Gear / Technical Help > Battery Boxes, Preamps, Mixers, ADCs, and Processors

Stock UA-5 Mod and Power Supply

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Laurent:
Hello,

I still have a stock UA-5 that I am using to record instruments and I would like to improve its field usage capacity.

First, what is the external Power Supply that people would recommend buying nowadays (Hopefully without any hack) to make it usable everywhere along a macbook?

I tried to contact Busman a couple years ago to see if he was still running his mod service but never received any answer by mail. Is he still doing his standalone.improvement mod? Should I consider doing some mod myself on a stock UA-5?

Is the UA-5 really too old a piece of gear and it wouldnt be effective to use at all?

UA-5 used to be this forum champion at some point so I thank you in advance for your excellent advices  :)

fireonshakedwnstreet:
Another fellow UA-5 user! Easy to power this thing outside with no hacking or mod needed. Buy the following:

Female-to-Female Adaptaplug Power Cord (6-ft.) - https://www.amazon.com/Female-to-Female-Adaptaplug-Power-Cord-6-ft/dp/B0081U7BZS
Adaptaplug M x2 (one for UA-5 and one for battery)
Talentcell 12V 6000mAh battery (this will power the UA-5 for approximately 5 hours) - You can use any power supply that is 9-12V

Take one Adaptaplug M and connect it to the power cord by flipping the Adaptaplug so that it is tip negative (the UA-5 is reverse polarity). Take the other Adaptaplug M and connect to the other end of the power cord, plug that into the battery. Turn on the battery and power up the UA-5. If the UA-5 does not turn on, the polarity is wrong on the Adaptaplug on the back; just connect it the other way to the power cord.

I am sure others will add in other ways to power (I use old DVD batteries myself).

If you want any mods contact Doug Oade: https://www.oade.com/. Just explain to him what kind of music you are recording and what he recommends. If you are using a computer you will not need the DigiMod, just whatever flavor (Warm, Presence, Transparent) that would be best for your application.

Laurent:
Thank you very much for your swift answer.

Is there much of a polarity issue with a standard item like this one?
I dont have radioshack available in France, those adaptaplug looked right though.

I remember now OADE mods were only performed on OADE UA-5s maybe this rule would have changed, I risk very little in sending an email...

I think I would go with the "USB switch" digimod, I found this back for further reference. The issue with common mods was usually postal costs. Maybe I'l be better off getting just a digimod an no upgrade on components. We'll see what Doug says about this...

Thank you again, I think there used to be +rep buttons back in the days, I send you a spiritual one instead ;D

yug du nord:
^I think that there are UA-5 Digi mod instructions here on TS..  somewhere.
I’ve never done it, but I think that I remember it was a fairly easy DIY mod that a person could do themselves..  maybe.
Or ask The Oade Brothers..  or Busman.

Edit:  link to UA-5 info:
https://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=14389.msg178660#msg178660

Twenty8:
Doug Oade still mods them.  Added + mods to both my ACM and W models.

--- Quote from: Laurent on August 07, 2022, 06:32:04 AM ---Is the UA-5 really too old a piece of gear and it wouldnt be effective to use at all?

--- End quote ---
No, it adds a great coloration to certain mics.  Really enjoy mine with my AT3031s.  Highly recommend a mod if you are thinking about stepping into one.

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