Help with choosing 8-channel preamp!

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Miska

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 15, 2005
Messages
95
Location
Stockholm, Sweden
I want to build 8 channels for drum recording and I have considered these options:

312
EZ 1290
Great River

Isn't GR somehow based on 1073? How would 1290 and GR differ in sound?
Any opinions or recomendations would be appreciated.

Thank You,
Miska
 
The G.R. NV is neve'ish and with nice options , good d.i. as well
but not a d.i.y. pre .

The 312 are likely the easiest of those to build [ who's ever version ]

you may want to build pairs of those mentioned for use with other things
as well , for basic drum what i have been using is ;

G.R. MP-2 on O/H s
G.R. NV on kik / sn
Eisen / A.P.I. on toms

and fill in with a few extra things , but two of everything [ anything ]
is my motto
 
Miska,

If it is drums you're doing I recommend building 4 api 312's and 4 Neve's. You might be intending to have 8 of the same thing, but why not split it up? Both the Neve and API are phenomenal for drums, and you can mix them up for different color.

If you're really going to focus on drums (and other loud, rock sources), then I'd stick with a two-stage 1272-type arrangement for the Neve's instead of the 3-stage 1290. You'll never engage the 3rd stage on these sources as you won't need anything close to 55dB of gain (the point at which the 3rd stage becomes active in an old Neve).

One thing I will say to anyone considering my JC1272 variant -- I now suggest adding a second pot between the gain stages to act as a fader (the only pot on the schematic is a variable pad between the input transformer and the preamp stage). When the second pot is fully 'open', the circuit functions as normal. But trim this pot back a bit and you can then open up the pad a bit more and overdrive the preamp stage. This doesn't sound like distortion (at least not on transient signals like drums), but it does add a fair amount of bite and authority to the sound which is LOVERLY on rock drums.

Neve and API, you can't go wrong with these two for rock rhythm sections.

JC

PS - I think you were confusing the original Great River preamp and their current "NV" series. The original design (which is no longer made) was a much cleaner circuit than the NV series. The NV is based on the Neve topology but uses more modern components, both active and passive, along with Sowter transformers to yield a sound that is reminiscent of the old Neve, but clearer, faster, and more modern as well. The NV stuff is not a DIY.
 
I havn't heard any of the DIY 312 but I never liked API mic pre's they always seem to clip quickly. API eq's and compressor are awesome. If I have to do 8 of the same I would either go with one of the following and in no order

1.JLM Baby animal
2.NYD mila
3.NYD 1 bottle
 
If you're looking for punchy/big drums, I'd go the API route. You can never go wrong with 8 channels of API, especially on drums. If you build these, do yourself a favor and put a 10db output pad on each channel, so that they clip like they do while they're sitting in the console.

If "warm"/big drums is the goal, you're probably looking for a Neve sound. I've never been a big fan of Neve preamps, and I find that they NEED to have an EQ attached to them to sound right.
 
Thank you for all the great answers!

I think it's going to be a 312! ( I don't have the confidence to build tube gear just yet...)

Now I just can't decide which PCB/ design to use....

Could somebody explain me how Fabios 312 differs from all the others? It seems to have lot of options but I cannot find a simple description of everything it includes. (braudio site doesn't seem to work)
Why does it have a stepped switch instead of a pot? Does it make it sound better?
How about the Aromat relays? What do they add to the design?

Thanks a bunch,

Miska
 
Miska, 312's are easy enough to do on Strip-board and cheap/quick unless
you're dead against that ?
My recent one was only "screwed" by a silly short that I didn't spot ! :oops:
You can fit a complete circuit on a piece that's 4cm x 12 but the ouput traffo
has to then go "off board" , I put it on standoffs behind the board in the rack.
( shock mounted on small rubber grommets )
You could get 8 "on edge" in a 2u rack like this ... so long as it's not too
shallow.
I really would be tempted to do 4 and 4 , so perhaps 4x 312's and 4x ***
just so you have some "sound choice" across the 8.
For the other 4, either SSL9k/JML/Green would be great.
BTW, 3nity does have 312 kits in the BM for sale at a very nice price inc all
parts etc ?

MM.
 
Thank you for your input Marty!

I don't have anything against strip-board and I might just go that way but before doing it I'd like to know what all these expensive switches etc. are all about. Why bother with Fabios design if it's so easy to use strip-board? Is there a sound difference...?

I have also considered 3nitys kit.

Cheers,
Miska

P.S. When you guys talk about JLM do you mean Baby Animal?
 
Yes - Baby Animal
For pad/phase/48v I used the JLM "go-between" which is a great small kit
with all parts/switches.
No difference with strip-board, it's just copper traces and you just have to
layout carefully and tripple check for continuity !
Tiny copper bits can sometimes be left in and unseen without a mag-glass.

Whatever you go for, just have fun and best of luck !

MM.
 
it should be possible to do a 312 preamp on the JLM baby animal pcb, with the output transformer mounted off board. Then you'd have +48/pad/pol. taken care of.
 
Baby animals are great preamps i have 2 of them fitted with a 1:3 input transformer and John Hardy and they are just amazing but very different from any 312 configuration running with +/- voltage rail.

But they are good
 
Check out Seventh Circle Audio. Tim has five different flavors of preamps,
including "Neve 1272", "API 312", and three others, that all fit in his chassis, which can hold up to eight preamps. You can mix/match if you prefer. The only thing is that a populated chassis is H-E-A-V-Y!!!. I have a chassis with two each A12 and N72 preamps and the sucker weighs half a ton. I'm thinking of getting more modules, but will probably end up getting another chassis/power supply as well.
 
Seventh Circle here too. I have 4 "1272"s, 2 "312"'s, and 2 "That"s. I tend to use the 312's on Kick and Snare, the 1272's on OH/Room/toms, and the Thats on toms, bottom snare, or outside kick. I like the forwardness and punch of the 312 on close miked drums, but they don't seem to pull off the same type of silky, three dimensionality that the 1272's can on the room.

-Chris
 
Thank you again for your replies everybody!

At the moment I'm actually thinkin of doing mixed unit with 312s and 1272s. (I had to get used to the idea first...:)

JC:

I'd like to use your 1272 PCB design but I wonder if it's possible to "shrink" it in order to mount it vertically in a 2 unit rack case? What do you think?
What happens if I re-work the layout and cut away about 1,5cm of the ground plane?

Or is there any other shared 1272 layout that fits 2 unit rack case vertically? I know about the Seventh Circle kit but I'd like to etch my own boards.

Thanks,
Miska
 
Feel free to do whatever you want to that layout. The ground certainly doesn't have to be that large, I just had the space on the pre-sensitized boards I was using, so I made a nice, bid ground plane.

I've begun the habit of filling in blank spaces with ground planes if possible, not so much for the benefit of having a large ground plane, though some might argue the merit of that, but rather so I don't have so much copper to etch from the boards I use. Less copper from the board means I can do more boards with less etchant. Guess I'm just cheap :green:

If you cut it back a bit the board should fit nicely, vertically in a 2ru chassis.

The most important part of that layout to me was moving the big output transistor to a place where it can lay flush against the board instead of having it on spacers with resistors underneath.

Enjoy!

JC
 

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