Topic: Beachtek DXA-10 preamp

[mrsoul]

I just got one of these directly from Beachtek and I have done some test recordings at church and so far the sound has been excellent using SP-CMC-4s with AT adapters going into a Sony Hi-MD.  I am planning the full test at the Warren Haynes Xmas Jam on the 17th and then Derek Trucks on the 28th.

Harry at Beachtek went well over any normal expectations with the customer service.  They even built a custom power connection to switch out the regular 9volt form carriage.  I am now using the Walmart LiIon 9v rechargeable ($17 on clearance  , thanks to the tip from this forum!).  Should get plenty of recording time with phantom going on that setup. Harry and Beachtek were extremly helpful with the setup information and customization. 

I will work on a pictorial soon and post my recordings from the Xmas jam and Derek when available.  Might not be the best preamp in the world but so far it appears that it will do a great job for my setup using the SP-CMC-4s.  My Hi-MD (RH10) has the OLED recording levels so I will just use that as a guide for settings along with the dual channel pots on the DXA-10.  Plus it all fits in my large Otterbox with the mics, AT mic mount arms, battery and Hi-MD plus a few cables and prismatic batteries.  Small enough for stealth operations in a fanny pack if needed.  Plus, I couldn't find anything in the same price range that ran on DC battery power.  The custom power connection took care of any phantom power drain issues that I might have had just using 9v form batteries only.

I see there is some skepticism and lack of any real testing results on the TS form about the DXA-10 but I feel comfortable with the purchase and it is a HUGE upgrade over the Reactive Sounds Boost box 9v box I was using.  The phantom power options were worth the upgrade and the DXA-10 handles it just right! 

Beachtek does NOT usually sell directly to customers and I am NOT affliated with them just someone looking for a better way to power my mics (I was too overloaded with bass at the last Allman Brothers show in Charlotte (10/02/05) and made a committment to go phantom afterwards).  B&H photo does sell these preamps and some other vendors online. You could easily make the custom connection with a 9v carriage and epoxy (but I probably couldn't  ).  Well, the proof will come with the Xmas Jam and Derek Trucks then Kimock in January.  That's when it will get the full monty testing.  Looking at specs didn't cut it for me, I wanted to hear some results and I took the leap on my own for this setup.  So far, so good. 

More later...

[mrsoul]

Here's a pictorial for ya... http://www.johnsonfamilyweb.net/dxa10/

[poorlyconditioned]

I just got one of these directly from Beachtek and I have done some test recordings at church and so far the sound has been excellent using SP-CMC-4s with AT adapters going into a Sony Hi-MD.  I am planning the full test at the Warren Haynes Xmas Jam on the 17th and then Derek Trucks on the 28th.

Harry at Beachtek went well over any normal expectations with the customer service.  They even built a custom power connection to switch out the regular 9volt form carriage.  I am now using the Walmart LiIon 9v rechargeable ($17 on clearance  , thanks to the tip from this forum!).  Should get plenty of recording time with phantom going on that setup. Harry and Beachtek were extremly helpful with the setup information and customization. 

I will work on a pictorial soon and post my recordings from the Xmas jam and Derek when available.  Might not be the best preamp in the world but so far it appears that it will do a great job for my setup using the SP-CMC-4s.  My Hi-MD (RH10) has the OLED recording levels so I will just use that as a guide for settings along with the dual channel pots on the DXA-10.  Plus it all fits in my large Otterbox with the mics, AT mic mount arms, battery and Hi-MD plus a few cables and prismatic batteries.  Small enough for stealth operations in a fanny pack if needed.  Plus, I couldn't find anything in the same price range that ran on DC battery power.  The custom power connection took care of any phantom power drain issues that I might have had just using 9v form batteries only.

I see there is some skepticism and lack of any real testing results on the TS form about the DXA-10 but I feel comfortable with the purchase and it is a HUGE upgrade over the Reactive Sounds Boost box 9v box I was using.  The phantom power options were worth the upgrade and the DXA-10 handles it just right! 

Beachtek does NOT usually sell directly to customers and I am NOT affliated with them just someone looking for a better way to power my mics (I was too overloaded with bass at the last Allman Brothers show in Charlotte (10/02/05) and made a committment to go phantom afterwards).  B&H photo does sell these preamps and some other vendors online. You could easily make the custom connection with a 9v carriage and epoxy (but I probably couldn't  ).  Well, the proof will come with the Xmas Jam and Derek Trucks then Kimock in January.  That's when it will get the full monty testing.  Looking at specs didn't cut it for me, I wanted to hear some results and I took the leap on my own for this setup.  So far, so good. 

More later...

Hey, nice photos.

By the way, I use those battery holders for my battery boxes.  They are available for about $5 from Newark.com.  See photos at: www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~mannr/AT853.  What I like to do is solder everything down and then just insert the battery when I want to run the mics.

  Richard

[deadhoarse]

Very cool.  Also, nice frog sheets

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Yeah I noticed the frog sheets too.

That looks like a nice low profile rig.