Friday, August 16, 2019

DIY SSL E series microphone preamp - Built from scratch.



I have been tinkering with a lot of different mic pre designs over the last few months. I've tried the famous $5 pre using the INA217 chip and it gave some pretty good results considering it's transformer-less, but I wanted something a little more classic sounding. A little while back I came across the schematics for the the E series console by SSL. After looking at the main pre schematic it looked quite doable. A couple of low cost op-amps and an input transformer. All I needed was a output section and a input front end to provide some control over your mic, ie: Pad, phase and Phantom power. So I decided to start a prototype basic unbalanced pre and work from there.

DIY Harmonic Percolator - Project to build.


I recently came across a video featuring one of my favorite producers of all time, Steve Albini where he talks about his use of the harmonic percolator guitar pedal. I always wondered how he got his guitar sound. I dont think for a second that this magical box is his secret, but hey if he uses it, why not build one and see what its like? I did a prototype on a perfboard last week and I must say, it has