Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

previous by date index next by date
previous in topic topic list next in topic

Subject: Re: MOTM Pre-amp

From: "J. Larry Hendry" <jlarryh@...
Date: 1999-09-07

> From: "Paul Schreiber" <synth1@...>
> The ARP has too many parts! The Univibe has about half
> of the ARPs. The MXR phaser has fewer still! :)

But yet somehow that little MXR still sounds good. Whatever design, a
good, err... no GREAT, phaser should be part of the MOTM plan. :) See
what you got started again Thomas?? Now, back to pre-amps...

> From: "Paul Schreiber" <synth1@...>
> Mics are probably best handled by your little Mackie mixer :)
> Because, you need to handle both XLR and dynamic, phantom
> power, blah blah blah.

Boo... Hiss... Come on Paul.... Can't we have just one mic input, say XLR,
balanced, low impedance. That would cover most everything. Phantom power
guys can handle their own power (or a spiffy phantom power jumper on the
MOTM circuit board). Or, you could go 1/4" high impedance and force the
mic guys to use a matching transformer. BUT, all good mics are balanced
low-Z anyhow, so .... Of course, to keep the MOTM 1/4 input appearance, I
guess any low-Z mic input should be a stereo jack and not a real XLR.

> Also, there is a large ∗untapped∗ MOTM market for guitar players!!

Yes, but life isn't fair and the guitar layers get all the great chicks.
So..... How about 3 inputs (like the original). One optimized for guitar,
one for line levels, and one with a user adjustable trim (or appropriate
component change on the circuit board). Or a switch on the 3rd pre input
for low level / high level inputs. Am I missing someting, or would not a
guitar input and microphone input have roughly the same gain required, if a
microphone matching transformer was used to come closer to the high
impedance input of the guitar input (or the trimmable). I know the
impedance of a guitar is higher than the high impedance side of a
microphone transformer, but aren't they close enough? So channel three
could have two inputs, one balanced low-z and one unbalanced high-z. (I
know, I am thinking mixers again).

And then there is that distortion issue.... Separate module? Or maybe the
triple preamp could be two flavors:

# 1 - dual input with the distortion Paul suggested. (this is the guitar
MOTM interface) one of the inputs for guitar and the other ???

# 2 - triple input, no distrotion, two line levels and one mic level (synth
MOTM interface).

See, then we would have to buy them both.

I've rambled long enough. I love this list and hearing what others think
is important for thier MOTM systems. I wish more of you quiet types would
speak up. I see you out there lurking.

And thanks again Paul for letting customers in on the design issues. I
think that a lot of good ideas (and much controversy <grin>) have come from
the open discussion. I am always happy to see the final product even if I
know it is not "exactly" how I would have asked for it because it has the
input of so many knowledgeable folks and Paul's good sense to separate the
good ideas from the bad.

Larry H