Mod my gear.

[flutterecho]

Hey guys.  I'm totally new to the forum, but I've been really intrigued by the idea of diy audio gear assembly and modifications for a long time.

I was hoping I could get some tips on modding my mobile recording rig.  It consists of 3 M-Audio Profire 2626 interfaces.  Is there a way I could improve the pres, conversion, and clocking via DIY modifications?  Would this approach be economical?  Any thoughts would be appreciated....

 

[Schmilsson]

Probably not. A more fun approach that would make a big difference to your sound is building a mic pre from scratch.

 

[Matthew Jacobs]

Probably not. A more fun approach that would make a big difference to your sound is building a mic pre from scratch.

+1

There not much you can do to improve the sound of those pres. Maybe change a few caps and change the op-amps. However their probably all surface mount. As Eskimo suggests you're better off building a pre-amp from scratch.

You can find lots of pre-amp projects on here such as the Valve G9, SSL 9K, API 312 and Neve. All of which will give you much better results.

 

[MikeClev]

I attempted to replace some surface mount capacitors in my rack unit audio interface... long story short- I now have 1 less working output on my audio interface! My advice is to not mess with surface mount components! Not until you have some DIY experience under your belt anyway.

 

[lassoharp]

For any sort of upgrades on the clocking and interface I'd suggest giving the folks at Black Lion Audio a shout.
They may or may not offer anything for that particular unit but their prices are friendly.  They do offer a nice clock and interface I think of their own making at a good price.  Not really DIY but interfaces and clocks aren't the best projects for beginning DIY.

I'm with the others on not attempting surface mount mods. Too easy to mess up and too much to lose.


http://www.blacklionaudio.com/content.php?p=29

 

[living sounds]

A few years ago when I started DIYing I modded my audio interface and destroyed some channels as well. It's possible to do it, but you need to know how to solder (and more importantly desolder) SMT parts properly. Also, with the complexity of multilayer circuit boards and the importance of circuit design and limited space there might not be that much room for improvement. Converters is one area where it usually makes more sense to actually buy the better ones. Letting Black Lion mod them is a great idea, too. I'd also second the suggestion of building a great preamp from scratch rather than trying to improve the internal ones of an audio interface.

 

[flutterecho]

Thanks so much for all you're help guys.  Yeah I had seen the new Profire 2626 mods by Black Lion, and I was really curious if I could tackle the project myself.  But I'm glad you stopped me.  Unfortunately Black Lion isn't offering the mods on preowned units yet...  So I guess I'll have to wait.

For several years I've researched DIY topics and I aspire to build 8 channels of Seventh Circle Audio Pres, an LA2A clone, and an 1176 clone....

I'll keep the boards posted once I bite the bullet and actually start a build.