Schematics online of BFE/Filtek SB-3 limiter

[Tubefreak]

I took photo's of the BFE / Filtek SB-3 limiter manual, which I bought from BFE for way too much. In total 37 pages, incl the schematic, layout, setup/test document, curves, etc. That's the good side.... bad side is that the files all together are 14Mb large, cause they're all high res JPGs.

You can find the documents on my website:
www.tubefreak.com/BFE-SB3-schematics.zip (3.6 MB)
www.tubefreak.com/BFE-SB3-German-Manual.zip (7.3 MB)
www.tubefreak.com/BFE-SB3-UK-Manual.zip (3.2 MB)

I've got five of these limiterws but have not yet tested them. I wanna hook them up somewhere at the end of the summer. Is it OK if I ask you guys a few questions then on how to implement them best?

Kind regards,
Maarten
www.tubefreak.com

 

[StephenGiles]

Is that an Aphex 1537 in there?

 

[gyraf]

Thanks, Maarten!!!

Much appreciated!!!

:sam: :sam: :sam:

Jakob E.

 

[Tubefreak]

[quote author="StephenGiles"]Is that an Aphex 1537 in there?[/quote]

Good question. It's a part of the APE add-on card for the BFE SB-3 limiter, which enables preemphasis. Unfortuantly I only own the limiters, not the APE add-on cards, so I can't take a look.

BTW IF YOU FIND AN "APE" ADD ON CARD LET ME KNOW! :shock:.
Maarten

 

[gyraf]

[quote author="StephenGiles"]Is that an Aphex 1537 in there?[/quote]

Yes, it very much looks like that:

http://www.gyraf.dk/schematics/Aphex_1537A_VCA.pdf

Jakob E.

 

[Tubefreak]

And I've added another zip with high res pics of the module and the other cards I got with my rack. They include one BFE SI-001 card for switching and two DELTA System VENG1 units, of which I have nu clue what they do. :roll:

Here are three pics, the rest can be downloaded from www.tubefreak.com/BFE-SB3-pics.zip (4.6 MB).

:thumb: Maarten

 

[gyraf]

Maarten,

The (local) pics dosen't load?

Jakob E.

 

[[silent:arts]]

The Delta modules are interfaces for 4-wire-communication (Vierdraht), like telephones etc.

 

[Tubefreak]

Gyraf: do they work now?
silent:arts : are the VENG units useable?

I emailed BFE if they still had the APE add-on cards on stock. Here's a part their answer:
SB3 and the subboard APE are old products but we still have 2 pcs APE on stock. If the quantity is not enough, please inform me, so I have to clarify the manufacturing of add on APE units. The price is net 537,00 EURO each.

Mmhhhh.... Don't think I'll be buying the APE's anytime soon....

 

[gyraf]

Gyraf: do they work now?

Yep - I edited your \'s to /'s :grin:

Jakob E.

 

[callot]

Hello friends, sorry for bringing an old thread back to life , but does anybody happen to have the schemos for the SB03 lying around, or even better for the SB2a, since I have one or two around and would like to get them working. I did a lot of search everywhere else, but as usual this is the only place to find things.
Unfortunately the links on this thread are out of service after such a long time.
@tubefreak: Did You get Yours working? I think they should be cool for bassdrum.
I ´d be really happy about information

 

[Tubefreak]

Hi Callot,

I'll upload the zip docs again and leave them online. A while back my webspace was limited, but I have enough room now to leave them online.

The SB-3 have seen use several times and tested/adjusted them a lot. They sound very nice, flat freq response and are extremely fast for an analog limiter. If they have to reduce gain with 20dB it still sounds natural.

For a while I worked with a Hof Dynamic Master and they operate in similar matter: like a giant volume knob. With digital limiters they chop the peaks, these analog limiters work more on the whole sound and bring it back.

There are a few mods I still wish to do to these SB-3's and maybe now is a good time to get it done (with some help through this forum). The two highest mods on my wish list are a shorter release time and a deeper high pass filter. The release is at least 200ms or something like that and would really like to bring it down to 50ms. The high pass filter is active at 30hz if I remember correctly and would like to change this to 20hz.

Any help with those two mods is much welcome. The high pass shouldn't be to hard, but I get the feeling the use several filters in the circuit. The release time is something I would like some help with :roll:

Here are the links:
http://www.tubefreak.com/bfe-sb3-uk-manual.zip 3.3 MB
http://www.tubefreak.com/bfe-sb3-schematics.zip 3.3 MB
http://www.tubefreak.com/bfe-sb3-pics.zip 4.8 MB
http://www.tubefreak.com/bfe-sb3-german-manual.zip 7.5 MB
http://www.tubefreak.com/bfe-sb3.zip 12.9 MB

Kind regards,
Maarten

 

[callot]

Thanks a lot Maarten for uploading the stuff again. I´ll try to get mine running and see what use i can get out of it. the mods You suggest sound like they make quite a lot of sense. I guess i´m not smart enough for great tips on how to do them, but will have a look on the subject, and stay tuned here, wether someone comes up with some ideas. btw i like Your website a lot, tons of good info
:thumb:

 

[mikeyB]

Just been asked to rack and sort a pair of Filtek SB-2 limiters - thanks to tubefreak for the sb3 schems - i`m sure i read somewhere the sb2 and sb3 are near identical! Does anyone know this or does any of you German guys have the SB2 schems? Thanks as always

 

[safe as milk]

another thankyou for the sb3 info
...but 'bump!'
as i've also got a pair of sb2's on the bench.
anyone got a pinout? mine only pass signal from input on pins 13/15/16?
the output pins seem to work like the sb3 schematic shows though.
i get nada putting the signal into pins 1&2 like the sb3 schem suggests

cheers

 

[peeping tom]

another thankyou for the sb3 info
...but 'bump!'
as i've also got a pair of sb2's on the bench.
anyone got a pinout? mine only pass signal from input on pins 13/15/16?
the output pins seem to work like the sb3 schematic shows though.
i get nada putting the signal into pins 1&2 like the sb3 schem suggests

cheers

Bumb! Anyone?

 

[andow]

Bump!
I am also looking for infos on the SB-2. Anybody?  :-\

 

[alexmartin]

Sadly Tubefreak's link's aren't working anymore. Is anyone kind to share it again please?

 

[mjrippe]

Several files, not sure what is what....downloaded a dozen years ago.