Lowfreq
Well-known member
So while I was waiting for my ef800 tube to arrive, i thought I'd get some sort of circuit going with the EF86 tubes I have around here, so I could at least hear the beesneez K7, skylars U47 body, and cinemag 2461 in action, even if it wasn't a U47 type circuit.
So I looked at Gus' VM1 schematic and went with that, since it looked pretty straightforward and simple, and I had all the parts here. The only thing I did different was use 1gig resistors instead of 3gig resistors, coz that's what I had on hand.
I used the MK7 psu to get the voltages to where they needed to be.
I had my wife sing a few bits, and compared them to what we had orginally recorded. I wanted to post them, but she hated her performances (she was really tired) so I got a "no go" from her on that.
But Wow!! This thing sounds amazing!! Switching between the tracks, the VM1 circuit/U47 body had a depth that the others didn't.
Don't get me wrong, my royer mods and other goodies sounded great, but this had that 3d quality where the voice felt more real.
It's got a pretty hot output tho (i didn't include the pad), so the preamp can get a little clippy when belting or hitting those high notes. From the original thread Gus' estimated the transformer to be about a 6:1 so I'm guessing the cinemag 2461 is all good. Maybe a slightly higher ratio would help. (but then again I didn't build the pad on the mic)
The Tele EF86 isn't too noisy either, not the quietest I've ever heard but passable for now.
Whether it's the combination of the grill and the capsule giving me the magic, or not, I'm really liking this so far.
As soon as the EF800 arrives I'll whip everything out and change to U47ish circuit, and see how that sounds, but who knows, I might come back to the VM1 circuit........
So I looked at Gus' VM1 schematic and went with that, since it looked pretty straightforward and simple, and I had all the parts here. The only thing I did different was use 1gig resistors instead of 3gig resistors, coz that's what I had on hand.
I used the MK7 psu to get the voltages to where they needed to be.
I had my wife sing a few bits, and compared them to what we had orginally recorded. I wanted to post them, but she hated her performances (she was really tired) so I got a "no go" from her on that.
But Wow!! This thing sounds amazing!! Switching between the tracks, the VM1 circuit/U47 body had a depth that the others didn't.
Don't get me wrong, my royer mods and other goodies sounded great, but this had that 3d quality where the voice felt more real.
It's got a pretty hot output tho (i didn't include the pad), so the preamp can get a little clippy when belting or hitting those high notes. From the original thread Gus' estimated the transformer to be about a 6:1 so I'm guessing the cinemag 2461 is all good. Maybe a slightly higher ratio would help. (but then again I didn't build the pad on the mic)
The Tele EF86 isn't too noisy either, not the quietest I've ever heard but passable for now.
Whether it's the combination of the grill and the capsule giving me the magic, or not, I'm really liking this so far.
As soon as the EF800 arrives I'll whip everything out and change to U47ish circuit, and see how that sounds, but who knows, I might come back to the VM1 circuit........