I don't know if this belongs here or not but the guy I get music lessons off of sent me these URL's. He also does recording and production at his house. He asked me to check them out but I never heard of them. It seems neat to build you own pre-amp etc but I think they are a little pricey. All opinions will be considered.
http://www.seventhcirclestudios.com/SCA/SCA.htmThey're not terribly pricey.
For example the Jensen 990 style unit is actually fairly reasonable when you look at the cost for a real 990 (looks like two there) and a Jensen output or input transformer... I'm not a Neve fan, but that stuff costs $$ too...
http://www.eisenaudio.com/Here is another version of a 990 based mic preamp.
The only question is what are you trying to do, and what do you need to accomplish that goal?
Buying expensive mic preamps for the sake of having them is rather pointless, especially if you are using mid range recording gear, and mics that have self noise and distortion that is significantly higher than these preamps... but if you need a very quiet mic pre, the 990 based unit is one way to go.
I might prefer a JFET front end myself...
You have to compare the bang/$ with stuff like the Behringer and things just up from there... and look at the used market.
Myself, I'd never build a high-end mic pre with a gain set by a carbon pot, for example. I'd always use a wiping switch with fixed value high quality resistors, IF I needed variable gain...fwiw.
You can clone your own 990 opamp, since the schematic is published.
I did that many years ago now... work fine.
You can exceed the 990s performance today with a combination of discrete parts and opamp(s) - and save the max output swing you can equal or better the performance with single chips. That's something to keep in mind when looking at this stuff.
The input and output transformers, IF you decide you want to use them are pretty much a fixed cost.
Nothing keeps anyone from buying a DIY board and substituting back in a chip where a 990 once was, for example. Or a DIY circuit in that spot...
IF you want "vintage sound", imho there are better ways, that are less expensive to get it.
I'd start by using some tubes, for example...
Again it comes down to what you are trying to accomplish... a good example is that a finely tuned and blueprinted Honda engine is perfectly useless in a Kenworth truck!
_-_-WBear2GCR
