Dimehead NAM Player

[Sedaxel]

10dB would be clipping quite often, 8dBu, almost all the time.

So my Hifiberry, stating 2.1Vrms (8.6dBu), Will be clipping easily?

I need to verify that value by measuring it (got to install reaper for the Pi and try), given I don't trust too much manufacturers numbers (both Audient and Zoom state different values than I measure in units I own).

I've read in several online sources that guitars are far from reaching those voltages. Might that supposed clipping be due to peak to peak amplitudes being much more wide than what a mean value (RMS) can theoretically expose? In other words, is the Vrms value useful enough or should We look better at Vpp values?

(Somehow, I've got the feeling of just having asked an idiotic question...)

In the app created by Mike Oliphant, there's a meter showing input signal level. Setting out to match NAM expected headroom, I never clip that meter with my PRS humbuckers, even smashing the strings as hard as I can. But I don't really know if that meter has anything to do with actual input stage clipping.

 

[MirrorProfiles]

So my Hifiberry, stating 2.1Vrms (8.6dBu), Will be clipping easily?

If you’re typically a high gain humbucker user it’ll probably be a little low headroom wise. There’s obviously several variables but IMO it’s not optimal.

Vpp and V RMS have different values. Calibration is usually done with sine waves as these have a constant voltage, as opposed to guitars which have loud peaks and lower averages. A sine wave of 3V RMS is approx the headroom you’d want for a guitar to avoid clipping. A bit more is no bad thing.

But I don't really know if that meter has anything to do with actual input stage clipping.

The software won’t know what interface (and associated headroom) has been used. So on one interface you could be slamming hard as you can and still hitting low dBFS values while on another it could be clipping easily. Removing the variable of interfaces having different conversion ratios is what the goal is.

 

[Sedaxel]

Thanks mate. Always learning from you.

 

[2dor]

Thanks mate. Always learning from you.

Same here.
Happy we have this conversation going on and @Dirk Dimehead decided to get involved.

 

[DrewJD82]

Welcome, @Dirk Dimehead!

It’s always appreciated when companies take time to give some insight!

 

[Sascha Franck]

Don't you need *much* more headroom than to just cover hot pickups? I mean, people want to use their boosters in front of whatever it might be just as they're doing with their real amps. At least that's what I'm doing.

 

[pipelineaudio]

You definitely do but often pedals actually take away a lot of the peak db values of pickups. Pickups can have an INSANE swing. A booster, even one that significantly increases the RMS output can drastically reduce the peak output.

But yeah. Sounds like this thing needs lots and lots more input room. Or a pad.

 

[Sedaxel]

Today I made a test with my Boss MS-3 with the Hifiberry in one of its loops.

MS-3 theoretically has 7dBu, and Hifiberry 8.66dBu.

I put just the buffer (not the AD converter) of the boss direct to the Hifiberry, and plugged it to my PC interface (EVO4) to record and watch out for clipping in the audio wave. No effects, no NAM, just guitar-buffer-Hifiberry. No clipping, even smashing brutally the strings.

Then I put an AD convertion. Guitar-buffer-AD-Hifiberry. No clipping either.

My guitar is a PRS custom 24. It seems I can be safe with those units, even when one of them states just 7dBu.

 

[devan]

Hey All,

Started using the NAM Universal and now I want a NAM Player lol. Only issue is i would need to use external pedals (like Octave Pedals). How well does the unit take external pedals before the input? Also can the FX Loop go ANYWHERE or is there a first block it must pass? Thanks!

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

Hey All,

Started using the NAM Universal and now I want a NAM Player lol. Only issue is i would need to use external pedals (like Octave Pedals). How well does the unit take external pedals before the input? Also can the FX Loop go ANYWHERE or is there a first block it must pass? Thanks!

Yep, other pedals work great, including octave.
re: The FX Loop feature - you can select where to tap the lineout/FX-loop in the chain, after Boost, EQ, Room, HP/LP, or IR.

 

[devan]

Yep, other pedals work great, including octave.
re: The FX Loop feature - you can select where to tap the lineout/FX-loop in the chain, after Boost, EQ, Room, HP/LP, or IR.

Gotcha, just confirming; the FX Loop can be placed anywhere from the main/2nd NAM capture, but can't be before the Boost/FX Block?

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

Gotcha, just confirming; the FX Loop can be placed anywhere from the main/2nd NAM capture, but can't be before the Boost/FX Block?

Yes, correct.

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

Dimehead just released their latest firmware update.
It's working perfectly... very impressive =)

 

[Sascha Franck]

Incredible. And I really mean it. Now, if they'd only come up with hardware revision 2...

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

Incredible. And I really mean it. Now, if they'd only come up with hardware revision 2...

they really are doing great things
Re: other products / revised hardware versions ... the future is unknown, but I love what they've done so far
100% happy to support and help spread the word, and fingers crossed they will succeed in doing bigger / smaller / great things =)

 

[Sascha Franck]

they really are doing great things
Re: other products / revised hardware versions ... the future is unknown, but I love what they've done so far
100% happy to support and help spread the word, and fingers crossed they will succeed in doing bigger / smaller / great things =)

See, that's all fine. But the current hardware defenitely wouldn't do it for me. Oh, sure, for recording and home noodling needs, I'd be absolutely fine - but I've got no shortage of really nice tonal options for that already (including 3 ways to load NAM profiles). And for live, I needed something designed differently.
The underlying tech however seems to be fantastic (or rather the folks programming the thing).

 

[Dirk Dimehead]

See, that's all fine. But the current hardware defenitely wouldn't do it for me. Oh, sure, for recording and home noodling needs, I'd be absolutely fine - but I've got no shortage of really nice tonal options for that already (including 3 ways to load NAM profiles). And for live, I needed something designed differently.
The underlying tech however seems to be fantastic (or rather the folks programming the thing).

Sure, something like that in the form factor of the Kemper Stage, with all the I/O for live use, would be amazing. But developing something like that would take at least a year, require more staff, and cost several hundred thousand. That’s just not feasible at the moment.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Sure, something like that in the form factor of the Kemper Stage, with all the I/O for live use, would be amazing. But developing something like that would take at least a year, require more staff, and cost several hundred thousand. That’s just not feasible at the moment.

Sorry but no, at least not really - I'm really just talking about some pretty simple stuff that could be added/changed more or less easily. Unfortunately, most of it wouldn't work with the current hardware layout.

 

[Los-D]

Dimehead just released their latest firmware update.
It's working perfectly... very impressive =)

View attachment 30704

This is really nice. I need to look into all pedal features but I’m definitely intrigued.

 

[devan]

Sorry but no, at least not really - I'm really just talking about some pretty simple stuff that could be added/changed more or less easily. Unfortunately, most of it wouldn't work with the current hardware layout.

just curious, but what exactly would be the simple things you're after? for me, the fact that it has an FX Loop, albeit via a TRS Splitter, is more than enough from a hardware capacity. I'd just love if it had more modulation capabilities, such as Pitch/Octave manipulation, Phasers etc.