Yeah Mike the smile I had was related to ordering carbon units and receiving metal film which was kinda like a funny joke with respect to the differences discussed frequently regarding them both. The supplier may have been reading the various threads and had a giggle to himself when picking them. Maybe... I've got a small draw here too full of them but none were accurate enough or the right values I needed.... apart from two.

No probs Millzy.. I wanna get the unit finished before offloading them that's for sure. And given the current flat out work status and new pending band... it's gonna take a little longer than planned. Also the 700R has arrived and is waiting patiently!! Need to get home early enough to get some tune time.

Cheers!

I am starting to feel the urge to solder!!!

I've been staring at the schematic and the point to point layout and thinking about the mods required to use easier to find parts.

Which brings to this question... any idea what to do with the "parallel" stereo connector?

Interesting Mike... I started looking at it in detail and said to myself "Self, that's why you went with the Drip option... remember? Less pain and more mixing." and then I promptly looked away before diving into this all consuming vortex.
Did I mention it's fairly easy to pick up or order parts from the Drip BOM? These challenges suck me in very easily... delete it I say.

Hey Dean thanks... the larger unit advantage is valid and I have two of these on the shelf from the 1/2 completed VU meter project (got VU's on the EQ for room tuning now).... will run with it. Did you ever post any pix of your complete unit?

..just got home (1030pm) and have a new bag of bits bought today.... keen to get out to shed but have early start tomorrow..... DANGIT! Need to retire NOW!

mike_mccue


I am starting to feel the urge to solder!!! 

Me too! Will you boys stop it!

Whoah... at last it's back on!

We started a new business and the past few months have been very un-audio friendly... broke up the band, joined a new band, quit that new band... all while building a new business.... crazy times.

ANYWAY.. the DRIP project is nearly complete (at last). The board is loaded and mounted and tonight I actually engraved the front panel with "LA2A OPTO4" above the meter and it looks sweet! Did I mention I also setup a new CNC machine and now have the ability to engrave? ... and it makes the metal work a breeze.

Alright... it's close now so will get this back on track.

Cheers!

Keep us posted... I am itching to start this project.


best regards,
mike

Ok some piccies...


 
Panel still on the CNC.


Shot of the engraving.


Another attempt at a decent photo using a mobile phone. Fail.


Another front panel view with things getting loaded .
VU meter is the JLM one but photo is rubbish and you can't see any detail.

Overall the front panel is near complete with just pots and a few switches to mount up. Next job will be to mill the rear panel and load it up with all the bits. My transformers are mounting external and not on the pcb and will go on the rear panel as well.

Getting close now and I'm KEEN to get this beast up and running.

Cheers.

Thanks Mike!

Latest update... last night the front panel was finished up with respect to loading and is now mounted to the bottom case panel and looking FINE! Man it looks close now... did however realize that I was one capacitor short due to recent hiatus so have last night also ordered the final orange drop cap... 8A or 8B on the board. One of them....

Had ordered high quality pots for the gain and peak but have dumped them in favor of larger ones with spline shafts for the Telecaster style knobs I'm using at present. The knurled chrome looks great I reckon and we've seen enough chicken heads in my shed.. for a little while anyway. Plus I'm not a hug fan of the 'traditional' oversize knobs on the original LA2A units.

Will finalize rear panel G code and get it milled up. Have also decided, for those interested, that it is just quicker to use the CNC to mark the hole locations and just drill them on the drill press. A lot quicker given the size of my CNC which really copes up to about a 3mm end mill. The XLR mounting holes though would still be quicker (and accurate) using the CNC however.

CLOSE NOW!
Cheers.

keep it coming!

...VERY quiet... alas the last capacitor hasn't arrived yet and I stare longingly at her each night...

SO keen.

Must be doing my head in because we are looking at moving house and the new studio planned is making we salivate... but I digress.

Cheers!

If you do the Drip one as he is (and as I did), then that's one of the things you get from Drip.

Thanks to both of you.

It seems that this miht be the only practical option... It looks like the NOS stuff is already used up.

I'm still interested in the hard wired type construction so I'll look at what Drip offers... I hope it has a similar form factor to the T4.

best regards,
mike

Thanks again,

I am enjoying the updates.

Good luck with the house buying... I hope it goes smoothly.

best,
mike

That's super Mully.

I actually live on a 4 acre out parcel in a National Forest.

It is incredibly quiet out here... unless I have an amp turned up to "10".

And the beauty of it is that there is no one to complain.

I can never live in a high density situation again... I'm too used to being able to make sounds.

It seems like you are almost done with your LA2A. :-)

best regards,
mike

17 acres... that's a lot to take care of :-)

I feel lucky that for all intents and purposes I am surrounded by over 500,000 acres of forest that some one else takes care of. :-)

You posts about he LA2A are an inspiration. I hope it fires right up with no issues!

best,
mike