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Author Topic: Greetings... my new mic preamp.  (Read 91873 times)

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Offline PH

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Re: Greetings... my new mic preamp.
« Reply #45 on: June 12, 2008, 03:18:25 AM »
I just don't see a need for a pad on a preamp. You could just bypass the preamp altogether if the signal is so hot that it requires a pad. Seems ridiculous to amplify a signal that will require a pad. That would only come into use in line level amplification, which I don't see this being used for very often. I'm not opposed to a pad by any means, just don't think I have ever needed one on a preamp to record a live show. I would just bypass the pre and go direct to recorder and use a pad there if needed.

Putting any push-type buttons on the back might present a problem. Anything that can be accidentally pressed can and will be an issue with tapers.
I'm fine with or witout HPF. I like the idea of no trim knobs and pots for the gain knobs instead of steps. It's simpler and works just as well. Leaves more room for the Vu meter and more stuff on the front.


Offline F.O.Bean

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Re: Greetings... my new mic preamp.
« Reply #46 on: June 12, 2008, 03:47:44 AM »
nice and simple, juts like I like it ;D I would rather have a transformer preamp personally tho ;D
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Offline shaggy

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Re: Greetings... my new mic preamp.
« Reply #47 on: June 12, 2008, 03:54:37 AM »
Small suggestion: an unbalanced stereo mini-out or a pair of RCAs outs?  For those of use planning on running a D50 or a R09.....

Offline OOK

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Re: Greetings... my new mic preamp.
« Reply #48 on: June 12, 2008, 05:58:11 AM »
What about the TRIM?  I took it out because it takes a big amount of real estate space on the panel.
Of course, the other option is not using a step gain switch and just using a pot for the gain control... but that's kinda dorky... you can't select the exact gain you want it.... it will save a lot of money though since a pot is cheaper than the 12-step selector switch. But I really like the 12-step switch.

Maybe a very small trim pot shaft? Is that attractive? or useless?

High pass... what's the cutoff freq? 80Hz, 160Hz? Lower?

I think the pad will stay... it will be useful for using the pre as a line preamp.

Polarity switch... I may bring this to the rear panel, beside the output XLR... so it's not taking up space on the front. Using a very tiny pushbutton switch.

Hmmm.. in that case, the Pad switch can also be brought to the rear panel... beside the input XLR. That makes more sense.

So that leaves the HP filter and the 48V switch on the front panel, plus the gain selector and the trim knob... and the VU meters.

Should the power switch be at the front panel? Or will it be okay in the rear panel?

Hey what about LIGHTS? So you can see what you're doing in the dark?  Hmmm.. But that would eat into battery life. Or do you guys just bring flashlights/cellphone/blackberry/ipod?




For what we do there is no need for a phase switch.

A pad switch is nice but again not always needed.

I would prefer a variable gain as a posed to step gain.  More control.

Hiss pass is nice but again I would rather fix it in post.  You can't put back what isn't there..........

I would avoid putting any switches on the back panel if at all possible.  Because Tapers carry their stuff in some kind of bag and the chances that a switch may flip increase when on the back panel.  The worst part being not knowing it flipped until after the show.  Unless you use some type of lock out swtich, like a toggle switch with the lock out that comes over top.  The only thing that comes to mind is like something you see in a fighter jet.  Dam I watch to many movies....lol


Peace OOK
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Offline bugg100

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Re: Greetings... my new mic preamp.
« Reply #49 on: June 12, 2008, 06:10:58 AM »
Field taping require me to run from bag.  No switches on back is safer.... As this is a vertical set up, I need "legs" to keep my UA-5's outputs from bearing the weight of the box itself....

Offline flipp

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Re: Greetings... my new mic preamp.
« Reply #50 on: June 12, 2008, 08:04:40 AM »
Another vote for nothing on the back; anything not on the front panel I would prefer on the side.  Anything on the back would require me to pull the equipment out of the bag to reach it and see which switch I was flipping. I would prefer to leave everything in the bag and my Kata Koala bag offers access to both sides.

HPF, have never used it;  pads, I use the one on the mic if needed; trims, I find them useful when running mics>recorder which is what I've run for the past 8-10 months, probably more useful if staying with stepped gain rather than continuously variable pots. Phantom and power should both be on the front along with trims if used. Anything that's variable should be on the front, anything other than the power switch and phantom that is on/off can go on the side.

Only way to please everybody would be to make a custom box for everyone. I'm sure you don't have the time for that. Looks like it's time for me to brushup on my soldering skills, order a stereo kit and build my own custom SC-1Dualchnnel.

ymshouldv

Thanks for asking for our input.

« Last Edit: June 12, 2008, 08:11:28 AM by flipp »

Offline fivefishdiy

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Re: Greetings... my new mic preamp.
« Reply #51 on: June 12, 2008, 02:47:56 PM »
Okay... nothing on the back, no switches or anything.

I will try drilling holes on the sides of the blue box above... see how difficult it will be. That's something that will have to be done manually as opposed to CNC. (I'm trying to avoid manual labor.  ;D )

What do you guys think of this case? I can easily put drill holes and mount XLR jacks of all sorts on the sides (still manual drilling though) but it's made of plastic... not aluminum like the first kind.  I guess I can tape EMI shield tape insides for good measure. It's also a little bigger than the blue case. But hopefully not much.







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Offline eric.B

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Re: Greetings... my new mic preamp.
« Reply #52 on: June 12, 2008, 02:49:28 PM »
Okay... nothing on the back, no switches or anything.

I will try drilling holes on the sides of the blue box above... see how difficult it will be. That's something that will have to be done manually as opposed to CNC. (I'm trying to avoid manual labor.  ;D )

What do you guys think of this case? I can easily put drill holes and mount XLR jacks of all sorts on the sides (still manual drilling though) but it's made of plastic... not aluminum like the first kind.  I guess I can tape EMI shield tape insides for good measure. It's also a little bigger than the blue case. But hopefully not much.









dimension wize that box looks sweet!   with some modifications (knob protection) you have a winner there I think..
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Offline bluegrass_brad

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Re: Greetings... my new mic preamp.
« Reply #53 on: June 12, 2008, 02:56:50 PM »
For field use I would not buy a unit encased in plastic. Just my .02. YMMV though
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Offline Javier Cinakowski

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Re: Greetings... my new mic preamp.
« Reply #54 on: June 12, 2008, 03:14:17 PM »
I personally love that case.   The ability to angle it up like that is great! 

Most of the all-in-one recorders are all made of plastic and a large percentage of people here own those without complaint....

thumbs-up here...
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Offline OOK

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Re: Greetings... my new mic preamp.
« Reply #55 on: June 12, 2008, 04:46:44 PM »
Again you can't please everyone.  I like the demisions of the case.  Loose the handle though.  As for the back no switch ect but xlr's are acceptable.  But xlr's on the side are fine as well.  I would prefer a metal case as aposed to plastic.  I look at it this way, when building a quality pre why skimp on the case, metal all the way.   

Peace OOK
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Offline Todd R

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Re: Greetings... my new mic preamp.
« Reply #56 on: June 12, 2008, 10:35:56 PM »
On the HPF issue, there is a pretty big split in the taper camp on whether to use one it seems to me.  I personally like having the option of HPF and use it fairly regularly, though not often.  Maybe it depends on when you started taping.  I started in the DAT days and wanted everything as good as I could make it right when I made the tape.  Many folks now would just prefer to do HPFiltering in post with software.

Anyway, if you put one in, I'd recommend 80Hz, 6db/octave.  You don't want a sharp rolloff of 12 or 18db like you might want for ENG or voice.

As to switches on the back, probably not ideal, but if they are small sliders in between XLR jacks and unlikely to get switched inadvertently, they should be ok if you need to do that for real estate purposes.  But I'd only put say 48v phantom switches there.  You wouldn't want power or HPF or whatever that you would want to have access to during the show you are taping, since as mentioned many will run their gear vertically in a field bag.

I run a Grace V3, and don't particularly find it problematic to have XLR inputs/outputs on the back.  Again, different folks will have different preferences.  To me, it is easy enough to right-angle XLR cables into the back.  If you do have the XLR connectors on the back, make sure you leave enough room between them to have all right-angle (neutrik) XLR connectors on there.  You can easily space them tight enough that regular straight XLR connectors will fit even though RA connectors won't fit, and that isn't good.

I'd prefer having the stepped gain with separate trim knobs like the Grace V2/V3 since I find that a great setup.  I have gotten used to be able to really dial in my gain exactly (again getting back to my DAT days).  I can't get over wanting to do that, but it does seem that at 24bits, having the gain roughly right (i.e., with stepped gain and no trim) should be easy enough to fix up in post using software.  So maybe skipping the trim knobs should work out.  I'd prefer stepped gain using resistor arrays over variable pots for the full gain range, since those always seem to get noisy over time or start drifting out of accuracy.

BTW, I vote for the blue case.  Keep up the great work!!
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Offline fivefishdiy

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Re: Greetings... my new mic preamp.
« Reply #57 on: June 12, 2008, 11:32:28 PM »
Thanks for all the feedback. It's helping educate me...

Man, designing the circuit and PCB is the easy part. Picking the right case, and engineering everything to fit and work together is the hard part. (It always has...)

Using the blue case, I tried drilling XLR holes on the side. Surprisingly... it was easy to drill 15/16" holes. I used my trusty step drill.  The problem is drilling the 1/8" mounting holes. They fall exactly on the curve ridge of the case... ever try drilling on the center of a convex surface?  The result was misaligned holes and which makes the XLR jacks crooked, which involves more work straightening it out.  I emailed the factory to see if they will do custom mods for me and have them drill these holes for me! If yes, that solves one problem.

It took me HOURS to do these holes... but I was also figuring things out and trying different things. Compare that to 2-3 minutes milling the rear panel with my CNC!

I'll probably create  a drill jig/template with my CNC and use that jig when manually drilling the case, see if that makes the manual process faster and more accurate.

An option I'm thinking is doing 2 versions... and charging more for the XLRs on the side model to justify the added labor that's involve.  The XLRs at the back will be priced cheaper.

As for the stepped gain + trim VS. pot control... if I'm going with the pot control, I need a special kind of pot with my circuit. I need what you call a Reverse Audio Log Taper.  Not a Linear Taper, and not a Log taper, but a Reverse Log taper! It's a special order item and I asked my sales person to give me a quote for these special pots.

Personally, I still prefer the step gain + trim... but weighing on the cost compared to pot control, the pot control is attractive... but since the pot is a special order item (i.e. expensive), I may just use and go back to the original plan of gain + trim.

Okay, photos of the blue case with the XLRs mounted on the side. 






Again, the front panel layout is not finalized... still playing around with it.
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Offline Javier Cinakowski

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Re: Greetings... my new mic preamp.
« Reply #58 on: June 12, 2008, 11:37:59 PM »
ok, I take my comments back.  After seeing these pictures, I am sold on the blue case!  FWIW, I don't think the xlr's on the back are a problem and might be preferable for some...
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Offline OOK

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Re: Greetings... my new mic preamp.
« Reply #59 on: June 13, 2008, 06:04:20 AM »
I love the blue case.........6x6x2 perfect........

Boy I can't wait........to see the finished product.....I guess I need to start saving now.....

OOK
DPA/HEB 4060's > R09HR
MBHO648/KA100Lk/KA200/KA300/KA500 > SD702

 

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