A small family business based upon the vision of a musician with the foresight to see what could be rather than what was has created a device that uses sound waves to “prime” an instrument to create a softer and richer, more natural tone and sound. This device, known as primeVibe, can be used on your most favored instrument, or new instrument, giving it the warmth and tone that is unequaled by remixing or sampling.
Artists ranging from unsigned to signed musicians such as International touring guitarist Peter Czajer of the group Bohemia to the legendary Californian Metal Guitarist Ronny North, endorse PrimeVibe with enthusiasm and complete trust. primeVibe is creating a new industry standard, and until now, has been a well-guarded secret, Xombiewoof Magazine has the “Tech-Specs” and the story of a technological vision become reality.
The primeVibe - Product Technical Specifications:
· Stereo 7 watt per channel amp and Amp has blue power indicator LED
· Illustrated instruction manual included
· Amp speaker terminals on rear: spring type
· Transducer wire length approximately 1 meter
· Combination power/continuously variable volume control
· Two transducers, each 55mm x 17mm (diameter x height)
· High gloss finish for easy cleaning with clean, dry, soft cloth
· Switching power supply with quick-release US and European style plugs
· Amp Dimensions: 1.13 x 3.94 x 4.2 inches…28.7 x 100 x 106.8 mm
· The contact surface on the transducer underside and the outer jacket of the transducer wire leads are smooth high-density rubber with some silicone content. Owners of high-end instruments with nitrocellulose finish can click HERE for pertinent information. Vinyl is caustic on instrument finish and is not employed on the transducer underside or the outer wire jacket. When relocating transducers on the instrument elevate them rather than drag or slide them. Julian Fordham, PhD. in Materials Science at then-NXT (now Hi-Wave Technologies) was the team leader for PrimeVibe research and design. Master Luthier Ryan Thorell consulted on the design and materials employed in PrimeVibe.
Joseph Timmons: Jimbo, Thank you for taking time to work with us on this product article and for being such an interesting person to know.
Jimbo: Thank you for doing this article for us, we are happy to do this!
Q: What exactly is PrimeVibe, and how does it work?
Jimbo: “PrimeVibe warms up tone wood, it works on guitars, violins, bass guitars, harmonicas, drums, and ukes, just about any instrument made of wood except pianos, which are too big to service. The longer you play an instrument the warmer the tones. This is due to the seasoning of the tone wood. PrimeVibe seasons tone wood fast. Guitars take only 4 days to sound “vintage”.”
Q: Is this a “Family Based Business”, how big is your company?
Jimbo: “My wife, Debra, and I are the only full time workers at our UT location, so we are a “mom and pop” business. We take orders, provide customer service, package kits and ship them. We also handle promotions thru social media.”
“We also have sales people and a great webpage designer. Our sales reps are musicians. Our rep for Singapore, China and Thailand is a guitarist. Our distributor to Europe and Russia is a guitarist and plays violin and mandolin. And our webpage designer is a great bass guitarist! “
Q: Does the process cause any permanent changes to the structure of the Guitar or Instrument?
Jimbo: “No - We hired highly educated engineers to work on the primeVibe prototype. The transducers are harmless when properly used and the instruction manual clearly illustrates how to season various instruments. We also encourage our customers to contact us if they have any questions.”
Q: What was the initial idea for PrimeVibe, when did you begin?
Jimbo: “After searching for the “perfect” guitar for 3 years I ordered a custom guitar. It took the builder over 10 months to deliver it. I opened the case and saw that it was gorgeous. But when I strummed it, OH, Man! It sounded stiff, lacked dynamics, and the wood needed seasoning. “
“I had waited nearly four years for my guitar; I didn’t want to wait 6 more years for the wood to sound good! I found some light weight NXT transducers. They were interesting to me because unlike regular speakers which move air particles the NXT speakers pumped musical vibrations right into the wood so they turned my new acoustic guitar into a speaker box and music clearly played from my guitar.”
“The transducers worked, but they were not efficient and there were several issues that I felt I could eliminate with proper design. I knew I could tweak them for the specific application of seasoning tone wood so I called NXT and asked them if I could license their technology and incorporate my designs for this specific purpose. They sent a project manager, Martin Roberts to Utah from California. He, Debra and I went to Marie Calendar’s Restaurant in Salt Lake City and hashed out the initial details for what is now primeVibe. That meeting took place in March of 2010.”
Jimbo: “Yes, I remember the discussion very clearly and it’s great that you understood everything right off the bat. Your readers could look at some wood and see that there are hard winter lines (thick) and soft summer lines (thin) in all wood. In between those lines is a plant substance called Lignin. When wood is not warmed or “seasoned” it sounds tight. Stressed Lignin is softened by musical vibration and warm wood sounds pleasant, engaging, and more harmonious to the ear. All tonewood has lignin and all tone wood sounds better the more it is excited by music.”
Q: Presuming there is a noticeable change in tone and texture of sound and is the effects long lasting or is regular treatments needed?
Jimbo: “It is long lasting, however, if a musician seasons an instrument and then puts it away for say a year he’ll want to re-season it because the wood, lignin will become tight without vibration. A store in Thailand sells primeVibe kits along with guitars to schools. Before concerts the music teachers prime the guitars. I think that if a musician has a gig and wants to make sure his instrument sounds extraordinarily good he should season it. Our first customer, Mr. Muir, is a professional musician playing in Hong Kong. He seasoned his main guitar, a Gibson Roy Schmeck Reissue played "two and a half hours per day" and he heard big improvements.”
Q: You had mentioned the origins of the technology as being from an old military concept, can you give us the details and was it difficult to convert to your products desired outcome?
Jimbo: “During the Cold War, spies used "bugs" (microphones) to listen to conversations. The US invented technology to thwart the eavesdropping. They invented highly specialized transducers that play louder when contacting a solid surface than exciting only the atmosphere (the normal job for regular loudspeakers). They attached the special transducers to the walls of hotel rooms and other places requiring privacy. Music was pumped into the walls so the bugs picked up musical sound instead of conversations.”
“Later, NXT (now HiWave Technologies) refined their "bending wave" technology and were granted 375 international patents. Now we use that same technology to “prime” tone wood!” “It was difficult to iron out the details and it took several months of planning, including consulting with local Master Luther Ryan Thorell.”
Jimbo: “Yes - Our friends and family looked blankly at us when we told them about primeVibe. When we finally had the kits in our hands we rented an old mansion in Logan, UT near a large theater. We were hoping to create interest in PrimeVibe.
“The mansion had many rooms and we displayed primeVibe working on my guitars. Some friends and family went to the show and finally got excited about our PV kits. One nephew found an attic in the old place where the owners stored drums. He kept bringing us drums to prime. It was great! We primed every drum in the stash and put them back into the attic.”
Q: What are your personal experiences in Music, and was there a personal driving factor in your desire to create this revolutionary product that has impressed so many musicians?
Jimbo: “Thank you for asking this question. I play some guitar, mainly acoustic. I’m not a professional by any means but I’ll volunteer to play at a party or musical show, say at a school play or church music night. I love perfect sound. Over the years I’ve tried very hard to perfect reproduced music in friend's homes by building speakers and trying to match them with a "perfect" amp, pre-amp, musical source and room acoustic treatment. I have always wanted music to sound as good as it possibly can.”
“My music and audio history goes back to my first guitar age 9, played in a grammar school band (Pall Bearers, perhaps you've not heard of them?), studied synthesizer with Dr. Patrick Gleeson one of the top two analog synthesizer musicians in the world at that time. I was an assistant engineer at Sausalito Record Plant, where I worked with Roy Buchanan, Tower of Power, and New Riders of the Purple Sage. I gave guitar lessons, etc.”
“I now make and sell a world-class five piece Distributed-EQ Bass Reflex Array (DEBRA subwoofer system) for home or studio named after my wife which can be found at the following Link- : http://jamesromeyn.com, and I co-designed a new two-piece loudspeaker system with Duke LeJeune based on my own Patent-Pending radiation pattern, found at http://www.audiocircle.com”
Q: Overall, what is your goal, to see your device used in all applications or performance by all musicians, or by a distinct few that want the best sound from their instrument?
Jimbo: “Our customers are musicians and luthiers and music store owners. Musicians buy kits because they care a great deal about their audience. Whether playing for a single person or thousands of people musicians who want to sound their absolute best will purchase a kit for their audience.”
Q: Considering the artists that use and endorse PrimeVibe, do you feel that your dream has been realized, or do you feel you have a long way to go?
“We are extremely happy with our endorsers and we believe we will likely have more endorsers in the future.”
Q: Where can our readers find PrimeVibe in either retail or online venues?
Jimbo: “They can visit us at prime-vibe.com, we have a dealer's page there and they can order directly from us. We will also have kits available at Amazon.com in mid October thru January of 2014. If your readers drop us a line at info@prime-vibe.com and mention that they heard of us through this article we will offer them free shipping and tell them how they can order a kit using Pay Pal.”
there's a significant mistake in text - Peter Czajer plays in a band called BOHEMA, not "Bohemia".
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bohema.art.pl/