New Tube in Behringer Ultragain Preamp

[alexp]

Yes. I know its a terrible pre. However, I have heard that it can be fairly decent by replacing the tube. I have a couple of tubes I would like to try with it. an RCA and an unidentified one. I have opened the Behringer to swap them, but cant gain access to the tube itself. Has anyone done the mod, that could walk me through what they did, and if it actually made a difference.

Thanks in advance!

Alex

[hrn]

Have a look and search at:

Prodigy Professional :: Index

Hans

[deuc647]

from what i understand, if you open it up, you will see a lil light behind the tube making it seem like the tube is used, when in reality, its not.

[Johnyc]

Originally Posted by deuc647

from what i understand, if you open it up, you will see a lil light behind the tube making it seem like the tube is used, when in reality, its not.

Lol

[hrn]

"from what i understand, if you open it up, you will see a lil light behind the tube making it seem like the tube is used, when in reality, its not"

I don't think so. Read the thread about it at Prodigy as I suggested earlier.

HR

[MonoBrow]

Originally Posted by hrn

"from what i understand, if you open it up, you will see a lil light behind the tube making it seem like the tube is used, when in reality, its not"

I don't think so. Read the thread about it at Prodigy as I suggested earlier.

HR

We use a "tube" composer and that "tube" 4 band eq from behringer.There is a fricking bright lightbulb behind each tube.No idea how it is on their other products.

[alexp]

Thanks guys.


There is a light behind the tube only because its a starved plate design that Behringer implements. Its sort of a hybrid between solid state, and vacume tube. They put the lights behind it because customers "expect it to glow" Now you or I could be sitting here killing ourselves laughing (which lets face it, we should be as its pretty funny. However, it is in the chain, just not as much as I would like! I think the crappy Chinese tube in there is a large culprit of the blah sound. This is not my only preamp, so being able to experiment with it a bit is fun, as if I mess anything up, I have much better (and more expensive) pre's to fall back on.

[Jim Williams]

Don't forget the weak power supply, poor quality caps and run of the mill opamps.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[LewisWu]

.. what jim said... i bet the tube is the most expensive component in the ultragain.. or perhaps its socket

[66d35]

Originally Posted by alexp

There is a light behind the tube only because its a starved plate design that Behringer implements. Its sort of a hybrid between solid state, and vacume tube. They put the lights behind it because customers "expect it to glow" .

The "glow" in tubes comes from the low voltage heater element and has nothing at all to do with whether the plates are running at 30V or 350V.

The Behringer is a totally crap design regardless.

I was mad enough a couple of years ago to get one of their little $20 "hum killer" boxes. Surely, I reasoned, even freakin' BEHRINGER could make one of these right. Wrong. The jack sockets kept pushing the jacks OUT and the whole thing died after 3 weeks.

Andy

[alexp]

Sheesh........ Maybe I should find someone to trade with, as its "new and fancy looking", and take their old API as its "washed up and no one wants that sound anymore"


Time to hit the pawn shops :P

Alex


ps im still not giving up on this. The power supply is more than adequate for the application, and I know the op amps are blah. I should just get the schemos for the API or Neve stuff and go to town!

[Matt Syson]

Hi
Looking at a valve 'side on' you probably won't see any glow at all as the cathode which is at orange heat, is totally enclosed from the sides by the anode, which should not be anywhere near a 'glowing' temperature. Depending on the physical construction there is only a small amount of exposed heater / cathode visible from the top / bottom of the valve. In a darkened room this would be seen by it's reflection from the insides of the valve.
As the super post on Prodiy says there is a lot of 'cleaning up' and electronic 'housekeeping' that can be done which would reap great benefit rather than 'rearranging the deckchairs' by simply swapping the valve.
If you ran your 'vintage Neve' modules on an unregulated and poorly 'smothed' DC supply you would complain bitterly about the hum level.
Matt S