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Post by jcoutu1 on Apr 11, 2017 14:30:05 GMT -6
DIY JLM preamps... BA4? cheers Wiz These are pretty inexpensive to DIY, especially with the exchange rate. Seem like it would be a cool project, but my time for DIY is pretty limited. Thanks for the tip though. I'll keep my eyes open for the used market.
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Post by wiz on Apr 11, 2017 16:34:47 GMT -6
DIY JLM preamps... BA4? cheers Wiz These are pretty inexpensive to DIY, especially with the exchange rate. Seem like it would be a cool project, but my time for DIY is pretty limited. Thanks for the tip though. I'll keep my eyes open for the used market. Buy em... and I will build em and ship em for you. cheers Wiz
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Post by kcatthedog on Apr 12, 2017 5:31:13 GMT -6
btw someone in the states is selling a slightly used wa-412 on GS as of yesterday: around a grand I think.
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Post by adamjbrass on Apr 12, 2017 11:24:32 GMT -6
shinybox si4
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Post by jcoutu1 on Apr 13, 2017 16:02:17 GMT -6
Hey cdkelly, are you the same guy that was once with Presonus? Do you have any knowledge if I can tell if an M80 has Jensen's without opening the unit? Thanks.
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Post by jcoutu1 on Apr 13, 2017 16:04:25 GMT -6
I had a pair of their Guillotine units and they felt janky. I probably wouldn't buy their stuff again based on that experience.
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Post by ulriggribbons on Apr 13, 2017 20:43:10 GMT -6
I had a pair of their Guillotine units and they felt janky. I probably wouldn't buy their stuff again based on that experience. Janky in what way? If you were unhappy, why did you not return them? The Si mic pre is more a typical analog design, so uses Grayhill stepped attenutators and analog pots. I've never had someone complain about my build quality before, everything on my electronic products is done here in the US. Feel free to PM or email me, so as not to derail this thread. Regards Jon
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Post by jcoutu1 on Apr 13, 2017 21:19:22 GMT -6
I had a pair of their Guillotine units and they felt janky. I probably wouldn't buy their stuff again based on that experience. Janky in what way? If you were unhappy, why did you not return them? The Si mic pre is more a typical analog design, so uses Grayhill stepped attenutators and analog pots. I've never had someone complain about my build quality before, everything on my electronic products is done here in the US. Feel free to PM or email me, so as not to derail this thread. Regards Jon We can derail, it's my thread anyway, so no worries. I purchased the units used. They worked OK, but the pots (or encoders or whatever they actually are) felt cheap to me. AKA, janky. I decided that for the money, I was happy enough using Pro-Q for my filtering rather than the Guillotines and sold my pair. No harm on my end, I didn't take a bath, just not for me.
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Post by ulriggribbons on Apr 14, 2017 2:10:12 GMT -6
I won't disagree about the feel of the encoders. Back in 2007 when I designed the product, we went through a ton of encoders trying to find something more "torquey", and the one I landed on felt better than all the rest, but still left some to be desired. That said, they are a high quality, long life Alps encoder. It's been some years, and I'm coming up on having to run front panels again, so likely worth revisiting if I can find an encoder that feels better.
The goal of all my products is to not cut corners on parts, and to build products that sonically sound great, will last for many years.
From a company perspective, I feel really strongly about people owning the right tools, which is why I asked about the return.
In any case, would love to have you check out the Si, it was very much designed with this thread subject in mind.
Regards
Jon
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Post by jcoutu1 on Apr 14, 2017 4:20:35 GMT -6
I won't disagree about the feel of the encoders. Back in 2007 when I designed the product, we went through a ton of encoders trying to find something more "torquey", and the one I landed on felt better than all the rest, but still left some to be desired. That said, they are a high quality, long life Alps encoder. It's been some years, and I'm coming up on having to run front panels again, so likely worth revisiting if I can find an encoder that feels better. The goal of all my products is to not cut corners on parts, and to build products that sonically sound great, will last for many years. From a company perspective, I feel really strongly about people owning the right tools, which is why I asked about the return. In any case, would love to have you check out the Si, it was very much designed with this thread subject in mind. Regards Jon Thanks Jon. That just seems to be the nature of the beast for encoders. I have a couple TC rack delays and each have a bad encoder. The Si has a tough market placement for me personally. If I go with transformerless preamps, I'm almost sure to go with something like Audient or the new Focusrite, which feature added, well spec'd converters or a full small console (like a Venice with a roadcase). For a pair of squeaky clean, the 500 series version could be cool, but rarely come up used, it seems.
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Post by subspace on Apr 15, 2017 8:47:45 GMT -6
What's out there? Focusrite ISA 428/828 Warm WA412 Vintech 473 Phoenix 8 Channel I'm looking specifically for value and bang for the buck. Good price per channel. I just grabbed a MOTU 24ai, so I'm looking at options for a travel rig. I currently have pairs of Tonelux, BAE, Phoenix DRS, Sound Skulptor, and 4 channels of Nightpro (MAAG). Realistically, a used Midas Venice 320 (or other used mixer) with case is probably my best bet. The Focusrite Clarett Octopre is a cool idea too since it adds needed DA to the rig too. Since you have a 24ai, you'd be able to use an XTA DS800 as an 8 channel preamp, about $100/channel used: Clair used
Nice preamps/active splitters, but the gain control is in 10dB steps. The MOTU however provides a software controlled analog trim for each channel before the ADC allowing you to store/recall gain settings. Steve Remote has a nice build thread elsewhere documenting use of these in his remote rigs.
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Post by subspace on Apr 15, 2017 8:51:40 GMT -6
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Post by topshelfmg on Apr 17, 2017 0:45:25 GMT -6
The Daking Mic Pre IV gets lots of use here. And sounds excellent on most anything Man, I've been looking at a Pre/EQ for so long! Will definitely own one if not a pair here in the near future. Any experience with the Daking FET IIs?
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Post by drsax on Apr 17, 2017 11:49:17 GMT -6
The Daking Mic Pre IV gets lots of use here. And sounds excellent on most anything Man, I've been looking at a Pre/EQ for so long! Will definitely own one if not a pair here in the near future. Any experience with the Daking FET IIs? Yeah I've got a FET II Pair here that I've used for the past 10 years. Killer Units. Work great on most anything and sound killer on the mix buss too.
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Post by hadaja on Apr 19, 2017 2:24:47 GMT -6
Daking Fet II are a smoother version of the 1176. Not as grainy. Love them.
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Post by Cyrus Melchor on Apr 19, 2017 2:45:05 GMT -6
I'm really full on stoked about the Hairball Gold preamps right now. They let your mics shine through - in the most discrete way. Just the right amount of transparency to my liking. And about 300 bucks each. A full 500 rack of these and you've got no headaches or excuses, just fine tracks.
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Post by Martin John Butler on Apr 19, 2017 8:51:23 GMT -6
Welcome to the forum Cyrus. I don't have a Lunchbox, but will one day, and it's good to hear of options I wasn't aware of. I looked around for one minute and noticed the Gold has Hardy 990 opamp. It's funny, because when I had the Warm Audio Tone Beast, I tried the 990. Allthough I chose to keep it instead of the stock opamp, it was more of a slightly grainy full and round Hi-Fi warmth sound than a clean with big headroom sound. I like clean and big, so I'll keep this in mind further down the road.
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Post by jcoutu1 on Apr 20, 2017 6:52:01 GMT -6
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Post by ChaseUTB on Apr 22, 2017 3:40:43 GMT -6
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Post by Martin John Butler on Apr 22, 2017 8:31:56 GMT -6
Drums and bass were good, vocal a little flat sounding, but with a little processing, probably fine. Pretty good video there, thanks Chase.
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Post by mdmitch2 on Apr 22, 2017 10:29:05 GMT -6
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Post by sean on Apr 23, 2017 22:36:29 GMT -6
Sytek is a great value, usually $5-$600 on the used market. ISA 428 are readily available and if you want some color probably the best choice. But they run hot and are heavy (if that matters for portability...I would definitely vent the top and bottom)
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