Brian Roth
Well-known member
(See message #17 (?) in this thread for the outcome....)
Background. More than a few years ago, one of my clients bought a small-ish Neve 5104 desk for his studio. Well...small for a Neve broadcast desk... LOL! It was a bit of a "train wreck", but after a bunch of reverse engineering (little to no docs!) and a ton of mods, he's been happy with it. My client refers it to as a "Rupert Roth desk" . <g>
Fast Forward to now. The control room stereo level pot was a tad wonky from the beginning, and is now taking it's last gasps. The OEM pot is a Bourns 80-series, which is one of those blue 5/8" square conductive plastic "mod-pots" directly soldered onto a sub-card within the monitor control module. It's a dual 50K audio taper.
While I probably can have State Electronics (aka Potentiometers.com) concoct a drop-in replacement for dozens and dozens and dozens of dollars), it dawned on me today that I have another alternative. Directly to the left of the CR module is a blank panel, where I can mount ANYTHING with six short jumper wires onto the CR module. Client thinks that is a cool idea, so no problem there. ANY sized pot will fit onto that blank panel.
Now comes the question for the world-wide audience. EGADS! Decent 50K audio taper pots seem to be a "thing of the past" after perusing The Usual Suspects.
Mouser lists an Alpha (carbon) dual audio 50K pot for around $2.50. No thanks....unless I buy a handful and "get lucky" on the channel-channel level tracking.
So, I went more "upscale" and poked around on the audiophile-supplier websites. Percy Audio reminded me of the (discontinued) Noble pots (listed there at $25...if still available at all) which were not sold in a 50K value.
Percy lists a TKD stereo pot in the correct value.....at $75.00 IIRC.
Apparently the Alps "Black Beauty" stereo pots are a thing of the past.
I am dropping an email to Dale Manquen to see what a Penny & Giles pot might cost...assuming P&G even has a standard stereo pot in that resistance value. I am scared what that might cost <g>.
I also glanced at the Goldpoint website for a stereo stepped attenuator......Egads...$175 for only 24 stereo steps.
Another idea is to find a dual 100K linear pot and "slug/load" the wiper to ground with, say, a 33K loader to make a quasi-audio-taper. But, that assumes the dual 100K linear has decent tracking between sections.
Anyway, my client doesn't have a bazillion bucks to fix this problem...."Neve desk"or not! <g>
BUT..I have a "wide open expanse" in the adjoining blank panel to mount whatever pot to make this work.
Bottom line.....trying to find something in between a $2.50 Mouser pot and $200 whatever...
OK...fixed with the Alps pot...
Best,
Bri
Background. More than a few years ago, one of my clients bought a small-ish Neve 5104 desk for his studio. Well...small for a Neve broadcast desk... LOL! It was a bit of a "train wreck", but after a bunch of reverse engineering (little to no docs!) and a ton of mods, he's been happy with it. My client refers it to as a "Rupert Roth desk" . <g>
Fast Forward to now. The control room stereo level pot was a tad wonky from the beginning, and is now taking it's last gasps. The OEM pot is a Bourns 80-series, which is one of those blue 5/8" square conductive plastic "mod-pots" directly soldered onto a sub-card within the monitor control module. It's a dual 50K audio taper.
While I probably can have State Electronics (aka Potentiometers.com) concoct a drop-in replacement for dozens and dozens and dozens of dollars), it dawned on me today that I have another alternative. Directly to the left of the CR module is a blank panel, where I can mount ANYTHING with six short jumper wires onto the CR module. Client thinks that is a cool idea, so no problem there. ANY sized pot will fit onto that blank panel.
Now comes the question for the world-wide audience. EGADS! Decent 50K audio taper pots seem to be a "thing of the past" after perusing The Usual Suspects.
Mouser lists an Alpha (carbon) dual audio 50K pot for around $2.50. No thanks....unless I buy a handful and "get lucky" on the channel-channel level tracking.
So, I went more "upscale" and poked around on the audiophile-supplier websites. Percy Audio reminded me of the (discontinued) Noble pots (listed there at $25...if still available at all) which were not sold in a 50K value.
Percy lists a TKD stereo pot in the correct value.....at $75.00 IIRC.
Apparently the Alps "Black Beauty" stereo pots are a thing of the past.
I am dropping an email to Dale Manquen to see what a Penny & Giles pot might cost...assuming P&G even has a standard stereo pot in that resistance value. I am scared what that might cost <g>.
I also glanced at the Goldpoint website for a stereo stepped attenuator......Egads...$175 for only 24 stereo steps.
Another idea is to find a dual 100K linear pot and "slug/load" the wiper to ground with, say, a 33K loader to make a quasi-audio-taper. But, that assumes the dual 100K linear has decent tracking between sections.
Anyway, my client doesn't have a bazillion bucks to fix this problem...."Neve desk"or not! <g>
BUT..I have a "wide open expanse" in the adjoining blank panel to mount whatever pot to make this work.
Bottom line.....trying to find something in between a $2.50 Mouser pot and $200 whatever...
OK...fixed with the Alps pot...
Best,
Bri