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B15N Tube Preamp DI Build Report

#161
I had a nice long practice today and it gave me the chance to play this thing continuously through a loud sound system.

When I first plugged in, there was a very loud hum...my worst nightmare. I kept tweaking things and couldn't figure it out. I went to the mixing board and realized the problem...I was using the same gain settings as when I use my radial JDI. The mixer was amplifying my line level signal by 34 dB, and compressing it to a usable level.

So I reduced the gain to unity on the board, set all knobs to noon on the DI, and voila! No hum, just perfectly clear tone. I played for about 2 hours straight into the system. Afterwards I plugged into a poweramp powering my Ampeg PF115LF. The volume control on the preamp was perfect. At noon, the signal to the poweramp was loud and clear. Much beyond this, the preamp had a nice overdrive without clipping the poweramp.

I was afraid I would have to tweak the components to get the output just right, but it turned out just right as-is (and how often does that happen?)

Now...off to build circuit board #9...
 
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#164
Thats a good call man! I have yet to get in on one of those, but its always great hanging out with other bass players. I'd definitely be interested in checking it out though. I use a REDDI right now that is on 98% of the gigs I do(other than small jazz gigs on upright).
 
#167
The audio transformers made it through customs and are sitting in the post office about one block from me. Unfortunately they made their run today already, and I won't see the transformers until Monday. Don't you hate it when that happens?

**EDIT**

I just got the package! Apparently they make separate runs for mail and packages in my neighborhood.

16IggLl.jpg
 
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#168
Azure Skies said:
The audio transformers made it through customs and are sitting in the post office about one block from me. Unfortunately they made their run today already, and I won't see the transformers until Monday. Don't you hate it when that happens?

**EDIT**

I just got the package! Apparently they make separate runs for mail and packages in my neighborhood.

16IggLl.jpg
Click to expand...


Yeah, Canada Post has been doing that for a little while now here too. Separate runs, but not always it seems.
 
#169
Sheesh...customs...I bought a pedal from a dude in Guelph, and it sat in Canada 4 days before it made it to Chicago. I sent my Team Awesome Fuzz Machine to Estonia a couple weeks ago and it only took 3 days more to get there! You need to take to the streets and protest Canadian customs! :D
 
#170
JimmyM said:
Sheesh...customs...I bought a pedal from a dude in Guelph, and it sat in Canada 4 days before it made it to Chicago. I sent my Team Awesome Fuzz Machine to Estonia a couple weeks ago and it only took 3 days more to get there!
Click to expand...

It's crazy unreliable. Just got 2 pedals from JohnK and it took 3 weeks. Last time he sent me a pedal it took just a few days. A BlueTube pedal once took like a month from the US because of customs, and I once got an SFX pedal from Max and it took like 3 days from London to my door.

The absolute record is a T1M buffer that took like 18+ months, but that's because the guy is dishonest and tried to take my pedal, money, and run! ;)

From personal experience though, it's better to have your pedals stuck in customs than to be stuck in customs yourself...
 
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#172
JimmyM said:
As someone who has been stuck in Canadian customs before, you got that RIGHT!
Click to expand...

Hey Jimmy it happens with your customs too, you really don't even want to know what happened to me with American customs after returning from my last tour through Denmark and the Netherlands. My flight was rooted back through Washington after a snowstorm in Toronto and I don't think the customs agent liked the idea that a musician was on tour in Amsterdam. Let's just say it was an uncomfortable time.
 
#173
Yes, our customs sucks, too. But our government is way too arrogant and way too concerned with smearing the other side to do anything about it. I thought you guys might have a chance.
 
#174
JimmyM said:
Yes, our customs sucks, too. But our government is way too arrogant and way too concerned with smearing the other side to do anything about it. I thought you guys might have a chance.
Click to expand...

I do lots of cross border travel for work, I have a temporary work visa, my employees in the US travel to work to Canada as well, they both kind of suck. But, it is what it is. I kind of understand that it is their job, and for every bad apple I have landed on, from both countries, I have also met 5x more that are nice, courteous, and efficient.*







*Posting stuff like this is how you don't end up on a list by the way :)
 
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#176
Finally an update on this project...

The power transformers were backordered for an eternity and are finally going to be mailed tomorrow. I should receive them this week. The cases were fabbed and painted, and will be shipping this week. Unfortunately the faceplates are in the queue and won't be ready for another two weeks.

I intend to make 15 units, all with NOS tubes. The first 10 tubes I bought were Sylvannia, and one was defective. I got six more NOS tubes to make up a total of 15 tubes. Four of them are GE, and two are Westinghouse. I hope to test these soon and put up some recordings.
 
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#179
Still no power transformers, so no more progress on builds. I started testing the GE and Westinghouse tubes. They sound similar to the Sylvannias. One of them was microphonic and unusable. That's an unfortunate side effect with NOS tubes.

Here's a recording with a GE:

 
#180
The power transformers arrived Monday and all of the circuit boards are now complete. The enclosures are on their way and should be here this week. I'm hoping the faceplates will be shipped this week and then I'll have all the parts needed to finish this.

I've been waiting to pick which knobs to install, and I'm still contemplating what is best. The faceplates will be just like the prototype minus the horizontal lines behind the controls. Here are the knob styles I'm considering:

What I used for the prototype:
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Something a little different:
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Maybe this one is over used? Or just right? Chicken head:
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Any opinions?
 

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