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Episode 11: 424 MKII Pedal, 700 Watt Amp, Living in Japan
100 Plays5 days ago
Chris releases a new pedal that sells out immediately. Charles calculates the sound pressure level of a 700-watt amp. Bryan talks smoothies and IEC cables. The three field a listener question about their ideal, no-responsibility Friday night beverages.. These are just some of the topics hosts Chris Benson of Benson Amps, Bryan Sours of Soursound Audio Works, and Charles Henry of Silktone Amplifiers cover in this week's episode of Amplified Nonsense.
If you'd like Bryan, Charles, and Chris to answer your question on an episode of Amplified Nonsense, call (513) 334-3803 and leave a voicemail.
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Transcript
Introduction to Amplified Nonsense
00:00:07
Speaker
Welcome to Amplified Nonsense, a podcast that's kind of about amplifiers, but is also driven by your random voicemail questions. Your hosts are Chris Benson of Benson Amps, Charles Henry of Silk Tone, and Brian Sowers of Sour Sound Audio Works.
00:00:23
Speaker
My name is Emily and I'm producing this podcast. And before I get too far into the episode, you can call into 513-
00:00:30
Speaker
3 3 4 3 8 0 3 and leave your own voicemail questions for the guys. That's 5 1 3 3 3 4 3 8 0 3. three three four three eight zero three Well, happy Thursday guys. How are you doing?
00:00:43
Speaker
Pretty good. It's Friday here.
00:00:49
Speaker
good Wow. Just, just, just coming right out of the gate. to suck the editor room but but I know the future. I'm way ahead of you guys. Do you want all the winning lottery numbers? Cause already lived yesterday.
00:01:04
Speaker
How's everyone's week been?
Success of the 424 Mark II Pedal
00:01:06
Speaker
Anything memorable happen? Maybe today. Had a pedal release, the 424 Mark II pedal. We put it up at 9 a.m. and sold a bunch of them. And then around 9.40 a.m., m we started getting messages that they were all sold out. Angry messages. Wait, it sold out in 40 minutes?
00:01:27
Speaker
That's wild. Yeah, 40 minutes. Oh, that's great. It hasn't happened in a while. It was a good feeling. isn't this And isn't this the pedal that you almost didn't even release? Yeah, i was I still had reservations all the way up to the end. But yeah, yeah it's it's like a clone of Tascam Porta Studio 424 Mark II preamp.
00:01:50
Speaker
Hell yeah. And it's not even the popular one. It's not the one that like McGee uses. It's... One that I made in parallel with the other one, and I was like, this one actually rips more, so I'm just going to make this one instead.
00:02:07
Speaker
Also, no one else has made this one yet. so More fun.
Debate on Cloning and Production
00:02:10
Speaker
That's cool. It is more fun. Are the other ones and the other one iss the Mark I and yours is the Mark II, or...? That's my understanding. Some of them don't even say, but I'm telling you, looking at the 424 Mark II schematic, no one else has cloned that.
00:02:25
Speaker
it's It's disgusting. It's so it's super funny. So for everyone listening out there, you can't get it. They're all gone. That is true. this is a plug into nothing.
00:02:40
Speaker
yeah ah plug for absolutely nothing. but You'll do more. i'm sure This will just energize the secondhand market. We're trying to figure out if we're going to do more actually, because it's not really like an original design. So I don't really care about it that much. Yeah, I get that.
00:02:56
Speaker
But also i do like paying my employees. So that's kind of like, I don't know. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it. I should probably just do more and like put on my big boy pants and not like try to get my art kicks from it.
00:03:13
Speaker
Right. Don't beat yourself up for it being cloned. It's rad. If it's a cool pedal and it's something nobody else has done, then right on. I kind of like that idea of doing batch stuff for like this type of thing where it's like a fun clone that you did just as like a hobby project basically or something.
00:03:29
Speaker
And then just do batches as people want them instead of a long-term Benson release or something. I don't know. Yeah. I think that's the idea with these. And I have a handful of other like four knob like distortion or overdrive pedals designed that are like more clone-y, not something that I'm super... I think they sound good, and that's the reason I made them. But like also, if something says Benson on it, it it needs to be kind of something new um that kind of pushes something forward in one way or another, whether that's just being funny or an actual like new kind of circuit or new idea or new exploration.
00:04:09
Speaker
And this is just kind of like It's sort of new because no one's ever cloned it, but also kind of low-hanging fruit. Like anyone could have done it. We just did it. Yeah, that's cool, though. People seem to like it, so that's rad.
00:04:22
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I like it. I think it sounds way better than it should. it actually makes me really depressed about like designing overdrive and distortion pedals because it's like, man, they weren't even trying to make an overdrive distortion pedal, and this thing just sounds rad.
00:04:38
Speaker
Yeah. And I promise I'm not trying to plug it because they're not even available. ah correct To be released in the future under the Bronson label.
00:04:50
Speaker
Oh, don't tell people about Bronson, man. That's secret. That's supposed to be a secret. We talked about that. We should talk about Bronson. Shoot. But the thing was off.
00:05:00
Speaker
bran Bronson was going to be a brand that we started that ah that looks like an overseas cloner of Benson stuff, but it's going to be called Bronson.
00:05:13
Speaker
And we would feign like you know disgust and outrage that someone's just overtly cloning us, but it would actually just be us the entire time. And that falls under the category of, yeah, that's pretty funny.
00:05:26
Speaker
I don't really need to cut that out, do I? No, you're fine. Okay. It's never going to happen. It's just something that I fantasize about. It's just fun.
Designing High-Power Amps
00:05:35
Speaker
Speaking of a completely ridiculous bulls**t, well, not bulls**t, speaking of completely ridiculous things, I finished a set of 700-watt iron today. Yeah, man.
00:05:46
Speaker
No dead air for that. That's awesome.
00:05:51
Speaker
So I weighed everything individually and added up, and it weighed 69 pounds. Jesus Christ.
00:06:00
Speaker
It's so stupid. I'm trying to figure out what what I can put 420 of into this thing. Well, we already discussed putting a nomenclature on the back panel that stipulates certain ah breakers and electrical panels that you're not allowed to use with it.
00:06:16
Speaker
Yep. You can't use a federal Pacific panel. And then stab lock, stay block, whatever they're called. That's right. The breakers that stick, which which are in my shop.
00:06:28
Speaker
Yeah, they are. That's how you turn the lights on and off in the shop next door to you. that's the thing. They're never going to fail because you're so turning them off. They don't fail closed. They're just open. That's going to be wild.
00:06:40
Speaker
I can't wait. Pretty exciting. I can't believe how much time we're spending on this idiotic project. know So ridiculous. So ridiculous.
00:06:51
Speaker
We got the A-OK from Eddie at Eurotubes. We finally sent him the schematic because he's a... You know, we're we know what we're doing, but sometimes it's good to get like ah another person who knows what they're doing to look at something. We got to get him on here.
00:07:07
Speaker
we we all know We all know lots of stuff and we have lots of experience, but i mean I can confidently say that that guy knows more about the inner workings of a vacuum tube than any of us, by far more than me.
00:07:20
Speaker
I know a lot of stuff. absolutely Dude, i get lost on the phone with him. he yeah it's I love just listening to him go. yeah so I think having you know like a ah a pass, a blessing, you know, of, of that power amp design, ah from him. That's great. Cause again, and I mean, he's, he's, he knows the tubes that are going in it better than we do, you know, he'll know what they can handle.
00:07:46
Speaker
And, uh, yeah, I mean, the whole thing is an exercise in like, I mean, figuring out failure modes. I mean, me and Chris were discussing that today about our fusing system, our inrush current limiting system, you know, possibly having another relay that would disconnect the ground reference for the entire high voltage supply under different safety ah potential failures and Like, does it turn off when one fuse shorts or not fuse, a one a when a power tube shorts? Because it's like 700 watts. I mean, like, a tube is going to fail.
00:08:25
Speaker
happens eventually. So trying to figure out, you know, ah as as me and Chris were saying this morning, there's no current limiting. It's like an unlimited amount of current. you know there's there's If a tube fails, the power supply is not even going to feel it.
00:08:38
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, there's there's less than 15 ohms. in series basically from like the wall to a power tube. Um, damn yeah the output transformer primaries, uh, are, uh, one side is three Ohms.
00:08:56
Speaker
The other one is like 2.85, 2.9. So it's just crazy. It's, it's, it's totally insane. So yeah, the, the, The safety stuff is just paramount because like Chris said, there's the power supply. won't even feel it.
00:09:12
Speaker
This thing's short. It's just going to keep, keep going. So We're trying to figure out who the funniest artist would be to demo this thing. So if anyone's listening and they have a funny idea and maybe a connection, um man.
00:09:28
Speaker
Hook us up. we have ah We have a short list of ah people we've come up with so far. but Should we talk about our dream list of this? Yeah, sure. I mean, wait and if you don't want to embarrass anybody, I get that.
00:09:42
Speaker
No, let's... let's ah ah I don't know. let's Let's not poison the well. Okay. All right. I get that. I want to see. What I would love is like a high-profile guitar player who would be a really funny choice to demonstrate a 700-watt Benson amp in Portland. Someone who's maybe not necessarily known for loud electric guitar, I think, is what's funny to me.
00:10:14
Speaker
or Or someone who is known. Like if like a ah slash type figure were to appear out of the woodwork,
00:10:22
Speaker
I would be okay with that. and Also, this is going to be in LA at some point as well. So anyone anyone down there? Call the hotline and give your suggestions and we'll roast them all next week.
00:10:37
Speaker
Yes, call or text 513-334-3803. But what if you charged admission, people could come in, play the 700 watt amp, and you'd film them, eh?
00:10:52
Speaker
Oh my. Charging for stuff sucks. Okay, then don't charge. Then you have to like pay attention to how much people are charging. Yeah, it's not fun. We're not doing this for the money.
00:11:06
Speaker
you know I just i remembered I once worked on an amp for the bass player from that band New Shoes. You know that band's here. Or they're in Vancouver. didn't know that. What was that song, I Can't Wait?
00:11:19
Speaker
I think if we got Rivers Cuomo to come on and play a few of the new Weezer songs. Oh my God.
00:11:27
Speaker
but but What are you saying, Charles? That would that' be hilarious and awesome. Yeah. I think some funnier names were mentioned earlier.
00:11:38
Speaker
I'm like, cant can we talk about this on air? Yeah, we're we are open. Rivers f***ing rips so hard. Yeah, he's so good.
00:11:49
Speaker
He's so good. My first thought of Weezer isn't like... guitar savant you know but then you actually like get into it and listen and watch him play and it's just so effortless and crazy he can shred but so hard he went to the same high school i went to except like 10 years before um really in connecticut eosmith high school i saw them I saw them recently play with Dinosaur Jr. and Flaming Lips.
00:12:16
Speaker
It was rad. See, yeah I suggested Jay Mascus earlier, but it was just like two on the nose. i I actually was texting with Jay earlier.
00:12:27
Speaker
i i could i might i could ask Jay. I bet he'd be into it. i mean, that's pretty fitting. i me That sounds like a pretty cool fit. Man, that would be cool. But then again, do you want to be, like i said, like totally on the nose? I mean, you know, have Matt Pike do it.
00:12:42
Speaker
But like, it's almost too fitting. yeah Again, having someone completely ridiculous. The only people who know who Matt Pike are look exactly like Brian Sowers. That's hardly true. I can't even grow facial hair. Come on. I'm 45 with baby face skin. I mean, come on. Like, no. Uh-uh.
00:13:03
Speaker
What's the math on this for the the maximum SPL? So you're doing it's 700 watts. You're doing what, an 812, you said, pretty much standard with it? 1612s.
00:13:14
Speaker
Oh, 1612s. So what are they, around 100 per watt? I would assume around 100 dB, yeah. 100 dB per watt for for the speakers. And so for one watt,
00:13:29
Speaker
you add 3 dB for every speaker. Well, kind of. it depends on the line array. but Man, you're going out on a limb that I'm not going to follow. Yeah, I didn't even calculate that. like They're open back cabinets. Dude, I want to know.
00:13:46
Speaker
I want to know maximum SPO. So you add 3 dB per speaker. So 3 dB times 16 is 48. So with one watt, you have a hunt you potentially, if they're all pointed at the same place, you can have 148 db And then every time you double the wattage, you add another 3 dB.
00:14:07
Speaker
So the math on that is a little harder. So 2 watts would be 151. 4 watts would be 154. 8 watts. This going to take a while.
00:14:18
Speaker
but um You guys should kill people. think it's the bottom line. That's a lot of sound pressure. That's going to be insane. Well, what's the... Okay, so the threshold of pain is What is that, like 135? 130 or something, yeah, it's it's... I'm so surprised that Emily hasn't told us exactly what the threshold of pain is.
00:14:43
Speaker
The threshold of pain? i think that's like a 100, probably less than 120 decibels, if I remember correctly. Yeah, so the scale I'm looking at here varies between 120 and 140 dB SPL.
00:14:58
Speaker
Depending on if you look like someone who knows the amount pikas. Yeah, exactly. 140 is a firearm. 130 is a jackhammer. 150 is fireworks at three feet. Firecracker shotgun.
00:15:16
Speaker
That just sounds like a lyric from a country song.
00:15:20
Speaker
120 would be painful. That's jet plane takeoff siren. I find those things painful. Sirens. Hey, Charles, how's this how's it going, buddy? Oh, it's cool. I'm mathing over here. Sorry.
00:15:35
Speaker
Okay, this is what I was looking for. and In Hanover, Germany, 1994, Manowar, who called themselves the the loudest band ever. Oh, wait, they were called the loudest band ever by the Guinness Book of World Records, ended up breaking their own record 10 years later, achieving 129.5 decibels at a concert in Hanover ah hundred and twenty nine and that's a world record 129.5. I feel like... Yeah, but it's also Manowar.
00:16:05
Speaker
I mean, other bands rock, but Manowar kills. Which, if you know the Manowar song, never mind. No. Anyone who knows that will think it's funny. I feel like the average A Place to Bury Strangers show is louder than that.
00:16:19
Speaker
I mean, the difference between 120 and 130 is a lot, obviously. It's double. I'm joking. It's double. You guys will i' hit 130 easily, but because the speakers aren't like speaker stuff is so weird speaker, like SPL physics, because it won't all be pointed to the same place. It'll all be pointed straight forward.
00:16:40
Speaker
So um you don't get the extra three dB from, from each speaker. You just, you just, each speaker carries less of a load. So it has more potential before breaking up and stuff.
00:16:51
Speaker
So I think you'll be able to hit clean. I think like around one 31, what one 31 at one watt input.
00:17:02
Speaker
ah want No, no, no. ah The 131 is just from the 700 watts through one of the speakers. Okay, right. and then And then as you add the speakers, they like you'll have more presence overall, but it's the it just depends on the axis of the speakers and phase cancellation stuff like that. So um it all kind of balances out.
00:17:22
Speaker
Like I said before, it's open they're going to be open back cabs and they're vertical 212s, I think. So what are we looking at? Like 15 inch, 16 inch width.
00:17:34
Speaker
So yeah, they're they're not going to be like, as you said, it depends on the line array. They're not going to be like single point focus. Right. I mean, well, they could, they could be. their needs be Yeah. yeah You just arrange the cabs in a horseshoe.
00:17:49
Speaker
Yeah, turn it into a weapon, turn it into a government weapon. Yeah, I was just going to say like... Brown notice. I mean, isn't that basically just a Sun O show? Yeah, yeah. Right? They're playing what? Like three or four Model Ts, 150 watt.
00:18:04
Speaker
So, okay, four of those, 600. And they do that. They they put them in ah and an array where at points, like kind of like what Jay Maskis does, but like more, i think it's more cabinets and more of ah of ah of a horseshoe.
00:18:19
Speaker
Yeah. But, um, could do that, but do we want to do that? No, you'll hit it easily. That's that'll be, it'll do like, you know, small stadium level output. That's going to be insane.
00:18:36
Speaker
I mean, the real question that I have the whole time really is going to be just like, how does the input power keep? So you know Chris has talked about it. We have three power cables on the thing.
00:18:48
Speaker
So we're trying to minimize voltage drop in the power cable and going to the primaries of the power transformers. um But we we're going to have, you know there's wire in the wall. So ah Chris is going to know this better than me. What's what's what's the gauge on Romex?
00:19:04
Speaker
um It's 12 for most commercial and 14 for most residential. Okay, so we're assuming this will be in a commercial 20 amp circuit.
00:19:15
Speaker
so yeah probably I would assume 12. Okay. So yeah, I mean, there's going to be voltage drop going on with that. I don't even know. i i mean, I'm, yeah, I have no clue what it's going to do.
00:19:28
Speaker
I'm very curious. I can't wait to see, I can't wait to see what kind of weird pops up when you guys actually build one that you like weren't anticipating. Yeah. yeah Yeah. Like, like good and bad. I'm sure like, it's probably going to do some weird, cool that you're like, whoa, you know, I'm hoping that it just works. Yeah. too I feel like it will.
00:19:49
Speaker
um Cause you know, we, we've all worked on 300 watt amps. And this is just two of those, but it's also like yeah way more overbuilt than yeah those.
00:20:03
Speaker
so Well, the the heater system, again, to to bring it back to you know Eddie giving giving his sign off on it, thinking it was good, that the heater system was you know an unknown for me.
00:20:16
Speaker
i never I've never done that before. so ah each there's So there's one power transformer that just handles heaters. And it has two 44.1 volt secondaries, and then a 6.3 volts center tap secondary. The 6.3 volts center tap secondary goes to 6L6 used in the interstage system and a 12AU7 that feeds that. So this is just for the power amp.
00:20:40
Speaker
And the 44.1s go to ah seven KT88s in series. And there's two, two rows of of seven of them. So, and when you have that many tubes in c series, obviously there's discrepancies when turning it on, ah how fast one, two pizza versus another.
00:21:01
Speaker
so we've got load balancing resistors in which granted they, they add to the current, but because we're running such a high, high voltage, our current draw is much less. So we just tack on another, i think it's like 1.5 amp on each winding.
00:21:16
Speaker
in order to have these load balancing resistors so that when the tubes first turn on, it's not like one has all the heat in the ah and another one doesn't, you know? And yeah I was really unsure of that if that was gonna be something uh electrically viable i mean it should work but i've never done that yeah it's crazy i hope it works i burnt up um i burnt up a power cord one time when i was first starting out with like hi-fi stuff before i was building my own amps and i was just like modding and tweaking and setting up systems i used to do like super high-end audio setups in the bay area and and like the greater bay area so i went up to like um
00:22:00
Speaker
It's the Stinson Beach area in California. And I did an install one time for this dude, and I brought a couple giant tube amps. So they were like, you know, i don't know if you guys know the Russian tube. It's the 6C33C.
00:22:13
Speaker
um It's one of the best tubes I've ever heard. It's a weird exotic hi-fi tube. and What is this again? 6C33C. They're massive, and they they produce so much power.
00:22:26
Speaker
And we had these single-ended amps, and they used like I think it was eight of them each. um So it wasn't a ton of power, but it was all Class A single-ended.
00:22:36
Speaker
um So they produced like 80 watts per side or something like that with with with eight tubes. It looks like maximum plate dissipation is 60 watts. Okay. And i set him up, and this dude had a fucking crazy house. You walk in, and like his whole living room is this like giant atrium.
00:22:53
Speaker
And he had these big – Wilson audio speakers that cost like 200 grand and I'm hooking everything up to a system. like And at the time i didn't really, I didn't understand a ton of like how all the power stuff worked and everything. I'm just like, yeah, these are great amps. We we use them all the time at the shop.
00:23:10
Speaker
And I brought the wrong power cords and plugged them into his
International Compliance Challenges
00:23:14
Speaker
s**t. And we're listening and like evaluating the system to see if he likes it. And it sounds incredible. It sounds so good in his place. And then I start seeing you smoke and I was like, what the f**k?
00:23:23
Speaker
So we both like run up to his kitchen where everything's set up and the power cord is just melting on the spot. And I had to unplug everything. um And yeah, they were just, they were drawing way too much for the the power cords I i brought.
00:23:38
Speaker
Because they were just like dinky little computer IECs, you know? Which are, i think, 15 amp, technically. Yeah. yeah no I've seen some that are only 10.
00:23:50
Speaker
These were probably those. Wow. If they're different, why? Yeah, it doesn't matter. IEC. Yeah. yeah
00:24:00
Speaker
I'm sick of, of reading that 168 page IEC transformer safety specification document. Yeah. We're, ah we're,
00:24:12
Speaker
We're getting all the documentation done for Europe right now. So we should hopefully be able to start selling in Europe again in the next ah next few months. That's rad.
00:24:23
Speaker
I'm doing all that with Japan right now. It's such a pain in the ass. Yeah. Japan's wild. It's like the same criteria as all the Europe stuff, but in every single individual unit has to be...
00:24:36
Speaker
tested and you have to keep logs for three years and all that crap. And you can't just like with the other certifications, you know, like you test your model and it's good and it passes, you throw the stamp on every model and and send it out.
00:24:48
Speaker
It's wild that you have to do every individual unit with this. So that's been kind thing to get, get through. We're getting a lot of the testing done for Japan too, but when the time comes, we're going to have to ah partner with a distributor of some sort.
00:25:03
Speaker
Who knows how to do that? Yeah, it's weird. Gosh. It's so much. it's It's like making a 700-watt amp. No, making a 700-watt amp is easier.
00:25:16
Speaker
I will say none of the compliance stuff is making our amps any safer. They've... Yeah, they're all they already passed. They're fine. They're all fine. You just have to actually do the testing and keep the logs. It's wild.
00:25:28
Speaker
Like, yeah, I've had to change nothing. i just have to, you know, get some test equipment and keep logs and make sure everything's cool so so we don't get fined by the very strict government.
00:25:41
Speaker
For the IEC requirements, you have to keep the documentation on file for 10 years after you stop making the part.
00:25:52
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. That's wild. It's, it's, yeah. Which I mean, like nowadays it's like, okay, store it in the cloud, whatever. But, you know, still it's surprising. It's a surprising requirement. Yeah. the The Japan stuff's crazy too, because it's all in Japanese.
00:26:05
Speaker
And but the the translations that are out there are all so rough. Well, good thing you're fluent. So you bet. Yeah, right. Yeah. That's that swa du and' what I found out here. Like, because I'm exposed to it all day now. So like, I hear it constantly.
00:26:23
Speaker
I watch the TV when I go to bed, i talk to people. And I find that when I'm talking to someone, It's easy. I'm like, i'm like okay, cool. like I went into a store to get a birthday gift for someone yesterday and I could talk to the employee and it it was all in Japanese. I asked what color you know what colors they had and asked to see something else and told them was for a birthday gift. And and they matched my speed. I can understand that I can by. It feels really good. Like this is working. I'm actually doing it. I'm talking...
00:26:49
Speaker
and japanese to people and then i hear two japanese people talking to each other and i'm just like what the i have no idea because they're comfortable with each other so they just go and it's so much harder they're so good about matching my speed and somehow they get a really quick idea for like maybe just based on how i sound like the level of vocabulary that i have so yeah I don't know. It's interesting. It's it's a really weird new experience.
00:27:23
Speaker
I mean, that's rad that people do actually speak Japanese with you. um Yeah. I've had experiences in other countries where I try to speak the language and people are just like, no, I'm not going to bother with this and just speak English.
00:27:34
Speaker
So I'd never get any practice. Oh, dude, they love it here. It's really intimidating sometimes, but they they're like so... ah Japanese, is I think, the number one hardest language ever in the world to learn for like Latin language, native speakers, like English and um Spanish and Italian and all that.
00:27:57
Speaker
So they say Japanese is like, even like levels beyond Mandarin and, and Korean and all that stuff, just because of all the crazy particles and stuff they have that change based on rules.
00:28:11
Speaker
So when, ah when someone's actually trying to learn and like putting a good effort in beyond just like thank you and excuse me and stuff like that. um Their faces light up. They're like, whoa, what the hell? Like you're speaking Japanese. Like but that's so cool. And then they like really want to like, they're really cool about practicing. It seems like everyone I talk to is like, I'll make a mistake and they're like, oh, you want to say it like this and do this. And like, everyone wants to be a teacher and it's, it's really, it's really rad.
00:28:39
Speaker
That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. That is awesome. Yeah. It's everyone's been pretty welcoming. I was going to say, I'm still convinced Charles is just an Omaha. And he's just eating at steakhouses every night and trying to speak Japanese to the waitress.
00:28:55
Speaker
They're like, oh, yeah, they're saying to me in English, whoa, you speak Japanese? That's really cool. no But he's had so many IPAs that he just doesn't even notice. Oh, my God.
00:29:07
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I forget if we've talked about that on the podcast before, but I've been sending these guys – photos, really vague photos of, we should post these online somewhere, but um really vague photos of my trip that could be like from anywhere. i' ah I'll do like a zoom in photo of like a Denny's restaurant and be like, where am i there yeah There's so many that like really do just look like Seattle.
00:29:33
Speaker
Yeah, that's so funny. Oh, we got to do a, um what's it called? Photo Photo dump. Yeah, photo dump. And then the other photos are like, did I show you guys the photos of, I went up to the mountain the other day and did like the autumn leaves viewing and stuff with all the crazy like autumn red and orange and yellow colors. And it was wild because um i don't know if you guys have heard the news, but I've gotten like five texts from people in America um in the last week, like, Hey, there's no bears around where you are. Are there? Cause
00:30:06
Speaker
Apparently bears are just going ham over here and like coming down from the mountains and killing people. Whoa. whoa And eating everyone. Whoa. Okay. It's a huge problem here right now. So me and my friend Mayu went up to this mountain and everyone was kind of on high alert. It seemed like because like we're actually going to a mountain where there might actually be bears.
00:30:25
Speaker
And um it was a big tourist spot. So there were a ton of people around. so So the word for bear in Japan is kuma. and i And I was telling Mayu like, I just started laughing randomly and she's like, what, what, what's funny? And I was like, ah, my weird ass head was just thinking how funny it would be to turn around and start running and screaming, kuma, kuma, kuma.
00:30:45
Speaker
I was in mass hysteria. And she looked at me like, you're you're a crazy person. well Why would you do that? Yeah. That was your dumb American moment in Japan. You're basically like, what if I was just yelling fire in this crowded theater? Wouldn't that be funny? No, it wouldn't be funny. That'd be messed up.
00:31:09
Speaker
No, it would not be funny at all. Are you crazy? I wouldn't really do it, but you know, you might as well be like if I did. Oh, I don't know. You just pre-conventionally just tickled that it would be in another language.
00:31:25
Speaker
And that's the only thing that makes it funny. yeah a I have ah one question for you all. It's not about amps.
00:31:37
Speaker
What a fellas? It's Steve. got a question for you. It's Friday night. No responsibilities on Saturday.
00:31:48
Speaker
No one's going to get mad. Someone will take care of you. What are you drinking and vibing otherwise to chill out and otherwise have a nice, fun, chill-ass Friday night?
Friday Night Drinks and Listener Voicemails
00:32:10
Speaker
Later, dudes.
00:32:12
Speaker
I want to know what that guy was drinking when he made the phone call. Steve sounds like a chill dude. What up, fellas? That sounds awesome. Is this Steve from 60 Cycle Hum? That's what I thought.
00:32:23
Speaker
Yes, it is. It is super rich Steve from 60 cycle home. I like that guy. This is such a boring question for me. so I don't really drink anymore. I've, I've been trying as hard as I can to not drink while I'm here because it's so easy and accessible and everyone's reached all day.
00:32:41
Speaker
You can get a whiskey high ball, like a tall boy whiskey high ball, like 10% alcohol for like a dollar 20 at the convenience store. That's on every corner. Yeah, I basically don't drink anymore.
00:32:55
Speaker
Although I did have a beer tonight. And it is a Terminal Gravity Festivale or Festival all Strong Winter Ale.
00:33:09
Speaker
I've never tried that. And I don't know. I was just in New Seasons and I felt awkward just getting Topo Chico, so I got this too. I'll probably go out tonight ah to an Izakaya So I'll keep it Japan themed and it is my Friday night actually. And there's no consequences. And I'll probably, I'll probably have a couple sake drinks.
00:33:31
Speaker
Nihon Shu, they call it. That, that'll be chill. Does Advil count as imbibing? i was going to ask you, Brian, what's a, what's like your fun drink? If you're, if you're not just drinking water, what are you drinking with your potato chips?
00:33:46
Speaker
Oh, at home or like home? I don't really go to go to bars, but um I really like plain soda water, which is so, so boring. I love that?
00:33:57
Speaker
Like plain. Jess makes fun of me constantly about it. Plain is my jam. Yeah, that's mostly what I drink. Same. It's like, I like the bite. ah used drink a lot Coca-Cola when I was a kid.
00:34:08
Speaker
And, you know, thankfully that I kind of phased that out as an adult. So yeah, I mean, soda water, uh, or a smoothie. God, i'm I'm so, so boring now.
00:34:21
Speaker
What's your, uh, smoothie gem there, buddy? Oh, it changes every night. Last night was like a blueberry creamsicle sort of thing. What would the ingredients be in that? Blueberries, pineapple, a little bit of ginger, little bit of ice and, uh, pea milk.
00:34:40
Speaker
Pea milk is our alternative milk of choice in my house. Yeah, we're very progressive in Portland. It's milkman out of pee. Yeah. Yeah. yeah It's milk. i was going say that that um that doesn't sound good at all.
00:34:52
Speaker
That's borderline fetish. It is fetish. Let's see what else. ah That one probably had a little bit of mango in it. Jess made it, not me.
00:35:02
Speaker
I make really basic ones. It's like always just a ton of blueberry, a ton of pineapple, and like so much ginger and honey Um, I used to put protein powder in it, but after that study came out about how they all are full of lead, I don't really do protein powder anymore. And then our favorite pea milk. what Oh yeah.
00:35:22
Speaker
Most protein powders are like more in one servings, like, like more than your like weekly, uh, allowance of, of lead consumption as it. So, so much. less Yeah.
00:35:34
Speaker
That just came out like two weeks ago. I drink protein drinks constantly, not the powder, but like, i imagine it's the same. shit Maybe. ah Like I used to get the Oregon. What's it called? The simple or something like that, ah where it's just pea protein and, you know, a couple of things. And yeah, that one, that they all have lead them.
00:35:57
Speaker
So no more, which a bummer because it did make it makes smoothies taste great. But I just really like a lot of blueberries and a lot of ginger. Dude, blueberries are the best.
00:36:09
Speaker
I eat blueberries every day. Every morning I eat blueberries every single morning. They're so good. And they're so low calorie. You can eat so many and it's like, well, they're very good for you.
00:36:20
Speaker
I've been on, I've been on a low calorie, high protein diet, trying to get back in shape and stuff. And blueberries are like my, my savior right now. They're, they're, they're kind of hard to find here. Kind of expensive, but it's cool. The protein drink thing i was doing for a long time.
00:36:38
Speaker
um when I was home, but now that I'm living here, uh, it's a lot easier to eat my protein. So that's been cool. Cause there's yakitori shops everywhere and it's super cheap.
00:36:49
Speaker
Get that way goo. That way goo. Man, I had a Wagyu burger the other day. I've tried them in, in America. they're They're fine. Kind of, kind of like overly,
00:37:01
Speaker
Fatty flavored. But here they're just trying to fall apart. I tried like a Shogun burger thing. It was good. I had to send a photo. You know what I've been eating the most here though? Kebab. Like kebab pita sandwiches and stuff.
00:37:15
Speaker
Oh, like a Donner? Yeah, yeah. In Japan? Dude, they're all over the place. And they're like like a fat mixed chicken and beef kebab sandwich is like $3.
00:37:27
Speaker
three dollars so I've, I've been getting one like every day well and they're so good. It's just funny that you're in Japan eating kebabs. Can I give him my, my smoothie recipe that I do every day?
Health and Flavor: Smoothie Recipes and Japanese Diet
00:37:44
Speaker
Let's hear it. Um, man, I am so stuck on this. I love it. So it's a, it's one banana, uh, half a cup blueberries frozen.
00:37:57
Speaker
Um, let's see, half a lime squeezed, couple ice cubes, um, some kefir, like maybe half a cup of a kefir, just unflavored kefir cocoa, maybe quarter cup of cocoa nibs, which I fricking love.
00:38:15
Speaker
Best to be the ingredient. um And some cayenne and some turmeric. And I pretty much eat that every single day. I love it so much. ends up being about 220 calories or something.
00:38:30
Speaker
Oh, yeah, yeah. And the secret ingredient is just like most of the blender of spinach leaves. And you don't even can taste the spinach. It's amazing. So you get all the protein from the spinach, you get the antioxidants from the blueberries, and you get the anti-inflammatory with the turmeric in there. Does spinach have protein?
00:38:50
Speaker
Yeah. Calcium, I think. Not a lot of protein. Doesn't it? don't think so. A ton of calcium, though. Great. Yeah, not not a whole lot of protein in that, but I i i get my protein from my meats. Yeah.
00:39:03
Speaker
yeah maybe Maybe it's high in protein to just to me, the vegetarian. yeah Maybe you've been reading too much vegetarian magazine. Yes, exactly. But man, I love that.
00:39:15
Speaker
It's so good. Yeah, that sounds great. The routines have been have been cool. I've been doing miso soup every morning and before my coffee. I read a study recently that said it was a study on these like mathematician professors at ah university and I read Yeah, a doctor was doing their checkups and stuff and said that the one thing they all had in common.
00:39:44
Speaker
Wasn't it that they consumed like fats before their coffee? So and their memories were, were more intact. Yes. It changes the way the caffeine hits your body. And instead of spinning you out, it focuses you more.
00:39:58
Speaker
So um it was specifically... It was like Kyoto University or something. And um so all of them... The one thing they had in common was every morning they...
00:40:09
Speaker
drank miso soup and ate fermented vegetables. And something with the combination of those proteins and ah fats, oh, before their coffee, sorry. they They did that before they would drink coffee.
00:40:21
Speaker
And the coffee just like super focused them and heightened everything. So I've been trying that out and I feel good. It's been like three days. so I've been doing it every day. you're getting supercharged over there. Getting supercharged. Just just you really leaning into the whole...
00:40:37
Speaker
the whole culture thing. but you know Minus the Donner kebab every day. Well, yeah. But I mean, it's constantly lined with other Japanese people too. What do you mean other Japanese people, Charles? I just caught i caught myself on that one. yeah I just noticed that.
00:40:53
Speaker
I meant but with Japanese people too. Wow. Oh my God. If we were looking for the ending, that's it.
00:41:07
Speaker
Let's see. Let's see. You f***ing goober. ah Thank you for listening to this episode of Amplified Nonsense.
00:41:20
Speaker
Our goal is to release a new episode every other week, so please subscribe wherever you listen. If you have a question for Brian, at Charles, and Chris about amps, pop culture, or relationship please call 3 3 4 3 8 0 3 and leave a voicemail.
00:41:38
Speaker
If you enjoyed this episode of amplified nonsense, please leave a rating and review. Thanks again. And we'll see you soon.