Spectrasonics 610 (and clone info)

[toothpastefordinner]

So I just got a Spectrasonics 610 a while ago. Weird, weird compressor. It's almost as if there's a permanent HPF in it. (I bet there is, and my theory is that it's compensation for the way that compressors seem to kill a little of the high end, as well as the fact that it has a bit of hum in it.)

Anyway... has anyone tried to clone this before? I popped the hood, nice input & output transformer, and a reasonable amount of circuitry. If anyone's interested, I'll take pix.


drew
www.toothpastefordinner.com

 

[smilinfu]

I'd love to see it!

 

[edanderson]

i posted this info, courtesy of rick chinn, on the old RO forum about a year ago. everyone is welcome to it:

comp/limiter card:
http://edanders.home.comcast.net/diy/spectra601.pdf

meter amp card:
http://edanders.home.comcast.net/diy/spectra603.pdf

610 manual
http://edanders.home.comcast.net/diy/spectra610.pdf

schems and layouts for the various cards
http://edanders.home.comcast.net/diy/ss_schem.pdf

ed

 

[Kev]

thanks ed

:thumb:

 

[toothpastefordinner]

Given the amount of circuitry involved (not a tiny amount by any means, but feasible to put on one board) I have been thinking about thinking about making a clone. Has anyone done this before?

Thanks for the schematics Ed


drew
www.toothpastefordinner.com

 

[Bear]

I'm in line when you do the kit. Sherlock was a great little project (though there was no errata on the aux out and power jack hole sizes).

Are we talking particularly unique tricks with the Spectrasonics, or is it basically an 1176 with a grudge?

Bear

 

[soundguy]

this would be a great project, however trying to get a little more headroom out of it would be a worthy modification. I have some of those cards in addition to a 610 and its pretty much usable as a fuzzbox. The compressor is cool but would be way more usable IMO if it wasnt just a specialty effects box.

One thing worth noting, spectrasonics is still in business I think. I think they are in ogden utah doing aerospace now and I remember reading that you can still get these new, so this might not at all be a candidate for this type of thing, might be good to do some research on that before you get too far...

dave

 

[tommytones]

I'd be into helping out on this project. I've always been curious about these boxes.

 

[leigh]

[quote author="soundguy"]One thing worth noting, spectrasonics is still in business I think. I think they are in ogden utah doing aerospace now and I remember reading that you can still get these new, so this might not at all be a candidate for this type of thing, might be good to do some research on that before you get too far...[/quote]

Yeah, they're still going. I called and got a catalog of their stuff a couple years ago (they don't have a web presence, AFAIK).

At that point, their listed price for a 610 Complimiter was $1285.

You could also buy from them the 601 card, which is the heart of the Complimiter I believe, for $168. The photo of the card shows it to be a double-decker, measuring 4.75" x 2.5".

I've heard though that part of the sound of these (and whether this is desireable or not depends on your taste) is diode limiting on the output.

Leigh

 

[soundguy]

if they are still making them, it probably wouldnt be very cool to offer a kit, that could lead to some nastiness...

dave

 

[MikoKensington]

You can still buy a 1081. You can still buy an 1176. Nobody has gotten their ass packed yet. :green:

 

[soundguy]

no, maybe not, but you dont have to go looking for trouble either. Nobody is offering a 1081 kit number one and number two nobody is cloning an 1176 that is presently commercially available. Offering a kit for a commercially available device is not very cool. Just go buy one.

dave

 

[ciminosound]

Don't forget the Purple Audio site...

http://www.purpleaudio.com/resource/pdflib.html

Gerry

 

[toothpastefordinner]

Oof. To be honest I had no idea they were still makin' em. I think that pushes this idea off the table, I don't like the idea of cloning something that a company's still selling... whether or not it's been done before.

drew
www.toothpastefordinner.com

 

[Bear]

Do the cards they have available open up interesting possibilities for home brewing while still giving the company their due?

Bear

 

[FredForssell]

The orginal 610 used Triad A-67J (or 65) input transformers and an HS-66 output transformer. While the HS-66 isn't too bad, the A-67/65J sucked big-time IMO. That could be part of the HPF sound someone mentioned earilier.

It also used a really nice API-361 VU meter (that cost a fortune) and the SS 101 card which used +24 VDC rail. That card was later replaced in other SS designs with the SS 110 card which used +/- 24 VDC rails. But if I remember correctly each of these cards had 604 ohm input impedances due to the fact that they used grounded base input stages. The single-ended power supply and low input impedance mean one needs to use large value caps for inter-stage coupling. That is not something that can change if you use the SS 101 or 110 cards, so I'd look at using something other the SS amplifiers.

Basically, if I were going to make a 610 clone, I wouldn't. I'd make it with the 601 and 603 cards (good meter tracking vs ratio setting), a good output/gain make-up amp (guess what I'd use), and better transformers on the input and output. And I'd try to DC couple it from input xformer to output xformer. But then again, I'd get rid of the input transformer and used a balanced to single-ended input stage. That's me.

I think it would be interesting to see what that sounded like. I actually liked the way the 610 worked but not how it sounded... so much. Because it has the ability to work at such high slope ratios (100:1, if I remember correctly) people tended to have trouble setting it up properly. Typically they ended up saying it "pumped" too much. Go figure.

 

[toothpastefordinner]

aha! Maybe I'll try switching transformers in my 610 and see what happens. thanks!

drew
www.toothpastefordinner.com

 

[usekgb]

[quote author="FredForssell"]The orginal 610 used Triad A-67J (or 65) input transformers and an HS-66 output transformer. While the HS-66 isn't too bad, the A-67/65J sucked big-time IMO. That could be part of the HPF sound someone mentioned earilier.

It also used a really nice API-361 VU meter (that cost a fortune) and the SS 101 card which used +24 VDC rail. That card was later replaced in other SS designs with the SS 110 card which used +/- 24 VDC rails. But if I remember correctly each of these cards had 604 ohm input impedances due to the fact that they used grounded base input stages. The single-ended power supply and low input impedance mean one needs to use large value caps for inter-stage coupling. That is not something that can change if you use the SS 101 or 110 cards, so I'd look at using something other the SS amplifiers.

Basically, if I were going to make a 610 clone, I wouldn't. I'd make it with the 601 and 603 cards (good meter tracking vs ratio setting), a good output/gain make-up amp (guess what I'd use), and better transformers on the input and output. And I'd try to DC couple it from input xformer to output xformer. But then again, I'd get rid of the input transformer and used a balanced to single-ended input stage. That's me.

I think it would be interesting to see what that sounded like. I actually liked the way the 610 worked but not how it sounded... so much. Because it has the ability to work at such high slope ratios (100:1, if I remember correctly) people tended to have trouble setting it up properly. Typically they ended up saying it "pumped" too much. Go figure.[/quote]

Do you ever make it down to Ogden, UT where SpecraSonics and Ray Kimber are located? I haven't been up to Ray's yet, but I hear he has a bunch of old SpectrSonics stuff. It might be fun to go through his basement and see what can be done with some of that stuff. He would probably be up for it. He was sure excited when he saw the rack of 12 SpectraSonics amplifiers that I have at my shop.

Cheers,
Zach

 

[Bryson]

http://www.spectrasonics610.com/

 

[leigh]

[quote author="Bryson"]http://www.spectrasonics610.com/[/quote]

I noticed that recently - SpectraSonics steps into the 90's with a website.

From their new pricelist (which is done as a single graphic, and a black-and-white jpg no less), the 610 Complimiter is now up to $1995.00.

Do I sound ticked?