Neovibe Lamp Question

[FuzzAldrin]

Got the lamp from smallbear... http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=716
I created the lightshield per instructions, and came out really nice.
My LDR's (also from small bear) are flush against the board, pointing straight up.
My lamp seems to sit too high off of the board though. Should I make a bigger shield? Or should I get a different lamp? Will this affect the tone at all, if the lamp is higher than usual builds ive seen? Just want this to be perfect...

[R.G.]

The idea of the light shield is to also form a light mixing chamber. It's supposed to be shiny inside so the reflections help remove hot and cold spots as far as light goes.

If the inside of the light shield is shiny, chances are that you will be less sensitive to exact lamp placement.

And a word or two on it being perfect. It's not. It may be very, very good, but it will never be perfect.

Good is in fact better than perfect.    You don't need to worry so much.

[SteveB]

As long as the top of the bulb sits inside the chamber, you should be okay. Is the white base of the bulb sitting on the PC board? All sorts of things affect the sound, but some are more subtle than others. The distance from the bulb to the top of the light shield is one of those things that have a very subtle affect on the phasing.

I say try what you have, get it working, & tweak if you need to.

It's just my opinion, but I find that the traditional vibe sounds are in the lower brightness range of the bulb. If it's too bright, it's more of a wah effect with less phasing. But, everyone has their on opinions on what it "should" sound like.

Steve