Mentaltossflycoon
Well-known member
- Build Rating
SATISFACTION. I have a new favorite pre amp. A long time ago, I put the Noble Pre in the ppcb wishlist as a joke but... not a joke. It seemed like too big of an ask but I definitely wished to build one. Then @vigilante398 comes along and drops this Nobelium project before I could think to suggest it. Thank you, Nathan!
This thing is everything I wanted out of the Noble without the things I didn't need in a better sized enclosure. I haven't gigged it yet, I'm hoping to do a casual recording session in the coming weeks so I'll really get a better idea of the DI at that point. I've mostly played it through my headphone amp (sounds excellent, obviously) and my ampeg ba500 with a broken preamp a 500w 2x10 combo. It functions but has become unusably noisy. Before today I had been using the Aion TS-50 and sunn beta pre into the fx return and I've greatly enjoyed those, especially for the unique dirt they provide but the clean sounds of the nobelium are truly something special. Big, fat, warm, clear, articulate, buzzwordbuzzwordbuzzword, etc... I would use the nobelium whether the ampeg had a working or pre or not. It seems louder than I expected, I have the volume in the picture set around 9:00 this achieves a similar volume to the ba500 pre set with volume and gain at noon.
The build was somewhat smooth, at least smooth up to the final stretch. Didn't pass sound at first so I dismantled and checked voltages. Seemed all good throughout so I gave a little more care to cleaning the flux and then I was in business. Must've had an invisible short someplace. Didn't even have to rewet any joints. I bought the mojo bits from JJ and LBA. Purple solid core because... royalty?
The aesthetics were a bit of a journey. @Guardians of the analog was kind enough to send me files for his amazing Baron Zemo Nobility enclosure design. I started that process of editing and making it "mine" but I just couldn't pull the trigger. I don't want something that looks like it was built by Chris but is 100% lies on the inside. Respect, bro.
The idea of nobility always makes me think of the strange inbreeding habits of high born families. Ick. First came images of blood cells wearing crowns. Then it turned into a photoshop joke fest with my friends. They had some suggestions for a face to replace Chris' zemo....
I eventually landed on a black and white "woodcut" styled "king of the vacuum tubes fights off the transistor rebellion."
In some ways this is my "pedal everest," anything more complicated or costly to build that's out there would not likely be as useful to me. Happy happy happy.
This thing is everything I wanted out of the Noble without the things I didn't need in a better sized enclosure. I haven't gigged it yet, I'm hoping to do a casual recording session in the coming weeks so I'll really get a better idea of the DI at that point. I've mostly played it through my headphone amp (sounds excellent, obviously) and my ampeg ba500 with a broken preamp a 500w 2x10 combo. It functions but has become unusably noisy. Before today I had been using the Aion TS-50 and sunn beta pre into the fx return and I've greatly enjoyed those, especially for the unique dirt they provide but the clean sounds of the nobelium are truly something special. Big, fat, warm, clear, articulate, buzzwordbuzzwordbuzzword, etc... I would use the nobelium whether the ampeg had a working or pre or not. It seems louder than I expected, I have the volume in the picture set around 9:00 this achieves a similar volume to the ba500 pre set with volume and gain at noon.
The build was somewhat smooth, at least smooth up to the final stretch. Didn't pass sound at first so I dismantled and checked voltages. Seemed all good throughout so I gave a little more care to cleaning the flux and then I was in business. Must've had an invisible short someplace. Didn't even have to rewet any joints. I bought the mojo bits from JJ and LBA. Purple solid core because... royalty?
The aesthetics were a bit of a journey. @Guardians of the analog was kind enough to send me files for his amazing Baron Zemo Nobility enclosure design. I started that process of editing and making it "mine" but I just couldn't pull the trigger. I don't want something that looks like it was built by Chris but is 100% lies on the inside. Respect, bro.
The idea of nobility always makes me think of the strange inbreeding habits of high born families. Ick. First came images of blood cells wearing crowns. Then it turned into a photoshop joke fest with my friends. They had some suggestions for a face to replace Chris' zemo....
I eventually landed on a black and white "woodcut" styled "king of the vacuum tubes fights off the transistor rebellion."
In some ways this is my "pedal everest," anything more complicated or costly to build that's out there would not likely be as useful to me. Happy happy happy.
