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Post by tonycamphd on Jan 21, 2015 23:38:32 GMT -6
Rupert Neve's focusrite console, probably the most high fidelity console ever made? It's in the A room at Oceanway on the west coast, and in the ocean on the east coast(don't ask, watch 8) . A good buddy of mine worked on one of these at electric lady for many years, he swears it's the baddest console ever built, i believe him, enjoy 8)
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Post by svart on Jan 21, 2015 23:45:15 GMT -6
Uh oh.. It can't be any good, it's full of NE5532 and NE5534 opamps..  But yes, these things are amazing. |
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Post by Johnkenn on Jan 21, 2015 23:53:17 GMT -6
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Post by Johnkenn on Jan 22, 2015 0:17:02 GMT -6
Cool video!
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Post by levon on Jan 22, 2015 0:23:44 GMT -6
I think I have seen this before, but one can never get enough - it's a great story on a great console. Love those vids! Thanks for sharing Tony.
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Post by Warhead on Jan 22, 2015 11:11:16 GMT -6
Uh oh.. It can't be any good, it's full of NE5532 and NE5534 opamps.. But yes, these things are amazing. Rup-daddy loved the MC / Motorola opamps enough to use in his 9098 and I have to say...those things have a very smooth presence to them that is nice. |
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Post by tonycamphd on Jan 22, 2015 11:55:57 GMT -6
I wonder if it was Rupert or the Soundcraft founder who dug on these op amps? I have the motorola NE5532's all over my SC delta 8 console, they are in the IC5 slot on the input strips, the A side pushes the low shelf eq and the B side comes off the fader and pushes the direct output and around to the eq section if you go post fader direct out. The stereo buss has them everywhere, they're pushing all 8 aux send buffers and output amps, the rest of the duties are rendered to the TL072's
I doubt they'll survive on the channel strips, but i'm thinking these might serve well in the other places they are? i will do some listening tests comparing to the AD4898 and LME49720 to know for sure(these later get locally power reinforcement via the JW mods), don't know if i'll be able to interchange them yet?) i'm of the belief that anything being sent to effects is 9 times out of 10 representing "distance", and can live with less top and even a little noise as both come off as completely natural in real life, and in a mix to my ears.
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Post by svart on Jan 22, 2015 12:58:28 GMT -6
I wonder if it was Rupert or the Soundcraft founder who dug on these op amps? I have the motorola NE5532's all over my SC delta 8 console, they are in the IC5 slot on the input strips, the A side pushes the low shelf eq and the B side comes off the fader and pushes the direct output and around to the eq section if you go post fader direct out. The stereo buss has them everywhere, they're pushing all 8 aux send buffers and output amps, the rest of the duties are rendered to the TL072's I doubt they'll survive on the channel strips, but i'm thinking these might serve well in the other places they are? i will do some listening tests comparing to the AD4898 and LME49720 to know for sure(these later get locally power reinforcement via the JW mods), don't know if i'll be able to interchange them yet?) i'm of the belief that anything being sent to effects is 9 times out of 10 representing "distance", and can live with less top and even a little noise as both come off as completely natural in real life, and in a mix to my ears. i think the NE series parts (5532 and 5534) are great parts. As War mentions, they have a smooth character that seems more neutral than others. Rupert loved them, Focusrite did too, and so does SSL. One thing about them is that they are very touchy about their decoupling. It must be GOOD. Most low end gear uses these because they cheap enough, but still have performance in them. The problem is that most cheap gear also fails miserably in the decoupling and power supply cleanliness realm, and thus being used in poor conditions have given these parts a bad name. It's easy to understand a part being sucky, but it's much harder for the layman to understand a whole system, so most people just change the part and repeat the upgrade mantra. I'd always suggest doing total decoupling to a device before replacing any active component. Most people could just stop there and have up to 20% increase in fidelity and probably 10%+ decrease in noise. Anyway, I think the LME49720 is an excellent part. It's the EXACT same as the LM4562 opamp, but has a different part number because they reclassified it to be used as part of their special audio lineup. This was confirmed by a company rep over at head-fi and diyaudio websites. I do find it interesting that some upgrade folks poo-poo the LM4562 but promote the LME49720. |
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Post by levon on Jan 23, 2015 0:38:35 GMT -6
Wow, what are you guys talking about? I'm amazed by your technical knowledge, I'm just happy I'm able to switch on my gear. (pulls off hat)
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2015 1:04:27 GMT -6
These 5532/5534 BJT opamps are great allrounders for studio gear since they came out.
I used them in several mods, even instead of the TL072/TL071 (while it doesn't always work to replace FET Opamps).
My favorite ones are the Signetics, but i used other manufacturers as well. The Signetics are also common in german/dutch/nordics broadcast units of the later generations, great standard chip opamps for audio.
Generally, they are fine, but specwise they can't hold the water to the latest greatest opamps from National and Linear's AD4898.
But otherwise - great audio opamps.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 23, 2015 1:19:58 GMT -6
Haha,
LM4562 vs. LME49720: Isn't it great what expectation bias can do to maybe otherwise pretty rational people's ears?
:-)
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Post by tonycamphd on Jan 23, 2015 2:08:34 GMT -6
i'll get my buddy John to pop diff amps in without me knowing what is what and give them a real listen, it will happen over a period of days on a couple channel strips so i can leave any expectations behind, it's the only way to do it honestly imo. I've done that with all the stuff jim has modded for me, I own all gear thats been modded by JW in multiples except the LXP15 which i owned for about 15 years(again, not close), i used dbx 166's for a couple decades before jim did them up, i kinda hated them but used em anyway, now they are just killer, if i could get an attack and release control on them, they'd be the endalls imo.
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Post by Johnkenn on Jan 23, 2015 16:34:15 GMT -6
Wow, what are you guys talking about? I'm amazed by your technical knowledge, I'm just happy I'm able to switch on my gear. (pulls off hat) Yes, one day we will tell you... (I have no idea) |
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Post by Calvin on Jan 23, 2015 17:34:41 GMT -6
i'll get my buddy John to pop diff amps in without me knowing what is what and give them a real listen, it will happen over a period of days on a couple channel strips so i can leave any expectations behind, it's the only way to do it honestly imo. I've done that with all the stuff jim has modded for me, I own all gear thats been modded by JW in multiples except the LXP15 which i owned for about 15 years(again, not close), i used dbx 166's for a couple decades before jim did them up, i kinda hated them but used em anyway, now they are just killer, if i could get an attack and release control on them, they'd be the endalls imo. I'm not sure I'm understanding what was done, if anything, to the LXP15. Are you still using the LXP15? Did Jim modify that for you? If so, what are you hearing? Thanks! |
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Post by tonycamphd on Jan 23, 2015 19:34:36 GMT -6
i'll get my buddy John to pop diff amps in without me knowing what is what and give them a real listen, it will happen over a period of days on a couple channel strips so i can leave any expectations behind, it's the only way to do it honestly imo. I've done that with all the stuff jim has modded for me, I own all gear thats been modded by JW in multiples except the LXP15 which i owned for about 15 years(again, not close), i used dbx 166's for a couple decades before jim did them up, i kinda hated them but used em anyway, now they are just killer, if i could get an attack and release control on them, they'd be the endalls imo. I'm not sure I'm understanding what was done, if anything, to the LXP15. Are you still using the LXP15? Did Jim modify that for you? If so, what are you hearing? Thanks! If i remember correctly he did power supply work and some opamp sockets with AD's in them as well as some reliable caps in the input/output sections mostly, it sounds more realistic in dimension and more open to my ears. I'm sure jimwilliams would be happy to answer this in more detail than I can. |
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Post by Calvin on Jan 24, 2015 19:06:44 GMT -6
I'm not sure I'm understanding what was done, if anything, to the LXP15. Are you still using the LXP15? Did Jim modify that for you? If so, what are you hearing? Thanks! If i remember correctly he did power supply work and some opamp sockets with AD's in them as well as some reliable caps in the input/output sections mostly, it sounds more realistic in dimension and more open to my ears. I'm sure jimwilliams would be happy to answer this in more detail than I can. Thanks. Yeah, I wouldn't want you to provide details of what was done. Jim deserves to be paid for this kind of knowledge. I was mainly asking a more general question because I'm thinking of picking one of these up. So, I was interested in hearing whether you were still using this device and whether Jim had improved it for you. I appreciate your answers. |
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Post by donr on Jan 24, 2015 20:59:03 GMT -6
Rupert Neve's focusrite console, probably the most high fidelity console ever made? It's in the A room at Oceanway on the west coast, and in the ocean on the east coast(don't ask, watch 8) . A good buddy of mine worked on one of these at electric lady for many years, he swears it's the baddest console ever built, i believe him, enjoy 8) SST, in Hoboken NJ, is where BOC stores its gear. Our stuff was flooded by hurricane Sandy along with the room with the Focusrite console. Quite a few other NY based bands used that facility too. |
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Post by ericn on Jan 24, 2015 22:53:06 GMT -6
Rupert Neve's focusrite console, probably the most high fidelity console ever made? It's in the A room at Oceanway on the west coast, and in the ocean on the east coast(don't ask, watch 8) . A good buddy of mine worked on one of these at electric lady for many years, he swears it's the baddest console ever built, i believe him, enjoy 8) SST, in Hoboken NJ, is where BOC stores its gear. Our stuff was flooded by hurricane Sandy along with the room with the Focusrite console. Quite a few other NY based bands used that facility too. Don I feel your pain on that one, Ike ate my House, 3 feet of water, fallen tree's root ball took out part of the foundation and another tree went through part of the roof! My fridge had floated from the back to my front door. The crud was toxic, everything from the first floor ended up in the Dump! |
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Post by ericn on Jan 24, 2015 22:54:22 GMT -6
I always wished, the ISA430 sounded more like the console at Oceanway!
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Post by jimwilliams on Jan 26, 2015 10:38:02 GMT -6
5534/2's are good 1970's era parts. To still use them is like using an 8088 processor next to a core 7 Intel. They are fine for MP3 pop/rock type stuff but an orchestral recording deserves much better. The real drag is their DC offset, too high to direct couple as I hate the sound of an electrolytic capacitor.
Opamps are rather cheap, I would rather drop a few cents more for greater performance. My mum always told me to go first class or stay home and watch it on the travel channel.
Lexicon LXP's are mostly similar inside. I use a LF211 fet comparitor (NOS) and AD823 fast settling fet input opamps along with Rel-Cap polystyrene sample and hold timing caps. Switching gliches are removed for a smoother reverb tone.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2015 14:09:38 GMT -6
Jim, it's exactly as you said, 70's era parts. There were many, many designs made with them, as were with TL071/TL072. Standard parts.
So, for building stuff that was originally made with them, why not use them as the cheap, reliable part without any changes necessary first...
Using sockets, one can drop in newer opamps later, tweak psu and whatever is needed to adjust the surrounding circuitry. But to check, if the unit works as originally intended, still usable. IMHO. (I admit, i mostly use these parts, just because i still have always some of them in stock...)
Sometimes you just like the color of a unit. Sometimes i tried newer, better spec opamps, and even if you get them stable and working as intended, you may decide you liked the original part better just for the sound, knowing they are inferior specwise. Had this e.g. with Soundtracs consoles where i just tend to like the originally used TL07x opamps for the character they had from the beginning...
New designs - OK, you would start with actual superior opamps right away. Also, if you want more fidelity and less color.
Completely agree.
Thanks for the insight into your LXP mods, interesting! I always read your comments, knowing you are always up to date on how to tweak the best out of existing units that beg for upgrades - always in a reasonable and skilled way...
:-)
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