Funny "MOJO" stuff

[Nasse]

Good tip for great vintage looks but up-to-date performance: Wrap those new electrolytic caps with brown paper- simsalabim great looks and super tone.  Don´t remember if you should use glue or some glossy finish but use your intuition.

Was this mentioned yet? PS keep the other hand in the pocket and avoid touching the plumbing and remember the cap discharge gadget and chopsticks

[no one ever]

the guys at http://www.thegearpage.net just can't stop talking about those carbon zinc batteries, man 

[petemoore]

  I was trying to check out and register at gearnet.
  I got a message the administrator banned me ... lol ... must know me from before...noy.
   Interesting routine...hello...welcome...you're banned !

[Gus]

did you ever try a carbon zinc just before it stops working ~= 7V.  It can act like a compressor but it goes away fast.

  At full voltage not much difference except for a lower operating voltage some circuits are more sensitive to voltage changes, often circuits using opamps are not.

[PenPen]

did you ever try a carbon zinc just before it stops working ~= 7V.  It can act like a compressor but it goes away fast.

  At full voltage not much difference except for a lower operating voltage some circuits are more sensitive to voltage changes, often circuits using opamps are not.

I remember reading a variable power supply article that said carbon zinc batteries develop high internal resistance as they die, and that is the whole 'mojo' behind them. You can simulate this with a resistor to ground at the power source. I think it was an article by R.G. on geofex.

[A.S.P.]

Tube*ss

[burnt fingers]

   Well I am fairly new at this but I read alot before I even made my first effect.  I can tell you that my jrc4558 silver soldered carbon comp tropical fish switchcraft jacked blue led'd distortomatic 300 marshall/dumlble/(insert your favorite boutique amp here) simulator sounds great and I only spent a fraction of what it would cost to actually get guitar lessons and learn to play.

Hope you see the humor in this.

[hank reynolds 3rd]

Maybe it's me, but does anyone else think a fair amount of mojo,jive,jiggy doo wops is total b_o_l_l_o_c_k_s ??
if you wish something to sound better by using Narnia Capacitors, wouldn't your brain convince you into thinking this to be true??

[bwanasonic]

the guys at http://www.thegearpage.net just can't stop talking about those carbon zinc batteries, man 

It would be simple enough to wire two batteries up to switch and see if anyone can reliably pick out the carbon zinc when toggling.

Kerry M

[A.S.P.]

I hope they won`t pop while switching 

[phostenix]

OK, so after a year of this it looks like it ran out of steam (gas?), but I've read through the whole thread pretty much in one sitting and it was GREAT!!

I didn't sift through every link, but the one thing I thought was *woefully* underdeveloped was the cryogenically frozen wires, jacks, switches, etc. angle. Surely you can understand that a cryogenically frozen Hammond box will out-perform the standard box in terms of shielding and paint adhesion, just for starters. I'm sure there must be some added interaction with the cryogenically frozen components attached directly to the box that could be proven to be of amazing significance by head to head listening tests. All statements regarding our product must be started with the phrase, "As the president of the Audio Society, I ..." - (I actually have encountered this guy)

Now, inside the box. All cables must be isolated from the box or the PCB with "cable elevators":

http://www.audionut.com/pk4/store.pl?section=6

Commonly sold as snake oil for your speakers, we certainly could find some miniature versions for use inside effects pedals.

Don't let the stray capacitance inside your new effect destroy your sound, raise your tone to new heights with our new Effect Elevators!


Next, the application of my all-time favorite "ought-to-be-illegal-'cause-now-you're-just-stealing" audiophile appliance, the CD demagnetizer:

http://www.gcaudio.com/cgi-bin/store/showProduct.cgi?id=190

I remember when these used to go for $600.

All components must be de-magnetized before & after assembly to maintain the PURE tone you've spent a lifetime seaching for. And, of course, to MAINTAIN that tone you will need to send the pedal back to us every 6 months to be professionally re-de-magnetized. You'll take our pedals to places we don't even talk about in polite circles, but you can count on us to rejuvenate that pedal and return it to the original demanding mojo specs that it possessed when it left our factory.

Thanks for the break, guys. Objections aside, I'm glad to see that a lot of you see the pure hype & silliness in so much of today's audio worlds.

Grace and peace,

Steve

[AdamB]

"The circuit senses and uses electronic information fed directly from the guitar's pickups to control it's own operational parameters"

[phostenix]

Ooh, that's good! Did you find that somewhere or are you working on your marketing skills? 

[Mark Hammer]

did you ever try a carbon zinc just before it stops working ~= 7V.  It can act like a compressor but it goes away fast.

  At full voltage not much difference except for a lower operating voltage some circuits are more sensitive to voltage changes, often circuits using opamps are not.

I remember reading a variable power supply article that said carbon zinc batteries develop high internal resistance as they die, and that is the whole 'mojo' behind them. You can simulate this with a resistor to ground at the power source. I think it was an article by R.G. on geofex.

The carbon zinc thing may well have some substance to it, given some fairly robust differences in composition and construction between carbon zinc and alkaline 9v batteries.  One of the things you'll see when you rip apart a "decent" alkaline, and a "cheap" carbon-zinc is that the former is essentially 6 sub-AAA batteries in metal cannisters spot welded in series, and the latter tends to be 6 ugly looking black "slugs" with large surface areas between them.  The larger surface area permits them to deliver a larger proportion of their charge at once.  The crappier conductive properties of that surface over time (relative to a metal spot weld) create difference in the ability to deliver that current.  Alkalines are built to "last", although from what I understand (meaning, you can still get current from them months later), they can often not deliver as much instantaneous current as the higher surface-area carbon zinc early in their lifespan.  Different types of batteries DO have different lifespan and current delivery properties.

Once they start to decline seriously, you CAN recover some charge in a carbon-zinc by letting it sit unused for a little while.  I learned this the hard way when I was sidelined with mononucleosis as a teen, and had to make a set of batteries last a long time.  I would wait until I thought they were going to repeat that portion of the playlist on the radio with my favourite songs.  Turn the radio off, wait a couple of hours, then turn it on.  The carbon zincs would have SOME recouping of charge, and last for my favourite song ("Look through any window" by the Hollies, great opening riff) but any heavy current demand and they would sputter and give up.  I personally believe it is the limited "rallying" capacity of carbon-zincs, together with their larger surface area between cells, and changing surface properties, that produces some interesting properties at certain points in their lifespan, when used in certain contexts such as high gain circuits.  Let me emphasize that I strongly doubt the existence of audible differences between a fresh carbon zinc and fresh alkaline.  What we are talking about here are changes that occur internal to the battery after a certain point in their lifespan.  Carbon-zincs are made in a manner that such properties tend to be unique to them once they age enough.

Certainly, starving a circuit of current by means of current-limiting resistors is one step in the direction of mimicking that change, but the properties of such batteries are really more dynamic than what you'd get with a healthy stable supply and a resistance in the way (though it is not unreasonable to suggest that some discrete circuits change their properties in interesting and pleasing ways when the steady supply voltage is altered from the default of 9v).  We're really talking about with dying batteries is the impact of a power source that essentially "collapses" under current demand in a particular way; like "sag" in tubes amps, though obviously not the same thing.

[petemoore]

  True...
  I take the 'dead' batteries from the remote, about once a month for the last 4 months...and rub alot more juice out of them [between my hands] until slightly warm. Good for another month...BION.
  That's 4 'extra' months service [so far, I haven't need to 'change them yet] from batteries that were 'dead'.

[barret77]

That's right, Chris Layton, Jimmie Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Albert Collins and Eric Gales all agree: you can't beat an axe dripping with mojo... who are we to disagree?

http://www.mojocaster.com/

who are we to disagree? 

[AdamB]

Ooh, that's good! Did you find that somewhere or are you working on your marketing skills?

It's from Roger Mayers website, under the description of the spitfire fuzz.

-Adam

[A.S.P.]

joyful stuff @ NAMM 

[phostenix]

Some good stuff there.

I do like the wooden MOJO cables at the end!

Grace and peace,

Steve

[A.S.P.]

more @ namm