Thread: Nerve Center. By Monster Guts

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Has anypne every used this?? this looks a an easy (and cheap) system to start with. it has lots of great options and such. i think im just going to go out on an leg and buy one next year with my cylinder. Any reposes would be great!

Nerve Center on Monsterguts.com

-BYH

I received one about two weeks ago. Had it controlling a thrashing suspended man (Humpy the clown) within a few minutes. I thought it was straight forward, but I am not utilizing it to it's full capabilities yet. So far we have had over 1000 people pass Humpy, and the controller has worked well.

The output connector 1 vs 2 was interchanged, but swapping the connectors fixed that problem. Used the wall-wort 12V supply that was included to also trigger the solenoid valve for Humpy, so it makes a compact clean package.

u only run one prop right?

I purchased a Nerve Center Controller and use it in my "Monster In The Box" prop. Overall I really like it. One gripe though... It has 2 audio output ports, a "line out" and a "speaker out", but only the Speaker Out is functional with the current version of the controller. The problem is that it is very noisy when putting it through a powered speaker. At least that has been my experience.

Here are a few links to videos of my MITB project...

YouTube - Monster Crate Video 1

YouTube - Monster Crate Video 2

Regards,

Rooey

thats really awesome. thanks for the help. anyone else please post!

-BYH

I purchased the monster guts nerve center and the PicoBoo105 this year.
I agree with Rooey, the monster guts is noisy with powered speakers. The PicoBoo has better sound quality.

I looked hard at the Nerve Center and ended up buying a picoBoo 105. The main reason was that for my prop, having two switched AC outlets out of the box would be easier than having to make up adapter boxes to tap into the Nerve Center's terminals. In addition, I didn't like the exposed terminals for switching 120vac. I also liked that the picoBoo had a good track record and had been on the market for quite a while. I've had it for a few weeks and it's worked perfectly so far.

Mike

I wanted to update my opinion on the sound for monster guts nerve center.
I purchased better speakers (Bose companion 2) and that solved the noise problem.

I think the problem that I run into is the fact that the "speaker" output is already amplified, and so when I send that signal to the input of a 20 watt bass guitar practice amplifier, it's already way to "hot" of a signal. I can only turn it up to "1" on the volume knob. It's great that it already has an amplified output, but it would have been better if MonsterGuts would have wired up the "Line Level" output as well. I may have been better off just buying a large 15" speaker and wiring it up directly.

My MITB is currently sitting at a local haunted attraction in Omaha (Giving it a trial run) but after the season is over I may try some other hardware configurations, assuming that the haunt's owner doesn't buy it first.

Price-wise, I've seen commercial units going for $899 with NO SOUND! I've also seen the $2300 versions out there that aren't even made of wood (steel frame and latex shell)... I'm figuring I can sell mine for $1500 or so once I've tweaked it a bit more, and distressed the wood.

The nice thing about the Nerve Center is that you can run 8 completely different sound and action routines, all triggered in sequence. That's great for a prop that you don't want to sound the same every time. If your audience is going to be around it for more than a few minutes, you don't wan it to loop the same show every time.

My next controller purchase will probably be the PicoBoo 105 as well. I like the fact that it has the "ambient" routine that plays until triggered, and the built-in outlets!

Regards,
Roo

I am only running one prop, although there are plans to run a second 'Humpy the Clown' off the same controller. There is only one trigger, and one sound channel, but two output channels. When you program it, you can record 8 different sets. So you could have different sounds and different actions. They would trigger in sequence from the one trigger.