DIY kits?

Neito

Neito

Pouty-face
I just read reviews in TapeOp #54 (awesome mag, btw) for what seem to be some pretty amazing preamp DIY kits from Seventh Circle Audio (seventhcircleaudio.com), but the review said the kits aren't for beginners. Anyone know of a place on the net to find good, simple yet educational kits? I would expect a DIY forum on here to be pretty helpful in this realm, but SINCE THERE ISN'T ONE *cough cough* the youthful, explorative spirit within me cannot be unleashed until someone tells me where I can find a kit worth working on. Any and all suggestions are appreciated.
 
google "green mic pre"

"slo blow mic pre"

"seventh circle audio"

and go to www.hamptone.com ( i have the hvtp2 it is PHENOMENAL, holds its own with my 3,000 dollar pre!)

teddy
 
Just buy a couple of blinking light LED games form radio shack for a few $$$ to get your soldering up to scratch and then you won't be a beginner anymore. ;)

Kits like that aren't too difficult to build at all, the SCA pres would probably be more suitable for a beginner than something like the green pre purely because there's a more solid source of support. I've built greens though and they're really not too tricky not to mention cheap and they sound pretty amazing considering the outlay. The designer (peterc) hangs out at group DIY and there's a support thread for the green pre in 'the lab' somewhere:

http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/

I certainly wouldn't recommend a high DC voltage point to point preamp (like the slo-blow) for a first project. :eek:
 
soundchaser59 said:
PAIA Electronics http://www.paia.com/toc.htm


I built the dual channel mic tube preamp kit, works well enough for any home recordings I do.

They have a really nice parametric eq also....

most kits are under $100, pretty easy to do....
Click to expand...
TapeOP has some mods for that mic pre that'll make it quite a bit better than stock.
If you start one of these kits, I'd do the mods at the same time.

BTW I have a modded dual tube mic preamp and it really is the best bang for the buck I have ever ran across.
 
Well I had never done any electronics ever accept for building a couple Condenser microphones and I was looking for a DIY project that wasn"t to Difficult nor expensive so i decided to build a couple channels of V1 Green Pre and it has been relitively easy and Cheap considering I etched my own PCB"s and Sourced my own Parts.....

I am just about to mount the PCB"s and Power supply into a Home made Rack case and wire everything up and test it...From what I hear these Pre amps are extremely clean and sound better than some Solid State Mic pre amps in the $1000 Range.....

I would have had mine Finnished long ago but I work pretty much 7 days a week so my time has been in very short supply...

You can buy the PBC"s for this project off of PeterC at the "Prodigy Pro" forum and there are also Parts kits and PSU Kits available or you can do what I did a Sourced the parts yourself and etch the PCB"s yourself and save more money...You are looking at about $50 to $75 per channel pluss the PSU ,Transformer and Box to put it all in......

I just can"t wait to try my Home Built Pre amp with my Home built Microphones recording my Home built Guitars/Bass......


Cheers
 
Paia kits rock. Pretty straight forward and the documentation is excellent. They have a solid state/Tube pre amp that has excellent reviews.

I am a big time MBHP (Midibox hardware platform) junkie and have several projects in the works (4x SID station and midi-CV). You should get your soldering up to snuff though since cold joints will drive you insane. Here are some great DIY sites:

midibox: http://www.ucapps.de/
Music from outer space: http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/
Paia: http://www.paia.com/
 
yaaay

Excellent! Thanks a ton, everyone. I really appreciate the reccomendations. I'm thinking I'll grab a couple of soldering kits (I have some experience with putting a 3-pin connector on a Slimair 636, which had 4 pins) but I think that will help me immensely as far as really cementing (no pun intended) my soldering skills. If I decide to buid the Green first, what would be the best way for me to acquire the parts necessary? Radio Shack, or is there another store where I can get decent-quality components?
Also, where can one acquire a blank PCB for etching? Internet the best place?
 
Radio Shack, or is there another store where I can get decent-quality components?
Also, where can one acquire a blank PCB for etching? Internet the best place?
Click to expand...

No radio shack for anything, ever. Online parts suppliers like mouser, digikey, newark are where you should be looking. The unfortunate downside to DIY is endless sourcing of parts so dont expect to find everything in one place, or one country for that matter. Etching boards is pretty easy however the chemicals involved are pretty nasty (Ferric chloride especially)

heres a good site for boards:
http://www.solarcar.arizona.edu/technical/circuit_boards.php

Datak makes good positive keep boards

I would build some ready made kits before you worry about making your own boards though
 
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soundchaser59 said:
PAIA Electronics http://www.paia.com/toc.htm


I built the dual channel mic tube preamp kit, works well enough for any home recordings I do.

They have a really nice parametric eq also....

most kits are under $100, pretty easy to do....
Click to expand...

I've built several of their kits, the Stack in a Box, the 4 band parametric eq, and the 2 channel Microphone mixer with phantom power. They all have worked fine, just make sure that you inventory all the parts that are required, and at least give yourself a full day or so for soldering just to be sure all of your solder connections are soldered correctly. Hell of a deal for the price if you are handy with a soldering iron! :D
 
I actually got most of my Parts off of E-Bay becayse they were much Cheaper, At my Local electronics store they charge 0.20c for a single resistor were I can buy 1000 resistors on e-bay for about $10....

as for buying Blank PCB"s I also got them off of e-bay...There is a guy on e-bay that was selling 360 square inches(10 6x6in Pieces) of Blank PCB material for $10 were at my Local electronics store a 1 foot square piece costs over $50......

I actually ended up spending about $300 on materials for building 2 Channels and a PSU but I have so many parts left over that i will be able to make several More channels of pre and many other Projects......

I was also able to Pick up a Obscene ammount of 0.1uf Polly caps for about $10 (about 200 allong with about 1000 ceramic caps and about 10 Pounds of resistors) and I also found 8 Power transformers for $5 (low power so I had to Wire 4 in series to get enough Current for my pre, I would suggest a Toroidal for your project)

There were a few components that I had problems finding like 500R Trimmer Pots and BC550C Transistors and the Lorin Switches so when I was able to find some I stocked up as I was going to build a few more channels, so if you ever get stuck not being able to find a certain component you can give me a shout and I might have what you are looking for.......


There are several versions of the Green pre, the Latest version has some extra Features like a LED VU meter and a Phaze switch and a Trim pot but they also make the project more complex and expensive and I didn"t think I needed these features that badly so i went with the Old version that doesn"t have these Features but still has the same audio quality......

You can also change the sound of these Pre"s by changeing the Op amps, Like maybe to a better quality Burr Brown model but the NE5532"s are pretty good and clean sounding.....

If you need any help with your Project just let me know and I"ll help the best I can....

Cheers
 
altitude909 said:
No radio shack for anything, ever. Online parts suppliers like mouser, digikey, newark are where you should be looking.

I would build some ready made kits before you worry about making your own boards though.
Click to expand...

Beautiful. Thanks for the name drops, too. Very helpful.

Um, what about perfboard? Too difficult to lay out effectively? I've just seen some major-DIY projects that just use perfboard, but I haven't been too sure about its integrity/ease of use.

Hobby store, here I come. Hide your daughters and your solders.
 
Minion said:
if you ever get stuck not being able to find a certain component you can give me a shout and I might have what you are looking for.......

If you need any help with your Project just let me know and I"ll help the best I can....
Click to expand...

Excellet, thank you very much. I'll be sure to stay in touch with you. Do you like your green pre?
 
Um, what about perfboard? Too difficult to lay out effectively? I've just seen some major-DIY projects that just use perfboard, but I haven't been too sure about its integrity/ease of use.
Click to expand...

It serves some purposes (prototyping) but once you get into burning your own boards, DIY boards have huge advantages when working with many parts. I also recommend cadsoft Eagle for doing your own layouts and alot of DIY project boards will come in this format (*.brd files). Eagle Light is free for non-commercial use. It is excellent for aligning parts on a board to a front panel.
 
tarnationsauce2 said:
TapeOP has some mods for that mic pre that'll make it quite a bit better than stock.
If you start one of these kits, I'd do the mods at the same time.

BTW I have a modded dual tube mic preamp and it really is the best bang for the buck I have ever ran across.
Click to expand...


TapeOP?? Is that a web site or someone on this board?? I'd be interested in the mods, as I'm tempted to let my brother have my preamp so I can build another one and do the mods as I go......

Never mind...found it.

http://www.tapeop.com/magazine/bonuspdfs/paiamicpremods.pdf
 
soundchaser59 said:
TapeOP?? Is that a web site or someone on this board?? I'd be interested in the mods, as I'm tempted to let my brother have my preamp so I can build another one and do the mods as I go......

Never mind...found it.

http://www.tapeop.com/magazine/bonuspdfs/paiamicpremods.pdf
Click to expand...
Yeah thats's the one. I guess I could have linked it to be nice. :p
Also a lot of those parts can be sourced from Mouser.com for better prices than the audio electronics stores. The ECC83 tubes can be bought off eBay. JJ/Tesla and Telefunken are great makers of that tube.
 
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