Finally finished JLM Baby Animals

[TornadoTed]

I've finally finished my 12x JLM Audio Baby Animals.

I actually finished them a few months ago but I've had to wait until now to get the front panels powder coated and printed. I live in the middle of nowhere and there just isn't anyone around doing that kind of stuff. They are wired internally with mogami cable are run from regulated 48v power supplies.

The Neve Style ones use a JLM14 input transformer, JLM99v opamp and a JLM111DC output transformer

The API Style ones use a Cinemag CMMI-8PCA input transformer, real API 2520 opamps and a JLM111DC output transformer

I will do some sound examples when I get some time between the 2 types of JLM and the Pacifica's and add it here if anyone is interested.

[dogma]

That would be great. I've looking at the BA to augment my N72's .

Joe's an amazing engineer - and Australian! He's new 500 series stuff has me nearly pulling the trigger on a 500 series rack. I'm dying to see his new compressor.

[dude24man]

nice! I just finished 4 jlm BA pres aswell. 2 with john hardy 990c opamps and 2 with the 2604's. hardys much more rounder. have you tried the hardy aganst the jlm99v? Arthur

[Crash]

Those look really pro...very nice. Did you get the faceplates with your kits or did you have to source that yourself? What did these roughly run you, if you don't mind me asking? I have been interested in trying a kit but the website sort of made my head spin....

I bet they sound killer too.

[Devil_07]

Very nice. Have any pictures of the insides?

[wakerickman]

Hi Ed

They look fantastic! I have two of the BAD's and love em'. I've also ordered another pair and plan to rack them up in a similar configuration to yours. I'd also like to use mogami cable for the internal stuff. What is the code for the cable that you used? Thanks.

[tengu]

Where did you get the faceplates made up?

They look great.

[TornadoTed]

Cheers for all the positive feedback guys.

I got the rack cases from Purusha on the Prodigy-Pro forum with the front panels drilled for the Baby Animals. I got them powder coated and then sent them to Schaeffer in Germany to be printed. The knobs are from Banzai.

The Mogami cable I used was just a small length of 24 way multicore I had spare from wiring one of my racks.

I haven't tried the Hardy opamps.

I will get some photos of the insides tomorrow.

[Bluzzi]

Ed, very nice work indeed. Enjoy and don't forget to let us know how you use them.

jim

[gevermil]

Cool , those little BA pres are great .
wish I had that many .

[aussie_techie]

any chance we can see the inside?

[TornadoTed]

I've been meaning to take photos for a week or so but just don't seem to have the time. I will try to get some photos tomorrow and I will also do a sample shootout between the 'API' style Baby Animal, the 'Neve' style Baby animal and the A-Designs Pacifica when I get a chance.

[TornadoTed]

Here ya go, photos of the inside of the Cinemag CMMI-8PCA, API 2520, JLM111DC.

This was my first ever project and I know it isn't as neat as a lot of jobs I've seen but it works fine. I could have got it neater if I had mounted the output transformers all the same way. I was advised that it would have been fine but I thought I'd be over paranoid and mount them at 90 degrees to each other.

I had to leave the legs of the API 2520 long as it only just fits in with the Cinemag transformer on a slight angle. 11 of them worked straight away, 1 channel had a bad capacitor that took 2 minutes to trace and fix!

[wowo]

Nice work!!!!!

how do you like the pre´s so far?

A little review would be very interesting!!!!!!!!!!

kind regards,

Wolfgang

[TornadoTed]

I have to admit I haven't really used them yet as I have had a band in with their own producer. I don't think it's right to say who but he is fairly well respected in the UK. The producer chose the JLM Neve over the Pacifica for lead vocals and he loved the JLM API's on electric guitars too. I haven't had a chance to have a long chat with him as they have a tight deadline to meet.

From the few little tests I did with a couple of overheads, kick and snare mic the JLM's easily lived with the Pacifica, in fact my top picks were the JLM Neve on overheads, Pacifica on kick and JLM API on snare.

It's early days yet but they have exceeded my expectations so far and am already planning on building another 4 channels of JLM API soon.

I'm really glad the producer who is in chose them over the pacifica too. I was hoping that it just wasn't me trying to fool myself that I liked them because of the effort involved in the build!!!!!! I was very aware of the placebo effect whilst doing the test!!!!!!

[BPall]

Hi all !!
Those BA seem to sound really good... Looking forward to get mine...
Anyone brave enough to record and put audio samples of their BA here ? I am still wondering which input trans to choose : OEP or JLM14...? Any feedback, comparisons ?
Thanks

[dysenterygary]

Originally Posted by BPall

Hi all !!
Those BA seem to sound really good... Looking forward to get mine...
Anyone brave enough to record and put audio samples of their BA here ? I am still wondering which input trans to choose : OEP or JLM14...? Any feedback, comparisons ?
Thanks

Getting any real world feedback from these seems very difficult. The baby animals aren't nearly as popular as JLM's 500 series items. There are a lot of people that have built these though, and I'm about 3/4 of the way through building 4 of them, and as soon as I replace my recently deceased converters I can post some clips .

[Mute]

Looking forward to listen to your demos then !! Would you have the possibility to compare few preamps ?!