A 1272 type preamp on my bench [NEW! pics posted]

[Bryson]

[quote author="andre tchmil"]Hi christian.
What I' like to know is , If there is a seperate trafo for the 24V and 48V, or if both are coming out of one circuit and if so, how it is done ?

thanks in advance[/quote]

There is one Power One 24V supply, and a little 24 to 48v - DC to DC convertor module with a couple caps on it to clean up the noise.

About the lack of a complete chassis for his 1272, I too figured it was to keep the retro integrity of the thing, with the Neve labels and all. But why no Neve/Marconi knobs ?

 

[chrissugar]

Mounting the two Neve cassetes into a 2U rack with proper Neutriks and everything would not hurt the retro integrity of the thing at all. Contrary, it would make it a great product, but as it is now for me it is a piece of crap. And if I think about the price they ask it is a mega crap.

chrissugar

 

[Gus]

Family Hoof

Do I see Xicon caps in one of the pictures?

Do I see no heatsinks on the transistors or reg in one picture?

 

[Family Hoof]

[quote author="Gus"]Family Hoof

Do I see Xicon caps in one of the pictures?

Do I see no heatsinks on the transistors or reg in one picture?[/quote]
The pictures are not mine and I've have not seen those units in person, so it's hard to tell.

However, I agree with your observations, Gus. The light blue caps in the Vintech are definately Xicon, and Dan's power supply has no heatsinks on the TO-220 regs.

 

[soundguy]

the cap selection in my x73i was definitely made by an accountant...

dave

 

[Family Hoof]

I found this on the Vintech Audio Distribution site. Looks like the power is not external, but built in. See the toroid in the lower right and the power supply circuitry next to it? There isn't even an IEC inlet either, just a built-in cord. Also, note that the 6 position gain switch is only one deck! I wonder which function this is controlling? The pad could have 6 stages, but so could the boost resistors for the first stage. They call their output pot "gain". Hmm...

Two whole rack spaces and this is the best they could do? Big waste of space, many corners cut, very disappointing.

 

[soundguy]

you have no idea how pleasing it is to see other people note how second class that stuff is. If you need to copy something thats fine, but do it right, geesh. I felt wierd for the longest time bashing this stuff and not ever getting any feedback on it, but Im glad Im not alone.

when you can build something yourself better it becomes really frustrating very quickly to pay money for someone's second class attempt.

dave

 

[Family Hoof]

[quote author="soundguy"]when you can build something yourself better it becomes really frustrating very quickly to pay money for someone's second class attempt.

dave[/quote]
Dave,

I know what you mean. Originally the goal with my 1272 clone (the one I'm always talking about and keep redesigning) was to make something that would cost less than the rest of them. More and more now the goal is to make something of higher quality. I can use cheap tactics and save a little money now, or I can do it right and have something that never fails. Tools like the latter help us (recording engineers) make money!

I hessitate to tread on peoples livelyhood, but shady business need not be ignored. I would've chimed in sooner had I not been in the dark. Unfortunately I don't have enough friends or funds to see under the hood of most gear, and such pics on the internet are scarce.

 

[blakbeltjonez]

[quote author="soundguy"]most of thier stuff is put together like that. not top notch construction, but the customer service is great. they also package the stuff with power one supplies which are really terrible for neve's IMO, I changed those out in a pair of 33114's I had and it made a tremendous difference in depth with the eq's.

dave[/quote]

dave, what makes the Power One supplies so terrible, and what would you recommend instead? the reason i'm asking is that i was looking through a Digikey catalog and Power One was one of the few reasonably priced 48V supplies i could find (about $40, need it for my pair of PM-1000 modules)

 

[rafafredd]

Man, you can build a clean 48v supply in five minutes with $3.00...

 

[soundguy]

[quote author="blakbeltjonez"][quote author="soundguy"]most of thier stuff is put together like that. not top notch construction, but the customer service is great. they also package the stuff with power one supplies which are really terrible for neve's IMO, I changed those out in a pair of 33114's I had and it made a tremendous difference in depth with the eq's.

dave[/quote]

dave, what makes the Power One supplies so terrible, and what would you recommend instead? the reason i'm asking is that i was looking through a Digikey catalog and Power One was one of the few reasonably priced 48V supplies i could find (about $40, need it for my pair of PM-1000 modules)[/quote]

I dont really know. my experience is this: I had an averill 33114 that sounded totally lifeless. I hooked up a linear supply I built and the unit came to life. I hooked up their supply and it sounded dead. Ive heard chages on some gear and not on others, youd have to experiment with you yamaha to see if that is a source of improvement or not. Sorry I dont have a better answer.

dave

 

[blakbeltjonez]

[quote author="rafafredd"]Man, you can build a clean 48v supply in five minutes with $3.00...[/quote]

yeah, maybe i should rethink my idea about buying an off the shelf supply - i know i could build one for $30-40, i dunno about three bucks.... the transformer is half the cost of a power supply

 

[blakbeltjonez]

[quote author="soundguy"][quote author="blakbeltjonez"][quote author="soundguy"]

I dont really know. my experience is this: I had an averill 33114 that sounded totally lifeless. I hooked up a linear supply I built and the unit came to life. I hooked up their supply and it sounded dead. Ive heard chages on some gear and not on others, youd have to experiment with you yamaha to see if that is a source of improvement or not. Sorry I dont have a better answer.

dave[/quote]


that's ok, empirical observations count for a lot in my book - i think i'll play it safe and build a good old 48v linear supply.