Help to Choose First Preamp Build (is this possible?)

[outrecording]

Hello everyone! I'm new to the group and new to DIY audio projects. I apologize up front if I'm a little thick-headed at times. 

It has been suggested to me that I can build a preamp to fit my needs rather than trying to modify one already in production. (If you peruse GS, you might have seen the thread) I've run into the problem of not being able to find one single preamp out there that will work for me.

I need a preamp for my 4-channel ambisonic portable recording rig. In short I need:

- 4 channels
- Non-noisy Phantom power
- Ganged Channels (preferably one knob to control all channels)
- Battery Powered
- Very Clean Sounding
- Very Low Noise (I'll mostly be using it to record quiet ambience)
- Housed in a small enclosure, similar to attached image.

I've been lookin at either the ExpatAudio Eden, or the Innersonix Lucidity. (I've emailed both about it, but realized I may get a quicker answer and more opinions if I try here. If you're reading this Expat or Innersonix, I guess you can disregard my emails)

I haven't 100% decided if I want to go down this road, so I'm really hoping to get your input on doing this.

First, do you think a preamp with the above requirements can be built? I've noticed that most of the enclosures target rack mount. For something this small, will everything fit?

Other than soldering my own cables, I have little experience in this area. I've re-soldered some broken connections within a couple mics and didn't destroy them.  This would essentially be a first-time project; but I am a fast learner. Is this project doable by me alone do you think?

Is it realistic that I could power it completely by battery power?  And for those batteries to last at least 10 hours? (Or better yet, be hot swappable.)

Ok, before I go any further lets see of this project is possible and a better alternative to modding a preamp.

Thank you for your input!

 

[dirtyhanfri]

I would think in green pre, it´s so clean and easy to build, also, the gain switch/pot is 1 gang per channel, which makes easier to control 4 channels in a knob (4 gang switches are expensive, but findable I think)

About the power, I can´t help you there, but in such a small case, the power supply should be external, maybe a little box with a bunch of 9v batteries could do the trick...

 

[rkn80]

Maybe tho sis interesting for you?

https://groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=54610.0

 

[Rochey]

Ni Hao! (given the location?)

you can do all of these with an Eden Mic Pre.

As mentioned in my email, the simplest, lowest noise, way to power these would be a small array of pp3 batteries. Use +/-9V for the Edens (they will be happy) and 5x PP3 batteries for the Phantom(giving 45V, but again, it shoudl be enough)

I've had customers fit in 8x Edens into a 1U case easily, by stacking them. They are not very tall vertically, and have a very small X/Y footprint.

We have stock available today. Please let me know if you have any more questions.

Cheers

Rochey

 

[outrecording]

Great! Thanks for your answers. Now that I know the insides are possible, I'll look into the outside.

The Green Pre looks interesting; I somehow missed it. Do you think I could get four of them in that little box? All the pics I've seen of it looks like each channel is pretty large once assembled.

Maybe tho sis interesting for you?

https://groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=54610.0

Thanks! Now this looks small. What are the dimensions on hat board? Could it be *easily* resized to fit in a smaller box?

Regarding the battery, it sounds like internal batteries could be a tough fit. To make it easier, I think it best to use a typical power supply with an external rechargeable battery pack.

One last question...once I decide I want to build a preamp and which design I want, shod I start up a new thread asking specifics (which parts do I buy, how do I assemble, help me please I'm pathetic!  ) or just add on to this one? Not sure which is preferred in this forum.

Thanks again for all your input!

 

[outrecording]

Thanks Rochey! And "Ni Hao" will work. Although I'm not Taiwanese (my wife is), I hear it on a daily basis. 

 

[rkn80]

outrecording, I read that you want it for Ambisonic. Therefore, just a question I'm interested in: Which Ambisonic-Mic are you going to use? Tetra-Mic from Core Sound?

R.

 

[rkn80]

Great! Thanks for your answers. Now that I know the insides are possible, I'll look into the outside.

The Green Pre looks interesting; I somehow missed it. Do you think I could get four of them in that little box? All the pics I've seen of it looks like each channel is pretty large once assembled.

Maybe tho sis interesting for you?

https://groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=54610.0

Thanks! Now this looks small. What are the dimensions on hat board? Could it be *easily* resized to fit in a smaller box?

Regarding the battery, it sounds like internal batteries could be a tough fit. To make it easier, I think it best to use a typical power supply with an external rechargeable battery pack.

One last question...once I decide I want to build a preamp and which design I want, shod I start up a new thread asking specifics (which parts do I buy, how do I assemble, help me please I'm pathetic!  ) or just add on to this one? Not sure which is preferred in this forum.

Thanks again for all your input!

Dimensions of the mainboard are: 28.5cm x 7cm for 8 channels.

 

[outrecording]

outrecording, I read that you want it for Ambisonic. Therefore, just a question I'm interested in: Which Ambisonic-Mic are you going to use? Tetra-Mic from Core Sound?

R.

I went with the Soundfield SPS200. Really wanted its bigger brother (more suited for outside recording) but the SPS200 has been working fine for me thus far. Although its reversed polarity output confuses me.

 

[outrecording]

Oh! And I've decided to go through with this project. I didn't want this thread to get messy, so I started up a new one asking specifically what parts I would need here:

http://groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=55214.0

If anyone has suggestions, please do let me know there. Thanks!