My new old toy

[Matti]

Bought this, got a good deal. Will mod it to have direct outs and be happy.

Matti

[bitman]

Originally Posted by MATTI

Bought this, got a good deal. Will mod it to have direct outs and be happy.

Matti

Those look kinda like ssl comp meters. What brand is it?

[Matti]

Oh, its an Audio Developments AD 145 Pico made in somewhere around -85 or so.
The meters are Sifam, me thinks.

Matti

[Rick Sutton]

If that ain't just the cutest thing!

[Matti]

Yep!
Guess what, I got it from the UK for some 340£ delivered to my door here in Finland!

Matti

[tourtelot]

I had one for years. Very robust, but watch the headroom in your preamps. I rebuilt mine pretty completely (this was in the 80s) and made it better but I can't tell you what I did. The panel is long gone as are the schematics and notes.

Have fun with it.

D.

[John Willett]

The meters are BBC spec. PPMs - those alone are probably worth more than you paid for the complete mixer.

Good stuff, Audio Developments, and they will probably still be able to service it if needed.

Congratulations - a good buy.

[Matti]

I had their eng 4 to 2 mixer late 80 ies and have used pico also at the time.
Very easy to overload the preamps at high gain settings, but I´ll manage!

Matti

[Matti]

I´ve been using PPMulator software meters in BBC ppm mode to train my eyes to that instead of the Nordic metering usual around here,

Matti

[summer_room]

Good for you, Matti!
I did a similar thing this summer - bought a mint Revox C279 for 790£ and use the preamps direct out for multitrack + main out for live to 2 tracks.
Small consoles are great fun to use!

All the best - Jon

[Matti]

I´m so poor I never got to buy a Revox / Studer or a Stellavox.

Thanks

Matti

[NorseHorse]

Originally Posted by matti

yep!
Guess what, i got from the uk for some 340£ delivered to my door here in finland!

Matti

awesome!

[JP__]

Hi MATTI
it would be very nice to tell me exactly how you will do this mod. I also own a nice, small desk, unfortunately, without direct outs.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/gears...adcasting.html

Regards

[Matti]

JP, yours is so different I cannot help you. Have you the schematics for it?
Acousta should be able to help you rather than me...

Matti

[streetvibes]

Just got one up and running with new psu. Good sound, this will stay with me for a long time.

John, or anyone else, would you care to educate me on whats up with theese sifam meters?

thanks

[Matti]

Those are PPM meters to BBC specs. 4 is reference / test
Here a comparison between common PPM meters.

Matti

[OzGizmo]

Matti, have you done the direct o/p yet, and how did it work out?

[Matti]

Yep, with the help of the manufacturer ( age of the mixer and still support! ).
Unbalanced at around 10 db lower level than sum outputs and with beefier opamps
for using a 3 meter loom from the mixer.

Matti

[OzGizmo]

I've been meaning to get mine done for a few years now...

[Matti]

The mechanical part was the most challenging for me but did it in couple of days
-Got lots of help, for example one meters class was broken and had a plastic instead, and I got new one from Sifam -free- although that particular model is not produced anymore
Cleaning the faders took some time also

Matti

[Rolo 46]

The early Audio Dev mixers were not loved
Many people mixed on the trims not the faders.

[Matti]

I considered to further modify this to have trims instead the rather coarse stepped ones,
but got lazy, mainly because I don't mix with it -only use it as a frontend for my DAW

Matti

[Rolo 46]

The steps were always in the wrong place!
However the PPMs were brilliant.
We had an 8 ch mixer with direct outs for our 8 track Scully
The mixer was a 2 man lift......
We were working with an ebullient Russian producer,doing a BBC film about the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Everywhere Dennis went ,chaos ensued, cameras broke down, mixers failed .
On opening night of a new production at Stratford we plotted to keep Dennis away from us, using a pretty new PA as bait.
It failed.
Dennis found us seconds before curtain up, P48 failed immediately.....

[Matti]

Dennis? Have to be careful with anyone with that name...

Matti

[Rolo 46]

Dennis Mxxxx went on to confuse English National Opera.
Whilst at the Beeb he manned the Tannoy system during a staff strike and demanded everyone leave their stations immediately.

[Matti]

What to say, you meet these people once in a while

Matti

[philper]

Good luck with your Pico. I took mine all over the world and always loved the sound. Yes you do have to watch the headroom, and you might want to consider some of the mods people used to do to either add an extra "step" to the trim or change it over to continuous trims. The direct out mod was very easy. The parts used in the board were first rate and it had a lovely big-iron sound. The lack of a sweep mid EQ, any dynamics control and any sends finally caused me to move on, but it worked very well for me for 14 yrs.

phil p

[streetvibes]

Ouch, those eq frequencies hurt sometimes. Any known mods for thoose?
Also, my channels sound a little uneven; did recapp the larger ones, didnt help.
Anyone tried different ICs? They're all bedded so someone might have tried it?

Any advice or tips you might have is appreciated.

[Matti]

I changed the IC´s because of the direct outs and wanted more juice for the length of the loom -no problems. EQ frequencies? Ask them what values of components to change if you don't trust your own maths, they are helpful and nice people

Matti

[Rolo 46]

Used one last week to record a pair of delightful teenage sisters whos voices matched so well the could have been multitracked.
Sound excellent with MKHs on vox and Steinway
Those meters are so reassuring
The dynamic limiters were sort of basic compared with my Sonosax but a delicious sound on my friends Magnepan 20's.