Profkon ZD-1
Soms kom je in onze onderzoeken een product tegen, dat kennelijk veel mogelijkheden biedt, een stuk professionaliteit uitstraalt, een produkt waarbij je zelf lekker veel in te brengen lijkt te hebben. Maar dan ineens loopt je onderzoek totaal vast. Geen fabrikant, leverancier of verdere info meer te vinden. Dus in het kader van de volledigheid toch maar e.e.a. toegevoegd.
De Profkon ZD-1 Distortion Unit:
De onderstaande afbeeldingen beschouwend hebben we getracht een produktontwikkeling te ontdekken: vandaar dat de afbeeldingen in deze volgorde gezet:
Hier een demo-video weliswaar niet erg muzikaal, maar bij gebrek aan beter....
Hier wat men noemt een still video
Dan hun reclame tekst:
We endeavour to continue to provide the public with the best deal on this unit possible!
Extremely well made stainless steel (black coated) Overdrive unit for use specifically with Hammond Organs, usually retailing for $600+.
A great chance for you to grab one of these limited edition stainless steel units that have been precision engineered (laser cut/engraved and C&C folded with real timber end block as well as professional high quality pcb's & components)
The ZD-1 has been developed over the past 10 years & constantly improved over time & testing to simulate the overdrive effect of a tube amp driven hard into a Leslie cabinet.
These units allow you to create a finely tuned overdrive effect with fine control for both speakers in your Leslie cab or any Leslie simulator without driving your amp(s) to near destruction as well as fine tuning of the bass & treble elements unlike basic overdrive units in order to achieve remarkable results.
With the ZD-1 many popular overdrive characteristics are achievable at comfortable listening levels without having to drive your amp(s) hard & disturbing neighbours.
As seen on the Web & YouTube!
Features
Recreate & Create your own famous artist sounds within the flick of a few switches to suit your taste.
Passive Unit requires no power to operate, saving you power & cords.
Easy Installation
Instructions & Settings (will be emailed to buyer)
Fine Tuning (in-depth characteristic tweaking e.g. treble and bass)
Over 10 Years of Research & Engineering
Stainless Steel Custom Built Design, laser cut and engraved, C&C folded, real timber end block, professional high quality pcb's & components.
12 Months Manufacturer's Warranty
Compatibility
NOW COMPATIBLE WITH PLUGINS, SOUNDCARD, CLONE WHEEL ORGANS, SYNTHESIZERS & ANYTHING YOU CAN THINK OF THAT REQUIRES A CONTROLLABLE OVERDRIVE.
The ProfKon ZD-1 Overdrive unit is designed specifically for the Hammond tone wheel console organs with the balanced GG output terminals on the organ preamplifier. These Hammond organ models include the following organs which were built between 1935 to 1975:
Model A, AB, AV, A-100 Series, B, BA, BC, BCV, BV, B2, B3, C, CV, C2, C2G, C3, C3G, D, DV, D-100 Series, Concert Model E, EV, G, K ( UK model from the 1940’s) RT, RT2 and RT3.
Dan tot slot nog wat aanvullende tekst.
Distortion unit for Hammonds marketed by Patrice Gagne in Montreal
"I would like to mention that although the manufacturer who is manufacturing
the ZD-1 is my friend, the production of the ZD-1 is a serious business venture instead of being an amateur project for a friend.
My friend whose business is called "Audio K" has twenty years of experience with business
and manufacturing in the audio electronics manufacturing industry so therefore the production of the ProfKon ZD-1 unit is not a glorified version of a backyard DIY'er project.
It is easy for a DIY'er to say something such as that the ProfKon ZD-1 can be built for less than $40 in parts and then placed in a jiffy box as an amateur "backyard" project but the reality is that it costs significantly much more to produce a high qualiy professional production version of the ZD-1.
There are indeed very expensive engineering and manufacturing costs for things such as the CNC and engineering costs for the stainless steel case, the printed circuit board, the real timber finished piece. This is a labour intensive unit to build because of the good quality switches and potentiometers and the long cable having to be assembled in the small space
inside the cheek block sized case.
The ZD-1 is a low volume production product for a niche market so therefore the production costs are significantly higher than what they would be if this was a mass production product built in China by a large company. Here in Australia as well as in other western nations the labour charges are much higher thus adding to the engineering and the production costs of the ZD-1.
Because of all the overheads and the outlays we will be not actually be making much money from the sale of each ZD-1 so therefore it has to be cost effective for Audio K (the manufacturer of the ProfKon ZD-1) to manufacture and sell the ZD-1.
It is easy to build an amateur product as a DIY project and to then sell it privately for a cheap price, but the Hammond organ is a prestigious instrument worthy of a classy after market product. Although a DIY'er might be happy to have a cheap home made version of the ZD-1 on their Hammond organ, the reality is that most musicians are not DIY'ers so therefore they cannot build a ZD-1 for themselves. Many musicians take pride in their Hammond organs so they are very particular about what type of aftermarket product
they would want to install on their Hammond organs. So therefore the ZD-1 absolutely must look and perform as a classy product that will be considered by musicians as being worthy of being installed on the Hammond organ just like the other classy high quality aftermarket products for Hammond organs manufactured by other well known companies in the Hammond organ world. As explained before it is very expensive to manufacture such classy products.
Although the $597 price may seem very high, the reality is that there is a very small profit margin and even what little profit is made by each ZD-1 that is sold will be going back to the development of other products including other passive overdrive units for clone wheel organs, keyboards and recording studio use as well as active powered solid state overdrive
units and also tube based overdrive units for Hammond organs, clone wheel
organs, keyboards, electric guitars and recording studio use.
Currently much more money has been spent in the development and production of the ZD-1 by the manufacturer than the expected monetary return because it is expected that the ZD-1 will sell on a long selling cycle rather than something that is expected to quickly sell in large quantities.
The ZD-1 is a totally passive overdrive circuit without the need for any power supply and it is intended for those who want to be able to produce various levels of realistic sounding tube overdrive distortion simulation at any reduced volume level so that the organist will no longer be forced to play the Leslie or any other external tube amplifier at impractical full
blast volume levels in order to get the distortion sound.
Because the ZD-1 is a totally passive overdrive unit, there is some volume loss in the heavier overdrive settings when compared to the original stock clean sound produced when the ZD-1 unit is switched off.
When the ZD-1 circuit distorts the organ signal the signal levels become compressed, especially in the heavier overdrive settings. This natural compression effect is similar to what happens when a tube amplifier is heavily overdriven except of course for the fact that the tube amplifier is actively powered up and is therefore much louder sounding.
The volume loss effect is directly related to the depth of distortion because of the natural compression produced when the passive non powered ZD-1 circuit distorts the organ signal so therefore there is no volume loss effect created when you are playing the organ at lower levels which do not cause the ZD-1 circuit to distort.
Turning down the "Main O/D Blend" control will help to increase the output levels because a portion of the clean sound is then mixed with the heavily distorted sound.
In most situations such as when the organist is playing the Hammond organ at comfortable listening volume levels in the home or in a church or if the organist is playing the Hammond organ the studio or at a church or at live gigs where the Leslie cabinet or the Hammond Tone Cabinet etc are miked up, then the volume loss caused by the heavy distortion is not really a problem because there is still plenty of volume level available through the Leslie cabinet or the Hammond Tone Cabinet etc. The volume loss effect at the heavier distortion settings might be undesirable if the loudest possible volume levels are required such as when playing at an un-miked live gig. Therefore in this particular situation the ZD-1 will not be fully suitable unless there is an active powered gain boosting device such as the Hamptone LEQ3B wired after the ZD-1 unit.
All the best.
Kon."
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