DIY regrets

[inputoutput]

What builds do you regret building - from a music-production perspective?

me?, I am quite irritated that I bothered building the Pultec-MEQ5. Even though I believe I nailed it pretty well, the EQ just doesn´t do it for me. The only times I´ve been happy with it, is on some drum tracks (toms & snare).

There´s little talk here about which of these standard builds that are working well in the studio over time, and which are not. Some DIY project show great specs, and low THD etc... But which of your boxes are rarely used in your studio - even though the soldering went well. Who has left their Calrecs, Forsells, Night-3D EQs, Sontecs, 1176, GSSL etc....in the shelf ?

 

[gyraf]

I once did an elaborate noise-reduction unit based on the NE570 IC's - only to find that the circuit in itself was more noisy than the Uher portable R2R it was meant to help. This was obviously before the wide availability of "real" VCA's like 2150 or TA101

:?

Jakob E.

 

[Mbira]

hmmm....My view is that just about every piece is great for something. I first built the night eqs and tried them on bass and was thoroughly unimpresses. I was sad for a while. One day I put them on vocals and my eyes lit up. I love them of vox and even guitar sometimes. Same for all my other builds. I try and NOT use the same thing on every track (though I tend to use the G9 a whole lot). THe G9 with some greens helps open the mix.

Then On the other hand there are probably people that feel the exact opposite as me about what works on their mixes.

I've been looking very closely at those Pultecs-thinking of building one of those. I wish I could try yours!

 

[beatpoet]

My regrets:

I have a bad habit of tearing down perfectly good equipment to get parts for projects.

 

[nickt]

AX84 "Hi-Octane" guitar amp - metal only and I'm a non-metalhead.

 

[NewYorkDave]

I wish I'd never built that time machine.
In a parallel universe, I'm a handsome millionaire

 

[bcarso]

[quote author="NewYorkDave"]I wish I'd never built that time machine.
In a parallel universe, I'm a handsome millionaire[/quote]

I'm still working on getting that plutonium for you btw. If the global financial crisis keeps up I can probably get some from some hard-up terrorists.

 

[okgb]

In the d.i.y. Spirit though you could mod
the disappointments
Some more practical than others , but substuting the peq high boost
section into the Meq may work for ya ?

But it's a simular reason i don't like doing my own guitar work
i know what i did or didn't do to it , no mythical magic
Of course you could spend lots of money on something and be forced
[ by your ego ] to like it !

It takes enough for me to build something nevermind breadboard it first
but i'm sure someone on prodigy would take it off you hands by buying it

To answer the post though - sorry- I'm most disapointed when my stuff
is not " pro " or slick looking , too much judgement
The G.R. MP-2 was one of the best things i build , not glitzy
but never fails to please

 

[Freq Band]

Regrets ?

I don't do "kits", I point2point everything......so...

I regret building 4 "easy-to-build" fuzz and distortion boxes...when I don't even own a guitar or amp.

I regret building all those headphone amps....because I rarely use headphones.

.....but then again, I don't regret the electrical lessons learned.
And the headphone amps make great hi-fi preamps !!


=FB=

 

[emrr]

[quote author="beatpoet"]My regrets:

I have a bad habit of tearing down perfectly good equipment to get parts for projects.

[/quote]

or not even perfectly good equipment, but pieces that made little sense to keep and restore at the time, yet later crossed the threshold into 'desirable vintage', and then worth any huge restoration efforts. or required several unobtainium parts that (of course) surfaced within the year of parting out the 'unrepairable'. This comes down to 'allowed amount of insanity' and available warehouse space.

Good thread. Should be discussed more than it is. Always wise to crack the 100th monkey syndrome; all shouting 'it's the best' with no dissenting or in depth observations. I try to run every possible type of source through a new piece, but it's hard to commit to that approach if buried in paying work.

 

[emrr]

Oh, I remember. I built a 20 channel mic splitter after years of having to scrounge for one, rent, etc. 20 UTC A-20 types made by Thordarson. Only been used 2-3 times in 10 years since. Coincided perfectly with my apparent exit from the local club recording market. I'm certain I'll need it the day after I part it out.

 

[amorris]

reverse-engineering my neve 5106 pre only to learn, by reverse engineering, that I dont want it. I went as far as gerber files and pcb quotes. Then I made the mistake of taking a look at what was going on and what I saw in the schems. mostly logic and start switching, crappy front end, bad capaicitor biasing etc.... I thought I was so close! I was quite happy when I had copied it, then I had to think about it! damn! wasted a long time, twice!

Oh BTW, it is pretty much this place that got me thinking about it. so thanks! actually, I am extremely grateful. I would have a whole lot of OK stuff. which is not what I am going for.

 

[valvehead]

My only regrets are all of the projects that I haven't finished because I never got past the tinkering stage.

Case in point: I've been working for about four years on a discreet solid state power amp for my home theater. Every time I think I'm finished with the PCB design, I decide to make a couple of minor changes to the circuit that require some major trace rerouting to be done. Some day it will be finished. Some day.

 

[gemini86]

my only regret is not getting into it sooner, and buying all that damn snowboarding stuff... I haven't been on the slopes in about 4 years now...so much money could have been used for building amps, effects and studio gear.

 

[MartyMart]

My only "slight" regret was building FAR too many Guitar/Bass pedals before
finding this place !!
I have literally EVERY fuzz ever made amongst about 100 other things !
( from TS808's to CE-2 chorus and an 11 op-amp Marshall clone etc )
I will never get to use all of them.
The soldering practice was invaluable though

MM.

 

[dale116dot7]

I kinda-sorta regret spending hours on rebuilding my Soundcraft 2400, when I could have probably picked up a board I would have rather worked on for maybe $1000 or $1500 more. I have it and it works well, but....

Sometimes I am not too happy about spending hours and hours doing mic capsules, but when I see my capsules showing up on other forums and I know a lot of people have built some nice mics, I am quite pleased. It's kind of a love-hate thing, I suppose. I guess I don't regret doing it, but it's a lot of work.

I do regret buying a rail of the Wavefront AL3201 digital reverb chips, and I've only built two units using them. I had several projects in mind using a bunch of them in parallel. I've since graduated to a DSP56366 for my effects/reverbs. When I get the first one running and in a case, I'll post photos. Sometimes I have second thoughts on the reverbs, too - the amount of time I have to spend writing software to get digital effects boxes working is mind-boggling. I would guess maybe 6 or 8 hours of hardware design and PC board layout, maybe 10 hours of assembly work, and at least 350 hours writing software. If I had to pay myself, I could probably by a Bricasti and two PCM81's for that!

 

[rafafredd]

I do regret buying a rail of the Wavefront AL3201 digital reverb chips, and I've only built two units using them. I had several projects in mind using a bunch of them in parallel. I've since graduated to a DSP56366 for my effects/reverbs. When I get the first one running and in a case, I'll post photos. Sometimes I have second thoughts on the reverbs, too - the amount of time I have to spend writing software to get digital effects boxes working is mind-boggling. I would guess maybe 6 or 8 hours of hardware design and PC board layout, maybe 10 hours of assembly work, and at least 350 hours writing software. If I had to pay myself, I could probably by a Bricasti and two PCM81's for that!

WOW, DIY dgital reverbs? If you take all the time to building shit like that, and writing software, you should maybe share it, and sell some kits and stuff, I don't know. At leats you get some money back, and all the other DIY guys can make use of your wonderfull reverbs. Also, would be really nice to have some reverb projects around. Don't you all think, guys?

 

[radiance]

I've no regrets but ....

...so far I tend to rebuild every unit I made after 5 years or so, just because I think I can improve the build quality :shock:

 

[dale116dot7]

[quote author="rafafredd"]WOW, DIY dgital reverbs? If you take all the time to building shit like that, and writing software, you should maybe share it, and sell some kits and stuff, I don't know. At leats you get some money back, and all the other DIY guys can make use of your wonderfull reverbs. Also, would be really nice to have some reverb projects around. Don't you all think, guys?[/quote]

I've thought about it. The obstacles are mostly in construction. Most of the chips are fine-pitched SMT (0.5 mm or 0.65mm lead pitch), and although I do solder them by hand, it takes a lot of patience to do it. The stuffed boards are also extremely ESD sensitive. It might be interesting to get a bunch put together at a contract manufacturer (with pick and place machines and paste dispensing). The up-front cost is quite high, though - somewhere in the order of $10,000 for 50 boards, parts included.

 

[babyhead]

Much respect, Dale!