Woohoo, first step down the DIY path

[soundsundergroun]

Double check your wiring on the la2a +4/GR switch to the board. Mine performed very similar to what you described and then I found I had 2 of the wires switched. The diagram on this is a little confusing.

[Dean Roddey]

Yeh, that's what I initially suspected, but it's correct. He said that perhaps it's the 3.9K resistor that's just above the zero adjust. He suggested pulling it out and putting in a pot and using that to figure out what works.

[Dean Roddey]

I have got it lit up anyway. I didn't realize that the lamp can take AC voltage, though the lamp sees it as an RMS DC level, so the lamp isn't as bright. But actually it's good as it is. More might be too bright. So that serves as my power indicator and makes the meter readable.

I still need to grab a pot and wire it into the resistor slot and figure out what resistance the meter wants.

I can't remember if I mentioned it, but I'd been planning on the Gyraf SSL clone after I finished the 1176, but the Chameleon is the same circuit with some of the improvements. In the end, I might have saved $150 for a lot of work, so I just bought the Chameleon. It's working out quite nicely so far. I like it. I was bouncing some drum mics through the LA-2A and the Chameleon last night and it was sounding nice.

All the parts are ordered for the 1176, so hopefully by the end of next week I'll be jammin on that one.

[Dean Roddey]

Well, I sold my Waves plugs to finance another round. Once again I whimped out on the DIY front. I looked at the Pultec DIY EQs, and they are nice. But they aren't the kind of thing that you could use to never have to use a software EQ. They would be great for overall mix EQ and whatnot. But I wanted something that I could use to replace software EQs during tracking, and bounce the BFD drum tracks out through (the non-stereo ones anyway.) That's a fairly hard thing to do for the $1200 I'm clearning on this Waves sale.

But, in the end, I went with an Emperical Labs Lil'Freq. I found a used one for $1200 (though I had to cough up the taxes since the place I found it is in CA unfortunately.) It's really the only thing out there for anything near the price that has that kind of flexibility. It has a high pass, low shelf, four fully parametric bands, and then either a high sheft or a de-esser selectable. And it offers both a clean output and a transformer driven vintage output, so you can patch both into the patch bay and us which ever is the most advantageous.

It was a tough call, and I could have done a couple DIY projects for that. But in terms of getting myself into a position where I can track things as they should sound, I don't think that there's anything else I could have done that would have served my needs better. I thought about trading up my accoustic instead, which would have been another very useful thing since mine doesn't sound so great. But, I went with the EQ in the end since it will serve on guitar, bass, vocals, drums, etc...

So, sadly I have to say that my wad is now fully blown and the end of my big adventure is over, sigh... I wish I had the bucks to just keep going on and on. It's actually quite healthy for me, keeping me active and challenged and whatnot. But, in the end it was a very advantageous rearrangement.

Let's see, I went from:

Pearlman TM-1
Distressor
Lunchbox with Great River/P-1 pre-amps
padKontrol MIDI drum input pad
Waves Platinum/SSL plugs
RME 9632

And ended up with:

LA-2A
1176
SSL stereo comp
ZenDrum
SCA Neve and API pre-amps
Kjearhus plugs (comp, EQ, gate, mastering limiter, track limiter)
Voxengo plugs (r8brain sample rate converter)
Acoustic Arts reverb
E-Mu 1616M
AT 4047 mic


I have some other plugs from before as well, a couple URS EQs, Vintage Warmer, and Trash, and the Stillwell Vibe EQ and Rocket comp. I might pick up a couple small things still.

The only place where I downgraded was the microphone. But in my not so great sounding room, I think that the 4047 will serve me as well as the Pearlman.

[Dean Roddey]

Well, dang. Vintage King had the Lil'Freq for sale, but after I ordered they said it wasn't available. So I guess I have to go back to the drawing board and see what I can do.

[monkeyxx]

this is cool... yer making me want to try my hand at both the 1176 and the LA2A. I have built pedals before, and in a way, it seems like these might be a little easier! I never would have guessed that. I also have had my eye on the chameleon

[idylldon]

Originally Posted by Dean Roddey

Well, dang. Vintage King had the Lil'Freq for sale, but after I ordered they said it wasn't available. So I guess I have to go back to the drawing board and see what I can do.

Check out the Speck ASC EQ:

Speck Electronics - ASC 4 Band Equalizer

Cheers,
--
Don

[Dean Roddey]

I looked at it but, to me, but I wanted something more flexible. The high pass filter and de-esser and high/low shelf in addition to four peak filters and adjustable Q, that's something that could let me just not need any software EQ almost. To me, anything short of that and I still end up with the need for software EQ, so what's really the point?

[Dean Roddey]

Originally Posted by monkeyxx

this is cool... yer making me want to try my hand at both the 1176 and the LA2A. I have built pedals before, and in a way, it seems like these might be a little easier! I never would have guessed that. I also have had my eye on the chameleon

I'm really liking the Chameleon a lot. It's not a super-mojo piece, but really nice. Not everything needs to be super-mojo anyway.

I still have the 1176 to build. It should be a this weekend project. The bag o' parts is filling back up again as the orders are coming in. Hopefully everything will be here by friday.

I'll be kind of sad to see the end. It was very stimulating and a fair amount of exercise when you include the various studio rearrangements required to get everything in place and wired in and all that. I may still try to squeeze in a Pultec, since it's only about $300 to build.

[monkeyxx]

yeah I've been DIY'ing a lot lately too...it's better than being bored. I don't even really need to spend time with friends when I've got a project to spend a few hours on! chipping away at a resting point, a few hours at a time...

finally got most of my pres and compressors patched up and properly routed to my audiofires... fixed a compressor that I broke in a modification procedure... finally have a front XLR panel patchbay for all the preamps... compressor pairs strapped... next week, wiring in the new headphone amp. somebody sold me a broken dbx 160x, that'll need fixing too. still need some more baffles.. does it end? yeah, I guess it will be a little sad when the studio end is all sussed out... but then I can get back to building pedals, tweaking guitars and amps or whatever. oh yeah, and of course the dream compressors! (LA2A and 1176 stereo) and there never seems to be an end to needing to build more cables.

[Dean Roddey]

I finally got my last LA-2A issues straightened out. In three places I'd accidentally used 47K resistors instead of 470K. Because of the way my little multi-meter handles the decimal place (it floats around in various resistance settings), I didn't notice the discrepancy. So I was feeding one of the tubes like 10x too much juice and getting amplifier grunge if I tried to get reasonably hot output levels (really nice sounding grunge too, but not appropriate for this device.) Now it's sounding super-pimped-out-righteous and all and I can put this puppy back together and move on full bore to the 1176.

Whew....

[iangomes]

wow, how did you figure that one out?

[Dean Roddey]

Well, because I am not an electronics guy, I measured all of the resistors carefully, but I didn't bother trying to read the codes, because, well, I was measuring them and therefore they had to be right. Once I missed the decimal point position during the measurement, I never realized I'd made that mistake.

But, in the end, I went back and started checking their color codes by eye, and those three just didn't look right, and that finally clued me in.

[Dean Roddey]

Well, except for a couple missing resistors and diodes I came up short on and had to order, my 1176 board is stuffed, and I can move on to getting the case wired up while I wait. That's the thing I discovered on the LA-2A. You get done stuffing the board and you think, yeh baby, pappa's got a brand new bag, then you realize that was the easy part. There's a lot more labor involved in the case stuff.

I think I'm going to save that for tomorrow. Tomorrow's my birthday, and what better way for a true loser geek to spend his birthday than wiring up audio gear?

[memphisindie]

Rock on!
Happy birthday!

Wish me one in a couple of days.

[Dean Roddey]

Well, I'm into wiring my 1176, though I'm not getting much love on the Prodigy site. Definitely if you aren't into the electronics thing for its own sake, stick with SCA and Drip and others who understand that it's just a means to an end.

[iangomes]

Very true about stuffing the board! I'm done my board, need to order the 1176 front panels now...
As for GDIY, I don't find them so bad. Just read a LOT first, and don't make a new thread when you ask a question (use the thread).
Good luck!

[Dean Roddey]

The attitude over there is really bad. It makes Gearslutz look like a love fest for newbies. That snarky refrain is, "Well maybe you shouldn't be here" if you can't figure it out yourself.

[Dean Roddey]

I swear I've never seen a bigger bunch of snarky a$$holes in my life. Have you ever watched the movie High Fildelity? They are the losers sitting around in the store who think that they are superior to everyone who comes in. I finally just got sick of their crap and told them all to blow me, something that I've never done before, because no one has ever managed to piss me off that bad.

[iangomes]

Originally Posted by Dean Roddey

I swear I've never seen a bigger bunch of snarky a$$holes in my life. Have you ever watched the movie High Fildelity? They are the losers sitting around in the store who think that they are superior to everyone who comes in.

lol, what happened now?
also, I love those guys. High fidelity is my favorite movie

[Dean Roddey]

Well, it looks like hte 1176 is going to be a write off. It's not happy and it's unlikely I'll figure out why on my own, and I refuse to go back and deal with those aholes on prodigy. So I guess I'll just flush this one and stock to projects by folks like Drip and SCA.

[memphisindie]

Dean, see if you can get a look at for free or buy a scheme from drip for their 1176, and see what's similar. You might find out what's wrong like that, I think you can look at them online. You may be able to get an original schematic
You could also have a fractured joint, you might try reflowing everything and use a magnifying glass, you may find something you missed, like a lil' ball of stray solder making a short or a connection that shouldn't be there or some flux that has done the same. I've done that. I know you've probably looked, but hey, you've gotten too far to let those knuckleheads get the best of you. See if you can get in touch with "bluesman" here, I know he's built two of these, he's a friend and not a butthead. He can help.

[iangomes]

Originally Posted by Dean Roddey

Well, it looks like hte 1176 is going to be a write off. It's not happy and it's unlikely I'll figure out why on my own, and I refuse to go back and deal with those aholes on prodigy. So I guess I'll just flush this one and stock to projects by folks like Drip and SCA.

you can't give up now! what's wrong with it?

[Dean Roddey]

It randomly begins squealing and distorting. It'll stop for 10 or 15 seconds then start again. I thought about 25 times I'd found out what it was, until I figured out it wasn't related to anything I was doing. It's some kind of random thing. It calibrated fine in terms of setting the Q bias and the second step, the name of which is eluding me at the moment.

My mom and her husband are coming out to CA for a visit starting tomorrow, so I'll have to spend all my spare time with them while they are here next week. I'll come back to maybe when that's over and I'm less burned out.

I'm pretty sure it's not a solder joint problem or anything. I check every one witha magnifying glass after making it, because I'm paranoid. But I'll see if I can search around and find some measurements I can make at various points and see if I can get a feel for where it's messing up.

[memphisindie]

Originally Posted by Dean Roddey

It randomly begins squealing and distorting. It'll stop for 10 or 15 seconds then start again. I thought about 25 times I'd found out what it was, until I figured out it wasn't related to anything I was doing. It's some kind of random thing. It calibrated fine in terms of setting the Q bias and the second step, the name of which is eluding me at the moment.

My mom and her husband are coming out to CA for a visit starting tomorrow, so I'll have to spend all my spare time with them while they are here next week. I'll come back to maybe when that's over and I'm less burned out.

I'm pretty sure it's not a solder joint problem or anything. I check every one witha magnifying glass after making it, because I'm paranoid. But I'll see if I can search around and find some measurements I can make at various points and see if I can get a feel for where it's messing up.

That's the spirit!
I bet you get it sussed an a short break is a good idea.

[iangomes]

Originally Posted by Dean Roddey

Did you did the push button variety or the rotary variety? I got the hairball kit, which has the pushbuttons. But making the slots for those is going to be a joke I know already. So the rotary version would be easier to do. But I can't find anyone who has the 4-pole, three position rotary switch, which would replace one of the push button sets.

Either that or I buy a pre-fab case that someone has done, which will add considerably to the cost probably.

i'm doing pushbutton. I'm making my own panel on frontpanelexpress.
as for gdiy, I just found the thread that is stressing you out, and I can't believe that they're still helping you! Cmon, gdiy isn't a place to get a paint by numbers. It's about getting gear for a bit less, and learning about electronics!! If you don't care to learn anything, buy a commercial one. It'll be way better than anything you can make, and if the unit breaks, you'll have some means of fixing it (warranty). If you just paint by numbers, and it breaks, you're ****ed.

[iangomes]

Originally Posted by Dean Roddey

It randomly begins squealing and distorting. It'll stop for 10 or 15 seconds then start again. I thought about 25 times I'd found out what it was, until I figured out it wasn't related to anything I was doing. It's some kind of random thing. It calibrated fine in terms of setting the Q bias and the second step, the name of which is eluding me at the moment.

My mom and her husband are coming out to CA for a visit starting tomorrow, so I'll have to spend all my spare time with them while they are here next week. I'll come back to maybe when that's over and I'm less burned out.

I'm pretty sure it's not a solder joint problem or anything. I check every one witha magnifying glass after making it, because I'm paranoid. But I'll see if I can search around and find some measurements I can make at various points and see if I can get a feel for where it's messing up.

the measurements is a good idea. I'm not sure if they are on the schematic, but on the la-2a schematic, there were test voltages at certain points. If the 1176 one has it, you can compare your voltages at those points, and see where the problem might be!

[Dean Roddey]

Originally Posted by iangomes

i'm doing pushbutton. I'm making my own panel on frontpanelexpress.
as for gdiy, I just found the thread that is stressing you out, and I can't believe that they're still helping you! Cmon, gdiy isn't a place to get a paint by numbers. It's about getting gear for a bit less, and learning about electronics!! If you don't care to learn anything, buy a commercial one. It'll be way better than anything you can make, and if the unit breaks, you'll have some means of fixing it (warranty). If you just paint by numbers, and it breaks, you're ****ed.

I wasn't asking for paint by numbers. I mean this is my fifth project now, all of which went just fine. But the problem is that almost all the existing info is about either an older version or the push button version. There's a lot less good info about the rotary version of the new boards. No one has posted pictures to look at for ideas that I can find, and the wiring guide for Gyraf version. And half the time the info you find may be out of date and it's hard to know when that's the case.

So I was just trying to make sure I wasn't messing up. I even offered to do a diagram of the thing for others to use in the future, which would have ended up taking a fair amount of my time since I was going to do a very nice one that would have made it very easy to build, but they still kept acting like I was some kind of freeloader.

So they just pissed me off with their attitude, and I'm not going back there anymore. I don't want their help or anything to do with them. I'll either finish it myself or junk it. If I wasn't the kind of person who goes way out of his way to help other people in my fields of expertise, maybe I'd have not reacted so strongly. But I just don't have any respect their kind of attitude.

If someone comes there looking to learn about electronics, that's fine. But in the end, they don't seem to understand the point of these things is to make music and therefore most people just want them in order to make music. A couple of simple diagrams could have been done years ago, and it would have made it very easy for anyone to build, and those people wouldn't have had to bother anyone there with their newbie questions. That's something I would have done immediately if I were on such a site as a regular.

[iangomes]

Originally Posted by Dean Roddey

I wasn't asking for paint by numbers. I mean this is my fifth project now, all of which went just fine. But the problem is that almost all the existing info is about either an older version or the push button version. There's a lot less good info about the rotary version of the new boards. No one has posted pictures to look at for ideas that I can find, and the wiring guide for Gyraf version. And half the time the info you find may be out of date and it's hard to know when that's the case.

So I was just trying to make sure I wasn't messing up. I even offered to do a diagram of the thing for others to use in the future, which would have ended up taking a fair amount of my time since I was going to do a very nice one that would have made it very easy to build, but they still kept acting like I was some kind of freeloader.

So they just pissed me off with their attitude, and I'm not going back there anymore. I don't want their help or anything to do with them. I'll either finish it myself or junk it. If I wasn't the kind of person who goes way out of his way to help other people in my fields of expertise, maybe I'd have not reacted so strongly. But I just don't have any respect their kind of attitude.

If someone comes there looking to learn about electronics, that's fine. But in the end, they don't seem to understand the point of these things is to make music and therefore most people just want them in order to make music. A couple of simple diagrams could have been done years ago, and it would have made it very easy for anyone to build, and those people wouldn't have had to bother anyone there with their newbie questions. That's something I would have done immediately if I were on such a site as a regular.

I kind of see where you're coming form, but I don't think many of them agree that the point of the site is to make things to make music. I think it's partly that, but also a big chunk of 'lets have fun with electronics'. It's really should not be very hard to just figure out what the signals are coming off of the rotary switch board and look at the schematic so see where they are supposed to go. Half of the fun is figuring those things out!

[Eemo1]

Originally Posted by Dean Roddey

If someone comes there looking to learn about electronics, that's fine. But in the end, they don't seem to understand the point of these things is to make music and therefore most people just want them in order to make music.

... and that's why you should buy the real thing from a store.

A couple of simple diagrams could have been done years ago, and it would have made it very easy for anyone to build, and those people wouldn't have had to bother anyone there with their newbie questions. That's something I would have done immediately if I were on such a site as a regular

we'll, some of the units that people build are not supposed to be easy or have instructions for newbs. learn how to crawl before walking etc.