DIY 1176's or LA2A's

[evets]

Hi
This would be my first project, but I do have experience on working with circuit boards. like I said when I was 18 I had a job stuffing PCB boards and had to do a months solid training learning how not to damage components, solder , de-solder etc.

What I don't have is any knowledge of how the circuits work, how to test them, or the additional wiring that is required.

Drip told me that I wouldn't need any experience, but if you have built one and disagree with this then maybe I will re-consider.
I did think about building some preamps but to be honest, I have no use for them whatsoever so I thought it would be good to build something I could actually use.

As for the Hairball site, I found the site just fine, I just couldn't find the link to the 1176 build thread on Prodigy.


I appreciate the advice maybe I will re-consider building a compressor as my first project.

[Peterson Goodwyn]

That's cool that you have experience soldering and stuffing PCBs, but realize that that's the easy part! Off-board wiring and metal work (if you don't get a prefab case) are the hard parts.

You know yourself best: building a preamp first will give you some good experience and the confidence of having a fairly easy and successful first project. Building one of the compressors will probably be more frustrating and expensive, and there's the possibility it won't boot up or work properly the first time. If you think you have the patience and fortitude for that, go for it!

[T-rex]

Here's the thing, the drip stuff obviously is dangerous because its all tube and you could get a large, possibly fatal shock. You do have to keep that in mind. However the drip instructions are as detailed if not more so than the seventh circle stuff. I built the seventh circle stuff first (which is fantastic BTW) but it didn't teach me anything about the circuit. It was very paint by numbers; this resistor goes here etc. The only thing the 7th circle stuff taught me was the value of a good soldering iron and attention to detail. Most of the kits are like that, including the drip. I am actually learning circuits, slowly on my own through other sources.

If you can follow directions well, have attention to detail and are patient, the drip stuff is pretty simple. i was concerned too going in, but the La2A I built was far easier than the 1176's. If you have any doubts, go to the drip forum and download the manual for the project and go through it. It's serious stuff because of the voltage but the directions couldn't be any more straight forward. The 1176 involves a lot more off board wiring which can be a bit confusing at times, but clearly is a lot safer if you do make an error.

Now the metal work is another story. I buy the prefab cases; I hate metal work, I don't have the tools for it and my limited experience with it tells me its not something fun I want to undertake. I don;t care so much that it looks like whatever it's cloning, but I do care that it doesn't look like crap - which is exactly what it would look like if I did the case completely on my own.

[ghaines]

I love the people at the Prodigy board, but trying to find things there can be like banging your face against a wall.

So, I want to give two thumbs up to:

http://www.diyrecordingequipment.com

for being so organized, clear, and easy to look at.

Please report what you end up building and how things turn out! And good luck!
GH

[T-rex]

I love the people at the Prodigy board, but trying to find things there can be like banging your face against a wall.

So, I want to give two thumbs up to:

http://www.diyrecordingequipment.com

for being so organized, clear, and easy to look at.

Please report what you end up building and how things turn out! And good luck!
GH

Cool, Thanks For The Link.

[blackwaterstudios]

The hairball stuff has the cases for their 1176's included in the price-just bought one. Parusha prolly has la2a cases I'd bet.

[Peterson Goodwyn]

I love the people at the Prodigy board, but trying to find things there can be like banging your face against a wall.

So, I want to give two thumbs up to:

http://www.diyrecordingequipment.com

for being so organized, clear, and easy to look at.

Please report what you end up building and how things turn out! And good luck!
GH

Hey GH, thanks a lot for the thumbs up!

[evets]

Its the dangerous voltages with the tube stuff that scare me a little, but everyone thats built the drip La2a says its quite a simple build because the instructions are so good!

The thing is I really don't need any preamps so once I built them they wouldn't get used.

Are there any other compressors that come as a complete kit, with detailed instructions that don't involve tubes? 500 series would be good as I wouldn't have to worry about the power supply!

[Peterson Goodwyn]

The JLM MAC opto comes as a complete, two channel kit with power supply and pre-drilled chassis.

As has been mentioned before here, the Hairball 1176's are as close to a complete kit as you can get.

Also the SB4000 SSL buss comp project has PCBs, front panels, cases, and components (basically everything) available from numerous people on the Prodigy-Pro.com/diy white market board.

There aren't any COMPLETE kits for the 500-series that I know of, but there are a couple of partial kits. There is Igor's SSL buss comp and an 1176 clone on the way. My website (see signature) has a list of all available 500-series DIY projects, if you think you want to go that route.

[Peterson Goodwyn]

Just a heads up--Igor is taking preorders for the 500-series 1176 over at Prodigy-Pro now.

[blackwaterstudios]

Well I went and bought a rev-d 1176 from hairball but after looking around the DIY site at how they berate people for asking questions I think I'm gonna mothball this on a shelf and just buy used ones off of evilbay as they become available.

Sucks too cause I really wanted to build four of these - I guess it's a good thing I didn't get them all four at once like I almost did!!!

Oh well - lesson learned, moving on now....

[T-rex]

Dude, dont just give up.

Have you built anything before?
Have you read the entie thread and taken notes?

I will help you as much as I can. Basically they are not going to spoon feed anyone, but if yoy make an effort they are helpful.

[blackwaterstudios]

Yeah, I built 8 SCA N72's and 2 of their A-12's pre's (but sold the A12's), recapped a 416b (which doesn't count as building i don't guess). But I was at least intelligent enuff to figure out how to use my scope to bias them so I'm not a *complete* noob but noob enuff to not understand the simplest schematic very well without asking a few probably stupid questions. And looking at pics of the insides it didn't look THAT hard and may not be but I know I'd have questions In fact - the board is stuffed or damn near, maybe 1 or 2 more things.

Yes I started on page one reading up and taking notes and by page...ooooh....50 or so I was thinking "son of a BITCH these guys are MEAN"...lol (and for the record they have a right to be - their stuff, their rules!)

Plus as someone else stated earlier its just freekin hard to figure out if what you're reading and writing down won't change on the next page. Then I see all the arguments and crap and I'm thinking "nah....I'll pass". I'm pretty high strung as it is so I'm sure I'd implode or something.

I dunno - I may give it a shot someday when my schemo reading abilities have improved but in the meantime I'll just look for 'em used or try to find someone to build this first one so I'll have some semblance of a pattern I can look at and see the wiring in person as that DOES seem to be the hardest part. 4 of those *would* look killer in my rack tho...damn.

[T-rex]

Yeah, the off board wiring gets a bit hairy, but that one image that someone (CanIDoIt maybe?) did is pretty much spot on. You have to reverse the polarity of the input (or output) unless he fixed the wiring diagram but that will get you there pretty quick.

Cool, hit me up though if you start to get into it. I have the SB4000 I am working on now and then the TG1 project, but I have to knock out a blue stripe rev a at some point. Although right now I just need two channels of nice EQ really, not more comps. . .but can you ever have enough comps?

[blackwaterstudios]

I dunno, I have a spitload of them but want more - although eq's are what I really need more of.

I like the stuff I've built so far and REALLY get into building it - you get a kind of "zen" thing happening and lose track of time...lol but I'd really like some more organized instructions I guess is a good way to put it...and someone answering a ton of stupid questions DOES get old pretty quick!!