What is this mystery potted component “PIC-10” and who made it (mic pre IC? VCA? Transistor array? early 80s)

[zzzzz]

I have dug for hours and can’t find anything about it. Has an “S” on it which looks like the old 70s Signetics logo, but I don’t think it’s Signetics. I know SSM made preamp ICs but those were in DIP packages and not discrete. It’s labeled as “PIC-10”(?) which could mean anything and could just be a house part number.



This is in a rare (but not necessarily desirable) Auditronics 110C transformerless mic preamp from 1982. From catalog pages, it looks like they were maybe using these encapsulated things in the 200 series broadcast consoles from the same era.



Looks to be a similar footprint to the blue Allison Research EGC-101 VCAs but with 14 pins and according to the schematic, it does use all 14 of those pins. https://www.studioelectronics.biz/sunshop/index.php?l=product_detail&p=4987



Some transformerless Auditronics equipment from the early 1980s used Allison Research/Valley People VCAs (blue modules) and Valley “Trans-Amp” modules (light green squares with the ). Sound Workshop also made black potted Trans-Amps around the same time, but the Trans-Amp pinout configurations don’t match this setup.



Here’s the full schematic for the mic pre, but obviously don’t have anything about the “PIC-10” itself:

 

[tk@halmi]

My best guess is a differential input transistor array, matched and potted. Sort of like a home made LM394…

 

[JohnRoberts]

Its probably a bunch of bipolar transistors, not unlike the EGC101s

JR

 

[Rob Flinn]

It's footprint is definitely NOT the same as an EGC101. It moight be roughly the same size but the pin out is very different. The EGC 101 has about half the number of pins.