of Queen Hijau (her sister's name was Biru, and Ungu)
What i really like was their fighters especially the commander. coz they're all are (atleast seems like) pendekar melayu. using silat as their martial art and keris as their weapon. even the queen has a keris! make me feel dissapointed actually that the Thai's are the one that made movie about the greatness of pahlawan melayu with all the silat. This type of movie should be made here (atleast 2-3 a year probably) instead of those shitty lovey-dovey yusuf haslam (or his son) movies. CGI shoudln't be wasted making STUPID movie like Antoo Fighter or sumthing-brain (don't remember the title). We have rich history to be exploited into a movie. we should really do that. the director of Queen of Langkasuka spent over a year of research to make this movie. Why couldn't we? Anyway, another interesting thing about this movie is how the english subtitle (made by the Thai) translated 'Hang Jarang' (the commander) as 'Lord Jarang'. This could be said that the Thai regards the 'Hang' as a title, not part of a name. Make sense if u think about it because the ones that has 'Hang' in front of his name are warriors/pahlawan/pendekar. Interesting thing to take into consideration into the debate of 'Hang Tuah is a chinese'.

Anyway, after da movie, we head to the stadium, full packed with fans from both sides. we nearly couldn't get any seats! had to panjat to get to seats. haha. however, the game sucks! The first half can be said (atleast to me) as building up. but the second half was terrible, from both sides. then, the 'goal half' at da first half of extra time. the game was quite good especially after kelantan scored. but damn it was a great feeling when selangor equalised! At last, Selangor won the cup at penalty shoot-out! sucky game but happy cos we won! hahaha

EDIT: and because of all the above, i lost my voice!!

of Volvo240 and its sentimental values..

Volvo 240 GLi (injection). The 'Brick' someone would call it. 19 years old, that's how old it is. atleast according to the car grant. My dad bought it from his friend ( Uncle Lan and Aunti G) after being used for around a year (i think) before they moved to the US. Well, it's the only car i could remember that my dad had, Don't recall anything before this car.

It's a powerful 2.0L injection engine(quite ahead of its time), with that trademark roar most people would recognise from a far. Sure, it's body doesn't look 'beautiful/cool' without any aerodynamic feature. Just... box. But does state somewhat like a statement of its boldness. inside, the car is very comfortable without much effect when running throught bumps or rough road. a great car indeed.

about 3 years back, late 2005, my dad gave this car to me after he bought a new (2nd hand actually) volvo; Volvo S80. I was in my foundation year at UNMC. Didn't really drive much at that time. heh, as i remember i would fill the tank usually for rm10 or 20 a time those days. Start to use it more often since the summer break, working at OU. Till then, around rm50 a week of fuel spent for this car. Maintainance was quite high in 2006 but reduced down a bit after that. mostly only regular service after that.

I've been very attached to this car since then. learned a lot from this car. and have great plans for this car. bragged to friends bout how i would use it till i can afford to buy my own car (once started working).

but now... it's all going to an end. going to let go of it and take my sis's Myvi. had a quite hard time deciding for this. all but me are for taking Myvi. feel so hard to let this car go. not really sure why. the point that everyone else gave is so strong over my 'sentimental value' point. well, all things gotta go some time. really gonna miss this car...

A saturday morning post..

It's saturday morning of 4th april. Days of hard works getting the right result for the project. And now a bit tired and lazier.. Tonite is the annual dinner. Hmmm.. how would it be? Red Carpet Affair? Don't really have any high expectations honestly. Just wanna see my gurl happy with her newest dress, cardigans, heels, clutch and accessories. But ofcourse, i'll still enjoy myself with wuteva in store. Wonder who's the guest performance. It better top last year's Jason Lo. But IMHO, don't really think so..

On another topic, we got a new Country leader! A Nottingham University Grad he is.. I think it was in economics. But anyway, he does take this post in a very complicated time. The downfall of the world's economy and the complicated(or stooopid) political scene of Malaysia. Considering he's in a 'Do or Die' situation, wonder how would he perform. Can he cusioned a bit the economic downturn that are reaching our shores? All the best to him. And if he fails, hope the impact of the fall won't be catastrophic..

Malaysia... my beloved motherland (as the Russian said it). Hope the leaders (politicans) can reduce their politics and DO their job..

Well, i'm off to lunch! Presentation slides preparation after that...

Metal Zone... Modded!

Stock, this noise box would give you a quite wide array of sounds. But no matter how you dial it, there's always that spiky mids that hurts ur ears so much. the sound is too sterile. it's been love and hate relationship between me and this box for a while. Mess with one of the knob ones, i'll get frustrated with it.

So one day while surfing the net, i've discovered something called pedal mod! ofcourse there's those infamous Robert Keeley and analogman, but they don't sell kits and i have to bear the cost of shipping there and back plus the mods! So i look into kits. First discovered pedaldoc.com but then settled with monteallums.com. So, once i got my debit mastercard and set up my paypal, i ordered the 'Tri-gain Sustaniac mod' kit.

With soldering skills of guitar cables, i gave it a go. Took quite a number of hours to do the mod. Changed some of the components to higher quality stuffs (metal polyfilm, metal boxed etc.) and also to other values. Took out the caps that's responsible for those spike mids. and added a switch to switch between two types of clipping; LEDs or germanium diodes, or just lift the clipping section altogether.

The result? a much2 improved distortion with better tones to be dialed to. The germanium diodes is my favourite althought having much lesser volume than 'lift' and LED mode. i didn't like the LED clippings.

So, after discovering diystompbox.com, gathered more info for further mods of MT2. I modded it more to give more fatness and replaced the LEDs with assymetrical clipping of germanium-silicon (1n34a-1n4001) diode combo. Just subtle difference actually comparing to the germanium diode symmetrical clippings.

After almost a year, decided to mod it a bit more. changed a cap value for a wider mid and replaced germanium diodes with JFET (J201). Better tone with noticable change in the mids frequency. However, the sustain with JFET clippings is too short. Great crunch, but lack of sustain.

Still, those assym clippings mode is my fav! Conclusion, i now have a fat and heavy distortion that i loooove so much! what it lack is single note at high notes, the treble kinda spiky there.. hmmm..

The Dark Room..

In this darkness of my room..
alone..
i write this entry..
without any idea of wut to write or wutsoever..
wuteva my fingers will bring..
it'll jump around this keyboard writing words..
making sense or not...
with a slight headache for oversleeping in the day..
and a bit of happiness in me..
for the amazing performance of United's FA Cup game..
thinking...

Of Cake and watches... My Day!

Dated 2nd march of every year, it's my birthday! at about 5.28 am, 2nd March of the year 1987, i was born into this world. and now i'm 22! Mistakes done, repeated and learned. Wut am i now after 22 years in this world? U tell me! hehe..

So, this year for my birthday, the family dinner was at Jakes' Steakhouse near Bangsar. Had a delicious 'Grain-fed' Sirloin steak with blackpaper sauce. My mom gave me a watch which i myself chose it. Timex digital/analog watch, went to 4 shops in OU before found this one! and wut a perfect time, discount everywhere! hehe


Then, went back to semenyih, my gurl treat me with a Moist Chocolate cake that she did it herself in a room! A very chocolaty moist cake! I llllove it!

...and wut do u know, i got another watch for my birthday this year! an Adidas digital watch! Different style than the other one, a much more casual/smart kinda style i might say.. Thanx cyg!!!

Spotlight

Played with Nik, a cover of red hot chilli pepper's under the bridge.. damn, i was quite fast there, unnecessarily.. hmmm..


Me and nik again, with our attemp at yuna's Dan sebenarnya.

My all..

Its 26th february of the year 2009. Two years and 4 months ago, that is 854 days ago, i asked her, Nur Hafizah Umar (or Cheb!) to be mine. A college-mate of mine since foundation year.

To me, a relationship is just the same as other things in life. It takes hardwork for it to work well. This is no Hollywood/Korean drama, its real Life. Nothing is perfect. U want something, u gotta work for it. Atleast that's how i look at life. In relationship, 'love' is how much u're willing to do to make the relationship work. Sacrifice or wuteva. I may not be the 'perfect guy' for her. Hell, i don't believe in such thing in life. But i'll do wuteva i can for this to work. Coz i've decided to settle my life with her. Just can't live without her!

Let me tell you bout my gurl here. She may not be the 'perfect gurl' in the world or wuteva ppl would put it. But i love her just the way she is. The thing i love the most bout her is her love and compassion. Based on how i see her love towards her family especially to her two lil' sisters. That's the one that struck me the most. I may be very slow in really understanding her, but i'm not gonna give up even no matter how many times we'll fight bout it. and her smile... ahh.. just soo captivating. One other important thing is, that she can stand me despite of my blurness and ego. She's like my Marge, and i'm Homer! She's still there despite of all my dumb/stupid things i did before.

People say we look alike. "Muke fotostat" as my sis said. Maybe coz our eyes (mata sepet) and our forehead! haha. U decide!

Me, i'm the kinda guy who has 'Goals and Dream' about the future. My 'ultimate future' is to have a succesful job (engineering) that's not repititive with a happy family to go home to. Well, maybe that's what everybody wants. but the point is, i'm confident that i've found the one.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"'Cause I've found what the world is searching for
Here, right here, my dear
I don't have to look no more
And all my days, I hope and I pray
For somemone just like you to make me feel the way you do

Never never gonna give you up
I'm never ever gonna stop
Stop the way I feel about you
Though I just can't live without you
I'm never ever gonna quit
'Cause quittin' just ain't my shit
Gonna stay right here with you
Gonna do all the things you want me to"

On a lazy saturday evening/umah hana..

21st Februay 2009, it's 15 past 5 in the evening and i'm writing this blog. waiting the water to be boiled so i can have my evening cup of tea. ahh.. layannn.. Dunno y, but feeling very lazy today. kinda juz woke up from my weekend nap. Slept in front of tv while watching Stevie Ray Vaughan live in El Mocambo on DVD. Damn i wish i could play like him! Waken up by papa coz he was skype-ing with hana and mama from melbourne, OZ.

anyway, story cut short. searched for hana's new rent house at google maps. it's about 1.4km to the Melbourne University. 25 mins by walk they said.


The house is behind that blue car. There's two houses with orange roof there. both are from the same owner, Ron. Hana's is the left one.

Here's from the top..

Epiphone Valve Junior.... MODDED!

Before..


After...

from left, hi-lo gain switch, gain pot, input, volume pot, master volume pot

So i bought a new amp bout three weeks ago for a price of 1k. A Single Ended Class A Tube amp called Epiphone Valve Junior. It may be just 5 watt, but it's still VERY loud! Anway, when i planned to buy this baby, it was with a great intention of me to mod it myself to get a hold of tube amp cicuitry/technology. I managed to mod my MT-2 and TS9, so why not upgrade my skills to tube amp!

Before anything, in a tube amp circuitry, there are Filter Capacitor that has a very high voltage and without proper safety, the capacitor may discharge itself to YOU with a VERY HIGH VOLTAGE and MAY KILL YOU!

However, in this EVJ, there lies a bleeder resistor where it will bleed out the charge after the amp being turned off. Following some people's advised, its best to unplug the power chord off the back of the head, switch the amp power switch to ON and just leave it be for about 5 minutes or more to let the caps drain..

That being said, sewatt.com was the main forum i used as a guideline for doing the mods. I followed mostly the 'Marshal Silver/Gold' mod, with added gain control and a Master volume. Components are bought from Nik Azam at Ceriatone.

The first mod i did was changing the cathode bypass caps for a better and tighter bass response which is C3, C4 and C5, to 1uf 25v, 1uf 25v and 1000uf 50v respectively. But then, when i switched it on and plug in my guitar... There was NO sound AT ALL!! I tried to be as calm as i can while asking around at sewatt.com and at jamtank.net. Bought a multimeter right away and learned using it to check continuity with the ohmmeter mode coz the damn multimeter doesn't have a 'Beep' feature for continuity checking! The tubes didn't even glow when i turned it on! After bout three days of troubleshooting and listening to advices, i was kinda gave up and decided to send it to a pro, keysorseze from jamtank.net. But then, Cgil from sewatt.com saved me! It was just a simple common problem of EVJ, that is the fuse contact. So i rubbed 'em a bit with a sandpaper, put the fuse back in, plug the power in and switched it on. My face gradually lighten up as i see the filaments of the tube glowing! and when i plugged in my guitar.... Krrrangggg...

Ahhhhh, such a sweet sound...

Then, i proceed with next set of mods. Long story short, these are what i did..

R4= 1ook ohm Carbon Comp
R5 = installed a 500k pot, wired parallel to the stock 220k ohm with the middle lug connected to one foot of R15
R6 = using on-on DPDT to swich it between a wire (jumpered) or a 680k ohm 1 watt (happen to have this around)
R10= 1k 6watt
R15 = 10k 1 watt
c3 = 1uf 25v
c4 = 1uf 25v
c5 = 1000uf 25v

Its been a week since i mod this EVJ. Wanted to give it a week evaluation before i tweak it more. The amp now has a more tighter bass response although too little. It also kinda lack a bit presence i think. I like this master volume pot coz i managed to dial in quite a variety of tone by playing it along with the stock volume control (which is now a preamp volume control). The R6 swicht, which i called high-low gain switch is also a great addition. With R6 jumpered, the gain would be high. This is where i used with my modded MT2 to get crunchy heavy distortion sounds. The low gain (680k), i usually use for clean sounds. Overall, its an upgrade of the stock but still need some tweakings.

Bought some components from jalan pasar to tweak it a little bit more. i'll post about it when its done. And, oh, i'm still using the stock tube which is 12ax7 EHX and Sovtek EL84.

All and all, it's a great learning experience! especially the troubleshooting!



inside!


the schematics..

Changes....

Me, sittin' here.. supposed to be studyin' dis strategy management subject.. suddenly thought bout changes. countless times hav i said at times like this (xm + study weeks), "Next sem nak wat btol2". but at the end of the next sem, same old same old. Regrets...

So, how do u change urself? why can't u change urself? lack of motivation? initiative? or just b'coz deep down inside, THAT change is something undesired. hmm.. questions to ask urself.

Do people even change? how did he/she do that? how's the strategy? is it cost leadership or differentiation? How did he/she achieved competitive advantage? Is he/she that good in configuring the core competencies and resources? or am i juz mumbling away wit strategy management concepts that has little to do with personal life changes? Sun Tzu's Art of War can be adapted to business? can strategy management theory adapted to personal life????

wuteva...

"Ask yourself what's truly yours in life,
Are you in control or someone's slave?"

i:McBart

My current desktop! As usual, the VS is from Deviantart.com. Its Mac OsX inspired by Zeus. Zeus is famous in deviantart.com for his cool OsX inspired VS for vista! the wallpaper... hehe. Nirvana's Nevermind cover album, Simpsonized! hehe.

The 'Art' of Studying for exams

"I just can't understand you people in this country. Why are you guys so obsessed by exam marks?"
- Professor Andy Chan

Well, dat was almost wut he said in a CFD class sometime ago. He's from Hong Kong btw. Anyway, he was talking about people who came study in university should like emphasise more on gaining the knowledge than just about getting 'flying colours'. hahaha. He's quite rite though, if we (or just me) do come to university to really gain the knowledge of wut we came to learn, we won't really be worried much when exam is near. Coz if we really learn the things dat we learn (and wit great interests and determination), meaning we can easily answers the xm paper with the 'knowledge' that we have learned/digest/etc.

BUT, this is not the case here. It's study week. 4 papers for me this exam season. The thing dats been buggin me is, whats the best way in studying/preparing for exams? make notes while we read the notes? well, i tried dat many times but usually stops even before manage to write even half of the paper i tore from my CLEAN notepad. hah! What i usually do is just sit/lie down/walking around and read the notes. Oftenly loudly. But, i hav a really serious problem of concentration. I'm easily distracted by wuteva, even a word in my mind/surroundings/picture in the notes. So, its kinda slow usually reading. and i don't even know if i really remember what i read. hah!

So, wut actually the best method? Nevermind wut i shud had done. Its wut i can do now! Dreaming too much of 'not having to pay back' to MARA coz i would grad in 1st Class! but still struggle to find an efficient method of reaching it...

hmmmm......

p.s. its almost 3 a.m. and i'm off playing my guitar!