JLM Baby Animal

GroupDIY Audio Forum

Help Support GroupDIY Audio Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
The 48v PSU connector is a 2.1mm coax connector. I bought a metal, female coax power jack at a local electronics store made by a company called Calrad Electronics. I don't remember the exact part number, but it's in their 30 series:
http://www.calrad.com/download/30 Series.pdf

It took to long to look up on my dial up connection, sorry.

You could buy it direct from www.calrad.com, though I'm sure there are other options, these just happen to be stocked locally for me. It was a little over a dollar. I also used some of their knobs, which are decent and cheap.
 
Thanks for the info. Calrad looks like they have some good stuff. I'm sure I will be able to find what I need. I'm also sure that when I get the BA's I will have a gazillion more questions.

This is a great forum.

:grin:
 
How are peoples BA's coming ?
Ive been trying to get thru to joe to order a pair but he must be swamped .
Would like to hear more opinions about transformer options .
gary
 
Still waiting on various parts for mine. Just had a mouser order arrive today so i can get on with it a little bit more.

Cinemags are are comin in group order, so that should be another couple of weeks maybe.

But I'm looking foward to getting them running. :thumb:
 
Honestly, ANY of the transformer options will sound good. I dont think youll find any of them dont work on a particular source, just that some will be more good than others. So really you cant go wrong. Just need to listen to a few and decide what sounds good on what for yourself.


M@
 
I hope to do some recording with mine next week, if possible.

I'd love to build another with my Jensen trano, but money's tight right now. Hopefully soon.

You really can't go wrong with the JLMs though, I don't think.
 
Our JLM14/99v kits are on the way. We're looking forward to it! My friend and building partner are only building one channel +DI each because of cost, but I have a feeling we're going to wish we had more! :grin:
 
[quote author="unheardof"]but I have a feeling we're going to wish we had more! :grin:[/quote]


Look at it this way, one is infinitely more than none! Yr gonna have a lot of fun with that thing.



M@
 
Mattmongus please help..
I just got my lil baby animals and my monster psu from jlm..ta!

Just wondering if the following power configuration is correct for the
following config:

Baby animals + 62V psu PSU running jlm99v + jlm1:4:

1) The coniditioner for 48 v phantom should be included as indicated in note 2 on the diagram here http://www.jlmaudio.com/Baby Animal Mic Pre with JLM14 with JLM99v or Hybrid on 48v.pdf ?????

2) I should not need to connect a regulator as indicated in note 1: as jlm99v will run at 32 volts? ( on 62v from the SMPS even though it is indicated that > 48 this reg should be fitted)

Its just a bit confusing.. a table with psu vs op-amp type would be great!

Thanks
Jeremy
 
OK just updated the baby animal page on our web site with a couple of tables.

One shows transformer types and what Rpad, RG, RL , CL, RZ, CZ to use and transformer gain & over all gain.

Also how to add variable input impedance to the baby animal with some transformers by adding a pot in series with a minimum RL.

The other shows power supply voltages and opamps and what regulators need to be fitted.

Also at the bottom of the page now there is a adjustment procedure for changing the voltage of the large 52v 2.2A SMPS and also turning the fan off if it makes the background noise to high in the control room.

http://www.jlmaudio.com/Baby_Animal_Mic_Pre.htm
 
Great timing as I'm nearing the end of stuffing my boards!

This clears all my questions!
Thanks again for the timely help.

Thanks Joe!


Jeremy
 
I powered up my two baby animals and they worked prefectly first shot!

I love those through plated holes ont the pcb's, they make soldering the things a breeze.

I will post a pic once I drill my front panel.

Thanks for such an easy to build kit Joe.
 
We got our kits yesterday... should start building tomorrow, but we won't get to work next week, so it might take us a few weeks.

Components and everything look great. Except for the 48v PSU, it's got a puffy JLM audio sticker that is all hazed over and looks cheap. IMHO, having your logo on something that looks cheap is worse than not having your logo on it at all. I mean, after all, it's just a rebranded SMPS. I'm not complaining, this is just my opinion. I also thought it was a little cheap not including the IEC with the power supply, but I understand that these kits are going all around the world.

I can't wait to try it out! Just trying to decide now what case to put it in.
After I get it going I'll be trying the pot variable impedance we discussed, so I'll let you know how that goes!
 
Well, it's my first post here although I've been reading for awhile. It took me awhile to jump on the DIY wagon, but when I saw the new JLM kits I decided I was ready. I present you my completed Baby Animal:

channel1-3.jpg


channel1-1.jpg


channel1-4.jpg


channel1-2.jpg


I've wired the XLR jack since these pictures were taken, of course.

The kits are fantastic and are quite easy to assemble. As you can see, it uses the JLM14 input trasnformer and OPA2604 opamp, because it's the cheapest configuration.

Being my first true DIY project, I learned quite a few things:

1. Don't forget to put in the opamps. D'oh.
2. Don't use masking tape to protect the front panel while drilling!!! I heard someone suggest blue painter's tape--use that instead.
3. Buy the right size screws, and if you buy the wrong ones, don't say "Oh, I'll make them work."
4. Giant knobs are much easier to work with than tiny ones.
5. Giant LEDs look goofy.

Before I talk about the sound, let me say that my preamp experience is with a Behringer rack unit, my Mackie mixer, Presonus Firebox, and an MBox. That said, this thing blows the pants off any of those. It is pants-blowingly awesome. Everything I've put through it has automatically turned into the best sound I've gotten out of that instrument. Guitar and bass through the DI are especially awesome, very smooth. After about an hour of playing guitar through the Baby Animal and then into a Marshall patch in Guitar Rig 2, I switched over to the Presonus pre, and it was harsh! I had the volume cranked, and at the same gain as the BA it was painful, whereas the Baby Animal was quite pleasing. I'm very happy with this. After I placed my order, I wondered if I'd notice enough of a difference to justify the cost. Five minutes of testing erased any doubts I had. I also realized how good a 57 can be, and...er...how bad my Studio Projects C1 is.

My only complaint about the kit is that the plastic 1/4" jack on the DI is pretty cheap, and the nut barely fits. I crossthreaded it maybe 1/16 of a turn, and the plastic threads are shot. Be careful!! The threads also don't extend very far up the bushing, so the nut barely has any thread to grip when it's in the rack.

I've noticed a couple of noises that I'm not too sure about. First there's a high pitch noise that only occurs when sound is passing through the preamp. It's VERY faint for normal sounds (I can just barely hear it when playing miced acoustic guitar) but quite noticeable, for instance, when applying distortion to the amplified signal. It sounds almost like the very high pitch whining sound you might get when trying to tune a radio. Again, it only happens when signal is being amplified. As soon as you stop playing, the sound goes away. I will post a sound clip later so you can hear what I mean. There's also a faint puffing sound when adjusting the gain knob. Aside from those, it is quiet--no hum whatsoever, and only a small amount of hiss at high gain settings.

Now to ask for some help. I'd like to be able to run line-level signals through this preamp which is why I'm using Neutrik combo jacks. I need to pad the signal, but I'm not sure how to do it. Would the configuration in this post get the job done? There're around 4 different suggestions in that thread and I don't know which one is best.

I've ordered a second channel, and it should be here in the next few days. I also ordered the Hybrid opamp kit, and will test it out with that before putting the OPA2604 in for the final unit. I may use the hybrid in a 312-style preamp.

Again, I'd like to stress how awesome this kit is. It is a cinch to build and sounds great. Joe is a great guy and answered my questions very promptly (while politely suggesting I come here and bug you guys.) Send him your money!!

Cheers,
Chris
 
Lookin' nice, Mr. Jones! :thumb:

Is that one of those ParMetal racks? Looks great! Same knobs as mine, too :)

I used blue painters tape for mine, and it worked really well.

[quote author="mr.jones"]
My only complaint about the kit is that the plastic 1/4" jack on the DI is pretty cheap, and the nut barely fits. I crossthreaded it maybe 1/16 of a turn, and the plastic threads are shot. Be careful!! [/quote]

I don't think it's cheap, but you do have to be careful. It's just a consequense of having to use plastic (necessary to isolate the jack from the chassis). You definitely want to make sure you don't overtighten the nut!

There's also a faint puffing sound when adjusting the gain knob.

I have the same thing but it goes away after it's been on for a while.

Now take your baby animal off your grill before you get burgers all over it! :razz:
 
I just wanted to say, what an awesome first post!

Looks great!

You can probably replace your LED bezel with a fancy-ass chrome one, by the way.

I wonder if that high-pitched whirring is perhaps oscillation / intermodulation due to oscillation? Maybe ask JLM....
 
OK so my build is at the other end of the scale.. the minimalist ugly animal if ya like... some kind of baby rodent.

I 'm thinking of starting a thread for the ugliest diy panels..
Here goes nothing..
100_0185.JPG

100_0187-1.JPG

Is this the worst front panel yet? I need to buy a decent ruler some day!
100_0189-1.JPG


btw this thing sounds great! It is larger than life on guitars and vocals .. can't wait to try it on the kit.

They do hiss a bit with the gain maxed but I'm guessing this is normal?

I have no hum or the like to speak of though!

I'm going to buy more channels soon, this time with the OEP trannies for a contrast
 
jemduff: Looks good!! As long as it works, sounds great, and you're happy, that's what matters. I'm an ultra anal-retentive perfectionist, so I wanted to make sure the front panel was perfect. I actually drew a CAD drawing, printed it actual size, and cut out the circles to make sure the components would fit correctly. It worked flawlessly, except that I didn't have a step bit up to 15/16", so I had to do 3/4" and file the rest. It turned out OK, but not perfect, so I'll probably redo it someday.

Speaking of filing, the top and bottom panels of the case have a lip on them that has to be filed to clear the jacks and PCBs. I filed all 4 of these grooves by hand, and probably spent 8 hours doing it. You can see the scratches on the bottom where I messed up. In the future I will probably plan my cases with a bit more room so I don't have to spend so much time on the metal work.

I'm going to replace the giant LEDs with some smaller chrome-bezeled ones, and I think it will look better. The case is from ParMetal and the knobs are RadioShack. I highly recommend ParMetal; they are very cheap, the case is excellent quality, and I received just a couple days after ordering.

I'm going to make a trip to RadioShack tomorrow and pick up some parts...anyone have any advice on the line-input situation?

Cheers,
Chris
 
Back
Top