Jlm, Hamptone, Seventh Circle?

[dykstraster@gmai]

I want to cut my teeth in the DIY pre-amp world, and these three seem to be the big contenders.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with a more than one of these (or others) and compare the ease of build and quality of finished products?

I'm decent with a soldering iron, and have a couple of friends that are electronic repair techs to guide me through the steps that don't make sense to me.

Also, I have a pretty basic soldering iron and that's about it. Can someone suggest a nice (affordable) iron, and any other tools (meter, etc.) I'm going to need.

Thanks for your time.

[Stitch333]

You should check out prodigypro

The projects you can build yourself, including micpres like the Fetboy (modeled after the original Hamptone silver box), are really staggering...

Jakob Gyraf and crew will keep your soldering iron hot for years to come.

Other good resources with projects can be found at JLM audio...

[dykstraster@gmai]

Originally Posted by Stitch333

You should check out prodigypro

The projects you can build yourself, including micpres like the Fetboy (modeled after the original Hamptone silver box), are really staggering...

Jakob Gyraf and crew will keep your soldering iron hot for years to come.

Other good resources with projects can be found at JLM audio...

This is what you are reffering to no? Outside of the lack of chassis, is this a complete kit for $100 Canadian?

Prodigy Professional :: View topic - Fetboy kits, limited edition, with transformer

[Stitch333]

Originally Posted by dykstraster@gmai

This is what you are reffering to no? Outside of the lack of chassis, is this a complete kit for $100 Canadian?

Prodigy Professional :: View topic - Fetboy kits, limited edition, with transformer

per channel, yup.

but minus a step-by-step guide that I believe comes with the SCA's and Hamptone's.
Those are handy if you are just starting out.

I'm sadly light in the pocket at the
wrong time or I'd have a bunch of these exact pre's.

[Mylithra]

I have some of SCA's stuff and I really like it. It was pretty easy to put together and sounds really good.

[matta]

Originally Posted by dykstraster@gmai

This is what you are reffering to no? Outside of the lack of chassis, is this a complete kit for $100 Canadian?

Prodigy Professional :: View topic - Fetboy kits, limited edition, with transformer

I'd like to add some clarification to these kits... they weren't intended as kits and certainly are NOT in competition to Scott's great kits!

The FETboy is based on the FREE design that Scott Hampton gave away in a back issue of Tape Op (the one with Lanois's pedal steel/hand on the cover) and is is NOT the same as the kit he provides he provides through Hamptone.

We have substituted a couple of the transistors to easier to source versions and it is cap coupled on the output, not transformer coupled like Scott's commercial kit.

It was never designed as kit, Bryan over at the Prodigy Pro Forum is offering a limited run as a kit as he sells the OEP Audio Transformers we (Fabio Bauman and Myself) used with the kit.

As shared by stitch there are no step by step instructions though I have written pretty comprehensive documentation on it as you will see at this link: DIY Factory - FETboy

There are also various threads up on PP that deal with it, it is a GREAT pre and I have a pair in constant use in my studio on hihat's and rooms normally, but great on vocals and ac. guitars, very forward midrange, very musical and anything but clean with HEAPS of gain.

Happy building if you go this route!

Cheers

Matt

[ulysses]

I can definitely recommend the Seventh Circle stuff as a well-designed, well-documented kit that would be appropriate for somebody just starting out with this stuff. It'll get you some practice assembling, soldering, following directions, and - if you're (un)lucky - troubleshooting. I think it would make a lot of sense to start there, and spend some time looking at the schematic and circuitboard. Then, when you're ready for the next step where you actually start to look into how and why these parts make a functional circuit, the Prodigy DIY forum is a great resource. I suggest doing some general reading on your own also, to begin learning the basics of electronic theory. There's plenty of stuff on the web, but you might want to just find a basic electronics textbook.

[Stitch333]

Originally Posted by matta

I'd like to add some clarification to these kits... they weren't intended as kits and certainly are NOT in competition to Scott's great kits!

The FETboy is based on the FREE design that Scott Hampton gave away in a back issue of Tape Op (the one with Lanois's pedal steel/hand on the cover) and is is NOT the same as the kit he provides he provides through Hamptone.

We have substituted a couple of the transistors to easier to source versions and it is cap coupled on the output, not transformer coupled like Scott's commercial kit.

It was never designed as kit, Bryan over at the Prodigy Pro Forum is offering a limited run as a kit as he sells the OEP Audio Transformers we (Fabio Bauman and Myself) used with the kit.

As shared by stitch there are no step by step instructions though I have written pretty comprehensive documentation on it as you will see at this link: DIY Factory - FETboy

There are also various threads up on PP that deal with it, it is a GREAT pre and I have a pair in constant use in my studio on hihat's and rooms normally, but great on vocals and ac. guitars, very forward midrange, very musical and anything but clean with HEAPS of gain.

Happy building if you go this route!

Cheers

Matt

This is one of those guys I've learned a lot from.
Thank you for the clarification on the project, Matta.

My paraphrasing may get me in trouble one of these days...

[TRA]

Having built both SCA and JLM stuff I think both are great. From a company standpoint both are top notch. Joe at JLM Audio is a very nice guy, and was extremely helpful when I had questions. Same went for the folks at SCA.

I think that SCA is a little easier to build only because there are step-by-step build instructions and you don't need to do any metalworking if you buy the chassis. The JLM Baby Animals have less parts, but I think there is a little prerequisite build knowledge needed before tackling (not much).

Both are flippin' awesome. If you want something you can customize I'd go with JLM because the Baby Animal pres can be configured in many ways. If you want a very well documented build that can be done without questions I'd go with SCA. Both kick insane amounts of ass!

[dykstraster@gmai]

Thankyou all so much for the input so far... Keep it coming.

[LLSIII]

I've got a JFET Hamptone and I love the sound. Rugged as can be, nice, smooth transformer pre-amp sound. But not a cheap way to "dip your toes" into DIY. Worth every penny, just not cheap.

If you want inexpensive but sounds good...Five Fish Studios also has a nice pre-amp based on the THAT IC's that are getting good reviews. Their kit is super easy to put together. He'll even sell you a chassis for not all that much. I've put a couple of those together, and they do sound nice. But I got it before he had the chassis available, so I stuffed 'em into a chassis I found in a Fry's.

But if I was going to really commit to having a having and using a complete DIY set-up, with 5, count 'em, 5, different modules to chose from, wait, 6 if you count the DI module, I'd go with Seventh Circle. It is a complete package---power supply, chassis, modules, support forum. And they have a decent re-sale value, at least what you put into them.