User manual BBE SOUND 383

[. . . ] conducted extensive studies of numerous speaker systems over a ten year period. With this knowledge, it became possible to identify the characteristics of an ideal speaker and to distill the corrections necessary to return the fundamental and harmonic frequency structures to their correct order. While there are differences among various speaker designs in the magnitude of their correction, the overall pattern of correction needed is remarkably consistent. 1 383 FEATURES AND APPLICATIONS · The 383 is perfect anywhere an extremely high-quality, pristine preamplifier is required for the bass guitar · It can be used in the recording studio where a bass amplifier is impractical due to space or loudness considerations · In performance applications, players will find the 383's ergonomics intuitive and easy to use · All players will find the 383's EQ and Dynamics controls, as well as our patented Sonic MaximizerTM Process, afford a wide palette of tonal experiences · Full Function BBE® Sonic MaximizerTM · All tube Class A front-end with interactive 3 band EQ and interactive "bright" switch · Hand-selected premium quality Groove Tubes® 12AX7 preamp tube · Jensen® JT-DB-E transformer balanced DI output · Optical "soft knee" compressor · Custom torroidial power supply transformer · Inputs for both passive pickup and active pickup instruments · 1meg ohm input impedance (Passive input), 100Kohm (Active input) · Ground lift switch · Balanced XLR and 1/4" unbalanced output · Mil-spec circuit boards · Extra thick, extra wide circuit board traces for unequaled electron flow · 1% metal film resistors throughout · Solid 1/4" thick aluminum extrusion front panel for extreme ruggedness IMPORTANT Before you begin, please check the contents within this box to insure that included are: 1. If either of these items are found to be missing, immediately contact the BBE dealer from whom the unit was purchased immediately. WA R N I N G ! [. . . ] PASSIVE: This jack allows for the connection of a bass guitar with passive-pickups to the 383. ACTIVE: This jack allows for the connection of a bass guitar with active-pickups to the 383. It is attenuated, with respect to the "passive input", by about 6dB to allow for the higher level output of active-pickup systems. Pre-amp 3. BRIGHT: The Bright Switch connects a capacitor to the GAIN circuit creating a 10dB boost @ 10Khz. 3-BAND INTERACTVE EQUALIZER: The Bass and Treble controls are mainly "boost" and the Mid control only "cut". While there is no absolutely flat position, the response is reasonably flat with the controls set at TREBLE:2, MID:0, BASS: 2, with the bright switch off. The circuit can be described as interacting, such that when the TREBLE and BASS tone controls are turned to 0 and the MID tone control is turned to -10, then no signal is passed at all. Para-mids 6. GAIN: Plus or minus 12dB. 3 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Compressor 8. LEVEL: This is a "soft-knee" compressor using a photo-optical cell as it's attenuating element for controlling gain-reduction. The single-knob LEVEL control will lower the threshold at which gain reduction begins and increase the ratio of input vs. output, simultaneously, as it is rotated in the clockwise direction from "0" to "10". SEND: Use this jack to connect the 383 to an effects processor's input. The send jack can also be used to feed the input of a guitar tuner. FUS E F E US FUSE 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 5 Specifications Frequency Response: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Hz ­ 30kHz +/-3dB Signal to Noise: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100dB@unity THD: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tube section 1%, Post-Tube section less than 0. 02% Maximum Output: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +22dBu Noise: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -77 dBu @ unity gain, eq flat Input Impedance: Passive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Meg Ohm Active . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 K Ohm Output Impedance: Balanced XLR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 Ohms, Pin #2 hot or "+" Unbalanced 1/4" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1K Ohms Interactive EQ: Treble (boost only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15dB@ 6kHz Mid (cut only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15dB@ 300Hz Bass (boost only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15db@ 40Hz Bright Switch: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +10dB@ 10kHz, eq flat Para-mids: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +/- 12dB from 250Hz to 1kHz * 0dBu = 0. 775mVrms Power Requirements: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U. S. , Canada & Japan models: 120VAC, 50/60Hz, 8 WATTS Standard model: 220VAC, 50/60Hz, 8 WATTS Fuse: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Replace with the same type FASTBLOW fuse U. S. , Canada & Japan models: . 5A, 250VAC fast-blow type All others: . 250A, 250VAC fast-blow type Dimensions: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19"(W) x 5. 5"(D) x 1. 7"(H) Shipping Weight: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 lbs. Note: Due to continuing product improvement, specifications and design are subject to change without notice. General Operation In order to reduce the risk of damage to any equipment, properly connect all audio and power cables before turning on any components in the system. Most important of all, ALWAYS TURN ON THE POWER AMPLIFIER LAST TO AVOID DAMAGING THE SPEAKERS OR THE AMP. The Bass and Treble controls are mainly "boost" and the Mid control only "cut". While there is no absolutely flat position, the response is reasonably flat with the controls set at TREBLE:2, MID:10, BASS: 2, with the bright switch off. The circuit can be described as interacting, such that the frequencies affected by each control is affected somewhat by the settings of the others. When all 3 tone controls are turned to 0 then no signal is passed at all. BBE's exclusive "PARA-MID" midrange equalization offers even further control over the crucial mid-band of the Bass' overall tonal characteristics. An increase in sustain is also a desired result of large amounts of compression as determined by the LEVEL control. The BBE Process is a unique feature that only the BBE series of pre-amps possess. The BBE Process will produce a clear, crisp, full-bodied sound without adding any noise or harmonic distortion to the signal. [. . . ] The BBE Process should be used as an extension of the Equalization controls to improve the overall quality of the bass guitar's tone. The Volume control will simultaneously adjust the 383's output volume from both outputs: The Balanced and Unbalanced outputs. Use either the Unbalanced or the Balanced output to connect to a power amp or a mixing console. The Unbalanced outputs are 1/4" monaural phone plugs while the Balanced output is a male XLR connector with a Ground Lift switch to eliminate any multiple ground connections. 6 LIVE APPLICATIONS from DI Out from Main Out Snake to Mic Input Combo amp or power amp and speakers Mixing console from Main Out from Send Tuner Power amp and speakers 7 Combo a RECORDING APPLICATIONS from DI Out to Mic Input -orMain Out to Line Input 50 40 30 20 10 0 Combo a Recorder Mixing console from Main Out to Line Input -orDI Out to Mic Input Computer recording interface Computer 8 Service We recommend that if at all possible, a BBE 383 which requires service be sent to our facility in Huntington Beach, California. [. . . ]