FiveFish X-12 User Manual Download Page 30

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2010 FiveFish Studios

For comments & corrections about this guide, please email [email protected]

www.fivefishstudios.com

X-12 Microphone Preamp Kit

1 BC546B NPN transistor

Miscelleaneous

RELAY

2 Fujitsu Mini Signal 12VDC

IC Sockets

3 8-pin IC socket .300 GOLD

1 GRAYHILL 1-DECK, 12-POS SWITCH

SW1

1 Push button switch with Green LED

SW2

1 Push button switch with Blue LED

SW3

1 Push button switch with Yellow LED

CAP1,CAP2,CAP3

3 Caps for push buttons

1 Mic Input Transformer

1 Line Output Transformer

HS1,HS2

2 Heatsinks TO-220

XLR-F

1 Neutrik XLR Female

XLR-M

1 Neutrik XLR Male

JP1

1 Conn Header 2Pos 0.100 vert

ST1

1 Conn Jumper Shorting Tin

Bolts for heatsinks

2 Phillips pan, Zinc plated steel, 4-40 x 1/4

Nuts for heatsinks

2 Hex machine screw nuts, Zinc steel, 4-40

Bolts for Output Trafo

2 Phillips pan, Zinc plated steel, 4-40 x 3/8

Hex Spacer for Output Trafo

6 HEX .187X.250 ALUM

VU-1B Rev1.2 Meter for X-12

Part

Qty Desc

PCB

1 Custom PCB

VREG1

1 78L18

D1,D2,D3

3 GREEN LED

1 Yellow LED

1 RED LED

IC1

1 NTE Chip

1 0.1uf 100V

C2,C3

2 0.47uf 50V

1 2K67

1 6K32

1 10K Trimmer Vishay

1 8K2

Spacer

2 Aluminum 0.75" spacer

Phillips pan head 4-40 x 1/4

2 Zinc plated steel, 4-40 x 1/4

Hex machine screw nuts

2 Zinc plated steel, 4-40

Summary of Contents for X-12

Page 1: ...ument may be reproduced either mechanically or electronically posted online on the Internet in whole or in part without the expressed written permission of FiveFish Studios This document is solely provided to the kit builder of the X 12 Mic Preamp Kit Document Revision 1 4 Last Update Oct 16 2010 Copyright 2010 FiveFish Studios www fivefishstudios com ...

Page 2: ...ackaging of this kit to deliver to you a great preamp with the same features and performance found in high end boutique preamps All at a very affordable price There are no special expensive tools or techniques required to assemble this kit All you need is the ability to follow instructions use common sense and the confidence in knowing that YOU can do this PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT COMPLETELY BEFO...

Page 3: ...e X 12 Mic Preamp has provisions for using discrete opamps if the user so desired It uses the standard API 2520 OpAmp package and pin footprint Many compatible 2520 opamps can be used with the X 12 board These are also sometimes called 990 OpAmps or Discrete OpAmps Here are some photos showing different discrete OpAmps installed Shown with a Forsell Technologies JFET 992 Shown with an APP2050 Disc...

Page 4: ...ide please email diy fivefishstudios com www fivefishstudios com X 12 Microphone Preamp Kit Shown with an APP10 Discrete OpAmp from Italy Shown with a Melcor 1730 DIY Discrete OpAmp These are just a very small sampling of what Discret OpAmps you can use with the X 12 Preamp Kit ...

Page 5: ...potentiometer for trim control High quality PCB Mounted LED illuminated Push Button Switches 20dB Pad relay controlled Polarity Reverse switch relay controlled Gold plated machined low profile IC sockets Use of high quality 1 Metal Film resistors and high quality ceramic and electrolytic capacitors On board jumper terminals On board and local voltage regulation section Easy to assemble easy to tro...

Page 6: ...fying glass to see what you re doing Especially when soldering IC pins and the Grayhill selector switch 8 Clean and well lighted work area Lots of good lighting clean work area You want to be able to leave your work in progress without packing everything away Extra Tools Nice to have but not required 1 Vacuum desoldering pump if you make a mistake you need to pull out the component from the PCB 2 ...

Page 7: ...r_code_page en html Capacitors There are many types of capacitors used in the X 12 Mic Preamp project Some are big some small some are polarized some are non polarized We ll discuss the different types here Ceramic Capacitors Ceramic capacitors look like the picture on the left On the X 12 kit these are colored yellow and blue and are very small in size Ceramic capacitors are non polarized and the...

Page 8: ... in the X 12 Mic Preamp Kit The transistor has 3 legs the Collector Base and Emitter terminals Looking from the top the transistor has a half circle shape like a half moon Take note when inserting transistors that you do not insert them backwards Otherwise phantom power will not work and possibly even ruin the transistor The flat side should be facing to the right Grayhill Selector Switch The X 12...

Page 9: ...or audio signal fidelity output short circuit protection and with PSRR and CMRR exceeding 120dB typ Slew rate is 20V us with a Gain Bandwidth product of 55Mhz THD N of 0 00003 is listed in the specifications In simple terms IC1 is an ultra low distortion low noise high slew rate OpAmp designed for use on high performance applications like this microphone preamp IC2 IC2 is a Burr Brown OPA134 chip ...

Page 10: ... 2 Options for assembly Option A Use Socket Pins for IN IN OUT V GND and V pads The Discrete Opamp pins are then inserted into the sockets Note Millmax DOA Socket pins are not provided in the kit but may be purchased separately Contact us Option B Solder the OpAmp directly to the board If you ll be using Yamaha Discrete Opamps this is your only option OPTION A This is the recommended method if you...

Page 11: ...kscreen line on the PCB See photo below for proper orientation of the Relay Failure to follow this orientation will result in the relay not working and possibly damaging the relay too VU METER BOARD The X 12 preamp kit includes a 5 LED VU Meter kit for some basic metering This is also useful for gauging the strength of the signal and if there is any signal present during troubleshooting Please not...

Page 12: ...think gives the best balance of gain and sound quality OUTPUT TRANSFORMER Our output transformer provides signal isolation and is wired as 1 2 which provides 6dB gain Since it s also in the signal path it will also give some coloration to the signal Strip the wires and solder the different colored wires to it s correct location on the PCB The PCB is labeled with the wire color it should accept Mak...

Page 13: ...hen it s at a non zero crossing point Further information about the Null Offset Trimmer will be discussed later in the assembly guide VOLTAGE REGULATOR There is an onboard local voltage regulator section for the V and V supply lines Two voltage regulators provide both positive and negative voltage regulation Even then I still recommend using a regulated power supply to feed voltages to the X 12 Mi...

Page 14: ...ed on the other side of the PCB or that the holes are completely filled Be careful that you do not solder resistors in the wrong locations For example The resistors near the Grayhill switch are the gain staging resistors It is important not to swap the locations of any of these resistors Otherwise your gain steps will be out of order depending on which resistors you swapped locations with each oth...

Page 15: ...onstruction STEP 1 Solder all 1 4 watt resistors and inductors to the PCB The orientation does not matter ERRATA R23 should be a 93R1 resistor not 215R as marked on the PCB Sorry for the mistake The silkscreen will be corrected on later PCB revisions R27 should be a 22K6 resistor R38 should be a 10K resistor See ERRATA Notes on page 30 STEP 2 Solder all signal and general purpose diodes to the PCB...

Page 16: ...re the Relay is oriented in the correct direction Follow the line marking on the component with the printed silkscreen on the board STEP 4 Solder all ceramic capacitors to the PCB These are the yellow and blue capacitors The orientation does not matter STEP 5 Solder the Transistor Note orientation of the transistor The flat side should be facing to the right You will need to bend the middle pin ba...

Page 17: ... Bourns potentiometer Solder the middle leg first check alignment and then solder the 2 outer legs IMPORTANT Make sure you cut snip the tab located on one side of the blue potentiometer Cutting this tab will make the potentiometer stay straight and perpendicular to the Front Panel as you tighten the nut STEP 9 Solder the Grayhill selector switch You really need a magnifying glass to make this work...

Page 18: ...t is then solder the remaining pins b Installing the stop pins The Grayhill switch will come with a metal stop pin rod and a sticker Use tweezers to hold this pin rod and push it inside the 12 00 position hole as shown in the photo below Use the head of a flat screwdriver on it s side to press the pin inside the hole until it is flush Then put the sticker over it Re attach the washer and the nut a...

Page 19: ... fivefishstudios com X 12 Microphone Preamp Kit STEP 11 Install the Input Transformer For the Input Transformer orient the dot with the printed silkscreen dot on the PCB Don t forget to also install the R2 RLS resistor located on the lower left corner of the Input Transformer ERRATA Short pins 1 2 and 3 4 at bottom of PCB ...

Page 20: ... email diy fivefishstudios com www fivefishstudios com X 12 Microphone Preamp Kit STEP 12 Install the Output Transformer Cut and trim the wires and solder the corresponding wire color to it s corresponding hole on the PCB board Mount the Input Transformer using the supplied nuts and bolts ...

Page 21: ...h before adjustments STEP 13 Insert the IC chips IC1 IC2 and IC3 Be careful inserting the chips and make sure all pins go in properly into the IC socket holes Build Notes a ANTI STATIC WARNING Ground yourself before handling the chips Touch a metal gear to discharge any static electricity on your body Avoid touching the metal pins of the IC chip If you have a wrist ground strap use it Or better ye...

Page 22: ...er Module Follow the silkscreen layout on the VU meter PCB and insert the components into it s right location You need to install a jumper wire across the HORIZ position See photo below NOTE VU Meter is installed upside down bottom side up Especially important if you re using the X 12 Rack Case NOTE 2 Take note of the LED Color Order for Horizontal Mounting of the preamp board See guide below ...

Page 23: ... this part Measure twice cut once as they say Take your time assembling the kit don t be in a hurry work carefully and methodically and you won t need this troubleshooting guide Problem No lights no LED movement VU Meter does not work Check if there is power applied to the VU Meter Kit Supply voltage must be at least 5Volts DC Check the GND wire is connected Check that the LEDs were inserted in th...

Page 24: ...B 1 VREG1 78L18 5 D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 3mm LED 1 IC1 NTE1866 1 C1 0 1uf 100V 2 C2 C3 0 47uf 50V 1 R1 2K67 1 R2 6K34 1 R3 10K Trimmer 1 R4 8K2 VU Meter Schematic No part of this document may be reproduced either mechanically or electronically posted online on the Internet in whole or in part without the expressed written permission of FiveFish Studios This document is solely provided to the kit builder o...

Page 25: ... 4 connections for power From left to right they are 48V 18V GND and 18V Connect the corresponding wires to your power supply PCB After wiring the power supply we ll need to make voltage adjustments I recommend that your power supply board be set to 21Volts or higher The X 12 board will regulate this voltage further down to 18Volts See next step for Voltage Adjustment VOLTAGE ADJUSTMENTS The X 12 ...

Page 26: ... your condenser microphone should start working Check that your LED VU meters are working and blinking NULL OFFSET VOLTAGE ADJUSTMENT Now that we ve verified our preamp to be working let s do some fine tuning adjustment Connect the black lead of your multimeter to GND and the red lead to the OUT pad on the PCB nearest IC1 Make sure your multimeter is set for DC voltage Adjust the trimmer shown abo...

Page 27: ... some mics need a higher voltage than that Measure the voltage between XLR pin2 and XLR pin1 You should be getting close to 48Volts if phantom power is switched on Problem My gain settings are out of order It will get loud very loud then soft then loud Check there are no shorts in the Grayhill selector pins Check that the resistors nearest the Grayhill selector are the proper values and that you d...

Page 28: ...phone Preamp Kit X 12 PCB Component Layout Guide No part of this document may be reproduced either mechanically or electronically posted online on the Internet in whole or in part without the expressed written permission of FiveFish Studios This document is solely provided to the kit builder of the SC 1mk2 Mic Preamp Kit Copyright 2007 FiveFish Studios ...

Page 29: ...1 C22 2 100UF 100V C25 C26 2 10uf 63V C27 C28 2 1UF 100V All resistors 1 4 watt metal film when available R1 RLP 0 Not Used R11 R12 2 6K8 R3 R4 2 619R R5 1 169R R6 R17 2 3K32 R7 R16 R30 3 10K R9 R27 1 22K6 R10 R14 2 100K R13 1 100K Top Adjust Trimmer R15 1 39R2 R8 R18 2 1K5 R19 1 715R R20 1 122R R21 1 267R R22 1 158R R23 1 93R1 Note Marked on PCB as 215R R24 1 62R R25 1 35R7 R26 1 25R5 R28 1 100R ...

Page 30: ...r HS1 HS2 2 Heatsinks TO 220 XLR F 1 Neutrik XLR Female XLR M 1 Neutrik XLR Male JP1 1 Conn Header 2Pos 0 100 vert ST1 1 Conn Jumper Shorting Tin Bolts for heatsinks 2 Phillips pan Zinc plated steel 4 40 x 1 4 Nuts for heatsinks 2 Hex machine screw nuts Zinc steel 4 40 Bolts for Output Trafo 2 Phillips pan Zinc plated steel 4 40 x 3 8 Hex Spacer for Output Trafo 6 HEX 187X 250 ALUM VU 1B Rev1 2 Me...

Page 31: ...me last minute corrections in the assembly instructions 1 The new batch of Yellow Push Button switches I got have super bright LEDs To make the LED brightness match the Green and Blue switches please USE A 10K RESISTOR FOR THE YELLOW LED current limiting resistor 2 For an additional 6dB gain and extending the low freq response of the X12 preamp please use a 22K6 resistor for R27 shown below ...

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