Topic: Transparent Mod UA-5

[cwfen]

Saw some info over on oade.com about the new mod for the UA-5. Doug is apparently benchtesting a new, more extensive mod even as we speak... should be interesting! From what he is saying, it seems like a step up from the other mods he has done.

http://www.oade.com/Tapers_Section/Forum/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=100&topic_id=1097&mesg_id=1539&page=

[Karl]

Looks pretty cool! 

[Tim]

looks like the forst one will be coming to Denver, I'll have to get ahold of Darrin and see what's up, looks interesting!

[creekfreak]

that Doug and his crazy MOD's

[Todd R]

looks like the forst one will be coming to Denver, I'll have to get ahold of Darrin and see what's up, looks interesting!

Finally saw Darrin out taping last night--haven't seen him in eons.  He's got a taping rig together again, including the transparent mod UA5.  I think last night's dead show was its first time out in the field.  We'll have to get his reports back on it.  He ran Gefell m300>t-mod UA5>JB3 in the front row.  I believe right next to him was a guy running m300>V3, so Darrin was going to try to get a copy of that recording as well so he could compare.

[wsphansam]

How does he come up with the names of them?

[dnsacks]

Todd -- great to see you sunday nite -- psyched to be getting back into the game.

My recording of sunday's show came out nice.  I had some HARD overs during drums (now I know how to run the ua5's levels ) so I'm probably not going to seed the entire show, but am happy to let folks grab it/excerpts from it from me once I track it out.  I gave my address to the guy running the m300>v3 he should be sending me disks shortly.  Should be a good comparison, though our mic configurations were a bit different.  I ran the m300s in a din config (90 degrees, ~20cm), he ran his at around the same spacing, but pointing @ the speakers. 

Per Doug -- here's the deal on the T-Mod (Transparent Mod) UA-5 -- It is more extensive then the P MOD or W MOD. In addition to the basics, I upgrade the analog DC power supply, P48, the signal path including the RCA inputs and use very low impedance caps in the signal path in addition to HQ bypass caps. The chips I use were chosen for their lack of coloration, ultra low distortion & noise plus fast transient response.

My observations so far are that the T-Mod UA5 definitely lives up to its name -- it sounds fast/punchy and quite neutral (transparent) -- I'm definitely a happy camper so far.


Thus, if I get the disks, a direct T-MOD ua5 vs V3 comparison could be very interesting.

[Todd R]

Good to see you too, Darrin.  Hopefully now that you've gotten some new toys we'll see you out a bit more often.

BTW, welcome to ts.com.  Be sure to look under the team boards heading from the main page.  There is an ongoing Colorado Crew thread (well, Colo-BRAH-do Crew at this point) where you can often find what folks are doing and what shows they're hitting.

[chris e.]

I was able to test drive the t-mod in Boulder for my cousins band prior to Jerry's Dead, and ran the mics at the lip O' stage.  I'm so pleased w/the unit thus far as the soundstage sounded very clean and warm.  Although, I was running the mics in this bizzare pattern.  Never let soundmen (soundboard) tell you how to run mics. 

Plus the UA-5 is much more stealth than I originally thought.  I'm impressed.

C Evans


 

[Nick's Picks]

Chris & Darrin...
nice to hear from you guys!

I'd love to hear your recording from the other night....dispite whatever warts are present.
I've been groveling for some B&Ps from RR, but nobody has come through yet. 
sucks having no bandwidth.

[Da Boss]

Ummm...What is the problem with the UA-5 stock?
It is already transparent and has a nice soundstage STRAIGHT OUTTA THE BOX!

[dnsacks]

Nick:

I owe you some shows!  Will burn 6/20 for you, any others from the run?

Da Boss -- Nothing is wrong with the ua-5 out of the box (once digimodded).  Doug's various mods merely improve upon a nice mic pre/ ad converter by rebuilding the analog front end with higher quality components.  I see Doug's goal as being to take a device that competes well with entry level devices and turn it into a "giant killer" that provides sound quality rivaling that of an apogee minime or grace v3 (but at less than 1/2 the price)

 

[mirth]

And unless your goal is to use the UA-5 without a computer, there's nothing wrong out of the box at all. Only if you want to use it as a standalone ADC, then you need a d-mod.

[Sterling]

Where can I get some samples? PM sent

[§†∑∫åµÞ≥¥]

The one sample I heard from an Oade recorded Gov't Mule show sounded way too bright for my pleasure. IMO the stock sound is better. There are a few samples on the Oade Taper's board... it's linked around here somewhere.