[BUILD] Hairball Audio - Elements

[joepus]

I got a Bronze Mic Pre for Christmas (awesome gift) and it came with  a 100k resistor instead of a 200k I presume. I put the 100k resistor in r301. At some point in  time should I change that out for a 200k?

 

[Echo North]

I got a Bronze Mic Pre for Christmas (awesome gift) and it came with  a 100k resistor instead of a 200k I presume. I put the 100k resistor in r301. At some point in  time should I change that out for a 200k?

My guess is the 100/200K may not matter in that spot.  If you want a 200K just fill out a missing parts form on the site.

Hairballaudio.com/missing

Thanks!

Mike

 

[joepus]

No worries
Just needed to ask
Having a blast with my Bronze pre
Thanks

 

[gdayal9]

Hi guys , I just finished my elements bronze build. I have checked each resistor value and placement 3 times, and the build map, I'm pretty sure there are no errors on my part. Getting no output upon feeding an input signal from the regular 500 chassis I/O, but get some v v tiny output when i connect input source via the DI of the pre- amp, I can hear the flavor change as i do more input gain, but output is v v low..

I am attaching a pic.. can you please see if i have made any mistakes.. , or the reason for this not working..,

 

[Echo North]

Soldering looks a little suspect.  It's hard to trace signal if you don't have an extender.  Look for any weird or lift pads.  Look for bad joints, particularity around large caps, they can be tricky.

Are you in the US?  We fix those for $50 flat.  It's a great deal.

Mike

 

[gdayal9]

ok , I re-heated and resoldered some points, still the problem persists... could it be that my 500 series rack has an issue, cause the output happens from the line out of the rack but no output from XLRs output ...

its an alctron 3 slot that  I bought used from reverb.com..., possible.. ?

Thanks

 

[Echo North]

ok , I re-heated and resoldered some points, still the problem persists... could it be that my 500 series rack has an issue, cause the output happens from the line out of the rack but no output from XLRs output ...

its an alctron 3 slot that  I bought used from reverb.com..., possible.. ?

Thanks

Oh that's interesting.  Do you have another 500 series pre you can test in it?

 

[gdayal9]

Problem solved! works great!

 

[rdf]

I'm having a hell of a time trying to mount my Grayhill knobs onto the shafts of my Bronze preamp.  They simply won't grab onto the shafts tightly enough to be acceptable.  The best I've done so far is somewhat stable but with still a decent amount of give.  Those eventually had to be re-tightened too as one fell off one day.  One of the set screw sort of feels locked in and the other seems to catch nothing at all really.

With both shafts turned as far counter-clockwise (gain all the way down), the flat side of the shaft points towards  roughly 4 o'clock.  Am i just missing something completely here?  Any idea what I could be doing wrong?  BTW, these are 1/8" shafts and knobs.

The preamp sounds damn good though.  Really happy with it otherwise.

 

[Echo North]

I'm having a hell of a time trying to mount my Grayhill knobs onto the shafts of my Bronze preamp.  They simply won't grab onto the shafts tightly enough to be acceptable.  The best I've done so far is somewhat stable but with still a decent amount of give.  Those eventually had to be re-tightened too as one fell off one day.  One of the set screw sort of feels locked in and the other seems to catch nothing at all really.

With both shafts turned as far counter-clockwise (gain all the way down), the flat side of the shaft points towards  roughly 4 o'clock.  Am i just missing something completely here?  Any idea what I could be doing wrong?  BTW, these are 1/8" shafts and knobs.

The preamp sounds damn good though.  Really happy with it otherwise.

Hmmm not sure.  Never run into that.  Some times you really have to get them as tight as you can.  Sure you got the right size hex key?

 

[rdf]

Yeah i guess that was the case, one of the set screws isn't set quite properly but the whole thing is sturdy now.  I was using a hex key lying around my work bench that I thought was the right size,  and it was close but apparently not quite there.

 

[Echo North]

Small, but fairly annoying issue...

Input knob refuses to stay tight (I have the grayhill switch on the input). Am I just dumb and not figuring it out, or are these knobs just kind of a pain? It has 2 hex tighteners. I can get them to tighten for a  bit, but after just a few turns of the switch, the knob inevitably comes loose.

You have to tighten them VERY tight.  Both.  Make sure you're using the right size hex.  It should not slip.

 

[terrydactyl]

Hello,

So I just finished up a Copper and am getting signal through the mic and DI however when I put a condenser mic on the line and send phantom, I get no signal.  I do get a little bit of a buzz/noise, as well as a hefty thumping pop when I hit the pad and phase buttons. 

I've checked my resistors, polarity on the cap, solder joints, etc.  Nothing noticeably incorrect. 

Thoughts? 

Any help here is very much appreciated.  Thank you in advance.

-Terry

 

[Echo North]

Hello,

So I just finished up a Copper and am getting signal through the mic and DI however when I put a condenser mic on the line and send phantom, I get no signal.  I do get a little bit of a buzz/noise, as well as a hefty thumping pop when I hit the pad and phase buttons. 

I've checked my resistors, polarity on the cap, solder joints, etc.  Nothing noticeably incorrect. 

Thoughts? 

Any help here is very much appreciated.  Thank you in advance.

-Terry

Does the LED illuminate when you turn on +48?

Mike

 

[terrydactyl]

Does the LED illuminate when you turn on +48?

Mike

Yes. 

 

[Echo North]

Yes.

Hmmmmm. I would re-flow all of the joints on the +48 switch and the parts in that +48 box.  Try a different mic table and remove anything like a patch-bay from the equation.

Once you do all that see if you have and DC voltage between pin 2 and 1 of the pic cable, and then pin 3 and 1.

Mike

 

[terrydactyl]

Hmmmmm. I would re-flow all of the joints on the +48 switch and the parts in that +48 box.  Try a different mic table and remove anything like a patch-bay from the equation.

Once you do all that see if you have and DC voltage between pin 2 and 1 of the pic cable, and then pin 3 and 1.

Mike

Copy that. Ok, SO.... (this is a little embarrassing) - as I was doing the final assembly I realized I had put the LED on the wrong side of the board. I know, I know.. total bonehead.  So I then tried to unsolder the phantom switch to get at the LED and in doing so, I kinda hacked away at some of those solder points trying to de-solder it before realizing I could probably remove the LED with the switch still soldered on, which I did.  I then re-flowed the solder points on the switch.  They look OK but now I'm concerned I f**ked up one of the pads.. 

I checked the XLR cable with another unit in the rack so I know it's not that.

I'll check it out and post a couple photos when I get home. 

Thanks so much,

-Terry

 

[Echo North]

Copy that. Ok, SO.... (this is a little embarrassing) - as I was doing the final assembly I realized I had put the LED on the wrong side of the board. I know, I know.. total bonehead.  So I then tried to unsolder the phantom switch to get at the LED and in doing so, I kinda hacked away at some of those solder points trying to de-solder it before realizing I could probably remove the LED with the switch still soldered on, which I did.  I then re-flowed the solder points on the switch.  They look OK but now I'm concerned I f**ked up one of the pads.. 

I checked the XLR cable with another unit in the rack so I know it's not that.

I'll check it out and post a couple photos when I get home. 

Thanks so much,

-Terry

If you look at the top and bottom of the PCB, you'll see traces....or you can refer to the schematic.

http://library.hairballaudio.com/images/2015/06/hba-elements-pcb-v1-3_schematic-production.pdf

Using that you can check the continuity between components to check for bad trace/pads.

Mike

 

[terrydactyl]

If you look at the top and bottom of the PCB, you'll see traces....or you can refer to the schematic.

http://library.hairballaudio.com/images/2015/06/hba-elements-pcb-v1-3_schematic-production.pdf

Using that you can check the continuity between components to check for bad trace/pads.

Mike

OK - So Im measuring 3.57v on xlr pins 1&2 and 1&3. 

Checked the other pre's in the rack and I'm getting 47.8v across those same pins. 

Going to re-check my resistor values...  :-\

Or could it be something else?

-Terry

 

[terrydactyl]

OK - So Im measuring 3.57v on xlr pins 1&2 and 1&3. 

Checked the other pre's in the rack and I'm getting 47.8v across those same pins. 

Going to re-check my resistor values...  :-\

Or could it be something else?

-Terry

I should mention I did check continuity and everything seems to be there.

-t