My D-LA2A is alive ! (with Edcor and Antek transformers !)

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Silvas

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 15, 2006
Messages
727
Location
Chia, Colombia
Well, it took me a while to complete it (and i was building at the same time the D-AOC, PM670, and REV J 1176, all of them coming soon) but here is it. A real pleasure to build. No troubles except making that damn holes for the meters on the front panel. It is pretty much a stock follow-the-BOM D-LA2A with some changes.

Some details :

Case is from my local metal shop. They make some 19" cases, but with nonstandard heights and the finish is not what i like. So i took the closest one to a 3U, put rubber feet to make up for the height, then put my own laser-engraved 3mm aluminium 3U front panel (made by the same shop, but to my specs).

For the power trafos, i used Antek AN-1T250 IIRC. Plus a small 6V 10VA trafo for running the relays and meter leds. This is working wonderfully at a nice price.

All signal trafos are edcors. Inputs are XSM600:15K (as suggested by ssltech, thanks Keith !) , outputs are XSM10K:600. So far no problems with high freq. loss. I just tested the frequencies a very crude way, using tones with the comp inserted on a protools session on studio´s HD rig. There is some small variations above 16K, but very small, like 1.5dB on some frequencies. I am very satisfied with this transformers, maybe i´ll put the sowters on the inputs someday.

Tubes are from EH, JJ and GE 6AQ5.

I wanted 24 step controls on gain and peak reduction, for easier recalls. These are the uraltone switches i bougth from a chinese seller on Ebay, at 10 USD a piece incl. Shipping. They doesn´t feel like the elmas or something more expensive, but they get the job done. It is a good idea to shield the back of the switch.

I left the "limiter response" control on the front. I always wanted a LA2A like this, and i made the right choice. When fully CCW, it is like "flat". When turning CCW, it gets less sensitive to low frequencies, thus preventing exessive pumping on bass and other bass-heavy instruments. What an useful feature ! (at least for me). These aren´t stepped controls but standard 1M alpha pots.

The "comp/limit" switch is gone. "comp" by default.

T4B´s are drips. He´s done a great job with the matching. After carefully adjusting the stereo adjust, the tracking is quite accurate, and the needles reflect very closely the G.R i´m measuring in pro tools. I have to test extensively on mastering but for now, i´m quite satisfied with tracking and metering.

The VU´s ? these are Nissei. I purchased some samples from them. Love them, except for the damn Ashdown logo. I have to put my own scale.

All audio cabling is leftover canare snake cable. Almost all cabling is done with this cable except power, switches and lamps.  The unit is dead quiet.

For the coupling caps, i used a combination of ERO MKP1840, wima, orange drop and of course the solen fast.

This thing has lots of gain (as i expected). My "unity" gain for using as insert on digi interface is on "3", and it goes to "24" !!! someday i´ll try a lower gain tube on the first stage.

I couldn´t be happier with this build. Just what i wanted, and just what i expected. Everyone here is impressed. Finally, the first "Made-In-Colombia" D-LA2A. I´m very proud.

A big thanks to Volker for the PCB´s, Bryan and John for the trafos, Keith for the advice on input trafo, and everyone else for their advice.

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HAVE A REALLY NICE CHRISTMAS !




 
hi silvas,
very nice job.  your wiring is always tidy and i like the way all your builds have a signature look.
enjoy your D-LA2A and the "white christmas" PCB is so appropriate and just in time for christmas!
cheers and happy holidays!
-grant
 
dissonantstring said:
hi silvas,
very nice job.  your wiring is always tidy and i like the way all your builds have a signature look.
enjoy your D-LA2A and the "white christmas" PCB is so appropriate and just in time for christmas!
cheers and happy holidays!
-grant

Thanks ! i had to to that signature like a million times before i scanned it. Then, i did some touch-ups. That is something i love from the Hardy M1...the signature.

JoleFIN said:
This might be a dull question, but where can I get those knobs? :)


These are Davies 1913 (normal) and 1919 (pointer). I think they are using the old dakaware molds on the 1919...knobs say "dakaware chicago".  I bought them from Mouser, at 2 usd (1919) and 1.5 usd (1913) iirc.

 
Silvas,

what a great christmas pressent you did to your self.
congratulations!!!
with stepped controls :eek:
remindes me of a project I wanted to do for years ...

have fun with it!

happy holidays

Volker
 
[silent:arts] said:
Silvas,

what a great christmas pressent you did to your self.
congratulations!!!
with stepped controls :eek:
remindes me of a project I wanted to do for years ...

have fun with it!

happy holidays

Volker

Thanks so much ! I only had time to quickly mix 3 house songs before we went to vacation, and it absolutely ruled !

Don´t forget my banner  ;) ;D

Best regards.
 
[silent:arts] said:
Silvas said:
Don´t forget my banner  ;) ;D
I will not with this beautey.
My daughter is still trying out the roller blades santa brought, I'm very afraif about my printer, computers, and other stuff inhouse ;D

hahahaha, never mind, next time maybe !

My 1 1/2 year old daughter, i have to watch her like a hawk for the same reasons....

 
3nity said:
This reminds my friend Bluzzi offered me a board of this...
Looks cool..

I´m really hoping that Volker is willing to do another run of the D-LA2A pcb...i want to build a couple more, not for me but for the studio. I think we NEED them !
 
Silvas said:
I´m really hoping that Volker is willing to do another run of the D-LA2A pcb...i want to build a couple more, not for me but for the studio. I think we NEED them !
;D ;D ;D
I already have PCBs in stock and a few PSU transformers ordered.
It is only this f***ing web store which needs to be opened :mad:
 
[silent:arts] said:
Silvas said:
I´m really hoping that Volker is willing to do another run of the D-LA2A pcb...i want to build a couple more, not for me but for the studio. I think we NEED them !
;D ;D ;D
I already have PCBs in stock and a few PSU transformers ordered.
It is only this f***ing web store which needs to be opened :mad:

i know the webstore blues well.  i've been working on one for my fiance.  what a hassle!!
 
[silent:arts] said:
Silvas said:
I´m really hoping that Volker is willing to do another run of the D-LA2A pcb...i want to build a couple more, not for me but for the studio. I think we NEED them !
;D ;D ;D
I already have PCBs in stock and a few PSU transformers ordered.
It is only this f***ing web store which needs to be opened :mad:

SO COOOL !

Good news !

:D
 
flux-whisperer said:
Great looking unit. Did you engrave the front panel yourself?

Well, not myself literally, i did the design in Corel as usual, and i took the panel to my local laser engraving shop. The pricing is quite nice, you can engrave whatever you want, and it looks great. Laser engraving rules ! highly recommended.

BTW, for this particular panel i used a font i stole from a TV show i like. Maybe anyone recognized it. Love this panel.  My best work to date.



 
Fantastic, fantastic work :)  Very cool front panel, and great looking on the inside too.

Volker - my Sowter transformers are backordered until the end of January, and then all I need is a front panel, so you may not have to wait until much longer to see the next Dual LA2A :D
 
rob_gould said:
Fantastic, fantastic work :)  Very cool front panel, and great looking on the inside too.

thanks guys for the positive comments on my baby. Quite the motivation to continue building stuff !

 

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