Adding Centerpoint Space Station to rig for rotary effects

lqdsnddist

Axe-Master
I came across a good deal on an older space station v2, (which I could upgrade to v3 if I really want to I guess) from when they still said Groove Tubes on them.

My purpose in buying it (other than plain and simple GAS) is to run it as a dedicated rotary speaker.

I used to own a Fender Vibrotone rotary 10" cabinet which sounded amazing. It was also big and heavy and the motor and drum was mechanically noisy. On top of that, it required an amp, plus you never know when something like the motor was going to die. It was like 40 years old after all... Next to impossible to get parts/service on those things and a broken one is worth next to nothing as a result.

Anyways, loved the room filling effect it had, sounding bouncing everywhere and all. Rotary effects coming from one or two monitors sound good, but don't have the same in person effect, which stands to reason.

So what I'm thinking/hoping, is I run my patches with one cab block and IR and rotary block to the Space station, and then another with a different cab, going to my CLR. This should let me mix in some real room filling sounds from the space station doing the rotary with the normal simulated mic'd guitar cab tone coming out of the CLR.

I've tried just running two cabs and a rotary block etc and while it sounds like a recorded rotary would, misses the in person effect that was so cool.

Hopefully for a few hundred bucks this setup will provide a sonic treat for the ears, when playing at home or small venues.

Might even just be scratching the surface as well, with the ability to run parallel signal chains and have things like modulated delay repeats or reverb trails etc going to the Space Station and the dry signal going to a CLR etc

Anyone tried this before ? I know some guys have tried one as their only monitor to varying success, often finding it doesn't replace a CLR or other good FRFR speaker, but maybe using it as a supplement can really let it play to its best strength.
 
I bought one a couple years ago for use in my outdoor venue to serve as a supplement for PA and background music , and it worked well in that capacity , but I had less luck with it as a dedicated AXFX monitor, but the folk most enthusiastic about the Space station seem to be keyboardists, so perhaps your Leslie quest will be successful, but I’d rather have this..after seeing Andrew Bird with his......


..http://www.specimenproducts.com/double-spinning-horn-speaker/
 
That double spinning horn is a thing of beauty, but $28,000 seems a little step....... lol

Seems like everything I've read has had less than stellar results using it as a dedicated monitor for a modeler, and I'm guessing that comes from the lack of low end response. They do have a new 12" XL version coming out with a lot more power (and size/weight, plus obviously cost) but I still don't know if it could do what something like a CLR or ASM-12 does with regards to guitar.

That is where I'm hoping it will work well to supplement my CLR's for certain effects. Maybe turn my CLR on its side, and sit the Space Station on top of it (only 11x11"" footprint after all). Short of an actual spinning speaker (too much size/cost for my needs) it seems the "pseudo" stereo may work well, at least for a few hundred bucks, which is cheaper than a Neo-Vent pedal, and ideally sounds more "real" in the room than the best emulation coming from a mono source.

Should be arriving any day now
 
I bought a v3 version a couple of years ago. I use it for wedding gigs, but my keyboardist is wanting to buy it for his keys. Really fills up a room, especially when he's playing a B3 patch with a Leslie type effect.
 
Finally got the Space Station delivered and its worth every penny of the $350 I paid for it. I've just got it sitting on top of one of my CLR's, and running a wet stereo reverb or rotary to it sounds amazing!. When I set the stereo width control down to zero, it just sounds like another speaker, aka a very easy to localize sound source, that is producing a nice reverb or rotary effect, but that is just the thing, the sound of an emulated rotary speaker coming from a mono source isn't anything like playing that rotary speaker in the room with it. Doesn't matter how fancy of pedal you get, neo vent, EHX's new ones, Lex, all sound like an emulated rotary, which is what they are

Well, when you set the stereo width up to about noon on the Space Station, suddenly it sounds like a rotary speaker in the room with you. Or big reverbs don't sound like they are coming from the speaker, they just fill the room. What it sounds like is the direct sound from the CLR, but then the reverb effect just feels like it coming from everywhere.

Its like if you took an amp, set up in a huge space, and played. You'd hear the direct sound of the amp, but then you'd also hear the reverb of the space your in, which would sound like its coming from all around you. You wouldn't hear this huge cavern reverb like its coming out of the amp, you'd hear that sound second.

Hard to really describe the effect in works, but it works, and its just that, an effect. I think where everyone went wrong with the Space Station is trying to use it as a sole monitor. Its simply not the ideal tool for that roll, as its lacking a little bass, has some coloration of the sound, and just doesn't sound punchy enough. My CLR, with a good IR, sounds pretty much just like a cab sounds, especially a closed back, and its really produces that nice heavy "chug" on palm mutes. Its got 500 watts of power and can crank 121 dB, so no surprises there.

Problem is if your trying to use the Space Station as your only sound source, just doesn't sound right playing a heavy rhythm patch through the thing. 8" speaker with a weird side firing 6" just isn't going to be the right tool for the job there, and this is why I think people weren't happy.

This isn't a CLR et al., replacement at all. Its a performance effect. I think in a smaller venue this thing will kill if used properly. Between the great tones and effects coming from the Axe, something like a CLR for a backline, and then the Space Station adding a ton of depth and lushness it just should take the overall audience perception of the tone to another level.

Its like the difference between listening to Floyd with a nice pair of stereo headphones, vs listening to it from one mono stereo speaker, BUT, the effect itsn't really stereo, your not going to get the ping-pong L+R effect, but you will get this amazingly lush sound that just fells like it swirling around your head.

Its like being at the venue, listening to the quad surround system when Gilmour hits those first notes of "Sorrow"

Sorry if I'm raving and a bit excited about this thing but it just sounds really amazing. I think if anyone sets up a rig with one of these in a wet/dry setup, you'll end up buying one. Might not even work for some venues, but for nothing else but sheer sonic enjoyment of playing the guitar at home, its worth it.

When you turn it off, and your listening to just the CLR, its like all the sound that was in the room suddenly got sucked into this black floor wedge, and its really weird because you can tell where all of it is coming from, and while the CLR has nice dispersion, it still feels like a point source of sound....

Seriously, give one of these a try!
 
It is an interesting unit for sure... it can sound amazing, or it can sound kind of flat... Case in point, I played some stereo music through it and the effect just doesn't really work that well. Sounded 'okay', but not as good as stereo monitors, and still felt a very localized sound, which at the end of the day it is. Its not going to rival a 5.1 system when the program material was mixed for 5.1

What the unit needs is a good stereo effect, like a chorus or reverb, where its taking a mono input signal, adding 'width' by turning it into a stereo output, and then when you deliver that stereo image to the Space Station it really shines.

Rotary is where its at though, because as the virtual "drum" is spinning around, your actually having the front or side mounted speakers going up and down in intensity, to produce the stereo nature of the effect, and darn if it doesn't sound like there is a spinning drum instead the Space Station.

Its kind of like how an open back cabinet has sound going out backwards, which then hits the walls (if indoors) and bounces forward, giving a bit of a 'bigger' sound (for the listener actually in the room)... well this has a forward and a side firing speaker, which also is open backed on the opposite sides, so it can really spread out the sound.

However, just running a mono tremolo signal through it, as an example, doesn't really add much "wow". Its a full sound yes, but its basically just amplitude modulation of the mono signal. You need to send two distinctly different signals, so I'm finding I need to adjust the effects for more width and more "more".

A super long reverb time sounds awful if your laying it on top of your guitar lines when its coming from a single mono source, just smeary mud. BUT, when your able to have the clean guitar line coming from one source, and then lay all that reverb depth on top of the signal, and let it do its thing to make it sound like your in this huge cavern, even when your inside your den at a home, that is where it gets cool.

Its a fun toy really, isn't going to make recorded tracks sound better, might not work in all venues, but at home, its a blast

Its like adding a set of VR goggles for a drone.
 
Pairing it with a CLR -- what a great idea. Get the stereo image from the Space Station and the thump from the CLR.
 
I'll be curious to hear what you guys think of it. It takes a bit of tweaking with regards to where in the room you put it, how far away from it your standing (the effect actually gets a bit wider/fuller the further your standing) and then how you dial in the patch and the relative levels your sending each unit. I'm finding that running two reverb blocks (nice thing about an Axe II) works really well. It lets me add just a little depth to the CLR wedge, in front of me, with a very subtle mix. Just so your not hearing things totally dry, because if I had a combo amp with a reverb tank, I'd at least have a little verb in it. Then on the out going to the SS, I run something bigger, like a Northchurch, wet, so that the SS's job is just to take that emulated diffusion sound and spread it out around the room. Mix to taste. Also helpful to run an EQ block on the SS, as its a little boxy/mid-hyped. Not a ton of bass either, but the CLR produces plenty of low-end, and the SS really just needs to produce some mid-freq range tones for the wet effect.

I think there are other ways one could do this, such as have a pair of stereo CLR's in a backline, and then a mono CLR in front of you for a stereo wet/mono dry rig etc, but then we are getting pretty pricey, opposed to a few hundred bucks for a used SSv2, and you'd also run into issues with the true stereo wet system having a bit more of a sweet spot in the stereo field. Stand in the right spot and it would sound huge but move a bit and lose the effect. SS isn't really stereo, but its also very non-location specific, so for filling an entire room with ambiance, it might be preferable to true stereo.
 
2 words... Enhancer Block...

The enhancer block, classic mode, just takes the added perceptual width of stereo effects though the space station to a whole new level.

Try it out... amazing
 
I'd check Ebay, Reverb etc... the unit has been out for a number of years under the Groove Tubes and Fender branding, before switching to a v3 version under Aspen's own branding (Aspen Pittman, the designer, owned Groove Tubes)

The newer v3 unit does have improved quality speakers, but the older ones, like the MKII version I have, are way cheaper. Also, you can buy the updated speakers direct from Eminence pretty cheap, for about $125 you can replace all 3 drivers and add the 2 L-pads, giving you essentially the same spec as the V3 unit. Aspen does sell upgrade kits for $150-200 as well on their website, but again, you can source the same parts a little cheaper for online parts suppliers.

I may or may not replace the 8" coaxial speaker in mine,,, the high freq tweeter is only $19, and a CX8-Beta is like $65, so not bad price wise, but honestly don't know if there would be a huge difference for my purposes. New driver is supposed to have a bit tighter bass, but I'm not using it for the typical keyboard application, so for guitar frequencies it maybe fine on its own.

Honestly, the unit sounds surprisingly good without even giving it a cab block, colors the sound a bit, but in a pleasing way. Adding a cab block/IR does give a little more tonal shaping, but surprisingly you can think of this thing as a bit of a speaker cab opposed to a FRFR monitor it seems.
 
Anyone get a chance to try one of these out yet ?

Still loving mine. Using it just for home playing, but sounds huge within the somewhat dialed in confines of my living room. Placement is counter-intuitive in that it sounds a bit "wider" the further you get from it, and you actually want to position in near a wall or corner to give the sound more to reflect off.
 
Back
Top Bottom