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Post by unit7 on Jan 26, 2015 13:54:33 GMT -6
Didn't find a dedicated NV73 thread to post in so here we go with a report from my DIY desk. Three more units in the works and two new CAPI/51X Audio 500 racks waiting. A couple of capacitors are delayed three months from Mouser so tomorrow I'll get them locally instead. Soon ready for my preamp shootout comparing AMS/Neve reissues, NV73s, Heiders and VP28s. tonycamphd or anybody else, did you ever build these? Impressions? Attachments:
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Post by jeromemason on Jan 26, 2015 14:10:37 GMT -6
I have heard they are very very good. Dave seems to have a knack for squeezing a circuit into a 500 slot, almost like there is no compromises either. I'll be interested to hear your shootout for sure.
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Post by tonycamphd on Jan 26, 2015 14:23:38 GMT -6
Cool P! They are on my short list, but I haven't built them yet, I believe with the 51x box u can build them without the voltage trickery to get them up to 24v? It's a little less $, and allows them to be an exact circuit clone(I think this is right?).
The one drawback to NOT making it VPR 16v is u can't sell them to anyone w/out a 51x box. I will be watching this cool thread, thanx P!
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Post by tonycamphd on Jan 26, 2015 14:53:55 GMT -6
At some point in the not too distant future, Robert( winetree ) and I are planning to get together and do a big old mic/pre/compressor comparison day, he owns serial#38 Neumann U47!! He also has built a bunch of diy mics and pre's(NV73 included). I just met him for the first time in person at Namm, and we (re)talked about doing this lol, he's a cool guy, and I'm looking forward to the hang! 8) |
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Post by unit7 on Jan 26, 2015 15:03:53 GMT -6
Cool P! They are on my short list, but I haven't built them yet, I believe with the 51x box u can build them without the voltage trickery to get them up to 24v? It's a little less $, and allows them to be an exact circuit clone(I think this is right?). The one drawback to NOT making it VPR 16v is u can't sell them to anyone w/out a 51x box. I will be watching this cool thread, thanx P! Yep, 24V units are a bit less and I agree it 'feels better' without 16->24V conversion. Already built one earlier and after some initial tests I like it. Will be very interesting to have four channels for kick, snare and OHs and compare to the reissues. Heiders #2 and 3 are also coming in this week so that'll be interesting too! Making some plans here with a good friend who is a studio owner and drummer just around the corner from my place. Will get back with impressions and audio files. |
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Post by winetree on Jan 26, 2015 15:17:00 GMT -6
Built mine without the 16 to 24v using them in a 51X rack.
I've got the parts to do the High Pass mod to the NV73's, just haven't gotten around to it.
I've got a 4 channel 1290 pre on the bench right now.
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Post by Johnkenn on Jan 26, 2015 15:21:56 GMT -6
Love to hear one of these.
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Post by mulmany on Jan 26, 2015 18:49:33 GMT -6
I have two on my bench right now slated for my 51x rack. I build the U76 then moved on to these. Made the mistake of ordering a ton of parts for multiple projects from Mouser at the same time, they came all mixed up. Taking forever to short through all the different project parts. I look forward to your shoot out. unit7 |
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Post by tonycamphd on Jan 26, 2015 22:02:56 GMT -6
I have two on my bench right now slated for my 51x rack. I build the U76 then moved on to these. Made the mistake of ordering a ton of parts for multiple projects from Mouser at the same time, they came all mixed up. Taking forever to short through all the different project parts. I look forward to your shoot out. unit7digikey/mouser, there is a box next to the part numbers on the order sheet that allow you to type identifier labels on the bags themselves for no charge, i did the same thing you did.....once! lol |
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Post by jimwilliams on Jan 27, 2015 10:10:07 GMT -6
A GAP 73 with 2SC3329 transistors and a Jensen output transformer works for me here. It's a nice low cost clone worthy of improvements.
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Post by mulmany on Jan 27, 2015 15:09:37 GMT -6
unit7, Were did the 1k5 1/3 watt go? Looks to be R44 to ground, but there is no designation for which of the 3 1k5's is the 1/3watt. Thanks. ---Think I found it on a pic at GDIY but confirmation would be great.
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Post by unit7 on Jan 27, 2015 16:32:41 GMT -6
unit7, Were did the 1k5 1/3 watt go? Looks to be R44 to ground, but there is no designation for which of the 3 1k5's is the 1/3watt. Thanks. ---Think I found it on a pic at GDIY but confirmation would be great. Sorry for the slow reply mulmany. Yes, that's right. Davids BOM has a note on R44 saying 'small'. Also to double check you can copy the Mouser # from Davids BOM and paste in Mouser's search. I've just completed my trio and just found out that the output pot shaft are too short for the grey fluted ELMAs I bought from Jeff, so I'm using two component adhesive to mould a 1mm extension on to the shafts.. |
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Post by mulmany on Jan 27, 2015 17:12:15 GMT -6
unit7, Were did the 1k5 1/3 watt go? Looks to be R44 to ground, but there is no designation for which of the 3 1k5's is the 1/3watt. Thanks. ---Think I found it on a pic at GDIY but confirmation would be great. Sorry for the slow reply mulmany. Yes, that's right. Davids BOM has a note on R44 saying 'small'. Also to double check you can copy the Mouser # from Davids BOM and paste in Mouser's search. I've just completed my trio and just found out that the output pot shaft are too short for the grey fluted ELMAs I bought from Jeff, so I'm using two component adhesive to mould a 1mm extension on to the shafts.. If you look a groupdiy.com guys said to forgo the lock washer on the back side and you can sand the nob down and it will just fit. Thanks for the confirmation. |
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Post by unit7 on Feb 6, 2015 8:59:44 GMT -6
I have two on my bench right now slated for my 51x rack. So mulmany how's it going with your pair? |
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Post by mulmany on Feb 6, 2015 13:09:03 GMT -6
unit7It's slow... my kids have been taking up my free time. I also realized that I did not order the polystyrene caps, so needed to order them. They came in, now I just need to carve out the time to finish it up. I will post up samples of it against the zenpro full mod Gap Pre 73 that I have.
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Post by jimwilliams on Feb 7, 2015 10:22:03 GMT -6
The GAP should have less low end depth due to the crappy chinese output transformer. The jensen fixed mine up perfectly. I was to use it as a DI but bass tracks were thin until that transformer was swapped.
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Post by mulmany on Feb 7, 2015 22:03:29 GMT -6
The GAP should have less low end depth due to the crappy chinese output transformer. The jensen fixed mine up perfectly. I was to use it as a DI but bass tracks were thin until that tra0nsformer was swapped. Jim, the Zenpro Mod installs a carnhill input and output transformer, tantalum caps, and Motorola transistor. I am mostly changing out from the Gaps for space reasons. Drum tracking in one 4U rack case. I have my two Gaps up for sale in the Classifieds. |
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Post by unit7 on Feb 17, 2015 16:05:47 GMT -6
Had a special afternoon today. A good friend and engineer is recording the outstanding classical/opera singer Karl-Magnus Fredriksson this week. Voice and piano only in one of a few super lovely studio rooms at the house of the swedish radio. Karl-Magnus wanted to record in a not super traditional classical music way and move slightly towards a singer/song writer sound, which means a bit more close micing and a touch of color. So I lent them my KM56s for the grand piano (Steinway D) and had a little shoot out between Grosser U47 and Flea 49 for the voice. I believe all agreed that the 49 fitted his voice. Also they used my NV73s on voice and piano, plus Heiders on an alternate U87 pair on the piano. Jeeez it sounded beautiful!! I'm not a big fan of opera style music, but these guys are just unbelievable! Constant goosebumps. And a bit odd to realize they'll be using stuff I soldered and put together for this very high end recording. I'll be sitting in as engineer on Friday and really look forward to it! http://instagram.com/p/zkoj9AxyRo http://instagr.am/p/zVA5KmxyRe |
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Post by tonycamphd on Feb 17, 2015 21:03:46 GMT -6
Had a special afternoon today. A good friend and engineer is recording the outstanding classical/opera singer Karl-Magnus Fredriksson this week. Voice and piano only in one of a few super lovely studio rooms at the house of the swedish radio. Karl-Magnus wanted to record in a not super traditional classical music way and move slightly towards a singer/song writer sound, which means a bit more close micing and a touch of color. So I lent them my KM56s for the grand piano (Steinway D) and had a little shoot out between Grosser U47 and Flea 49 for the voice. I believe all agreed that the 49 fitted his voice. Also they used my NV73s on voice and piano, plus Heiders on an alternate U87 pair on the piano. Jeeez it sounded beautiful!! I'm not a big fan of opera style music, but these guys are just unbelievable! Constant goosebumps. And a bit odd to realize they'll be using stuff I soldered and put together for this very high end recording. I'll be sitting in as engineer on Friday and really look forward to it! A few pics on Karl-Magnus Instagram here: instagram.com/karlmagnus_fredriksson/awesome Paul! you never did give us a rundown on your impressions of the NV73? What is? |
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Post by unit7 on Feb 18, 2015 0:53:18 GMT -6
Had a special afternoon today. A good friend and engineer is recording the outstanding classical/opera singer Karl-Magnus Fredriksson this week. Voice and piano only in one of a few super lovely studio rooms at the house of the swedish radio. Karl-Magnus wanted to record in a not super traditional classical music way and move slightly towards a singer/song writer sound, which means a bit more close micing and a touch of color. So I lent them my KM56s for the grand piano (Steinway D) and had a little shoot out between Grosser U47 and Flea 49 for the voice. I believe all agreed that the 49 fitted his voice. Also they used my NV73s on voice and piano, plus Heiders on an alternate U87 pair on the piano. Jeeez it sounded beautiful!! I'm not a big fan of opera style music, but these guys are just unbelievable! Constant goosebumps. And a bit odd to realize they'll be using stuff I soldered and put together for this very high end recording. I'll be sitting in as engineer on Friday and really look forward to it! A few pics on Karl-Magnus Instagram here: instagram.com/karlmagnus_fredriksson/awesome Paul! you never did give us a rundown on your impressions of the NV73? What is? Tony, I haven't done the big shoot out (mentioned above) yet. Still discussing a good date for that. Could happen first week of March. But yesterday, working in that oustanding room, instruments and performers was like as long as you use good enough gear it's going to be hard to make it sound bad. And I have two more NV73 boards soldered here and going for yet two more after this. Probably will fill my 51X/24V rack with these. One thing though that I noticed, they seemed to be quite low noise. I believe perhaps better than my AMS/Neve units. When I bought my first kit I got 100pc BC184C transistors on eBay and they seem to measure good. I've been adviced to put the highest HFE at the first position on each of the amp stages and that certainly doesn't seem to have made any harm. |
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Post by mulmany on Feb 20, 2015 22:31:09 GMT -6
So, I am finally finishing my pair up. Is there any reason to cut the transistor legs down or can I leave them long since they are socketed? Its a lot easier to put them in with long legs. Can it cause problems? These are the BC184C's. svart and unit7 |
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Post by svart on Feb 20, 2015 22:32:52 GMT -6
So, I am finally finishing my pair up. Is there any reason to cut the transistor legs down or can I leave them long since they are socketed? Its a lot easier to put them in with long legs. Can it cause problems? These are the BC184C's. svart and unit7You should be able to leave them long in neve designs. If the circuits were higher bandwidth you might end up with issues, but they aren't so there isn't much risk of oscillation. |
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Post by mulmany on Feb 20, 2015 23:11:07 GMT -6
Finally Done! I had a few ordering misses, and mouser not sending parts, but it is finally done and no smoke. I am going to do a test through these and the Zenpro GAP that I have, and the VP28's off the 2 buss.  [/URL]  [/URL] |
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Post by unit7 on Feb 21, 2015 1:17:11 GMT -6
So, I am finally finishing my pair up. Is there any reason to cut the transistor legs down or can I leave them long since they are socketed? Its a lot easier to put them in with long legs. Can it cause problems? These are the BC184C's. svart and unit7Yey, looking good!! I cut mine like 6-7mm just for the looks. |
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Post by tonycamphd on Feb 23, 2015 8:42:25 GMT -6
Finally Done! I had a few ordering misses, and mouser not sending parts, but it is finally done and no smoke. I am going to do a test through these and the Zenpro GAP that I have, and the VP28's off the 2 buss. [/URL] [/URL] [/quote] great job P, look forward to ur impressions bud. |
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