Topic: Church transformer based pre

[rowjimmy]

Besides, I'm the one who needs a battery powered pre muchly...

[Church-Audio]

There are going to be two preamps.. One we think will be the size of the 9100 but with balanced inputs/phantom power and last but not least 60 db of gain. This preamp will have a 5 pin mini XLR that breaks out into a full size pair of XLR cables. The output will be a single unbalancd mini xlr.

The other preamp is going to be our full size preamp that will be the size of a UA-5 it will have two operational input voltage ranges 1.5 to 6 volts and 6 volts to 15. This is according to Spark'e who is designing the power supply as we speak.

Chris

[Church-Audio]

As soon as we have the prototype done for the stealth preamp we will be taking orders. The first set of orders hopefully will cover our board design costs and etching. There will be about a 1 month turnaround for the stealth preamp. The transformer based preamp will be exactly the same as far as wait times.

We will have two preamps to "float" around to the users here.

[stirinthesauce]

Thanks for the news, Chris.  Look forward to buying one of these.

[Brian]

will the interconnects be made with that neat vanderhall cable? 

[Church-Audio]

will the interconnects be made with that neat vanderhall cable? 

No I am going to be using HOOBLY GOOBLY cable its the best out there.. I have tried others but nothing seems to broaden the clown stage more the HB cable does. Its very expensive it will cost about 3x the price of the preamp but it will be well worth it. I will also be using the SOFAKING connectors because they are SOFAKING GOOD.

I will also be selling to HOOBLY GOOBLY "WOOD MIND DISKS" They will sit under the preamp and provide less resonance and they will help with the dynamic flux capacitor sound thinggy. But for the stealth model it might look like you have some hockey pucks in your pants, so we are working on a smaller design for stealth use.

In Canada we will actually be keeping the size of the HB "WOOD MIND DISKS" Because after a good taping in Canada, we like to play a few rounds of hockey so what better use for the HB "WOOD MIND DISKS" We feel the main product advantage of HB "WOOD MIND DISKS" Is the ability to use them to: A- Stop resonance in your new preamp, and B- Be able to be used as a hockey puck.

This option will be available to the USA but only to States where it actually snows.

[Brian]

hoobly goobly, eh?  i'll have to do some research before i commit.  you understand don't ya chris?

[SparkE!]

The other preamp is going to be our full size preamp that will be the size of a UA-5 it will have two operational input voltage ranges 1.5 to 6 volts and 6 volts to 15. This is according to Spark'e who is designing the power supply as we speak.

I've still not given up on making it work from 1.2 V to 15 V all in one model, but I'm concerned with making sure that there is the smallest amount of noise and ripple on the power supply output as possible.  If we have to go to two models, it will be to reduce the noise and ripple on the power supply.  If we have to go to two models, it will probably be 1.2 V to 6 V for one model and 4 V to 15 V for the other model.

[Brian]

I was all set to buy this pre but I thought you said you were melting down Canadian beer caps to make the conductors?
If not, that's a deal breaker for me.

fantastic idea!  that way he can use the goop underneath the bottle caps to cover all of his "secret" components! just have to figure out a way to remove the goop from the metal.

[BJ]

There are going to be two preamps.. One we think will be the size of the 9100 but with balanced inputs/phantom power and last but not least 60 db of gain. This preamp will have a 5 pin mini XLR that breaks out into a full size pair of XLR cables. The output will be a single unbalancd mini xlr.

The other preamp is going to be our full size preamp that will be the size of a UA-5 it will have two operational input voltage ranges 1.5 to 6 volts and 6 volts to 15. This is according to Spark'e who is designing the power supply as we speak.

Chris

is that 60db fixed?  or adjustable?

[Church-Audio]

There are going to be two preamps.. One we think will be the size of the 9100 but with balanced inputs/phantom power and last but not least 60 db of gain. This preamp will have a 5 pin mini XLR that breaks out into a full size pair of XLR cables. The output will be a single unbalancd mini xlr.

The other preamp is going to be our full size preamp that will be the size of a UA-5 it will have two operational input voltage ranges 1.5 to 6 volts and 6 volts to 15. This is according to Spark'e who is designing the power supply as we speak.

Chris

is that 60db fixed?  or adjustable?

Adjustable with a non detented pot..

[BJ]

There are going to be two preamps.. One we think will be the size of the 9100 but with balanced inputs/phantom power and last but not least 60 db of gain. This preamp will have a 5 pin mini XLR that breaks out into a full size pair of XLR cables. The output will be a single unbalancd mini xlr.

The other preamp is going to be our full size preamp that will be the size of a UA-5 it will have two operational input voltage ranges 1.5 to 6 volts and 6 volts to 15. This is according to Spark'e who is designing the power supply as we speak.

Chris

is that 60db fixed?  or adjustable?

Adjustable with a non detented pot..

   rock on pimp...forget that i ever posed the question...

[it-goes-to-eleven]

Adjustable with a non detented pot..

A few thoughts on that.. Put me in the category of hating variable pots.. And if the gain is controlled by two independent variable pots which must be balanced, double extra hate

The minime goes to about 60dB on one pot and that is really sensitive and cumbersome. Especially since you have to balance both pots. Worse, since they are apparently in the audio signal path (Ewwww!) they are prone to emit noise as the pots age.

I like that all my pres - v3, aerco, bg1, psp2 - are stepped gain. The 7xx pots do not seem to be in the signal path and multiple gain ranges are available (with separate balance) so it isn't too bad. Plus the display tells you how much gain you're running with a fair bit of accuracy. I never knew how much gain I was running with the minime. I have often wished the 7xx could set it to emulate stepped gain (9 o'clock is 20, 12 o'clock is 25, 2:00 is 30, 4:00 is 35, etc).

My vote would be for something like the v3 step+trim. The bg1 has a small step of 2.75dB but that makes it hard to know how much gain you have in the dark if you're 6 steps up from min.  I always have to consult the chart I have taped to the top. There are so many detents it is hard to tell if they're set the same by feel.

[Church-Audio]

Adjustable with a non detented pot..

A few thoughts on that.. Put me in the category of hating variable pots.. And if the gain is controlled by two independent variable pots which must be balanced, double extra hate

The minime goes to about 60dB on one pot and that is really sensitive and cumbersome. Especially since you have to balance both pots. Worse, since they are apparently in the audio signal path (Ewwww!) they are prone to emit noise as the pots age.

I like that all my pres - v3, aerco, bg1, psp2 - are stepped gain. The 7xx pots do not seem to be in the signal path and multiple gain ranges are available (with separate balance) so it isn't too bad. Plus the display tells you how much gain you're running with a fair bit of accuracy. I never knew how much gain I was running with the minime. I have often wished the 7xx could set it to emulate stepped gain (9 o'clock is 20, 12 o'clock is 25, 2:00 is 30, 4:00 is 35, etc).

My vote would be for something like the v3 step+trim. The bg1 has a small step of 2.75dB but that makes it hard to know how much gain you have in the dark if you're 6 steps up from min.  I always have to consult the chart I have taped to the top. There are so many detents it is hard to tell if they're set the same by feel.

We have already thought about it. We are going to be doing something that has never been done on a preamp before. We are going to use a single dual gang pot for gain but have a extra fine trim on channel 2 via a small screwdriver pot so you can actually dial in the differences between left and right microphones. So you end up with a balanced left and right. Then you just have to use one pot for overall adjustment. I dont like stepped pots because they are a compromise. You always have someone that says I wish I could turn it down 1 db.. So that's the plan.

I am never going to be able to please everyone. We realize that so, we will "possibly" offer a stepped gain control for customers that wish to have one.. Only in the transformer based preamp. In the stealth preamp it will be a single dual gang pot due to space limitations.

This company will always listen to our customers and always try to do things to please them. But in the end some decisions are made because of design issues that can not be worked around. Some are made because it we did it the price would go up...

Chris

[rowjimmy]

Well, this thread has certainly given us some nice teasers for today...
I'll begin socking away dough as soon as I get back from Bonnaroo.