Anyone build the UA M610?

[abby normal]

I'm interested in hearing some opinions on it compared to other builds. I've read it's pretty tasty on guitar amps. But not so great on other instruments, vocals. Any truth to that, I've never used one.
I've looked around the forum and it seems like it's not talked about much, I take it that it's not that great? All the schematics links are dead and what threads there were are long collecting dust.

:sad:

 

[SSLtech]

I used a rack of 8 next to a rack of 8 Porticos...

I no longer have the slighest interest in them... the Porticos beat them nine ways til sunset... on EVERYTHING.

They don't exactly 'suck', but they don't really 'rock' either...

The Porticos DO rock...

...VERY much so!

Dassit. Dass 'bout all I gots to say 'bout that.

Keith

 

[abby normal]

Schematic?... :green: lol

My pockets are not as deep as some. :sad:
But the 610 up against your other DIY accessible type builds?

 

[SSLtech]

Just not great at all...

Ya really wanno know something? -I think I might prefer green pres...



...Just my personal preference, but I'm really not in love with the UA's, and they really did sould like something was 'wrong', compared to the Porticos...

Keith

 

[abby normal]

These were cloned UA's or the off the shelfs?

They wouldn't have been dark or dull sounding by comparison to others would they? Sorry to bug you.

 

[okgb]

I did think when i heard a 6176 that it sounded better than the tube pre
section of the millennia STT-1 , never heard a portico , bit rich for me at
the moment .

 

[pucho812]

We got a 2610 here at work. It's nice but didn't make me go I gotta have one. If your looking to build a tube pre,there are plenty designs floating around that IMO sound way better. As for the portico's they sound good but the whole wall wart thing is a turn off to me.

 

[emrr]

I personally think most of the 1960's pro tube preamp channels strive to do the things that discrete SS of the same era generally does better. Meaning I'd generally rather use a Langevin AM-16, Altec 9470-A, RCA BA-72A, etc etc than a tube preamp of the same time period. If I want that which I think of as good tube sound I'll be reaching back into the early 1950's for things like Langevin 116's, RCA BA-1A's/2A's/11A's, Collins and Gates post-war modules, etc etc. They match what my mind conjures as 'tube sound', and tube designs from the 'end of the age' don't; they are competing with SS for specs on paper, cost, and size. Not that they don't sound good, but they can be an anticlimactic listening experience in comparison to some of the earlier stuff.

The modern UA M610 is a muddly affair, given that it can't possibly sound like an original, which very few people have ever used or heard in person. The word on the street is based on the 'official' reproduction. There just really aren't that many originals out there. It's not like they sold vast quantities of them back in the day; there's no archeological evidence to suggest their wide adoption by the industry. They are 'famous' mainly due to the modern marketing department.

Yes yes yes, lots of DIY designs that will perform as well or better. Go find all of NY Dave's different 'shareware' circuits; they're all inspired by classic designs, and make sense. Added bonus for being something slightly new. No need to chase other popular street-cred pieces like Altec 1566's or 1567's either; not for DIYing. There's no magic there that isn't just as easily captured elsewhere in DIY land.

My opinionated $0.02.

 

[SSLtech]

[quote author="pucho812"]As for the portico's they sound good but the whole wall wart thing is a turn off to me.[/quote]
...Then go and run them off a car battery.

It's what they were designed for.

Does that make you feel better?

Abby Normal;
They sounded a little dull, but it wasn't JUST a tonal thing... they sounded like something was just "wrong". -A little fuzzy, vague, blurred... just un-clear. -Seriously, I thought that there was something wrong with the darned thing, it was THAT inferior to the Portico.

The Wall-wart comment baffles me... -If someone brought in a preamp which used banana-peel as a power source, it wouldn't bother me, and if it sounded even HALF as fabulous as the Porticos, I'd be all over it like hair on an ape.

For a quick test, I tried an SSL channel preamp, and if it wasn't for the fact that the 'client' didn't want to use the console because of certain valid logistical reasons which were specific to that instance, I would have used the Porticos for the most important 8 channels, the console for channels 9-88, and only then turned to the UAs for channels 89-96... they really did sound 'foggy'.

I can't come up with a word. -I wouldn'6t say 'dark' or 'dull' because that suggests a tonal imbalance... this was more of an unpleasat distortion, and I don't know why or what... I just know I didn't dig it...

...And there's actually not many preamps which I really do pick out for criticism, but the UA really disappointed me.

Keith

Keith

 

[Gustav]

[quote author="SSLtech"] I'd be all over it like hair on an ape.
[/quote]

Nice!

Gustav

 

[bcarso]

What some enterprising person should do is come up with a line of highend wall warts. I think the objection is just their connotation of cheapness/shodiness. And maybe the inconvenience of having to plug them in somewhere.

Actually I read a recent story about some startup involving a guy that did the relatively sexy ones for the iPod charging for Apple. They are trying to make a quasi-universal high efficiency adapter and sell it to everybody, especially OEMs. Good luck, and as usual nothing is said about how much crud they will be putting out and coupling through from the mains, which is a serious problem with cheap switcher warts.

Simple double-bobbin transformers are excellent power sources, if you know what to do with them. When they are in the form of adapters you can place them as far away, within reason, as you like, and since the dominant component of the nearfield radiation is magnetic and falls off as the cube of the distance, you can reduce the induced hum in a hurry. Of course don't put them close to anything else that's susceptible.

On you like a cheap suit...

 

[abby normal]

[quote author="SSLtech"]then turned to the UAs for channels 89-96... they really did sound 'foggy'.

I can't come up with a word. -I wouldn'6t say 'dark' or 'dull' because that suggests a tonal imbalance... this was more of an unpleasat distortion, and I don't know why or what... I just know I didn't dig it...
[/quote]

I ask and I know there a ton of factors like the room, mics, eq's, etc. but when the reissue came out they named some of the albums that were made with those consoles. To me and compared to other recordings of the period which I assume used the same type of mics and tape machines like Studers, those recordings don't sound that great. Like I wasn't running out the door screaming "Man I want my recordings to sound like that!" and running off to buy a M610.

I am curious to see what's under the hood. There was links to the schematic here but they're all dead. Does someone still have a copy they could PM me or post?

 

[Mailliw]

What does a Portico wall adapter cost? How long is the warranty? Are they easily fixable?

It doesn't baffle me at all that someone is wary about the quality of a mass-produced, Chinese wall adapter. (They are Chinese made, right? :grin

EDIT: Internet stores sell the 5100-PS Power Supply for ~$70.

 

[SSLtech]

[quote author="Mailliw"]What does a Portico wall adapter cost? How long is the warranty? Are they easily fixable?[/quote]

I'm really not sure if you're being serious...

...but just in case you are...

ALL portico units are designed to run from ANY source from 9VDC-24VDC. -Current draw varies with supply voltage (decreases with increasign voltage) but it will run from anything you can give it. Car batteries (for remote work), rechargeable batteries, alkaline batteries, wall warts, switch-mode PSUs, linear PSUs, regulated PSUs, unregulated PSUs...

ANYTHING.

If a wall-wart bothers you, you're dealing in superstition, not audio.

Keith

 

[abby normal]

The only thing I could think of that could be an issue with wall worts is noise. I take it they have additional on-board supply filtering?

 

[Mailliw]

[quote author="SSLtech"]
...but just in case you are...
Keith[/quote]

Haha, I thought it was specialized or something...

Will it sound just as good off of 10 lemons?

 

[CJ]

anything that slams ua is cool with me, but i bet johnny hinson could get a 610 sounding good.

and frank.

with tubes, its all in the old tubes, and the old transformerers requred to match tem to the line.

so parts mean more than the schematic.

as opposed to transistors, which, no matter which you use, they all clip like shit! cmos or sea food, whatever...
so why bother.


and remember, a bucket of KFC chicken does not feed a family, it contains a family.

 

[CJ]

hey, anyboy try ef86?
:razz:

 

[SSLtech]

[quote author="abby normal"]The only thing I could think of that could be an issue with wall worts is noise. I take it they have additional on-board supply filtering?[/quote]
How is a wall-wart with a transformer, a rectifier and a smoothing cap noisier than an inboard transformer with a rectifier and a smoothing cap?

-If anything it could be expected to be QUIETER than inboard...?

Some distinctly prejudiced -and faulty- thinking going on round here... :?

Keith

 

[amorris]

I have recently had 2 friends bitch about the wall wart. after I suggested them borrowing my portico!? I have one and they are f@#$%silent and ballsy. I have the pre-DI and with my gtr giving full volume and I mute the strings with my hand, the Protools Meters instanly dive past the bottom. I can crank the DI to hear a little noise, but it is way past the volume needed from the gtr. and with no gtr plugged in, I cannot get any noise from the unit. and the unwound strings of my gtr f@#$%ing Sing! the mic pre is beautiful with big room/budget sound.

and I was at a portico-610 shootout, and pretty quickly the 610s were relegated to extra channels.