|
|
Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | I picked up the Hamer Duotone that I had on layaway. Pics will follow, probably this weekend.
These are obviously the predecessor or inspiration to the VXT. One cable to the electric amp and one to the acoustic and then try to figure out the controls.
I looked for a manual explaining the controls on line, but couldn't find one. I found some papers in the case and hoped it was a manual, but they were emails to Hamer from the prior owner, asking for a manual. Hamer said they were working on it. It took some figuring, but it will be easy to remember if I use the guitar enough. Most likely I won't use it enough, so I'll have to figure out the controls every time I use it.
It's got a fat 3 way switch for the neck/both/bridge pickups, a skinny 3 way switch for the electric/both/acoustic pickups, and 3 volume knobs: one for the electric, one for the acoustic and the middle for a blend.
Now I just have to learn to play something with an electric and acoustic guitar in it.
If anyone knows of a Duotone manual, let me know. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Mark, I'll check what's in the Hamer manual tonight. My recollection is that the manual is generic and not model specific, so maybe there'll be something in there about the controls on a Duotone. Another possible source might be the Hamer Fan Club. Also, are you sure the middle knob is a blended volume and not a tone control? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | The only manual online was a generic Hamer manual, sort of like the Ovation manual. Nothing specific to the Duotone. I checked the Hamer Fan Club, but didn't post a question.
I didn't properly describe the middle knob. I think it's like the knob on the VXT. Rotate one direction and it fades toward one amp. Rotate it the other direction and it fades toward the other. In the middle it blends both amps. It takes some adjusting with the volume of each amp, but it's got a bunch of options. I'll have to make sure I get it right, since I may print out some instructions and leave it in the case.
My acoustic amp has more power than the electric and I was sitting closer to the acoustic amp. My electric amp has a bunch of effects and I finally figured out how to use the basic functions of the foot controller, so I could probably spend this long weekend trying out all the variables. Too bad I don't know any songs. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Mark, you might also just send an e-mail to the factory through their website. You'd be amazed at how small and accessible they are back there. One question I would want to ask is if it is possible to use one of the jacks for the blended option. On the VXT, it is possible to send signals from either the dual humbuckers or the piezo, or a blend between the two, through just the mono jack. This is the configuration I primarily use. Running multiple amps with a Y chord through the stereo jack is an interesting application, and I've seen Matt Smith expertly demonstrate this at his Chop Shop, but other than showing off the feature, I pretty much use a standard cable into the pedal board in mono mode, then dial in acoustic or electric mode as needed. I would be curious if the Duotone has this same feature, and specifically how the output signal is blended. Is there a mono/stereo switch somewhere in the electronics cavity? Are the output jacks labled mono/stereo or electric/acoustic? If the former, then you should be able to run a standard cable through the mono jack and control the pickup signal through the blend control. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | The VXT has the blend.
The duotone was two complete systems, each with its own output, I think...... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | I couldn't post on the computer at the hotel in Phoenix, but I was going to say what Beal said. The VXT design figured out one of the shortcomings of the Duotone. The Duotone is nice and simple for a guy like me, though. I assume the blend knob in the middle is like a fader control for the front and back speakers in your car, except it works between the humbuckers and the piezo. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | Oh, and as I said poorly in the first post, I have an email from Hamer saying they didn't have a manual for the Duotone. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | I thought you said it brilliantly. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | legalese |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | If I'd have used legalese, the Professor might have understood me. It's the guitar, electronic, computer geekspeak that I have trouble with.
One of the emails from the prior owner to Hamer seemed to be asking about whether the Hamer could do what the VXT could do (without mentioning the VXT), but Kim replied, apparently thinking that there was something wrong with the pickup. The pickup hasn't been replaced.
This may be another example of how little the local GC knows about Kaman products. They told me the prior owner traded it in because it didn't do what he wanted it to do. I see emails where it appears he was trying to make his Hamer do what a VXT does, which would give GC a perfect opportunity to sell him a VXT, but they sold him something else. I bought their last VXT for Damon for cheap and the GC salesman tells me that no one was interested in them. I'd be more upset if I hadn't saved a few hundred dollars because of their lack of product knowledge. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | A regular cable, stereo Y cable, amp, and five minutes, and we'd have it all sorted out. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | What's to sort out? One jack goes to acoustic amp, the other goes to the electric amp. Works for my simple needs. The only thing I need is to label each jack, since I've already forgotten which one goes to which.
Bring the Y cable up the next time, along with the VXT and we'll compare. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | O.k., I wasn't aware that the two output jacks had been defined. Now, just one more question . . . if those are how the jacks work, then why would you need a fader switch between the buckers and the piezo, since each has its own output? What's there to fade? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | When I was referring to amps before, I meant that I had one jack to one amp and the other to another amp. The fading is the fun part. You can fade, or "blend", the electric/acoustic sound. In the middle gives you basically an equal split between your humbuckers and the acoustic piezo. Turn it one direction and it favors the humbuckers, turn it the other and it favors the piezo. With the 3 way switch for the humbuckers, you can go with the neck pickup, bridge pickup or both and that gives you a bunch of different sounds when blended with the piezo.
Obviously, you've got to have the other 3 way switch set to the middle, so both the humbuckers and piezo are on. Otherwise when you fade to whichever pickups aren't on, you get nothing. As I said, I didn't have the amps set up equally when I started. Some of that could be corrected with the volume knobs for each output, but it would probably be smarter to set the amps at basically equal volume and then if that changed (like when you go from a clean channel to distortion) you left some room to adjust it on the guitar.
There are way more options than I need, sort of like driving a Porsche at the speed limit across Wyoming. This is why a manual would be nice. I also found an ad that the prior owner left in the case, but it was such a bad copy I couldn't read a word. Maybe it describes all these options. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | Finally got some pics up.
 |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2007
Posts: 1486
Location: Cincinnati | Nice looking guitar. There's one for sale on the local CL for $895. Supposedly in excellent condition. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | I beat that by a ways. An identical one also sold on ebay a couple weeks ago for $880. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | So, what are the little tuney-adjusty things on the back cover?
Always looking for an education. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4026
Location: Utah | Space Invaders? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | That's the equalizer. It seems awfully bassey, so I'll have to figure out how to adjust it. |
|
| |
OT: Hamer Duotone
