Anders' DIY Projects

[dahnielson]

I'm currently looking for a good quality preamp that live up to my sampling needs, my current one, a tube preamp, is nice but noisy, colorful and was never intended for this kind of work (not exactly "transparent" ). Unfortunately most good enough preamps are out of reach for my wallet. If I had the money I wouldn't hesitate to put them on a Millennia HV-3C (or one of its big brothers) for instant gratification and satisfaction. And while looking for less expensive alternatives I tend to look for multi channel devices, especially with the microphone array project in mind, which naturally drive up the price.

So one route I'm considering is the DIY one and getting myself a SC-1 DIY Mic Preamp Kit from Five Fish Studios. From my understanding it's a solid state, transformerless design based on laser-trimmed thin film resistors (just like the HV-3C) and should be capable of an insane gain without much noise (at least compared to my current preamp and less expensive factory built units). It looks really easy to assemble too, with proper instructions and lots of R&D put into it (unlike other kits from hell I experienced as a teenager).

[Consul]

You definitely won't be disappointed with the Five Fish Audio offering. Of course, me being a cheap bastard, I would use a THAT 1512: http://www.thatcorp.com/datashts/1510data.pdf

Just follow the datasheet. Here's a thread on them at Prodigy Pro, a homebrew audio equipment forum: http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewto ... light=1512

You can get THAT1512 chips for single-digit dollars if you shop around.

[dahnielson]

Thanks for the links!

What I like about Five Fish is that you get all the parts you need, bagged, sorted and ready to be mounted on a professionally manufactured PCB, something I'm ready to pay for. I'm thinking about order a single channel (or even their stereo offering) as a test build. Apparently the unit have been compared with DAV Electronics BG1.

[Consul]

There is definitely something to be said for ready-to-go kits. The FFA ones are a good price for what they include. It's always good to know other options, though. Myself, I'm hoping to finish building a pair of API-based mic pres (transformer input and output with discrete solid-state gain block). I also want to build one or two THAT-based ones, and I have almost all of the parts for a tube mic pre designed by a fellow from the Prodigy Pro boards.

[dahnielson]

The only thing I need to find, no matter what DIY preamp project I do, is a decent enclosure. Preferably find a manufacturer of 1U rack enclosures that doesn't leave me skinned (especially with shipping fee in mind).

[Consul]

I have an old CD-ROM case I salvaged that one of my projects is going into. I don't know which one yet. I hate being broke, but by the same token, I'm a big fan of recycling.

[dahnielson]

Actually, I think I will go for a Par-Metal 2U 11" deep with black anodize front for $55 USD + shipping for the final 8 channel amp (that I intend to build in stages), think it's a good investment in quality. Will use whatever plastic box thingy I can find for the first test build.

[dahnielson]

Tonight I located my old DIY gear and in addition to my soldering station found all the tools to my Dremel that I thought had been lost forever in a move (now I can drill proper holes again) and a motherload of old components (at least so it seemed finding zip-lock bag upon zip-lock bag of unsorted junk) and some unetched PCB boards. Stuff that I had totally forgot about (my plan was to resolder some bad cabling). I'm really itching to build something.

I have also some freebies from Microship, components that are central to any MIDI project from http://www.ucapps.de.

My first project will be to save a Fuzz-pedal that I'm uncertain if it ever worked or will work (my hand drawn schematics copied from a book is long missing) simply because it got a box with all the proper connectors and switches mounted already.

Think I also will try to build a simple headphone amplifier, simple enough for me to draw by freehand on the PCBs (they're not photo-coated and I no longer own a printer).

[Consul]

You go, boy! DIY electronics can be addictive. I, myself, quite miss that sweet smell of solder. I look forward to smelling it again soon.

[dahnielson]

Forgot that I already had started a DIY hardware thread.