8 Channel, 3U NEVE 1073 completed

[travis]

Hello, Im still having some noise issues (even from the one grounded outlet in my apartment).  Im pretty sure that it has to do with my wiring/grouding like you said desol.  Tried to bias the other night at a friends house and the signal looked like lots of little waves on one big wave (possibly user error though).

If anyone would be willing to take a look at the pictures in the link of where Im at with it I would be really thankful . 

http://s556.photobucket.com/albums/ss1/travisttaylor/1290ez/

(I have since disconected the yellow wire: LO1166 shield)

 

[sr1200]

Try grounding the XLR's to the chassis ground with a wire?

 

[3nity]

Best way i found to work on grounding was following the instructions!
But sometimes im lazy and alligators clips are my friends.

 

[MicDaddy]

Hi Travis, some things to try...

Check for continuity between all chassis panels, all XLR connectors.  Don't tie pin 1 to chassis/ground.

In photo 3, remove that wire that is terminated to the chassis. 

There seem to be a lot of wiring where you have the Input literally on top of the Output.  Try to separate these a little more.

Also try using shielded 2conductor for audio in/out might work better than what looks like unshielded, maybe it's single conductor shielded hard to tell?

 

[sr1200]

Ill +1 on Micdaddys use of shielded cable throughout the case where audio is passing.  Also where is the PS in relation to the chassis with the Transformers?  you have the TX's REALLY close to the outside of the box which might not be helping if that power transformer is close to it.  Is the hum on BOTH channels or just one?

 

[travis]

Ok, I re-did most of my wiring and found a few things that I did wrong with shielding.  Also finished my silk screen after a lot of suffering (next time it will be easy though).  I think that I am pretty much good at this point and it sounds lovely.  I think it looks pretty good too!

http://s556.photobucket.com/albums/ss1/travisttaylor/

I am still a little concerned that I have all cables shielded properly.  The only ones that I am worried about are from output transformer to xlr and from 1290 pcb to 4 pin power xlr.  I am not using a shield on either of those.  Also no sheild on the phantom power.  Looking at pics from other projects I think that this is ok, but if someone could confirm it my mind would be at ease!

 

 

[MicDaddy]

The only ones that I am worried about are from output transformer to xlr

I used shielded cable here, tie shied to pin1 @ XLR but NOT to chassis.

and from 1290 pcb to 4 pin power xlr. 

  I used single conductor wires for +24/+48/0V and just twisted them.

Nice build, very elegant.  Are those knobs from ChuckD?

 

[travis]

Thanks MicDaddy,
I have now tied shield to XLR pin 1.

I will twist the single conductor wires if I notice an issue.

Yes, the Knobs are from ChuckD and they are very nicely made.  I had to buy four to get the two I needed but it was worth it.  Especially because the only other similar ones I could find were $30 each!

I just did a little testing and noticed if I wiggle the gain switches I get a little crackle.  It is not importlant to me unless it is an indication of a bigger issue, is this to be expected?

sorry to flood this thread with my questions and thanks to everyone who has helped! 

 

[atticmike]

how much am I approximately gonna pay for a single channel ?

and is there perhaps a mouser cart available ?

 

[sr1200]

Everything you need to know is onthe first post. Including price and part sourcing.

 

[travis]

Arrg.  More problems.  This one is really weird.  My 1290 seems to work great on certain things while others it has a very weak and distorted signal.  For instance I have a sampler that sounds great, but a synth that you can barely hear at all!  Pretty weird and kind disheartening.  Has anyone else experienced anything remotely like this?  I keep thinking I am done :-\       

 

[tmuikku]

Arrg.  More problems.  This one is really weird.  My 1290 seems to work great on certain things while others it has a very weak and distorted signal.  For instance I have a sampler that sounds great, but a synth that you can barely hear at all!  Pretty weird and kind disheartening.  Has anyone else experienced anything remotely like this?  I keep thinking I am done :-\     

Propably is due to some interconnection. Check out rane notes about wiring, interconnections and grounding: http://www.rane.com/library.html#apm1_2

Example: I got very weak sound in my G9 at first which was due to my sound card had TRS jack but the ring wasn't connected to anything(!) thus leaving the output transformer floating when using TRS cable... know your equipment and cabling If it sounds good with some instruments the unit it self should be ok.

I'm not familiar with the particular transformers this project uses but check out you have connected them correctly so they appear with proper impedances for devices connected.

 

[sisepuede]

Arrg.  More problems.  This one is really weird.  My 1290 seems to work great on certain things while others it has a very weak and distorted signal.  For instance I have a sampler that sounds great, but a synth that you can barely hear at all!  Pretty weird and kind disheartening.  Has anyone else experienced anything remotely like this?  I keep thinking I am done :-\     

Hiya,
try DI boxes for synths, samplers and anything unbalanced line, that should work.
mind the lack of star ground in your rack.
mind the too away of your in/out transformers, try those as close as you can to the PCBs.
find some nice spot of ground in your appartment like a metalic pipe, if that is water is better , I did once and it worked fine.
hope this helps.
cheers.

 

[atticmike]

could you guys recommend a proper psu to power either four neve or api units each ?

 

[travis]

Example: I got very weak sound in my G9 at first which was due to my sound card had TRS jack but the ring wasn't connected to anything(!) thus leaving the output transformer floating when using TRS cable... know your equipment and cabling  If it sounds good with some instruments the unit it self should be ok.

Oh I see....Im maybe having something similar happen.  It seemed so baffling to me because on the sampler there are the main outs which work fine but then another 8 outs (for sending individual parts) that do not work well at all!  Thank you for the reading material too.  I wish I would have looked at that a month ago ;D  How did you end up sorting your G9 issue out?

try DI boxes for synths, samplers and anything unbalanced line, that should work.

I will look into it.  I wasnt planning on buying anything new at the moment but it looks like there are some cheap ones.  Anyone DIY these?

 

[sisepuede]

I will look into it.  I wasnt planning on buying anything new at the moment but it looks like there are some cheap ones.  Anyone DIY these?

yeah, of course mine are all DIY, I have a single one and a double one, both with Jensen transformers http://www.jensen-transformers.com/datashts/dbe.pdf, switchcraft plug connectors and Neutrik XLRs, metal film resistors and plypropylene caps. That PDF also has the schematics you need to have the job done.

Cheap DI will ruin the sound of your nice preamp I recon.

those boxes sound amazing.

cheers.

 

[sr1200]

I'm having an issue with one of my 6 channels, maybe someone can help out.  When using phantom power, I occasionally get a fizzle for a second and then it goes back to normal, it's kind of hard to trace on the board since its an intermittent problem.  Just wondering if anyones had a similar issue.

 

[tmuikku]

...  How did you end up sorting your G9 issue out?

I knew my soundcard was unbalanced and believed it uses TS jacks or TRS jacks with ring wired to the shield so I thought the problem was with my G9 (I didn't have anything else to hook it to back then than my soundcard). All it took to figure out was to look into the hole and confirm it was a TRS jack and then hook a TRS cable into the soundcard and measure if there was connectivity between ring and shield from the other end of the cable and voila First I used many hours of debugging the G9 for nothing. Well, that way I got familiar with the unit. Used TS plugs from that on with the soundcard and it worked fine.

 

[travis]

yeah, of course mine are all DIY, I have a single one and a double one, both with Jensen transformers

sounds like a cool project, but Im kind of tapped out from this one at the moment ;D

Used TS plugs from that on with the soundcard and it worked fine.

 

It is a TRS to XLR cable that I am using......would I potentially be OK with a TS to XLR?

 

[funkymonksf]

I'm having a hard time measuring what size stand off I should use for mounting the ez1290 in a1ru case with drill holes for the switches directly in the middle.. Any advic?

Thanks,
Brice