Group Buy Interest?

  • Thread starter Thread starter chance
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
that might work

but i'd use a 7824 :)

F*ck. Yeah, that's what I meant. Home sick with a cold today, so it makes the mind a little fuzzy. :) Negative 24V, positive 24V... what's the difference? :D
 
I'm pleased you've taken some time to contribute investigative work here. I'm still waiting for my preamps from someone else and am keen to start testing and figuring out a solution.

A transistor oscillating should not go away as long as that path through the circuit is active. By contrast, all the fader does is adjust how much of the signal passes through the inductor in the feedback loop. That shouldn't be enough to trigger this.

I'm not completely sure what you are saying can be rulked-out here. Can you elaborate at all?


Further, the capacitors in the power supply keep the circuit at a usable operating voltage for probably half a second after the power switch goes off, and for that first tenth of a second, it's very close to 24VDC. I can hear the input in the output for about half a second. In spite of this, the hum goes away instantaneously when the power switch goes off. If this were caused by overheating of the transistor, it would gradually drop as the input voltage dropped. I'm just not hearing anything like that. The only rail that falls off quickly enough for this to make sense is the 12V rail, but that only powers lights and op amps for clip indicators---nothing in the signal path.


Based on that, I think the problem can only be either induced hum in the inductors or ripple in the power supply.

Seems most likely.

I don't have a scope, so all I can do is check for AC with a voltmeter. I'm showing about 0.02VAC on the +24V rail.

Here's where having a 'scope would help. You could potentially be seeing oscillation on the supply rails here. Could you disconnect the boards one-by-one while measuring and see if this level changes noticeably at any point? Also, does this ripple value change if you set the knobs to make the preamp hum the most?

The next thing I tried was stacking two units with their tops off upside down on top of one another to see if adding a second one increased the hum. No change.

Interesting. Some people have reported that rotating the transformers helped though.

Since you have more than one preamp, you could jumper the transformer secondaries to another unit over a few feet of wire to see if an external PSU definitely doesn't help.

So at this point, I'm trying to figure out why I'm seeing a supply ripple. My gut says I should replace the LM317 variable regulator with a 7924, snip out R2, and replace R1 and C11 with a jumper.

The PSU schematic looks ok to me. Like I suggested before, you could disconnect the boards and then test the PSU alone with a dummy load. If the 7824 option is easy to swap, then go for it.

The one thing that doesn't seem to have been mentioned much in this thread is ground loops; there are several boards and this could be a potential problem. As I said though, I don't have a unit myself to look over.

Cheers,

Roddy
 
Since you have more than one preamp, you could jumper the transformer secondaries to another unit over a few feet of wire to see if an external PSU definitely doesn't help.
great idea

especially if you

brought over dc from

the regulated outputs



then there would be

no ac in the unit

and if the hum weren't

significantly decreased

(by inverse square)

you will have ruled out

the psu transformer

as the source
 
On overs I went API this time. Kick in and out, and Snare top and bottom I used the 73/84's.

API's on toms, Shadow Hills on hh, Biz on Room.

Yup yup. Excellent on kick & snare for rock.

Bill: I've never used API's. How would you compare the ACMP's to API's (as far as pre's only)? I gather they're different animals but curious to get a better idea of the API sound.
 
I might act like a shithead to this gb ( or have to ) :

Is there someone wanting 2 81´s and near Chance
I can´t wait anymore ( hold the money ).

If so contact me at ittamletti@gmail.com

I´m tired and out of money, why send these to europe if the cure
is in California?

Matti :o

P.S. Seriously
 
Last edited:
Yup yup. Excellent on kick & snare for rock.

Bill: I've never used API's. How would you compare the ACMP's to API's (as far as pre's only)? I gather they're different animals but curious to get a better idea of the API sound.

More forward. Fast. More aggressive. Muscular. Brash. ??? :D:D Hard to put into words. Great for rock. Really, great for anything. Not as heavy as a neve. Never got anywhere near the cool kick sound on the API's that I'm getting with the ACMP's. Did that help??
 
IMG_0453.JPG


some have experienced problems with these but mine works perfectly...

however i have a question. In reaper, i am seeing - 55 db on the meters when monitoring the preamp @ MAX gain (80db) and MAX output... (firepod line in trim @ 12 o clock which i assume is neutral)

is that normal?

lowering the gain to 70 gets rid of the noise floor almost entirely.
 
hmm im getting this @ max settings:

10908142742-FX-chain-Track-1-.png


also i am using an adapter to get into the firepod... i need a true cable for it.... (even though the adapter is balanceD)

IMG_0456.JPG


it could be that...
 
hmm im getting this @ max settings:

That's your basic 60Hz hum with the broadband noise floor below it, but it's a meaningless number without calibrating it to an input level. I mean, 80dB is a stupid amount of gain--let's take a near-perfect input noise level of -135dBV, that +80dB = -55dBV.

But I don't know what your interface is doing at its 12:00 position. Attenuating a little? Also, what is plugged into the ACMP? It should have a 150 ohm resistor between pins 2 and 3 for a proper test. If you have an inline pad, you can use that, it should be close enough. The difference in terminated and unterminated inputs can be significant.
 
Did that help??

Yes - thank you! Interesting to hear that they're faster than API's. Yes, brash is right on track for describing the ACMP's. They are big sounding pre's.

There were two spots where I felt my pre's where lacking prior to getting the ACMP's and it happened to be in bass DI and kick/snare - exactly the ACMP strong points that I've gathered so far, and that's not a case of GAS. They are solid pre's for those purposes.

Considering the cost of API's (which I would have gotten if the ACMP's weren't avail) I feel very fortunate.
 
Yes - thank you! Interesting to hear that they're faster than API's. Yes, brash is right on track for describing the ACMP's. They are big sounding pre's.

There were two spots where I felt my pre's where lacking prior to getting the ACMP's and it happened to be in bass DI and kick/snare - exactly the ACMP strong points that I've gathered so far, and that's not a case of GAS. They are solid pre's for those purposes.

Considering the cost of API's (which I would have gotten if the ACMP's weren't avail) I feel very fortunate.

i had an opportunity to use a friend's acmp73 and 84s on kick and snare last saturday (acm 3 on kick two feet back, angled down at bottom of drum > acmp73, audix d6 inside kick > acmp84, sm57 top snare > acmp84) and they really brought that big fat sound that i've been looking for in kick and snare. the d6 had all the smacking attack and the acm3 had all that bottom end girth... snare's an early 70s deep wood ludwig, so it sounds big and ballsy to begin with. acmp84 really allowed that huge sound to pass through and the eq was really helpful in accentuating the sweet spots. really happy with these for drums.
 
i had an opportunity to use a friend's acmp73 and 84s on kick and snare last saturday (acm 3 on kick two feet back, angled down at bottom of drum > acmp73, audix d6 inside kick > acmp84, sm57 top snare > acmp84) and they really brought that big fat sound that i've been looking for in kick and snare. the d6 had all the smacking attack and the acm3 had all that bottom end girth... really happy with these for drums.

Those are some nice drums too :D
 
Yes - thank you! Interesting to hear that they're faster than API's. Yes, brash is right on track for describing the ACMP's. They are big sounding pre's.

No you read me wrong. 100% out of phase....:D The API's are brash and faster and more agressive than the ACMP's, which I would describe as big, heavy, a little syrupy, and slower.
 
The PSU schematic looks ok to me. Like I suggested before, you could disconnect the boards and then test the PSU alone with a dummy load. If the 7824 option is easy to swap, then go for it.

First error on the schematic thus far: they numbered the pins wrong. Pin 2 is the output on a 317. (This means that subbing in an alternate part is a major board rework....) :)

Okay, I've finished swapping out the part, and it made no difference. *sigh*

That said, I just found the problem, though I'm not sure why it is happening. I started bridging across boards with hackish jumper cables, and the hum went away when I disabled the demifinal (second from right) board.

Next, on a hunch, I said "I wonder what happens if I skip the next to the last board instead. I got hum, but noticed that wiggling part of the wire could make the hum disappear completely (with a pop), i.e. my cable wasn't quite solid on one contact.

Long story short, pushing sideways on connector 5C21 made the hum almost completely disappear. (I think it completely disappeared at one point, but I can't reproduce that.)

I checked the connectors to make sure that none of them were failing to make good contact when the board was used. I didn't find any problems.

That leaves two possibilities that I can think of:

1. The placement of the board lines in parallel (and or in proximity to the transformer) is responsible.

2. Adding a negligible amount of resistance (a few inches of wire) between these two boards keeps some part of the circuit from oscillating.

Yikes. Anyway, with a set of wires in place of that board, it no longer makes any change to the sound when I move wires around inside the case, and there is no longer that bizarre behavior where the hum gets suddenly louder near either end of a pot. At this point, all I have is a small amount of... probably induced hum. If I touch the top of one of the inductors (the farther one from the transformer), it gets louder, which leads me to suspect that the remainder of the fix involves shielding the inductors, though why the "upper" board would have problems and not the much closer "lower" board, I couldn't say.

I'll experiment more and see if replacing the other jumper board with a wire harness improves the hum further. I'll have to get more parts, though, before I can do that, and I'm not feeling well today, so it may be this weekend before I make much more progress.
 
I tested out my 310 after a 24 hour burn-in and it sounded great. I set it up tonight to record with it and it sounds like it's breaking up when I get on it a bit.

Two questions. I'm going to open it up so what should I look for and what should I be careful of? Also, does anyone know if the power supplies and the multi-pin cables for the 310 and the 900 are the same? They look like they are. If so, I can check that as a possible source of the problem. Thanks.

Paul:D
I ran the 310 through the 73 last night and it sounded great again. Haven't figured what was wrong previously. I had the input at the 9 o'clock position and the output max. Played around with the EQ and was able to get some really good stringy rhythm sounds out of my Taylor 614. BTW, I have rotated the power transformer and the humming is much reduced.

Paul:D
 
No you read me wrong. 100% out of phase....:D The API's are brash and faster and more agressive than the ACMP's, which I would describe as big, heavy, a little syrupy, and slower.

Doh! That makes sense as I've heard API's are fast and a Neve inspired design would be slower. So... when will the ACMP Quad Eight inspired Group Buy begin? :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top