Oh boy. Now I have some issues. Yep, the Beer Summit is on May 11, what to do...




mmmm...beer...

UPDATE: There are two sessions of the Beer Summit. One in the early afternoon and one at night. Phew!! I can go to both.

Mmmmmm <drooling Homer Simpson gurgling noise>

Yeah,
Empeg meet in afternoon
Get on train, go to Beer Summit
Attend the evening Beer Summit
Stumble back to train and back to hotel.

Sounds good to me.

i'm sorry i didn't see this sooner... i'm interested. i'm not sure if i want to drive 4.5 hours, but i'm def interested! ....esp if the lit button hack guy will be there or someone to help install that hack.

Is there a start time for this event?

I think it's 2PM

Unfortunately, I have to cancel as I can make it.

You have to cancel because you CAN make it ?????

2pm is the start time... details can be found here : http://davecosta.com/empeg

It looks like maybe poor weather for May 11 : http://www.weather.com/weather/local/01801
Kinda makes me nervous about meeting outside in Target's Parking Lot.
I wonder if there is a parking garage in the area that might let us take cover there at least for an hour or so....

Anyone work/live near there that check this out and post findings here ?

As far as activities, I don't have anything fancy on the itinerary for the meet.
Now that I think of it... It might make more sense to meet at Friday's for lunch at 2pm.
Then after that we can escape to the parking lot to check out everyone's installs.
We might be able to skip Target all together...

In fact, that makes a lot more sense...
Everyone can corral into Friday's, we can organize as a group (protected from potential rain), chat, eat lunch, then either go outside or wherever to check out everyone's installs, etc.

If anyone going to the Boston GTG has an amp that they are intrested in selling, I'll be there and intrested. I'll be driving the red '97 Corolla.
Not looking for anything fancy, but a 4*50w RMS amp would be nice.

I have a Chinese no-name amp somewhere. You can have it if you want it (free). Last two times I hooked it up there was interference that was cured by installing a better amp (Kicker).

If I find it, I will bring it. I think one of my friends has it (not using it).

Weather forecast is looking better now

I'm planning to do some button LED pre-install stuff for people. I have a small stock of resistor packs and dimmer capacitors from Brian that I will install for the sum of $15. Hopefully this will allow people who are otherwise capable of the hack to get started. I can get these done relatively quickly - I'm assuming that people will remove and re-install their display boards themselves. (easy enough with patience and care, and I'll demo on the first unit if need be.)

Once this is done, I'll start looking at full kit installs for those that have kits and who don't know one end of a soldering iron from the other. ($50). This is a much more time consuming task - I doubt I'll get more than 2 done on the day, so I'm giving preference to those who are travelling furthest to the meet, to those who have no soldering skills whatsoever, and those who shout first. Well, some combination of that anyway.

I am willing to do full kit installs in the Boston area after this date anyway, so don't worry too much.

Logistics:
To make installs run smoothly it'd be helpful to have:
Hex wrenchs and screwdrivers - bring them if you've got them.
Small magnets and ziplock bags - I'll try and get some.
120V inverter and/or charged UPS - Could be really useful, can anyone oblige?
superglue/desoldering braid/tweezers - That's just a reminder for me! (But feel free to bring extras)
Anyone got any ideas for creating a decent working environment? My best idea at the moment is a white sheet so that we don't lose stuff. But that could rather uncomfortable on asphalt.
Anything else?

Since not everyone will be interested in or attending the meet to get button mod installs - maybe after dinner in someone's hotel room those interested could gather. At least there will be power and no other nuisances such as wind to deal with. Great care would need to be employed to keep the room ventilated and the smoke detectors from going off - this would be my greatest concern. Maybe a small fan and point it out the window to suck smoke and gas out.

I have a greater dilemma to deal with - I just got a new car. I would like to drive it to the meet, but it is not configured with my Empeg just yet. So, drive the old car (I didn't trade it in, too much stereo junk to worry about ripping out just yet) and have tons of music to listen to on the way (with a better sound sytem) or drive the good new car that has only a 6 disk changer (ungh). For me, this will be about a 6 1/2 to 7 hour drive.

So, drive the old car (I didn't trade it in, too much stereo junk to worry about ripping out just yet) and have tons of music to listen to on the way (with a better sound sytem) or drive the good new car that has only a 6 disk changer (ungh)

Any AUX input on the new cars stereo? Or if it has a tape deck (probably unlikely today) can it accept a tape adapter? Any other way to feed it an external signal?
Anyone you know that has an FM-modulator lying about?
The empeg can be temporarily powered by a cigarette lighter plug wired to a barrel connector (it'll think it's at home, but that's no biggy...)

/Michael

robricc, I'd like to take you up on that offer.
It will at least give me the excuse I need to rip the dash apart and get everything wired so that I can at least hear & see my Empeg in my car.
Interference or not it will give me a better idea of what I need to do to get it all together and working.
Thanks.

PS I'll be the guy with the blood shot eyes & sneezing badly - never had allergy problems till this spring! Weird.

Hmm, no AUX input that I know of. I might scrounge up a tape adapter and an inverter. I don't want to spend too much time providing myself with an interim solution (ie. finding aux input or fm modulator) when I will be having it installed anyway.

I think I'm probably going to drive the old car - it has subs in the trunk and better speakers in the doors and sounds much better.

I'll drive the new one to the next meet!

Inverter?

As in making 110/220 VAC? If you have access to one already I suppose you could do it that way and use the home adapter... If you know how to (or someone who does) do basic soldering (not at all on the level necessary for the lighted button hack), a cig.plug, a piece of 2 conductor cable and a barrel connector shouldn't be much money at a place like Radio Shack... Just solder it straight up, plug in the cig adapter in the car and the barrel plug (wheee paintball flashback! ) in the empeg and enjoy...

/Michael

I'm going to try my best to make the drive tomorrow, hoping that I won't get called into work on the way. I'll be driving up from New Jersey.

I'd love to get the button hack installed. I have nothing, I know nothing, so I'll need all the help I can get, and a kit if they're available.

Is the meet at the Target orTGIFridays?Dcosta's site says TGIFridays but just want to be sure.Thanks

When
2:00pm - Saturday, May 11, 2002

Meeting & Eating Place
T.G.I.Friday's
230 Mishawum Road
Woburn, MA 01801
(781) 932-9550

Right off (the northern side) of Route 95
Just South of the intersection of Routes 93 and 95

Take Route 95 SOUTH to exit 36.
At the end of the ramp make a LEFT onto Mishawum Road.
T.G.I.Friday's is a quarter-mile up on the left.

OR Take Route 95 NORTH to exit 36.
At the end of the ramp make a LEFT onto Washington Street.
Go over Route 95 and make your next left onto Mishawum Road.
T.G.I.Friday's is a half-mile up on the left. Map

Thanks.I may not get there till after 4pm.Anyone think they will still be hanging around or moving on to some place else?

I'm sure there will still be people hanging around at that early stage - a crowd of geeks won't be that hard to miss.

We're on for tomorrow, we're meeting at Friday's at 2pm

Thanks to:
dcosta for organising this.
ithoughti for the food & space at TGI Fridays
and to genixia for spending time explaining the ins & outs of the Empeg as mine is still in hiding!

greets to
robricc for driving up from NY in his sweet new Viggen
the guy who came all the way from Bermuda
the guy with the peace, love and rotary engines baseball cap
sorry I'm dreadful at remembering names
and to the others who also attended

So when is the next one?

Dude, I thought you didn't show. I didn't know your real name, so I couldn't tell you I couldn't find that amp. I lent it to a friend for tentative use in his install until he got a real amp. We put the good amp in, and I didn't take the cheap one home. He took it but can't find it. If I ever come across it, I will bring it to the next gathering.

I took some very crappy pics at the meet. I will probably upload them somewhere tonight. Sadly, we didn't get a group shot.

I'd like to give props to Dave and Matt as well. Can't wait for the next one.

Hey, no problem at all guys. I was happy to meet you all and glad I could pick up the lunch.

Haven't looked at the footage / pictures yet....
Probably get to it this weekend.

Meet went well, although I expected more people.
Anyhow.

genixia, I will be needing you to do a button kit,
but I need to get my hands on another sled first,
So I've gotta do that first. but stay tuned, I DO want that done.

Mike !!
You said you wanted the cage part of a sled, (without the lip)
I am going to buy a whole sled myself,
and if you want, We can split the cost of another one
you take the cage, I'll tak the harness.
Let me know as the deadline is the end of May.

robricc, no biggie, I was the quite guy to your right.
I have since got the finger out and purchased a Pioneer GM-X364 300 Watt 4 Channel Amplifier which will give me 40 watts RMS x 4 at 4 ohms (300w??? - bloody marketing dept.).
This should be more then plenty for the stock speakers I have, and for $100 I'm happy. At least this way I get to play with my Empeg rather then it sit in the corner.

How many people showed up?

10 or 11

OK, I took some pretty shi*ty pics, but here they are. I didn't even take a lot of them.