Godzilla Rebirth (Help Needed)

gamve

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#1
Got myself tied up doing music for a function coming up feb next year. Looking forward to this should be a lot of fun. Most of the crowd will be 40+ so a good dose of classic rock should fit OK. Party will be in a small hall and we are expecting about 150 to 200 visitors here for a HHH run and party after woods as a prelube to the main function in Hobart later in the week.
I was thinking about dragging out the Godzilla system shortly and see if it still goes. It has been in storage for a few years and I'm concerned that the speakers will probably be shot. No great loss they were a hodge podge anyways. Will prolly need some advice on fixing these up or replacements et al
Below is a picy of godzilla



And another one showing the speakers when I insanley had this thing setup at home.



For scale purposes, yes that is a Sony Kelara 26" TV.

This beast is 1350 WRMS a channel with 8 amplifiers and time aligned active crossovers.
It weighs about 65kg, thank god it's on castors. The break down from memory was 450W a side sub bass, 350W low mid, 350W high mid and 200W highs. No shit this thing makes your trousers flap when you walk past it when its cranking. It was so loud wifey threatened divorce unless I got it out of the house in the end.
Will keep you all posted on progress with the ressurection
With any luck GODZILLA WILL RISE AGAIN..... :cheers:
 

gamve

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#3
See if they still work for a start. They really are shit drivers and need replacing eventually. I would like to get some proper rated jobbies and put them in road type PA boxes and wire them properly.
 

jbeckva

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#4
Good gawd, that amp has 'tude oozing from the air vents...

Bet you do need the standard Aus voltage of 220/240 to provide enough current to run it! If you do have to get into it let me know, and post some nudies while you're at it. :thumbright:
 

speakerman1

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#6
gamve said:
See if they still work for a start. They really are shit drivers and need replacing eventually. I would like to get some proper rated jobbies and put them in road type PA boxes and wire them properly.
What size are they and what point do you want to xover. How do you want them wired. Don't tell me some 4th order butterworth or any thing like that. I don't have any books anymore. You will want them vented to cut down on box size. Go with a 16 inch and move the earth. Probably drop to about 15 HZ.

I always used air core inductors and polypropylene caps. No resistors. Thus no L Pads. Resistors change the sound. Goertz flat wire is what I used in the speaker to wire it. It has been along time since I sat down and designed a box and xover for a speaker.

Larry
 

gamve

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#7
speakerman1 said:
gamve said:
See if they still work for a start. They really are shit drivers and need replacing eventually. I would like to get some proper rated jobbies and put them in road type PA boxes and wire them properly.
What size are they and what point do you want to xover. How do you want them wired. Don't tell me some 4th order butterworth or any thing like that. I don't have any books anymore. You will want them vented to cut down on box size. Go with a 16 inch and move the earth. Probably drop to about 15 HZ.

I always used air core inductors and polypropylene caps. No resistors. Thus no L Pads. Resistors change the sound. Goertz flat wire is what I used in the speaker to wire it. It has been along time since I sat down and designed a box and xover for a speaker.

Larry
Larry,
don't need xovers for the speakers each driver has its own amplifier with the frequency ranges set, the system is fully active. If I do go down the track of new drivers and boxes I will need to run a frequency sweep and work out where each driver crosses over.
 

speakerman1

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#9
Hi
Go to parts express. I get a discount there. They have some nice speakers. Just found some Altec Voice of The Theater. Shipping would be more than the speakers. But some nice speakers that will rock for sure.
Larry
 

gamve

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#10
speakerman1 said:
Hi
Go to parts express. I get a discount there. They have some nice speakers. Just found some Altec Voice of The Theater. Shipping would be more than the speakers. But some nice speakers that will rock for sure.
Larry
thanks, will go have a look later.
 

stuwee

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#11
Hay Graham, as we say out here, "That ain't nuthin' nice' :mrgreen: :cheers: :reindeer:

Those VU's are pushing me (and I'm sure many speakers) over the edge...... :druid:

Might I suggest a pair (or two :knob: ) of AR-9's for that kind of power.

Looks like the forerunner of the Mark Levinson tower amps
 

gamve

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#12
Spent a bit of time getting Godzilla down out of the roof at work this afternoon. My mate Neil drove the forklift for me and we had it all down and setup (without pre and source) within an hour. Hooked up the power and turned it one one channel at a time. No smoke no buzz but all looked good good good.
I was amazed that all the speaker cones and surrounds all still looked quite serviceable and had high hopes that it would probably still go.
Later that arvo I went back up armed with an old denon CD player, a Passion V passive pre and some cables IC's etc. Hooked her all up....and bugger me the old girl still sounds as good as it always did......JOY
The passive is not suited there is an impedance issue but I was able to run the old girl flat out with this pre (after a warm up) for a couple of hours. There is no way on gods earth that you can do this with an active pre and stay in the shed.....Tomorrows project....LOL



Had a few issues with channel drop outs. The switches are cheapie silver plated contact things. A bit of current through them for a while and they self clean then stay stable



One of my fitters Russell is a top guy. He wrapped the whole amp up in industrial cling film before we put it away. It still needs a good clean inside but it still looks good.



4 active channels per side means a shit load of speaker cables



I was not kidding when I said this thing has serious power....Check the transformers.
Even with the passive pre the thing blasts. I walked 40 odd meters away from the shed and I could still hear it plainly. I'm guessing it was at less than a 1/3rd of what it does without breaking a sweat. The power rails have 4 x 80.0mm computer fans on them... I've never seen them start!!!!
Having a 50th Birthday in September. I'm going to use this on the back balcony at home firing into the back yard on both Friday and Saturday nights. Will have to invite all the neighbors or will have the cops here again like last time I had it at home......LOL
 

stuwee

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#13
Jesus on a Cross Graham, that beasty is a beaut :cheers: :cheers: I'm sure you'll get it all sorted to your needs, what a well thought out amp.

It doesn't look like it's original application was what you're gonna use it for but, what the hell, eh? It remindes me of a long lost quote from a friend, "More Power" "hehe"


Don't cross the beams buddy,,,have you tested the rail droop with a load?

Cheers stu
 

stuwee

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#14
Crap, I just noticed the boxes on the bottom are Celestions, never saw or heard those in these parts, how cool, I bet they push some air, they have a very low threshold for overload if they are like they're studio brethren. I'd love to hear this set-up,

September what is the Grand pooba day?
 

gamve

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#15
stuwee said:
Crap, I just noticed the boxes on the bottom are Celestions, never saw or heard those in these parts, how cool, I bet they push some air, they have a very low threshold for overload if they are like they're studio brethren. I'd love to hear this set-up,

September what is the Grand pooba day?
Bday is the 2nd but think thats a thursday. 4th Saturday is Hash House Harriers "Tour De Piss" which is a motorcycle ride followed by a few drinkies. So Looks like it will be 10th and the 11th at home.
 

gamve

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#17
Went up this morning with an active pre amp. The pre has 12 step attenuators could only get it up to the fifth step as I had to go and fix the blood running out my ears....damm this thing is loud. Looks like I have a goer for both my Bday bash and the Hash prelube early next year.
Have sorted out some pallet space in the roof at work, so a couple of more shake down runs and I will be confident to pack her away again for a while.
GODZILLA LIVES.
 

gamve

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#18
Did a test run with Godzilla on a hash run set from my workshop last week.
F**K did I get pizzeled. Most everyone agreed IT WAS TOO FUCKIN LOUD
and a couple of them attempted to get me to pay for visits to a local hearing
clinic in the following week....to funny, nearly pissed myself on several occasions.
Got a big write up in the local Hash Trash newspaper and had some of the neighbors
near the workshop throwing rocks on the roof around midnight.....
 

gamve

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#20
Had my 50th birthday bash last weekend. It was over the Friday and the Saturday nights about 40 - 50 people on both nights. We drank 3 x 50 liter barrels of beer and had visits from the coppers on both nights. The coppers on Friday night were pretty pissed off and told us to turn off the music. One of the little buggers (gee they looked like 12 year olds) threatened me with a $240 fine and confiscation of Godzilla !!! My mate Neil said "go for it but bring a truck and an electrician" I let a bit of pee out when he said that. The cops left and we turned it back up and partied on till 2:00am or so.
The next visit was at 4:55am on Sunday morning. These coppers were a bit more mature and just asked us to turn it down a wee bit. Bloody big weekend. we got a couple of hours sleep then had a Sunday session and knocked the last barrel of at about 6:30pm on Sunday.
Godzilla was superb and did not miss a beat all weekend........
 
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