So I decided to start my own little company...

[atticus]

Originally Posted by warhead

"Toft mixer coming soon!" - Gearslutz quote circa 1987

(sorry couldn't resist)

War

Funny stuff! I am being careful not to give a specific release date until I am close to shipping it. I will say that the first parts have arrived this past week, and it is pretty exciting to see all of those boxes! I am having my assembler build a batch of boards this week and those will be used for more testing. Don't want to release it before it's ready, you know...

[George Necola]

thumbsupthumbsup congrat to your new company!

[Coyoteous]

Originally Posted by atticus

Funny stuff! I am being careful not to give a specific release date until I am close to shipping it. I will say that the first parts have arrived this past week, and it is pretty exciting to see all of those boxes! I am having my assembler build a batch of boards this week and those will be used for more testing. Don't want to release it before it's ready, you know...

Don't you think it would be safe to say what "it" is, at this point? (PLEASE! )

[Chris]

Were we ever going to find out what this is?

[Brad McGowan]

David, are you out there?

Brad

[atticus]

Hey all,

Yes I am still here and thing are moving along. Had a few family issues in the past month that I needed to focus on but things are on track. Just trying to find someone to do the metal work for me at this point...

[Jonboy79]

Originally Posted by atticus

Hey all,

Yes I am still here and thing are moving along. Had a few family issues in the past month that I needed to focus on but things are on track. Just trying to find someone to do the metal work for me at this point...

Have you thought about letting us know what it is, and maybe taking some preorders so you can start building up extra finances, and getting a good stock going?

[atticus]

Originally Posted by Jonboy79

Have you thought about letting us know what it is, and maybe taking some preorders so you can start building up extra finances, and getting a good stock going?

Ok I give up...

The Audio Throttle is both a line amplifier and a pad for the 500 series rack. We are still working out the gain settings, but as of right now it will offer either a 6 or 12 db pad as well as up to 18 db of extremely clean and transparent gain. Basically the concept for this module was to allow it to be run as a second gain stage of other 500 series preamps or pretty much anywhere that additional gain may be required. For example, running it as the second stage to an API 512 would allow you to both add extra gain for recording softer sources, or pad down the output as needed. All of the gain settings are on a custom Grayhill rotary switch for both precision and repeatability. And just to give you an example of how transparent the unit actually is, during testing it was determined that changing the cable in the signal path affected the sound more then the Audio Throttle did.

The Audio Throttle will be offered at two price points, which are $295 for the version with a high quality monolithic op amp, and at $375 for the version with a Forssell Technologies 993 discrete op amp. They are being hand assembled here in Akron, Ohio.

I am sure there will be more questions and comments, so fire away. Thanks for your patience!!!

[gm5k]

Originally Posted by atticus

Ok I give up...

The Audio Throttle is both a line amplifier and a pad for the 500 series rack. We are still working out the gain settings, but as of right now it will offer either a 6 or 12 db pad as well as up to 18 db of extremely clean and transparent gain. Basically the concept for this module was to allow it to be run as a second gain stage of other 500 series preamps or pretty much anywhere that additional gain may be required. For example, running it as the second stage to an API 512 would allow you to both add extra gain for recording softer sources, or pad down the output as needed. All of the gain settings are on a custom Grayhill rotary switch for both precision and repeatability. And just to give you an example of how transparent the unit actually is, during testing it was determined that changing the cable in the signal path affected the sound more then the Audio Throttle did.

The Audio Throttle will be offered at two price points, which are $295 for the version with a high quality monolithic op amp, and at $375 for the version with a Forssell Technologies 993 discrete op amp. They are being hand assembled here in Akron, Ohio.

I am sure there will be more questions and comments, so fire away. Thanks for your patience!!!

awesome!!! i definitely need one of these for one of my preamps!!

[e-cue]

Will this have input connections on the front? I know quite a few keyboards I'd love to try it with.

[zimv20]

congrats!

[Brad McGowan]

And the color will be?

Brad

[TAVD]

Are the pcb's the same for both versions? I'd like to try a IC version and possibly experiment with a few op amps, both IC and discrete.

[Brad McGowan]

The cool thing is that you can pop in your opamp of choice. The PCB supports both a socketed monolithic opamp and a 2520/990 style opamp. No tweaking or modding required.

The circuit is really clean.

Brad

[atticus]

Originally Posted by e-cue

Will this have input connections on the front? I know quite a few keyboards I'd love to try it with.

The Audio Throttle won't have that, but there is a product we have in the works that will do that and more.

[atticus]

Originally Posted by TAVD

Are the pcb's the same for both versions? I'd like to try a IC version and possibly experiment with a few op amps, both IC and discrete.

The PCB's are exactly the same, so swapping op amps is fairly easy but only advisable if you aren't afraid to pay for a repair if you blow something up I am trying hard to not encourage people to see the Audio Throttle as something you can change the op amps in simply because it is impossible for me to guarantee the results. It was designed around the 993 and although other op amps of that format will likely work I simply can't back the product up in that capacity. For example the different op amps draw different amounts of current, so that not only could affect th performance of the Audio Throttle but also starve other modules in the rack of power in a worst case scenario. Brad used the first prototype and upon trying it with a 990c it was discovered that it drew enough current that it became quite hot. It worked but who knows for how long. AS we continue to develop it I am sure we will learn more of what can and can't be done with it. Thanks!

[Brad McGowan]

FWIW I heard no appreciable differences between the different opamps I tried. I popped in a 2520, a 990C, and the 993. The circuit is so clean sounding that if I did hear any difference I could have been fooling myself. As David mentioned, the 990C got rather hot. My own personal take on the unit is that it's not really a color unit and you shouldn't think of it as such. From what I heard it's designed to be ultra transparent, very low noise, and high bandwidth to let everything pass through uncolored. From my experience transformers have a much bigger impact on adding color to a lot of the gear we love. This unit has no transformers. What goes in is what comes out. So it really is quite the perfect tool to squeeze extra gain out those colored preamps you love (e.g. Neve 1272, V72, etc.) or to pad down the ones that are too hot (API 512/312, Pacifica, etc.).

[TAVD]

Cool, thanks for the info. I didn't really want to play the op amp swap game or suggest that yours was in some way not ideal. I was just looking for a way to save a few bucks.

The issue of transformer loading and saturation came up here recently. Does the Throttle have a variable impedance or would it matter if it did?

[Brad McGowan]

Originally Posted by TAVD

Cool, thanks for the info. I didn't really want to play the op amp swap game or suggest that yours was in some way not ideal. I was just looking for a way to save a few bucks.

I don't think you'll be disappointed with the performance of the monolithic opamp IMHO. That will save you some money!

Brad

[Coyoteous]

Originally Posted by atticus

The Audio Throttle won't have that, but there is a product we have in the works that will do that and more.

- oh no, here we go again!!!

[Coyoteous]

Originally Posted by Coyoteous

- oh no, here we go again!!!

PS: here's something I just wrote to a friend of mine with a penchant for the cryptic.

Subject: Top Secret

shhhh... hey xxx, i've got a secret, but i can't tell you what it is -
because, if i do - it won't be a secret anymore. i may be able to tell you
if it's good or bad - but i'm not sure, yet... okay, i will say that it is
really important - no, nevermind... forget you ever read this. gotta go...
somebody's coming...

(just kidding)

[gm5k]

ok, so we know what it is...now its time for pics!

[pan60]

Originally Posted by gm5k

ok, so we know what it is...now its time for pics!

[Brad McGowan]

Yeah I'm dying to see what this thing looks like too! I can tell you guys one thing. I think it's going to be red.

Brad

[atticus]

Originally Posted by pan60

Well the only pic I have right now is of the boards themselves. I am still finalizing the front panel design but it will be red and I think that we are going to do some z.vex style artwork on them. I am also going to be offering a Gearslutz discount on the first batch of modules, so if you are interested please go to the website here and sign up for the mailing list. Thanks!!

[atticus]

Just an FYI but to those of you going to AES I will try to bring one of the prototypes with me. Vince from Speck was kind enough to allow me to put it at his booth (with all of his absolutely fantastic gear!) so if I can get the front panel done in time it will be there. Thanks!

[atticus]

I know it has been awhile since I have been on here but I wanted to give a quick update. The project is well on its way to completion, but I have had some family issues that have been pretty intense over the past couple of months. The good news is that things are back on track and I should have some pics of the module to show this week and should be able to begin shipping them in the near future. I will announce a Gearslutz promotional price soon. Thanks.

[pan60]

thanks for the update!!!!!!!!!
family issues should always come first, but remember we are a buch of sluts, so, it is a bit borderline
major issues?
okay.
minor issues?
not so much
just kidding



giving this thread a bump!

[atticus]

Here is a pic of one of the prototypes:

[Brad McGowan]

That's the one I had! With "custom" faceplate.

Brad