Anyone Interested in Some Simple Recording Gear?

[cpsmusic]

Hi Folks,

I'm primarily a guitarist although I also play bass and have a small songwriting and preproduction studio. I've dabbled in electronics for a few years but I'm not an expert. Anyway, there are a few things I've come across recently that I'd like to make like (1) a basic mic preamp, (2) a basic DI for bass, (3) a cab sim, etc. As you can see, this stuff is not guitar-specific but I was thinking that people here would still be interested. Some of it probably already has stripboard layouts - if so let me know.

As a first project I thought I'd try for a basic mic preamp in the style of the infamous $5 mic pre (or the THAT pre which is pretty much the same thing). I'm thinking of getting a passive ribbon mic so it wouldn't need phantom power. I was also thinking of running it off batteries as this is simpler and also means it's quieter due to there not being a PSU nearby! I was also thinking that some kind of graduated design which increases the number of features would be useful - i.e. a bare bones, then a design with phantom power, then one with line input, then VU meters, etc. Might also be useful to have a simple compressor in it too - I'm thinking that it would be useful for location recording. Possibly something like a battery-powered "One Knob Squeezer".

I've never done a stripboard project so I'll need some to help with the layout (I've read the article about it on this site) and also some help verfiying that it works (!).

Let me know what you think.

Cheers!

Chris

[Silver Blues]

Well I can tell you that Mictester's Really Cheap Compressor is the king of simple compressors. It has two controls, not one, but it's a simpler and better (IMO) circuit than the Squeezer. You could also make the compression level fixed if you really only want one knob.

[cpsmusic]

I'll have a look at the Really Cheap Compressor. As I said, a modular design would mean these things could be interchangeable.

[Beaker]

Hi Chris,

the good news is that DI box layouts and cab sim layouts are already available here. Do a search in the "requests" and "contributions" pages, as that is where you will find them.

There is also a thread on mic preamps, with a layout by Freppo for your "5 dollars mic preamp".

So basically we have everything you need.

If you want something specific, just request it in the "requests" section - if you post up the schematic, someone can have a go at a layout.

[cpsmusic]

Great - too easy!

I was surprised when I couldn't find them - guess I didn't look hard enough!

Cheers!

[Neil mcNasty]

Have you checked out this one...?
http://diy.thcustom.com/all-in-one-recordingonstage-unit-diy/
Seems like a unit that contains some of the stuff you are looking for...
Even though it does not contain a compressor, it seems like a design where you easily can add some extra units... Like adding a Mic input + Preamp at the input stage...

I´m thinking about building this, and will do some slight adjustments for personal customization...

[cpsmusic]

Thanks, I'll have a look at it.