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Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: goodcooker on March 15, 2023, 09:32:10 AM
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Picked up a gently used DR100mkii and thinking about sending it to Doug for the Concert mod. Anyone have one of these that can point me in the direction of some shows recorded with it?
Yes, I'm an old fart who is not interested in 32bit recording technology and I like that the DR100 has a digital input when I need it.
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I’m also interested in this—does anyone know what they actually do when they mod these?
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Generally speaking, for Doug's preamp mod he rebuilds the XLR input path up to the A/D stage. The input capacitors and op amps are replaced with higher quality components with better performance than the stock parts. The concert and warm mods are optimized for loud sources, and the super and FET mods for quiet sources. There's more stuff he offers depending on the deck, but I think I've summarized his main offerings fairly well. Just do it -
Send that Tascam unit to Thomasville, you won't be sorry.
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I know there are chips that are modded/replaced that increase the speed of the circuit in capturing signal detail that helps reduce reverberence in space (larger venues).
I did the Marantz Oade Concert Mod and I can not be happier. Because of this, I also modded an M10 with a concert mod.
Here is one done with my Marantz:
https://soundcloud.com/ryan_jonik/new-order-2022-10-07-los-angeles-hollywood-bowl-schoeps-mk4-subculture
https://on.soundcloud.com/HnhNh
https://soundcloud.com/ryan_jonik/new-order-2022-10-08-los-angeles-hollywood-bowl-ceremony-schoeps-mk4
https://soundcloud.com/ryan_jonik/pet-shop-boys-2022-10-08-los-angeles-hollywood-bowl-vocal-schoeps-mk4
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I recorded this bandcamp online album with just an Audio Technica 4050st stereo mic straight into a DR100 mk3. https://jasonanick.bandcamp.com/album/rhythm-future-quartet-live-at-49-west-2
I think the unit sounds pretty great right off the shelf. You might want to use it a few times to see how you like it before sending it off and spending more money. It is a far different beast than the mk1 and mk2. It also has m/s decoded monitoring if you desire.
edit: I just realized you said mk II. Should have been wearing my glasses. Am leaving this up just for reference.
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^this has to be spam. Reported. (thanks mod for removing that)
I sent my DR100 mkii to Doug Oade for the concert modification.
Should make for easy taping when I only need two channels and need to travel light. Will be giving it a good workout at NOLA Jazzfest.
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Good call. Love my Concert Mod PMD 661. Great open soundstage.
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Couple of impressions since I got my DR100 mkII back from Oade...
Turnaround time from Doug was pretty quick and Priority return shipping and insurance was included in the price of the mod - which was $185. ONLY the XLR inputs are upgraded. The internal mics go straight to the AD chip and it's integrated preamp and the miniplug line in uses a separate path too. Nothing is done to the digital signal path from the SPDIF input.
I gave this thing a workout this weekend at Jazzfest in New Orleans.
It has a nice, open, crisp sound that captures the low frequencies well but is nice and tight on the low end.
The decreased sensitivity took a little getting used to. Even in a ripping loud club only 25 feet away from the stacks I still ran it on medium gain (Low-Med-High switch) with the adjustment around 6-7 (10 is the highest). This was kind of a surprise. The gain structure is very much optimized for loud sources - more so than my Warm Mod UA5 even though it too has to be run with the gain pretty high even at loud shows.
It performed like a champ in the heat, the rain and in the bag at clubs. It's going to be my go to for 2 channel recordings.
The only hiccup was running it on Sunday at the Fairgrounds for Continental Drifters and the Radiators. I used a small 5V battery all weekend up to that point and didn't have any problems. I used my big Talentcell that day and both sets have a god awful staticky, electronic whining noise all over both recordings. It's bad enough to require major surgery but I think I can salvage them. So it does not jive with all batteries - which is weird. EDIT - I may have spoken too soon. I did a test at home with 3 different batteries one of which was the one in use when the terrible interference happened and could not get the same result. Dead quiet with all 3 batteries. The interference had to be environmental. I was stack taping at the Gentilly stage at Jazzfest maybe 10 feet from the stack. Maybe there was some short of unshielded power supply close enough to create the interference.
A couple samples -
Voodoo Dead at Republic 25 feet in front of the flown line arrays which are huge for a club size venue - https://archive.org/details/sk2023-05-06 (https://archive.org/details/sk2023-05-06)
Dead and Co at the Fairgrounds NOLA Jazzfest - https://archive.org/details/deadco2023-05-06.lineaudiocm3.oadedr100 (https://archive.org/details/deadco2023-05-06.lineaudiocm3.oadedr100)