New Product in the Wings!

[Ken Smith]

I just finished the last basic test with the headphones. Everything up to that point had been tested and approved.

I hope to have a working proto-type to show in early June at the upcoming Double Bass convention (ISB) being held at Penn State (June 8-13) which is only about 3 hours drive from my shop.

Those of you that are attending the show are welcome to come by, say hello, try whatever we have on display (DBs for DB players only, lol) and even visit the shop the following week if you are still in the area.

After the first few units are completed, I will post some pictures as well as a full listing of all the features and specs.

Although I have had a few requests or suggestion as to what to put in this box, we will have to stay with our original plan to keep the board designs and box size originally planned as well as to keep the cost down.

[Robert Kramer]

Ken, will your headphone amp also have an aux input? Such as practicing with an external source like a metronome, CD player, etc.?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Robert Kramer

Ken, will your headphone amp also have an aux input? Such as practicing with an external source like a metronome, CD player, etc.?

No.. I can make it fry Bacon as well but that will inflate the price to the other 99.99% buyers..

Don't metronomes have silent lights as well?

There is an input for a headphone (1/8th") for practicing. You can however use the 'phones as a monitor and still play thru the Amp like in the studio to heard yourself better. Both the Amp input and H'phones work at the same time.

[Jason Mendelson]

Hey sounds really neat! I would get one!

I would think price range would have to be in the $89 - $129 range for a foot pedal...

I remember back in the day, I had a little jam box thing that you plugged your bass into and you listend to it through head phones... I cant remember what its called, its in a drawer in my parents house in florida though...

As far as a name, keep it simple...

Ken Smith BMT Pre-Amp Foot Switch

Label on the thing would be:

Ken Smith
BMT Pre

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Jason Mendelson

Hey sounds really neat! I would get one!

I would think price range would have to be in the $89 - $129 range for a foot pedal...

I remember back in the day, I had a little jam box thing that you plugged your bass into and you listend to it through head phones... I cant remember what its called, its in a drawer in my parents house in florida though...

As far as a name, keep it simple...

Ken Smith BMT Pre-Amp Foot Switch

Label on the thing would be:

Ken Smith
BMT Pre

I have seen preamps going from the $200-$400 range on the Market. This one IS the BMT unit currently in our Bass plus other features and it's in a Box. The Preamp currently goes for much more than that figure and that's just in a bag in bulk!

[Jason Mendelson]

yeah thinking about it more... it is a pre-amp... not an effects box...

My BBE Sonic Maximizer (which I bought like 12 years ago), was a few hundred dollars... and its a rackmount...

A rack mount / studio option would be killer with XLR out

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Jason Mendelson

yeah thinking about it more... it is a pre-amp... not an effects box...

My BBE Sonic Maximizer (which I bought like 12 years ago), was a few hundred dollars... and its a rackmount...

A rack mount / studio option would be killer with XLR out

This is a portable version, not a rack mount. Can you practice with a rack mount in the back of a car? Can you throw a rack mound unit in your gig bag and use it easily with any bass or amp, setting it up in seconds?

This is the current version of the Smith 18V BMT circuit that can be used active or passive and has the internal DIP switches as well. Also, you can use it for practice with head phones or use the headphones while you play thru an amp or studio board as a monitor in your ears directly without turning up the amp volume. The Practice amp/headphone function has its own volume control as well.

You can use this for Bass Guitar, Double Bass, elec/acc Guitar.. and just about anything that has a pickup, even horns I guess as well as keyboards. The EQ range with the DIPs is just about endless in range.

Do you know of another product on the market yet as versatile and as portable as this one?

For those of you with non-Smith Basses that have thought about upgrading your circuit, why bother. Get the Box. Use it as long as you keep your non-'S' Bass and when you sell that Bass and get another non-'S' bass, keep the Box for the new bass. If you had spent money to buy a Smith circuit or any other circuit plus the labor to modify and install it, when you sell that bass, there goes your investment along with a possibly de-valued altered xyz brand bass that might have fetched a better price if left original.

This Box has been in the works for years now. We were just too busy to get it completed. The recent slower economy has freed up the time to get it done. I just might have a working unit on display at the ISB show next month. Currently, I just have the test unit in a box about 3x the size it will be when all done.

This will be the unit to get a EQ Smith sound without doing the work to modify your non-Smith bass. We are talking about a size that is less than 4"x5"x2" deep. Less than those numbers.

Yes, there can be many other features added and custom versions made but at what price to the consumer? What percentage of the buyers would want all those extras verses the more portable/transferable unit I have described?

Personally, I am quite excited about it. This is the most versatile user-friendly product we have ever produced.