Hey all,
I've been dying to try a preamp mod for a long time. I don't have full understanding of these things but I have been reading up on it some. It doesn't seem like rocket science, but I certainly want community input. I would like to go step by step with the community, talk things out as they come up, maybe try a few different things, and do testing and comps. I will do my best to keep a good flow of pics going so every step is discussed and archived. I'm a little surprised that this hasn't been done here before!
At this point I just want to say that the people who are doing this for others,. Busman, Church, or any one else who is using their knowlege of these things to make a buck should not feel in anyway obligated to post here. I will not be offended if you don't say boo, but your input is certainly welcome. I know there is a lot of knowlege here and most likely a lot of people here like myself who would love the challange and the economy of doing their own mods, but just haven't ever known where to start. As diverse as this group of people here is it would not surprise me if the input of the masses can provide additional ideas to the pro's here and I'm completely down with that. If somehow this project can allow you guys to produce a different or better product, then just send me my roylaty check
Well... OK, just use it and remain a part of this communty, because you guys often provide the reality checks for the rest of us! the information discussed here is to be free for the taking for anyone. If it helps anyone make a buck... go for it! That all being said...
My first step is going to be to deceide which unit I want to purchase for the mod. For my purposes, I am not looking for something portable although I want something in a small-ish box. I'm specifically looking for something that will match size-wise to my Motu Ultralight. I have this dream of a little 1/2 rack rig with killer pre's and about 32 chan of analog input... starting point will be a single pre and a single Ultralight. I will be using this in conjunction with my motu for multitrack applications and not in situations where I have to worry about power. 110 power will always be available to me when I need this unit. Something that has minimum of 4 pre's in a maximum 1/2 rack footprint. Other considerations are going to be cost and availablility. I want to do this on the cheap and I want to be able to repeat the build so a new/current product will be my preference.
The one unit I have found that has peaked my interest is the smpro audio pr4v
http://www.smproaudio.com/PR4v.htm . These can be had for about $80 new. The form factor is about right and the cost is inline with about what I'm willing to throw away if this ends up being a bust. Any other suggestions would be great.
Step 1: Picking the unit to mod, from the stand point of modding a unit, I understand that a bit of space on the inside of the case is a good thing. I have also read that a higher internal voltage level is a bennefit for many op amps. What other things should I consider before I purchase? I'm sure that in a low end unit, everything is going to be low end such as gain pots and power supplies etc. I may want to play with thoes things also but I really want to keep it cheap while making a less than above average pre sound above average. I plan on buying new from a retailer that allow's returns so that if I open the thing up and find it is a mess, or otherwise unsuited, I can simply box it back up and return for refund.
Discuss!
Matt
Topic: DIY external preamp mod: Community project! (Read 31,544 times)