NeoTek Series 1 console strips. How to put in Racks?

[Blackdawg]

Hey all,

My Boss has an old NeoTek series 1 console and it's just been sitting for years. He said he has always wanted to pull the mic pres and EQ strips and just rack them to use.

He is offering me the job to do it and I'll get to keep a couple for myself.

I've done some searching and it looks semi simple. But I'm not super sure on the PSU. I know it takes 18v. Where can I get the PSU for this?

Any tips on this? Definitely know people do this.

I've read I can use this PSU? http://www.fivefishaudio.com/diy/psu2448/

How do I wire it. There are the 4 DC spots all with 18v, V+, GND, V-. Then the bigger 48v, v, and -v.

What goes to what?

Thanks

Monte

 

[hitchhiker]

The fivefish stuff is good.  I have that supply kit here among other kits of theirs. That being said there is a lot to do when racking channels from a console (electrical as well as mechanical) and if you don't have very much experience with building or repairing mic preamps etc this may be more than you want to bite off?  Maybe there is a forum member who is near you  to lend a hand?

 

[Blackdawg]

The fivefish stuff is good.  I have that supply kit here among other kits of theirs. That being said there is a lot to do when racking channels from a console (electrical as well as mechanical) and if you don't have very much experience with building or repairing mic preamps etc this may be more than you want to bite off?  Maybe there is a forum member who is near you  to lend a hand?

The tech guy at my school could help out a bit im sure.

I have built mic pre amps. But nothing with a dedicated PSU. Just 500 series stuff. Its the only thing that I am not super familiar with. I have built many things though and after more research, I'm certain I can do it. I just need a bit of help with the power.

I was able to find a pin out of the channel strips on here. And i have the full schematics from the manual. Be sides mounting, it looks pretty straight forward. I just need help with the PSU.

Are their other options to the five fish? Better? I don't know where you guys get a lot of the components for these kind of builds either. All the kits ive done come complete with everything..

 

[hitchhiker]

OK!  The fivefish supply is a good one. You get four outputs of the plus and  minus 18v  (or whatever you are going for) and also the plus 48v for phantom.  The other plus minus in your post for the NeoTek may be other voltages for whatever and maybe someone here will pipe in to inform .
  Good to hear you have a teacher to help you along and this could  be a great next stage for you in the audio tech field.

 

[Blackdawg]

OK!  The fivefish supply is a good one. You get four outputs of the plus and  minus 18v  (or whatever you are going for) and also the plus 48v for phantom.  The other plus minus in your post for the NeoTek may be other voltages for whatever and maybe someone here will pipe in to inform .
  Good to hear you have a teacher to help you along and this could  be a great next stage for you in the audio tech field.

So basically, in theroy that is, I could power 4 of the mic preamps with this one PSU? I've read that max the pre amps pull 500mah and thats a high estimate. I just need one beefy transformer.  And i just use the 4 spots at the short end of the board right?

Seems straight forward enough.

Now to design a custom front panel to fit 4!

 

[Whoops]

OK!  The fivefish supply is a good one. You get four outputs of the plus and  minus 18v  (or whatever you are going for) and also the plus 48v for phantom.  The other plus minus in your post for the NeoTek may be other voltages for whatever and maybe someone here will pipe in to inform .
  Good to hear you have a teacher to help you along and this could  be a great next stage for you in the audio tech field.

So basically, in theroy that is, I could power 4 of the mic preamps with this one PSU? I've read that max the pre amps pull 500mah and thats a high estimate. I just need one beefy transformer.  And i just use the 4 spots at the short end of the board right?

Seems straight forward enough.

Now to design a custom front panel to fit 4!

If each channel strip pulls 500mA maximum then you shouldn't use that PSU to supply 4 of them.
4 channel strips will need 2 Amp or more, the Fivefish PSU only delivers 1.5 Amps Max.
Higher rated Regulators are required for 4 channels.

 

[Blackdawg]

OK!  The fivefish supply is a good one. You get four outputs of the plus and  minus 18v  (or whatever you are going for) and also the plus 48v for phantom.  The other plus minus in your post for the NeoTek may be other voltages for whatever and maybe someone here will pipe in to inform .
  Good to hear you have a teacher to help you along and this could  be a great next stage for you in the audio tech field.

So basically, in theroy that is, I could power 4 of the mic preamps with this one PSU? I've read that max the pre amps pull 500mah and thats a high estimate. I just need one beefy transformer.  And i just use the 4 spots at the short end of the board right?

Seems straight forward enough.

Now to design a custom front panel to fit 4!

If each channel strip pulls 500mA maximum then you shouldn't use that PSU to supply 4 of them.
4 channel strips will need 2 Amp or more, the Fivefish PSU only delivers 1.5 Amps Max.
Higher rated Regulators are required for 4 channels.

Are there any out there that would allow me to do 4 in one rack?

 

[Whoops]

Yes,
you can build yourself something with the LM338 regulator, it can deliver up to 5 Amps

or the easiest route would be to order the PSU kits for the  500 series racks available in this forum, check the white market for threads selling those racks, there you will be able to buy a higher rated PSU for your project

 

[Blackdawg]

Yes,
you can build yourself something with the LM338 regulator, it can deliver up to 5 Amps

or the easiest route would be to order the PSU kits for the  500 series racks available in this forum, check the white market for threads selling those racks, there you will be able to buy a higher rated PSU for your project

You mean the PSUs for the CAPI 51x racks?

Don't those have a 24v+ and 16v+ rails? i need 18v+.

Separate PSU would be nice though.

 

[mjrippe]

There is no way in hell that a Neotek Series 1 channel will pull half an amp.  You will be fine with the PSU mentioned above.  Seriously, these strips have a half dozen or so DIP8 opamps, not DOAs or vacuum tubes!

 

[Blackdawg]

There is no way in hell that a Neotek Series 1 channel will pull half an amp.  You will be fine with the PSU mentioned above.  Seriously, these strips have a half dozen or so DIP8 opamps, not DOAs or vacuum tubes!

Well that's comforting..

The Five Fish one was in a good budget too.

Any advice on what Toroidal Transformer? The Five Fish one should also suffice yes?

 

[Blackdawg]

I am going to be going for this:

Looks like this guy used the five fish one?

 

[Whoops]

Looks like this guy used the five fish one?

Idon't know if he used the Five fish PSU or the JLM,
I think it's JLM's

Anyway, he used it for 2 channel strips and not for 4.

Probably  mjrippe is right in that 500mA is an exaggerated number,
who told you that?

I see 7 IC's on the picture, you can start by checking power consumptions of each opamp in their datasheets .

 

[Whoops]

You mean the PSUs for the CAPI 51x racks?

Don't those have a 24v+ and 16v+ rails? i need 18v+.

Separate PSU would be nice though.

Any 500 series type rack,
CAPI or Volker or Sahib, all of them are good and will do your needs.

16V rails are not problematic I'm sure they can be adjusted  or regulator changed, check Volker PSUs,
as I remeber there were quite a few different ones

You can probably power 8 or more Neotek channels  with one of those PSU's

 

[Blackdawg]

Looks like this guy used the five fish one?

Idon't know if he used the Five fish PSU or the JLM,
I think it's JLM's

Anyway, he used it for 2 channel strips and not for 4.

Probably  mjrippe is right in that 500mA is an exaggerated number,
who told you that?

I see 7 IC's on the picture, you can start by checking power consumptions of each opamp in their datasheets .

Yea I mean it would make sense that they wouldn't pull much since there isn't anything too them really.

I will go through the ICs when I get a channel to diagnose.  I just read somewhere that they could pull that. But I have no data to back it up.

And it would be nice if I could get 4 to work in one unit. But probably fine if I just did 2.

I can't tell what he wired up for the output though. Did he put a DOA in or an output transformer?

 

[Blackdawg]

You mean the PSUs for the CAPI 51x racks?

Don't those have a 24v+ and 16v+ rails? i need 18v+.

Separate PSU would be nice though.

Any 500 series type rack,
CAPI or Volker or Sahib, all of them are good and will do your needs.

16V rails are not problematic I'm sure they can be adjusted  or regulator changed, check Volker PSUs,
as I remeber there were quite a few different ones

You can probably power 8 or more Neotek channels  with one of those PSU's

I like that idea. I'll run it by my boss. I'm guessing he'll go for the five fish one since it is much cheaper.

 

[Blackdawg]

Figured id update this. Turns out its a Series II so 4 band EQ! 8) got all 16 channels out and going to go through them and test them and clean them. Recap the good ones.

NeoTek series II console build by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

First 7 out. Was not fun getting them out. After these though the next batch i was able to lift totally out.

NeoTek series II console build by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
NeoTek series II console build by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
NeoTek series II console build by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
NeoTek series II console build by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr
NeoTek series II console build by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

 

[Blackdawg]

I would like to add a small LED signal meter to mine too. I have the space for it. But Im not really sure how to do it. Some guidance would be nice here. I don't need a super fancy one, but something would be nice. The meter i have for my SB4000 would be top of the line for me really. Any tips?

 

[dude24man]

Those are Series 1E strips.  That is a series 1 console!  dont know if it helps but, there's all ready a built in overload led right on the strip.

 

[Blackdawg]

Those are Series 1E strips.  That is a series 1 console!  dont know if it helps but, there's all ready a built in overload led right on the strip.

Oh. I thought the series 1 only ha e a three band EQ. What the manuals says anyways.

Thought the LED was for the mute button too.