Alternate sound options

[navajas]

Wow, I hope we're all talking about the same thing. I just watched that (really sweet) custom job on the Prophecy for Novastar. Man alive, that's not the sound board I'm talking about. I think everyone here knows that, just making sure.

That sound board is from the GOD AWFUL spring loaded jobs, not the cheaper (100x better) self extendo ones. They are very different. The spring loaded ones are much loader, but, that's NOT a good thing here! My son got one of those for Christmas and has demanded no one ever turn it on ever again. It's too obnoxious for a five year old. Ha!

Anyway, good to know you can cram stuff up the hilt though. Would the recharge port be necessary for what we're talking about here?

[ThreadJack]

Wow, I hope we're all talking about the same thing. I just watched that (really sweet) custom job on the Prophecy for Novastar. Man alive, that's not the sound board I'm talking about. I think everyone here knows that, just making sure.

That sound board is from the GOD AWFUL spring loaded jobs, not the cheaper (100x better) self extendo ones. They are very different. The spring loaded ones are much loader, but, that's NOT a good thing here! My son got one of those for Christmas and has demanded no one ever turn it on ever again. It's too obnoxious for a five year old. Ha!

Anyway, good to know you can cram stuff up the hilt though. Would the recharge port be necessary for what we're talking about here?

When someone says "eco" sound board they're referring to the boards out of the rotoscope toys from Wal-Mart/Target/Toys R Us/K Mart or wherever you buy toys from. Which are the ones I believe you're talking about. Though I'm not sure what you mean by "self extendo ones."
Aside from the yet to be released Ultimate FX sabers in the video on the previous page, I'm only aware of 3 types of sabers made by Hasbro, the $10 no light or sound rotoscope style sabers, the aforementioned rotoscope ones with light and sound, and the Force FX replica line.

To be fair, the eco boards sound much different in a custom saber. The reason for this is, it's not the sound board itself that sounds bad, it's actually the cheap crappy speaker they use in those that causes it to sound bad. Most people putting those in say, an Ultra Saber, replace that with a better one. It's the same as your car stereo. Your stock speakers get the job done, but replacing them with a set of after market ones, even a lower end set, will dramatically improve sound quality.

[Ultra]

Wow, I hope we're all talking about the same thing. I just watched that (really sweet) custom job on the Prophecy for Novastar. Man alive, that's not the sound board I'm talking about. I think everyone here knows that, just making sure.

That sound board is from the GOD AWFUL spring loaded jobs, not the cheaper (100x better) self extendo ones. They are very different. The spring loaded ones are much loader, but, that's NOT a good thing here! My son got one of those for Christmas and has demanded no one ever turn it on ever again. It's too obnoxious for a five year old. Ha!

Anyway, good to know you can cram stuff up the hilt though. Would the recharge port be necessary for what we're talking about here?

I know the different types of boards out there.  The board in the Prophecy I just built is from an obscure Chinese toy that costs less than 2 bucks.  It is not from a Hasbro saber.  A budget is a budget, and that Prophecy was stretching it. 

A recharge port is required for a sound install in a Prophecy or Initiate, but not in a saber we normally offer sound in.

The saber I built for my niece Lauren uses the 2010 Clone Wars Eco-Board, and it sounds good as you can see here:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAT-CDiZ9l4" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAT-CDiZ9l4</a>

Quite a difference, but again, the Prophecy was built for a small child who will be more than happy with that saber.

[navajas]

Which are the ones I believe you're talking about. Though I'm not sure what you mean by "self extendo ones."
Aside from the yet to be released Ultimate FX sabers in the video on the previous page, I'm only aware of 3 types of sabers made by Hasbro, the $10 no light or sound rotoscope style sabers, the aforementioned rotoscope ones with light and sound, and the Force FX replica line.

There's four. There is a line, much like the more popular econo sabers (we have three), but with horrid sound. Pretty much exactly like that Prophecy, so much so as I'd be surprised if it wasn't the same thing. Unlike the econo line, which has, as has been said in the thread, pretty darn good effects only hampered by a cheap speaker and flicker, the blade of this series goes all the way into the hilt and shoots out under spring tension. They have, obviously, MASSIVE hilts. You do not have to extend it yourself. You pull down on a switch and the thing shoots out. That part of the toy is actually pretty cool. It's just every single OTHER facet that's pretty bad.

It's called the "Force Action" saber. Seriously, we know our toy sabers here. We've got zillions. When I think of the money spent in this house on toy sabers before I knew places like this exist? /shudder

Price range goes; opaque plastics $10; the electronic with the, painfully bad, DVD at $20; the Force Action spring loads at $40+, then the Force FX we all know. Both the $20 and $40 ones have the flicker.

Strangely enough though, the order of sound quality goes: Force FX at $100, "Electronic" at $20, Opaque at $10 and finally the Force Action at $40+. I imagine the Ultimate line will cut out the the other two.

[Ultra]

We are certainly not talking about the same boards, then.  The Eco-Board being used by most saber smiths these days come from this saber:



NOT this one:

[ThreadJack]

Thanks for clearing that up Ultra. He/she was starting to confuse me.

[navajas]

No, we're on the same page. My post was clarifying that, because the springloads and the normal econo's sound very different. The econos, the one people typically mod, sound fine, the springloads, sound very different, like the Prophecy in the video. Since the first video of a saber with a non-FX board I heard was the custom Prophecy, I was worried we were talking about different boards. We're not.

Then Raze came in and said there was no forth. I tried to clarify that and apparently confused things.

[ThreadJack]

We have pretty much all been all on the same page. I've just never seen those spring loaded sabers before, but then again I grew out of toy sabers years ago.

As far as confusing things goes, it happens.

[Vetinari]

I've managed to dissect an econo-obi wan lightsaber, with the electronics (mostly - one wire got cut through, but nothing a soldering iron can't fix) intact.

Do you guys reckon there's enough space in a war glaive to fit in a whole extra circuit? - Separate power pack included, or should I wire this up in parallel to the existing electronics?

(I'm liking the idea of having the econo-LEDs as accents shining through the pommel speaker cutouts.)

[ShadowKatt]

We are certainly not talking about the same boards, then.  The Eco-Board being used by most saber smiths these days come from this saber:



NOT this one:

Oohhhhh.....wait, what's the difference? I had one of the bottom ones, ripped it apart and still have the board and LED and all that jazz, but what's the top one have that the bottom one doesn't?

I'd go get one just to rip it apart, but I just don't have the money right now 

[Darth Paul]

Hey guys! Just joined on the forum and I'm about to buy my first saber and I just want to say that the level of service I've seen from ultra in these three pages far exceeds anything I would expect from other sabersmiths and is the reason I will be buying from you guys from now on! I look forward to our future business:)

[Darth Ryuyee]

What sabers can fit the eco board that you offer ultra because my friend plans on buying a saber and wants to go the eco route?

[navajas]

Any saber that can fit the premium sound option can fit the econo-sound option. The Prophecy can as well, but, with not without extra customizations. You'd be best off talking to Ultra Sabers directly than on the forums methinks.

[Darth Ryuyee]

The reason Im asking on this thread is so that when another person has the same question they can search the forums and find the answers here on this thread, and I know the sabers that offer the fx sound can fit an eco board Im wondering which sabers that can fit the eco other than the prophecy, like maybe the liberator or SI etc etc. I think someone on the forums even has sound in a Initiate, think their name is youseekyoda.

[navajas]

Right, sure. People have done it to the smaller hilts, but, if you're looking for Ultra Sabers to do it (who need to clear a profit), my answer above is where you stand. I've had a fairly lengthy conversation with Alex along these lines. At this point in time it's either a Prophecy hilt or "bigger" or a DIY.