anyone have a BLA Auteur 500 preamp?

[digitaldrummer]

anyone else have a Black Lion Audio Auteur 500 series? I picked one up used recently and when testing it noticed that the gain pot either has a weird taper or this one is defective. so I'm trying to figure out which it is...

I tried a 58 and also an AT37 (to make sure phantom worked). with both I notice that the gain is very gradual (doing almost nothing) until it gets to about 2 o'clock and then the volume jumps pretty quickly and then the preamp gets kind of noisy too (hissy). anyone else experience this?

Mike

[eh91311]

I have one of the first 2-channel Auteurs. Mine is OK until you crank the gain up and then you get hiss, which makes it difficult to use with dynamic mics or ribbons. Your mic pot taper issue with the 500-series might require a pot replacement to repair.

[eh91311]

double post

[digitaldrummer]

I suspect the pot is either defective or perhaps was already replaced (with the wrong type) - so I may return it. or I suppose I could just repair it.

[Jim Williams]

Sounds like they used a linear taper gain pot. You can check the taper by setting it 1/2 way up and measuring the resistance from the center pin to the end pins. If they are even it's a linear taper.

You want to use a reverse log taper pot for a gain set control. That offers the smoothest gain adjustment. You can get PEC reverse log pots from
www.digikey.com

[digitaldrummer]

Sounds like they used a linear taper gain pot.

thanks - I agree. it could be they just got the wrong pot stuffed on the board. I think a bad pot would have a dead spot or some scratchiness prior to the "jump" in volume and I'm not getting that. I'm trying to get BLA to tell me the specs on it (no markings on the pot that I can find), otherwise I'll pull it off and measure it. I'm guessing 10K reverse log. I think I even have an extra one laying around.