Author Topic: LEDs, bulbs and colors for CUT, SOLO, Centre Section, READY TAPE, READY GROUP  (Read 15720 times)

marcmozart

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Today I played with LED replacements for the 36V bulbs. I ordered the following ones:

JKL Components
Z-T55-NW (neutral white)
Z-T55-G (green)
Z-T55-R (red)


They are available at www.rs-online.com in many countries. They are around 3 € for a single LED and prices can go below 2 € if ordering many.

Before I go into more detail on the LEDs... - can you guys help me with the colors that SSL used for the different switches? The old style bulbs had color caps in some places, but I am not entirely sure what was used where…

I found the following colors on my bulbs: YELLOW (more like ORANGE actually), RED and GREEN

I believe they were used as follows:

READY GROUP - orange
READY TAPE - green
CUT - yellow
SOLO - white (no cap)

a selection of these colors where used in the Centre Section, here are some examples
MIX (status) - green
MINI (speakers) - yellow
anyway this looked very random to me

I'd just like to know what thinking SSL originally had behind the selction of colors on these switches???
1992 SSL 4048 G-Series
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kilmister

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Can't remember the center section but all consoles I've seen has red CUTs.

-Paavo
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marcmozart

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Can't remember the center section but all consoles I've seen has red CUTs.

-Paavo

Thanks! Thats cool, as I'm thinking red for CUTs and green for SOLO would make sense (traffic light analogy... CUT / red means STOP for the audio of the channel - SOLO / green means "this channel has a priority... you get the idea)
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marcmozart

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Green and Red JKL Z-T55 LEDs
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2013, 09:29:39 PM »
I played with the green and red JKL Z-T55-G and JKL Z-T55-R LEDs today, trying them in different switches and comparing with the old bulbs (my 4048G still has bulbs).

Here are my observations:
- the green and red LEDs are EXTREMELY bright, you can immediately spot the LED in between the bulbs
- the LEDs produce no heat compared with the bulbs

When putting one of the green caps (from the bulbs) on the green LED and a red cap on the red LED, the brightness was (slightly) brought down which is a good thing. The dazzle of the pure LED-light (without the switch cap) is very tough on the eyes.

However, one would not stare at a particular switch for a minute and it's easier to spot a CUT or SOLOed channel with the LED mounted, especially in a bright environment or even daylight.

Here's the datasheet for the LEDs:
http://docs-europe.electrocomponents.com/webdocs/116c/0900766b8116c064.pdf

I'm not an electrician, but I take that since no resistors are used, these produce very little heat. Should be a good thing for our consoles, right?

I've attached a picture that shows a comparison of the bulbs with a green LED. This LED had no additional green cap on top. (The solo button in the picture above did...)
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brewery

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the original cuts are more of an orange/amber color, not really red. there are red ones though.
off the top of my hat: record mode, track arm, and osc to quad/groups are red.
mix mode, aux to monitor/sls, ready tape are green.
cut, ready group, mini, and a bunch of other 651 buttons are orange.

i personally wouldn't change the color scheme. it's what people are used to from SSLs all over the world, and also easy on the eyes. i hate having bright blinking lights in front of me when mixing, that's why i don't like bargraphs either.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2013, 10:59:09 PM by brewery »

marcmozart

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I agree and I wanna stick with what SSL originally used. I'm still waiting for the delivery of the "neutral white" LEDs and I've also found a company that can deliver the colored silicon caps for the LEDs. If possible, I'll try to find a cap that makes the LED resemble the original color.

What I like about the LEDs is that they all look the same, whereas each bulb has a slightly different brightness. Also I'm hoping that the LED last for a really long time.

the original cuts are more of an orange/amber color, not really red. there are red ones though.
off the top of my hat: record mode, track arm, and osc to quad/groups are red.
mix mode, aux to monitor/sls, ready tape are green.
cut, ready group, mini, and a bunch of other 651 buttons are orange.

i personally wouldn't change the color scheme. it's what people are used to from SSLs all over the world, and also easy on the eyes. i hate having bright blinking lights in front of me when mixing, that's why i don't like bargraphs either.
« Last Edit: March 01, 2013, 12:37:48 AM by marcmozart »
1992 SSL 4048 G-Series
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marcmozart

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Original Colors used
« Reply #6 on: March 01, 2013, 12:19:34 AM »
Quick update on the colors that were used - some infos on centre section still missing... help!

RED
Record (Status), Track Arm, (OSC) to Quad, (OSC) to Group, Status Lock

GREEN
Mix (Status), Aux to Monitor/SLS, Ready Tape

ORANGE
Cut, Ready Group, Mini, and some more 651 buttons
« Last Edit: March 01, 2013, 12:38:07 AM by marcmozart »
1992 SSL 4048 G-Series
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jmstevens

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Hi there.  James Stevens here from Austin, Tx, proud owner of a 6040E/G+.  First time posting here, or on any forum for that matter.    Thanks to all involved for such a great resource.

Back to LED's.  Thought I'd share some of my findings regarding the JKL component bulbs.  I'm comparing these colors to LED's I purchased from the fine folks at recycled audio.  They are out of them at the moment.  BTW, I did my VU meter lights with there kit, worked great and looks killer, took about day to do all and totally worth it.  Can't speak highly enough of recycled audio.

Here's my findings:

JKL LED's with colored condoms from previous bulbs.  In my opinion they are way too bright without the covers.

Red bulb w/ yellow cover - Makes a good warm red for cuts, stop etc. 

Green bulb w/ orange cover - Makes a really nice green, for play, ready tape etc.

White bulb w/ orange cover - Makes a nice yellow, for solo etc.

White bulb w/ yellow cover - Makes a nice light green, looks very close to recycled audio green.

The white bulbs are strange without a cover,  as they're more of a bright blinding silver.

Anyhoo, thought I'd share.  Great weekend to all!

James Stevens
earstudioaustin.com

 

   

marcmozart

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Hi James,
welcome to the forum and really great input! Hope you hang out a lot here... as I'm currently installing my first SSL and everything is so much easier with the help of the wonderful people on this forum!

Peace
Marc
1992 SSL 4048 G-Series
Mix Engineer Blog
http://www.mixedbymarcmozart.com

Showcase

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I can live with changing some bulbs here and there sometimes, what I want to do is to illuminate my VU`s with some nice LEDs, anyone have any ideas about this, I saw some nice white/purple leds on a 4000 on youtube awhile ago, see if I can find the link again.

marcmozart

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Yeah, the VU meters are on my agenda as well.

I can live with changing some bulbs here and there sometimes, what I want to do is to illuminate my VU`s with some nice LEDs, anyone have any ideas about this, I saw some nice white/purple leds on a 4000 on youtube awhile ago, see if I can find the link again.
1992 SSL 4048 G-Series
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michaeldtech

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Are those available in 48V?  That might toss the need to dim them with the covers.
I did some replacements in the 90's with JKL, LEDtronics and others.  The technology was new and the slides had finicky connections and the bulbs would go dark or burn because of the early tech.
My equation is always to look at the total cost.  Lamps today are still at low prices, but the quality has decreased in a major way.  I got JKL 1819's for UREI meters and they were blowing after 2-4 weeks.  There is some labor involved with replacing them so I went with mini LED panels and am done with replacing bulbs.  One less thing to do- wait! I got paid to open those 1176's every month!
The SSL meters are T1 3/4 bi-pin lamps.  They offered field mods back in the day with yellow multiled lamps.  I would experiment with colors other than violet first. . .
Mike

« Last Edit: March 10, 2013, 02:47:58 PM by michaeldtech »

elshiftos

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Admittedly there's a bit more work involved, but if you're not too precious about retaining the classic 'incandescent' look of your E/G switches then this my be of interest.

Channels 1 and 2 are LED modded and 3 is old school lamps for reference. Colours are definitely colder with LED's but with a bit of tweaking they can be made quite pleasing, without any obnoxious glare.



And here's how it's done. Keep your blown lamps and fit them with an LED/resistor combo. Took me about 5 minutes to do 1 but I'm sure we can improve on that by getting night reception/interns to do the tedious bits.  ;D



Let me know if this is of any interest and I'll follow-up with some values and part No's.

Cheers

marcmozart

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Cool - thanks! I'm definitely interested in the details!
1992 SSL 4048 G-Series
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http://www.mixedbymarcmozart.com

jmstevens

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Ditto