Pip
Well-known member
So after building mics for a bit I realized my least favorite aspect of the mics all the mics that require powering, is the powering scheme. This pertains mostly to tube mics (a little more below*). The PSU is always the part that causes me the most trouble! It seems that parts are always difficult to source, heat sinking and proper safety are always of concern, lets face it if you are going to have a fire or hurt yourself or another it is going to be with the high voltage part of the tube mic equation. It also seemed that every time I build a PSU getting consistent voltage output is of issue due in part to available parts etc... Now also I have to say that I am about to possibly offend some traditionalists but here goes.... I also have decided that I prefer regulated to unregulated supplies JMO. I know this goes against, especially in the venerable U47 case, design integrity but IMO it is better. Machining, laying out the box and parts (and I am really good at metal work, heck even won an award for it in middle school) is always a pain in the you know what! I also noticed that in my case the PSU is also quite expensive.
Isolating this to just the U47 copy topic I started looking for off the shelf products that were robust and well built. I went on a quest and came up with the Acopian Model 150J20. Adjustable 105 VDC output, compact, well engineered, listed and sexy in a classic steam-punk way. Also slightly customizable if you look at the options list. I know it ain't that cheap but it saves time and I can use it with different mics with out concern as long as I pay attention to wiring. Thus DIY is partially maintained see pics.
https://www.acopian.com/store/productdetail.aspx?q=i935
*This includes phantom powering but that is a big hotly debated topic that in my experience usually ends with "if it ain't broke don't fix it".
Isolating this to just the U47 copy topic I started looking for off the shelf products that were robust and well built. I went on a quest and came up with the Acopian Model 150J20. Adjustable 105 VDC output, compact, well engineered, listed and sexy in a classic steam-punk way. Also slightly customizable if you look at the options list. I know it ain't that cheap but it saves time and I can use it with different mics with out concern as long as I pay attention to wiring. Thus DIY is partially maintained see pics.
https://www.acopian.com/store/productdetail.aspx?q=i935
*This includes phantom powering but that is a big hotly debated topic that in my experience usually ends with "if it ain't broke don't fix it".
