DIY Mic Pre-Amp?

melveyr

New member
Hey gang,

I am addicted to building pedals now thanks to Pedal PCB. My girlfriend is a singer and I want to build her a pedal board so that she can sing with EQ, compression, reverb, etc while she sings. The problem is that I don't know how to get from the microphone into the pedals. Are there any good DIY solutions? I would really love a DIY mic pre-amp in the stomp box format. Does this exist?
 
Hey gang,

I am addicted to building pedals now thanks to Pedal PCB. My girlfriend is a singer and I want to build her a pedal board so that she can sing with EQ, compression, reverb, etc while she sings. The problem is that I don't know how to get from the microphone into the pedals. Are there any good DIY solutions? I would really love a DIY mic pre-amp in the stomp box format. Does this exist?

 
You can also search around for projects based on the "$5 mic preamp" design, that would be a good place to start. You'd have to figure out a way to add an fx loop though.

Radial vocoloco and DBA echo master are two commercial products that would do what you want as well.

The mic-to-line matching transformer posted above is a simple solution for getting signal into pedals, but you'd also probably want a DI box on the other end, and some sort of wet/dry blend in the circuit path.
 

Rod Elliot offers a variety of small mixer boards, EQs, etc. as well.
I’ve built several of his boards (hi-fi stuff) and can vouch for his design talents. Mic preamps are really noise sensitive, so definitely a case where choosing parts based on noise specs is worthwhile.
 
I’ve built several of his boards (hi-fi stuff) and can vouch for his design talents. Mic preamps are really noise sensitive, so definitely a case where choosing parts based on noise specs is worthwhile.
Yep on both counts. One of these days I'll get around to rolling my own mic pre design...but that's one of these days. ;)
 
It depends on the mic you're using, for a ribbon mic you're going to want at least 32db of gain. I settled for Mackie mixer with multiple Onyx preamps.

These guys are selling the equivelent of a $1500 Royer for $220..... I bought a pair of them when they were $280 a pair. Unbelievable quality...the mic makes NO noise, so you can gain the crap out of it without any hiss.


 
The following prices are from a few years ago, so may not reflect well on the current market-price:

DIYRE
https://www.diyrecordingequipment.com Home of the colour
500 RACK:
OLA5 Opto Compressor From $300.00
EQP5 Passive Equalizer From $200.00
PR502 2-Slot 500-Series Chassis Kit From $150.00
Colour 500-Series Palette mkII From $150.00
CP5 Colour Mic Preamp From $150.00
500EXT 500 Series Extender Kit $20.00
OLA5 Horizontal Front Panel $15.00
500-Series Aluminum Blanking Panel $5.00
COLOUR PLUGINS


BUMBLEBEE DIY PRO AUDIO
Uncategorized, Ribbon Mic DIY Kits, Ribbon Mic DIY, Parts, Pro Audio DIY Kits, Accessories, Tools
Mic Pres, DI s, mics...
BUMBLEBEE PRO RIBBON MIC RM5
www.bumblebeepro.com/rm-5-diy-ribbon-mic-full-kit/






MORE MICs


www.vintagemicrophonepcbkit.com/
Vintage U87i











DIYRE
RM-5 Ribbon Microphone Kit $299.00 sale $250.00
RM-6 Ribbon Microphone Kit $350.00
SM-28 Shock Mount $35.00
SB-30 Stereo Blumlein Bar $25.00
L2A, L4A


COOOLIO DUAL PZM mic stereo field effect Guitars of Love (GoL)
2 PZMs mounted on a wedge, GoL’s is fixed, make mine hinged with adjustable bracing for capturing room ambience…


SOUND SKULPTOR
500 series mic-pres, comps, eq, tape-sim

HAIRBALL AUDIO
GOOD STUFF! Seattle-based Co focusing on quality components/builds.
^ Lola mic pre, highly regarded by TAPE OP mag in general, but also rave reviews for tracking with BASS!
SEE ALSO https://www.hairballaudio.com/blog/resources/category/diy-resources

GYRAF DIY
GYRATEC G9 – DUAL MICROPHONE PREAMP
GYRATEC G10: STEREO VARI-MU COMPRESSOR
GYRATEC G14: STEREO PARALLEL-PASSIVE EQUALIZER

GYRATEC G21: MAGNETO-DYNAMIC INFUNDIBULUM [PARALLEL/PASSIVE EQ]
The G21 is kinda an elaboration on our G14 parallel-passive eq – the parallel topology enables multi-band control without running into the traditional problems in multi-banding.

GYRATEC G22: STEREO/DUAL/MS VARI-MU COMPRESSOR
G22 is an elaborated and dualified version of our venerable G10 vari-mu compressor. It can be set to dual-mono, but still keeps a backwards-compatibility “G10 mode” where one set of knobs controls real stereo, like you’d want most of the time in mastering.

GYRATEC G23: “AMBLER” TILT EQUALIZER (DISCONTINUED, see G-23s below)
The G23 was a Tilt-type Equalizer aimed mainly at mix and mastering – for the situations where you had a mix that’s already nearly-perfect balanced, but you wanted it a tad darker or brighter without messing up the overall definition.

GYRATEC G23-S: “AMBLER” TILT EQUALIZER W/ SOLID-STATE OPTION
The G23-S is an elaboration of our G23 Tilt-type Equalizer, where we added a selectable option for either solid-state or tube audio path.
Like the standard G23, it’s aimed at the situations where you have a mix that is already nearly-perfect balanced, but you want it a tad darker or brighter without messing up the overall definition. This unique tilt equalizer works by distributing the uneven phase response associated with filtering across the whole audio spectrum in stead of having it all within one octave like on ordinary first-order tilt filters.

GYRATEC G24: “PASSIVE/AGGRESSIVE” CADMIUM COMPRESSOR stereo
The G24 is an entirely new type of stereo compressor – aimed at mix and mastering functions. Like it’s sister and predecessor, the G23 EQ, it’s for those situations where you have a mix that is already nearly-perfect balanced, but you want to control some part of its dynamic without messing up the overall definition.




JOHN HARDY Co Mic Pres


500 series:
comp
eq
mic-pre
Capacitor-less mic-pre





NOTA BENE: I did not have a good experience with "PCBGrinder". It has become something else as the owner transitioned from offering DiY stuff to selling finished products, IIRC.





*Maybe* also check out potential stuff from:
MFOS
PAIA
SYNTHROTECH

?
 
Oh, and maybe the Kleinulator might be adapted to inserting guitar-FX pedals into the mic-line level signal path?


Ceriatone%2BKleinulator.png


Klein-ulator.png
 
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