[BUILD] DBX 160VU

[damnyankee]

Has anyone built a 100% functional unit?

I don't think so - at least noone has confirmed or posted pics of their completed unit.  It doesn't seem anyone else is working on this either.  Mine is nearly complete but I'm stuck on a few "trim" components before I attempt to fire it up.  If nobody responds in a few days, I'm just gonna unsolder everything, put the VCA & RMS back in my dbx 119, and harvest the parts for other projects.  It's a bummer because I wanted to build (4) of these.

 

[Biasrocks]

I assumed the trim parts were there as optional, I did not stuff them.

I'm pretty close to de-soldering myself.

I'm about $150 into it at this point, I'd really like to get a working unit.

Mark

 

[damnyankee]

Hi Mark,

As I look at images of a genuine 160VU PCB, I can't tell if any of those trim resistors were in stalled, holes left empty, or if jumpers were installed.  I see about 15 jumpers installed on the original board. 

Did you at least get the power supply up and running?

You got me thinking we've got this much money & time invested, I might as well order the handful of parts to complete it.  Can you at least pass audio?

DY

 

[damnyankee]

Well...so much for ordering the balance of what I need from Mouser.  Does Mouser no longer sell in the U.S.?  The www.mouser.com site redirects to the belgium page (http://be.mouser.com/Home.aspx), I can't read the website, and I don't want to pay in Euros.  No matter what I try, I can't get to the U.S. homepage.

Over to Digikey I go...*sigh*

 

[canidoit]

Well...so much for ordering the balance of what I need from Mouser.  Does Mouser no longer sell in the U.S.?  The www.mouser.com site redirects to the belgium page (http://be.mouser.com/Home.aspx), I can't read the website, and I don't want to pay in Euros.  No matter what I try, I can't get to the U.S. homepage.

Over to Digikey I go...*sigh*

Whenever I get issues like that, I usually clear my cache on my browser or try a different browser so that it gets a clean register of the website.

eg. use chrome, opera, explorer, firefox, etc. and see if the problem is there too.

 

[damnyankee]

Deleting cache didn't work; I had to close out all the open Firefox browsers.  Weird....and thank you!

 

[Biasrocks]

Hi Mark,

As I look at images of a genuine 160VU PCB, I can't tell if any of those trim resistors were in stalled, holes left empty, or if jumpers were installed.  I see about 15 jumpers installed on the original board. 

Did you at least get the power supply up and running?

You got me thinking we've got this much money & time invested, I might as well order the handful of parts to complete it.  Can you at least pass audio?

DY

Yes, got the PS running. I think I ended up with around 20v's on the secondary to get the proper voltages. I made some notes in the build thread.

It's barely passing audio and humming like a mad women right now, tried replacing a transistor or two but haven't had the motivation to trouble-shoot it beyond that. The redesigned meter circuit is screwed, design problem from what I understand. I may try replacing some of the opamps and transistors in the output section to see if I can make any further progress.

I'd really like to get some voltage readings from a working build, but have been unable to get them at this point.

Hope you get your's running.

Mark

 

[damnyankee]

Hi Mark,

AC just finished stuffing his board yesterday so I think it'll get rolling again. 

As you're getting power thru the power supply section, did you try to calibrate it or are you not getting voltages through to the output?  I was reading on the Clone thread that someone got his up/functional with a THAT chip and was going to post voltages but I didn't see the followup post. 

If the VU meter circuit is cooked, any chance of wiring up LEDs?

DY

 

[Audesi]

Next batch of PCB's you make, count me in for a few! I'd love to build a 160VU clone!

Thanks,

Audesi
www.audesi.net
www.octavarecords.com

 

[abechap024]

Okay I will. I got mine working using the That chip.
Seems like its a little more complicated to the discrete VCA working.  If anyone wants to list their names and how many they want, when I get the PCBs I will know who to contact. If not I'm sure there will be a thread up somewhere. Super excited for these!

 

[Winetree]

I'd be in for 2 Boards

 

[grantlack]

In for two as well, any planned bom/footprint changes of note?

 

[Biasrocks]

Okay I will. I got mine working using the That chip.
Seems like its a little more complicated to the discrete VCA working. 

Super excited for these!

Cool, hopefully we can get the discrete version sorted out.

Mark

 

[abechap024]

In for two as well, any planned bom/footprint changes of note?

Yes there are quite a few little changes, many of them brought up and thanks to the people of this board that prototyped the first PCB.
BOM is going to be updated and footprints for discrete components updated also.
Lots of little things that if I posted would probably only clutter things up.

But one big thing is after testing the compressor and everything I think we are plenty safe removing the outdated and expensive old power supply and putting in LM317 and LM337. The RMS unit needs to have its 15+ within .1 ma of spec so an adjustable regulator will be much easier then the whole "power supply trim" DBX outlines in the calibration manual.
And I feel confident that an updated power supply will simplify the build, decrease noise floor and not have any adverse effects on the sound of the unit.

Thanks to all.

 

[evilcat]

I'm in for 1 or 2 PCB ! Excited  ;D ;D

 

[beatnik]

i'd like 2 pcbs too

 

[tomcat]

Would take 2. But only if there is some positive feedback from someone who finished the unit.

 

[funkmuffin]

I'm in for two boards in the rev.2 run!

 

[abechap024]

Would take 2. But only if there is some positive feedback from someone who finished the unit.

I'll post some sound clips and pictures of my working unit this weekend. I haven't used it in a session yet, but just playing around with it, it sounds very vibey and very cool!

 

[tomcat]

That would be nice. I did read the thread in the other section again and for me it was not so clear how good this thing is working already