JLM Baby Animal

[wiz1der]

Hey Joe or Matt,

I just found out about these new pre's and they sound delectable! My question is,

I will be doing a lot of tracking of synths and drum machines (mpc) with these things, and was wondering which combination of tranny/opamps you would recommend?

I would more than likely need to run the DI kits on these also right?

I will probably do a 4 ch. whole kit, so maybe 2 channels of one config, for like kicks/bass synth, and maybe 2 for snare/hats/higher pitched synths...

thanks

wiz1der

 

[yodermr]

hi all, great thread. i am building a few of the ba's and have a simple question. when wiring up the jlm1;4, while i can figure out primary/secondary, how does the plus/minus go. does it matter.

i am building a oep/99v and a jlm1;4/opa. i will add two others as i get to hear how they fit into my current preamps

also, does anyone have a jlm tmp-8. how would it compare to the ba options.. reading about the ba options for transformers and opamps i'm curious how the tmp compares

[sorry my shift key doesn't seem to work, no question mark, etc..]

:wink:

 

[bluezplaya]

How do I wire my JLM 1:4 tranny to the PCB (which color cables go where)?

Also, I have the 48v PSU. I presume snip the end and "hot wire" the leads to the terminals?

Thanks,
Adam
:sam:

 

[bluezplaya]

NEVERMIND!!! :shock:

I just found it on the JLM website and on the forum. I haven't had the pleasure of listening to too many really nice preamps but I will say this...THESE PRE'S ARE NICE!!! They are super easy to build, super inexpensive, and super tiny! :grin:

I am using all JLM components: the 1:4 input tranny and the 99v opamp with the 48v power supply. I tried it out through Pro Tools with my Studio Projects C1 mic and it has a rather thick, lush, smooth sound to it. I have a baritone/bass vocal so it was nice and fat (like me)

I do have a pair of Green pre's I just finished working on and did some test recording, same mic. The Green pre's of course are transformer-less and have a very clean, uncolored character to them with lots of gain. Now after hearing the comparison between the two types of pre's, I can honestly say that the iron definitely beefs up some of the mid/low mid frequencies.

I would recommend this build to anyone from beginner to expert. In fact, I will be ordering a couple more before long. It took me about 2 hours to build the first one, but that's only because I was checking out the threads and the JLM site to make double sure I got it right the first time (and I did). Now, my second one should go in about an hour or more.

I will try and post some .wav or .mp3 files to compare the Baby Animal with my Green pre's and also with just the Pro Tools mic pre.

Off to work I go,
Adam
:sam: :sam: :sam:

 

[bluezplaya]

Okay, I have some samples. The first wav is the preamp in the Digi001 unit. Second is the Green pre (to Digi001), the third is the Baby Animal (to Digi001).

All three takes were using my Studio Projects C1 condenser. I am reading an excerpt from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

Digi001
http://www.adamholtmusic.com/digi.wav

Green Pre
http://www.adamholtmusic.com/green.wav

Baby Animal
http://www.adamholtmusic.com/baby.wav

Adam
:sam:

 

[gevermil]

So Joe , Matt / any insider , Is there a leak on the progress of the JLM
compressor yet ?

 

[JLM Audio]

Hmm! I thought a lot of people were using the BA's WITHOUT output transformers?

Most are not using output transformers.

I understand some headroom may be lost and I know I am losing some gain but how much is the quality compromised?

None and the headroom is not a problem either as without a output transformer you can still drive +26dBM which will clip most pro A/D's easily. Less gain is the only difference.

hot damn if they don't kick ass all over the Focusrite pre's we have used for years

:grin:

Only prob I found with the cinemag, is when I tried swapping out the IC for my 99v op-amp out of my other pre. Too tight a fit for a cinmeag & a 99v without bending the board too much.

Was this with a old 30mm x 20mm type 99v ? As the New 99v are smaller than a 2520 at 1" square and should fit?

I will be doing a lot of tracking of synths and drum machines (mpc) with these things, and was wondering which combination of tranny/opamps you would recommend?

The JLM14 and 99v is being used a lot over here to fatten samples.

I would more than likely need to run the DI kits on these also right?

Most synths can drive the mic input just fine with the Pad turned on and phantom turned off. If you leave phantom on it can destroy the output caps in your synth. But the DI kits do make it easier to use a normal 1/4" lead and to take the load off the synth output circuit and you never have to worry about the phantom power being turned off.

How do I wire my JLM 1:4 tranny to the PCB (which color cables go where)?

Black is not connected.

Also, I have the 48v PSU. I presume snip the end and "hot wire" the leads to the terminals?

Yep be careful not to pull on the leads to hard as this may damage the transformer.

So Joe , Matt / any insider , Is there a leak on the progress of the JLM compressor yet ?

We have several comp types in the works and we were just listening to the opto comp today. Most of these have been running for more than a year or 2 in some cases as we fine tune them. The next kit that will be out soon will not be the opto comp but will show where we are going with all of this and has lots of different uses for the DIYer. The opto comp will follow very soon after :wink:

 

[mattmoogus]

[quote author="wiz1der"]Hey Joe or Matt,
I will be doing a lot of tracking of synths and drum machines (mpc) with these things, and was wondering which combination of tranny/opamps you would recommend?
[/quote]


You cant really go wrong with any combo for this purpose but Id probably agree with Joe about the 1:4+99V combo, as its great for drums. You might also consider a Lundahl 1578 +99V if you have the extra $. I would probably also use an output transformer in your situation because youre probably looking for as much 'sound' as possible out of this pre, right?


Bluezplaya, thanks for the praise and samples, they were interesting. Your time of 2 hours for a first assembly is good too!


yodermr, you could build a single channel of the TMP8 pre with a 1:4 and a 5532 on the BA PCB. You wouldnt have the soft limiter but otherwise it would be pretty much the same. There are some drums I recorded with a TMP8 on the JLM site so you can get a very rough idea of it's sound there.

M@

 

[bluezplaya]

Bluezplaya, thanks for the praise and samples, they were interesting. Your time of 2 hours for a first assembly is good too!

I tell you, the best part of those JLM Baby Animals is the packaging it came in. Boy those things were packed nicely!! Whoever does the packaging and shipping at JLM knows what there are doing!! :green:

:sam: :sam: :sam: :sam: :sam: :sam: :sam: :sam:

 

[Schmilsson]

Two diode questions.
Where do I connect the one for the phantom power?
I'd like one for the power switch too, what value should I get, and what do I need in front of it?

I know both these things have been covered but this thread is getting looong, and I couldn't seem to find it.

 

[yodermr]

Matt
Thxs for the response on the TMP-8. SHould have explained better. I have a TMP-8 (Which is KILLER BTW). The real question is that I DON"T want another channel that sounds like a TMP-8, SO in terms of sound and feel, where would the TMP-8 fit as compared to the BA options?

M

 

[OverSound]

In my previous post I promised a review of the session from last week...
We actually had the chance to record with all of the pre's I built. As a recap here is what I built: 2x jlm14/99v; oep/99v; oep/hybrid. The results were pretty straight forward against our commercial fucusrites.

The guitars used were a Yamaha Aes800(my favorite guitar) and a Gretsch (forgot the model). These were run through either a Marshall TSL100 and/or a Peavey 5150 using the Marshall cabs for both. We then mic'd both amps with a Crowley and Tripp ribbon mic(Awesome! And loud enough with the BA's available gain) and believe it or not a shure Beta Green 2.0 vocal mic. The First pre I tried on this setup was the jlm14/99v's combo. Holy crap! Is all I heard from the band and my studio engineer. Funny thing is I showed up late to the session so they started using the fucusrites and had comp tracks to a/b them with. The guitars went from indistinct to open and sat right in the mix where it was needed. Very little eq was used(mic placement being a major factor) but we always had to fidget a little with the FR's. For shit's and giggles we tried the oep pre's but weren't as happy with them as we were with the jlm14's. The funny thing is that the FR's sounded great before we had these BA's. Now I don't know if we'll use them again. My engineer wants to order a stereo pair of a bunch of the combo's listed on this thread.

Bass on the otherhand was all about the oep/99v combo. We used a Spector bass the the BA, to the drawmer comp direct to the computer. This was the best sounding signal path we could come up with. There is also ton's of gain on this pre. I think the Spector bass has some odd tonality and just didn't get enough thickness out of the jlm14/99v. The hybrid loaded pre was great but didn't give quite the definition as the oep/99v. All of these differences were very audible. We never once had to second guess the tones as being too close to tell.

Vocals. This is one of the complaints i have about our studio. Our two vocal mic's aren't the typical Hi-End studio mic's. But The one we use on the right people with the right pre can sound amazing. It's a B.L.U.E. Dragonfly special edition. We get very mixed results with this mic. On certain people it's very bright and thin and on others it's perfect. Lot's o'eq'ing and stuff. Well luckily the 3 guys in the band that sang sounded good through this mic and with the oep loaded pre's we found the right sounds. The jlm14/99v's sounded a little "honky" on vox. Don't know if this is the Vocalists, the mic, the pre(my assembly) or a combo of any of those things. But needless to say the mic wasn't as brittle as it was previously and turned out quite the recording. Oddly the real telling point between the Hybrid and the 99v was in the top end. On vocals at least. the mid's were pretty close and didn't sound all that different but the top end on one vocalist would pop out at you while the other pre would pull it back a little. Obviously the range and timbre of the vocalist really dictated what pre would go where. I admit to messing up one thing though. I forgot to right down which pre was giving which tones while I was working on vocals. I am reciting my memories of the vocal session. The guitar and bass sessions I had extensive notes but not on vox. :sad:

So anyway, I hope this helps a little. I'm not a professional reviewer so could not find all the right adjectives to describe everything(Silky top end, smooth or fast transients and that sort of thing) but hope my amuturish desciptions help a little.

Later all,

Brad

 

[JLM Audio]

I tell you, the best part of those JLM Baby Animals is the packaging it came in. Boy those things were packed nicely!! Whoever does the packaging and shipping at JLM knows what there are doing!!

:grin:

Two diode questions.
Where do I connect the one for the phantom power?
I'd like one for the power switch too, what value should I get, and what do I need in front of it?

Ok you mean LED's. The 48v Phantom Power LED solders just like the Go Between to the top two long legs of the phantom power switch as shown above. The series resistor for the LED is on the baby animal PCB already. For the power LED you can use 4k7 to 10k in series with a LED across the switched 48v rail.

I have a TMP-8 (Which is KILLER BTW).

:grin:

So in terms of sound and feel, where would the TMP-8 fit as compared to the BA options?

None of the BA options from us are the same as the TMP8 but the most different sounding would be a OEP262A3C with JLM99v.

We actually had the chance to record with all of the pre's I built. As a recap here is what I built: 2x jlm14/99v; oep/99v; oep/hybrid. The results were pretty straight forward against our commercial fucusrites.

:grin:

BA4 with 2 x JLM14/99v and OEP/99v. We have done some more tweaking with the variable impedance values and will put them up as soon as I take a couple of photo's of a BA2 with the impedance feature. But definitely log impedance pots do seem to give the best feel and control.

 

[Jonkan]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but i was wondering if the BA+impedance controls would be a good choice for older ribbons or not?

if yes, what combo would you recommend?

What combination would give the most gain? (And would that be enough for low output ribbon mics?)

thanks,
Jonas

 

[mattmoogus]

[quote author="Jonkan"]Sorry to hijack this thread, but i was wondering if the BA+impedance controls would be a good choice for older ribbons or not?

if yes, what combo would you recommend?

What combination would give the most gain? (And would that be enough for low output ribbon mics?)

thanks,
Jonas[/quote]


It depends on how much gain you need. The combo that gives the best results with the variable impedance (JLM1:4+99V) isnt the combo with the most gain. You can see in the chart on the Baby Animal page which transformers give the most gain.
http://www.jlmaudio.com/Baby_Animal_Mic_Pre.htm

The max is about 72db and thats with the OEP on 1:13, which means you cant really play with the load to change the input impedance as the load resistor is already 100k.

Is your main aim max gain or to have the impedance control? If you want both you really need the dual 99V pre. Then you can use a lower ratio transformer with an impedance control and get plenty of gain from the opamps, ie 75db +.

Weve been playing with variable impedance with the OEP and JLM 1:4 in some BA pres this week and its looking like it will be a very useful feature. At the moment were using 100k log pots with a 4k7 in series for the 1:4 and a 12k in series for the OEP. These values give an interesting tonal variation and feel smooth. The 1:4 changes more subtly than the OEP, but when overloaded with 4k7 it rolls off a few db in the top and bottom end and when not loaded (105k) it is fairly flat but with a slight rise after 20k. The OEP is pretty well the same but becomes much brighter when unloaded and duller when overloaded. You also get about a 6db level change over the range of the pot.

I havnt tried it in a recording situation yet but based on what we heard in the workshop I think its going to be a really useful feature and not something you can replicate with eq.



M@

 

[mattmoogus]

[quote author="JLM Audio"]For the power LED you can use 4k7 to 10k in series with a LED across the switched 48v rail.
[/quote]


10k is the official JLM brightness value for 48V :wink:
:razz:



M@

 

[mattmoogus]

[quote author="OverSound"]In my previous post I promised a review of the session from last week...
We actually had the chance to record with all of the pre's I built. As a recap here is what I built: 2x jlm14/99v; oep/99v; oep/hybrid. The results were pretty straight forward against our commercial fucusrites.

So anyway, I hope this helps a little. I'm not a professional reviewer so could not find all the right adjectives to describe everything(Silky top end, smooth or fast transients and that sort of thing) but hope my amuturish desciptions help a little.

Later all,

Brad[/quote]


Thanks for the great review Brad, Im sure people will find your comments helpful. Im kinda glad your observations about which combos work best on which sources agree with my own too :grin:


M@

 

[Jonkan]

How does the load resistor on the secondary affect the input impedance?

I guess the ribbon mics want to see a pretty high impedance to work best, or am i way off here?

/J

 

[mattmoogus]

The secondary load resistor reflects through to the primary at the ratio of turns of the transformer. Theres a big thread about it called 'Variable impedance' or something like that.

As you change the load on the secondary you change the primary's impedance, and the freq response of the transformer (sometimes drastically, see the thread) and the gain of the transformer AND of course all these things in the mic you have plugged into the pre. So theres a lot of variation to be had.

Ribbons often seem to sound better when not loaded very hard, to me at least. But of course there are some situations where this isnt true aswell, which is why I think a 'knob' for impedance can be useful.


M@

 

[mattmoogus]

[quote author="yodermr"]Matt
Thxs for the response on the TMP-8. SHould have explained better. I have a TMP-8 (Which is KILLER BTW). The real question is that I DON"T want another channel that sounds like a TMP-8, SO in terms of sound and feel, where would the TMP-8 fit as compared to the BA options?

M[/quote]


Its a bit of an abstract question but Id say the furthest you could get away from the TMP8 would be a Lundahl 1578+99V+1:1:1 combo. Not a cheap option by any means but fantastic sounding (my desert island pre) and very different to the TMP8.


M@