Metasonix

08/29/2026

For months I've been begged to keep making the Amputator. Ran out of polycarbonate boxes. So, went to buy more, "Out of stock" until "we don't know". So I'm building a few in regular black plastic; take it or leave it.

(Yes that's not a joke: quite a few lads bought one and could not figure out which way to connect it. Did not RTFM. So they assumed it was "just like a Japanese guitar pedal" and hooked it up backwards. Then sent it back moaning it "don't work man". Argh.)

WE ARE PREPARING TO DISCONTINUE THE AMPUTATOR.

06/24/2026

Two years ago I was messing around with the idea of making a synth out of subminiature tubes. Having recently scored a box of 5642 submini thyratrons, which are normally VERY difficult to find. They were used ONLY in military hardware and avionics.

So the idea was to cram a complete synth - two VCO, RK4-like VCF, VCA with basic cv functions - into a 32hp panel. Put it in your modular or in its own cabinet.

It quickly turned into sheer screaming hell. The tubes were not much of a problem, but all the support circuitry and routing around the board drove me up the wall. The first batch of PCBs were riddled with errors--one of which I still have not found, after building 3 prototypes. Then came the personal problems, money troubles, the IRS claiming I didn't make estimated-tax payments (it was THEIR mistake), with Kathleen's troubles taking over in late 2024. So the prototypes sat in a box for 2 years. [i]I am NOT going to pursue this bu****it further.[/i]

Even MORE charming was the reaction from dealers and a few select customers to the first prototype. "Why is it so small", well that's what you nerds want, right? No one else will be insane enough to make something similar. The NOS tubes are DAMN difficult to find. Did not matter.

The real hysterics started when I informed them the retail price would be around US $3000. Then came the "OMGOMGOMG ARE YOU INSANE WHY CANT YOU GET A CHINESE FACTORY TO MAKE THEM AND SELL IT FOR $499 LIKE A BEHRINGER" etc. etc. Plus the ever-insulting "can't you make it run on a 9v battery". Plus "where do I plug in my guitar" and "where's the MIDI input", "why aren't there presets" and so forth. The usual petty s**t.

If I make one last product, it will be something roughly like this, but a LOT bigger, easier to build, and even MORE expensive. Using only "junk" miniature tubes that can be found easily.....5696 and 6U8 types.

(Having tested all manner of switching power supplies and adapters, the act of finding a supply to run this will be "interesting". Most of the power bricks available are NOISY. And I expect complaints to soon arise. Plus I can't find the lab notebook for the last 7 years of experimenting. Plus my eyesight is a problem. Starting to see why I want to retire and give it all up? Everything understandable now?)

As usual, see the comments for the pic. FB is still screwed for me.

06/13/2026

Some "flap" this week about Catalyst Audio putting out a line of tube modules. They were designed by Doug the Electronic Peasant. Best of luck to them.
https://www.catalystaudio.com/copy-of-home-1

Using 1J24Bs is a wise choice because they are low-power filamentary battery-set devices. Very cleverly designed too, plus still available as NOS surplus.

I experimented with them 15 years ago, and although they do work as amplifiers, the voltage gain is so low that the designs they can be used in are very limited. Doug managed to find ways.

Somewhere in my piles of crap is a package of 300+ bulk-packed 1J24Bs. Now if I could remember where.

06/03/2026

Kidney working better now, back to the "grind".

Betcha thought quack-medical devices disappeared from the market because they are quack medicine, right? You would be wrong. They are simply being made in China now--the world's largest eager market for quack medicine.

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04/30/2026

On Monday I had even MORE kidney surgery. Balloon ureteroplasty, because scar tissue (from the previous surgery) blocked the ureter partly and it was backing up. Same surgeon. He saw an ultrasound taken 2 wks ago and went "oops we need to fix that". Was not painful....but now it is, only when pi***ng; small amounts of blood again......drink those 3 liters every day, kids.

And I'm still getting queries about "when are you coming back??" and "buy a booth at our trade show" and "advertise on our website" etc. etc. Some of them are relentless. Bah.

02/22/2026

The other day I had kidney stone surgery. Big stone, destroyed with laser endoscope. Left me very weak and shaky. Prostate mangled (again). Forced to urinate every 20 min to 1 hour bc it's trying to expel blood and other "bad substances" I gather. Medications are only partly effective. Been in bed or on toilet most of the time. Huzzah.

Anything you wanted is going to wait longer.

Until then consider this extreme obscurity from the TCA list. "This is a Jennings Radio experimental capacitively tunable dual triode. Probably meant as a UHF transmitter tube. The anodes are connected to the black solder lugs.
I have this tube from the HSJ (History San Jose) Museum, which has a large collection of artifacts from Jennings. These were donated to the museum when Jennings moved manufacturing out of USA.
The tube will soon be up for sale and the selling domain and price are still TBD, but will soon be published in the tubecollectors domain. Proceeds will go to HSJ."

Probably a pulsed triode for radar and probably a failure. Those copper bellows for tuning are fragile and won't stand the heat. Photo below because I STILL cannot post a photo directly.

01/28/2026

https://www.modwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=298608

Still can't post photos here so this forum post will have to do. You are NOT getting any service or new toys from me until I settle all of Kathleen's affairs.

Even now I'm still getting emails asking for help, including a guy who is trying to build a replica of the Le Caine "Electronic Sackbut", which I know nothing about and have never seen. Does a dead partner make a good "excuse" not to offer free tech support for random DIY projects? Why should I even care? Haven't I dropped enough goddamn hints that I am SICK of doing this?

The owner of this website (www.modwiggler.com) has banned the autonomous system number (ASN) your IP address is in (32934) from accessing this website.

01/03/2026

Tried to delete this page, and keep getting "You are not authorized for this action". So much for that.

01/02/2026

Not only but also, etc etc......

This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data.

12/31/2025

THAT'S IT, I'VE HAD ENOUGH !!

In a few days we are shutting down this page. At least, we will TRY. Not only is Meta an utterly incompetent organization, with zero customer support and mobs of sockpuppets and hackers, they are now trying to BILL ME for advertisements I did not place or authorize.

Today there was a Paypal payment of $255. No idea what it was "for". Emails and attempts to contact FB management are ignored.

Does not help that I keep seeing reports like this.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid0NvF3RBeXovr1ZFy8zjktc1adQZ1BJhnz6R8hLviBgQFmmBB7oiiL2miX5ewDns3xl&id=100044529935325&__cft__[0]=AZa05_E63HoSPbCDaZxQqGgdPp_LicOkZW4Mq-mFbRsBz-xOIHrOFf1TT_nY76O1XajiK58K_f_ueNSzh2E4KJLURBjTT_0FmLFX_Fmz2Xm9-cMCxa7SxNYyYtBf1CPQXc5JG8X7nvMGrLXNCVxt2bmYp9FKWaq_FMnryK6K4GBGF8rPu2lEnb0i8ySBOWrXjos&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R