Category Archives: Amplifier

The Mixer, My Grandfather, and the Looming Crisis of Unfixable Electronics

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💡 The Mixer, My Grandfather, and the Looming Crisis of Unfixable Electronics

My weekend project—a powered mixer for a friend—was a powerful, hands-on lesson in the changing nature of electronics and the fight for the Right to Repair.

For a friend, I made an exception to my usual “no bench work” rule. The diagnosis was classic: a blown channel, likely from speakers incorrectly wired in parallel. Instead of a minimal patch job, I opted for a full refurbishment, the way I was taught: new, high-quality Panasonic FC caps and fresh, matched transistors. A labour of love, not profit. Continue reading →

Guitar Pedal – Balanced in to Low-Z unbalanced ==> HiZ to Balanced out

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A client asked for a way to balance a guitar pedal so he could send and return Line Level to his guitar pedals.   He wanted a way to use his pedal collection as effect sends.  We came up with a modified Ward-Beck Systems POD-1.  The POD-1 offered op-amp gain adjustment trimmer pots so you are adjusting the gain of the balancing amplifiers.

The un-balanced output impedance is roughly 30Ω and the unbalanced Input Impedance is 47kΩ.  It’s a pretty safe assumption that mopst guitar effects can operate within these ranges.

You could also use this as a re-amp tool and a hyper-transparant Direct Inject box for keyboards and anything unbalanced.

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XLR input Balanced +4dBu differential Receiver to an RCA connector to a 1/4″ TS jack that feeds the pedal then return to the opposite.

 

If you are interested in trying one out contact Ward-Beck Systems IMG_0477-2015-03-04

sound guy xmas!!! Day 1 – Syscomp Curve Tracer

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Xmas is around the corner.  Sound guys and gals are the hardest people in the world to shop for… I will be posting a stream of gift ideas!

Day 1:  The Syscomp CTR-101 Curve tracer:

Key Features
-Plots device characteristics for diodes, transistors, MOSFETs, JFETs, and more!
-Up to 30V test voltage at 1A test current
-True voltage and current source drive ampliers
-High resolution measurements
-Pulsed test mode to minimize device dissipation
-Auto-scaling real-time plotting during analysis
-Sample-by-sample power and current limiting
-Open-source software
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My first microphone pre-amp design

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Doing a school project is the PERFECT excuse to design build a test my first ground up original Microphone pre-amp!

I learned these buzzwords from the Kimber cable guy:

The imaging is fantastic, totally forward sounding with edge AND detail on the soundstage.  Though precise, there isn’t that analytical flavour tainting the dry sound in the copper typically found in other microphone pre-amps.  Micro-clipping isn’t an issue anymore!  By a factor of at leased 10, the noise floor is lower than you’d ever expect.  With an un-constrained matrix, painting the sound stage will be a pleasure.  Tipping the value curve, the proportions are just right.

But honestly… I’ve not heard it yet, or kimber cable for that matter.

Seriously though…  it’s a transformer coupled double balanced class A instrumentation pre-amp using only the best.  Actual results to follow!

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