Group Buy Interest?

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I think I was in the same notice cohort as you were (the mistakenly forgotten 30). At that rate, I figure mine will show up Monday. Woohoo! :D
 
I'm in between calls, so I borrowed a screwdriver from I.T. (it pays to stay on good terms with those folks :) ), pulled out one of the preamp power cords, and --

1) none of the ribbons have sag! I opened the ACM2 and ACM3, and they look great, and I held the 200s and the 900 up to the light, and they look fine.

2) all 4 preamps turn on, and the lights all work :). One of my 81s looks like it had a little post-factory attention, in that the knobs and buttons were in weird places, and there was a little grime, which wiped off. I'm calling this one "hand tested in the USA".

3) behind the faceplate of all four ACMP units (two 73s and two 81s) the top of the case pokes up just a little on each side, and dips in the middle to be flush with the top of the faceplate (or maybe a little below) at the center point. Could this explain racking issues?

4) The build quality on the ACM2 and ACM3 *seems* better than the units from the last GB, but I don't have those with me -- in a way, this is disappointing, because I was hoping for matches for my existing ones, but I bet they sound the same.

5) The ACM100s are cool looking, and they have simple circuits and look like they'd benefit from a capacitor swap

6) The ACM583s look like standard shanghai mics on the inside, (except that they're multi-pattern (but I guess I haven't seen a multi-pattern shanghai mic before) - I plan to swap capsules in these with two that I got from Ausrock some time ago. No obvious capacitor swap in the works.

7) The ACM200s look as insect-segmented as they do in the pictures -- they're dual ribbon - I didn't get that before. It's great to have two -- I had ordered a 300, and so I guess one of them is the swap. I'm very glad to have two.

8) The thing that's got me wanting to skip my next call (OK I already did) is the ACM900 -- it's got a very simple circuit with two housed transformers and a small socketed tube that I can't immediately identify - smaller form factor than a 12AX7. There's a ground(?) wire looped around the glass body of the tube and soldered on each side to the circuit board - weird and cool looking.
 
Doh! The Fedex truck just drove right by my house!

Arrrrrrgh.
 
apl said:
I don't know, man. If it's a business meeting and you said I ordered something a year ago, paid for it nine months ago, and it's finally arriving today, his acumen might be questioned. Especially if he works in purchasing.
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Just say the words "government contract" and they won't question it further. :D
 
home at last!!!

therack.jpg


(yes, I'm aware that's a total of three AD converters, which is two too many, but it all works - I'm running the ACMPs into the Audiofire 12)

The 73 on top had some "burn off" to do -- lots of flickery fire-static sounds as I worked the knobs, especially the input gain knob, but it completely went away in a minute or so.

With all the talk of hum, I was almost looking forward to geeking out some, and I've even started trying to source the replacement transistors. But... No hum, really. The 73s don't have it at all, and the 81s have a little hum with the EQ on (below the noise level of my central air -- I have to turn down the input gain pretty low before I can hear the hum. or just unplug the mic). All four have a little hiss when the input is dimed, but that's no big deal, and it could be my mic or cable, I guess. The output is dead quiet even all the way up. All four units seem completely usable out of the box, so I guess I won't open them up for a while. I have some peel & stick Mu metal stuff that Somnium7 told me where to get some time ago, so maybe I'll try putting some of that around the power trannies in the 81s if I get bored.

Edit - I switched from the beat up old SM57 I was using to a C414B-ULS, and now the input seems quiet, too, so I guess it was the mic :o
 
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jonmatthews said:
I've been playing this whole "red no" scene pretty cool and casual, but now that the reviews are flooding in, I must admit to some antsy-ness! I'm in Canada...any other Canadians get their gear already?

Jon M
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Got mine a while back. I think I was one of the first (sorry).
 
I got my GREEN YES's just now. Paid imediately. I didn't think the shipping folks worked on Saturday. Maybe Chance just got around to putting up the invoice. Either way, I'm happy. If they ship out on Monday I'm guessing it will be the following Monday due to the Christmas holiday.:D Thank you Chance! Have a Merry Christmas!

Dancing around, dancing around......Oh happy day.....dancing around...

BTW, I'll be staying on at the RED NO's club, if just to contribute moral support. Hang in there guys. You're day will come.....if you just wait a while....

:D
 
antichef said:
8) The thing that's got me wanting to skip my next call (OK I already did) is the ACM900 -- it's got a very simple circuit with two housed transformers and a small socketed tube that I can't immediately identify - smaller form factor than a 12AX7. There's a ground(?) wire looped around the glass body of the tube and soldered on each side to the circuit board - weird and cool looking.
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I'd love to hear what you think about the sound of the 900, AC. Glad all the pres are quiet.

Paul:D
 
flame me if you must, but there are 275 pages in this thread... did anyone else get both an error through the user console and a payment confirmation email when they paid their shipping invoice?
 
kojdogg said:
flame me if you must, but there are 275 pages in this thread... did anyone else get both an error through the user console and a payment confirmation email when they paid their shipping invoice?
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I got thrown out to a login screen. No error message. What was the error?
 
flame me if you must, but there are 275 pages in this thread... did anyone else get both an error through the user console and a payment confirmation email when they paid their shipping invoice?
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this is what happened to me, error page after filling everything out and hitting "pay". got confirmation email though, and my console never updated but i got all my stuff a week later!!!!

awesome.

BTW:

recorded a few songs, friend on acoustic, and my wife sang this weekend, its a christmas gift for our family.

ACMP73's are really freakin nice, and not just for the price we paid. No issues here.

310 is my current favorite. Awesome for acoustic and vocal. wish I got four instead of two. Sounded better on her voice than the KSM44 i've used on her before.

Thought the 900 would work great on her voice but was too dark. still excited about this one though.

1200 was fine sounding but might go under the knife soon just because...

still haven't tried the other ribbons.

i'll post some clips soon.

very happy with the recording, AND my purchases.


side note #2:

interested in opinions on other upgrades that might be worth the investment like tube mic power supplies and 7 pin cables.

the cables we got work (although if i jiggle the one on the 900 the signal goes in and out (haven't sus'd the actual problem yet)) but don't strike me as very high end. has anyone thought of a good replacement cable?

are these tube power supplies good/better/worse? should they be replaced also?

i guess i'd just rather start modding at the weakest link first, but not sure yet what that might be. cables would be an easy swap, at least before breaking out the solder.
 
Ironklad Audio said:
not until all of the orders from this GB are shipped...
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I had almost forgotten about the ACM-3. So the replacements for the sagging ribbons are on this order? Can't remember if I ordered a shock mount for it or not.

Does Chance plan to send automatically to recipients of the ACM-3 from GB1, or do I have to contact him for a replacement once he gets everything shipped?
 
I guess for some of us those xmas presents we were buying ourselves aren't going to happen :(
 
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