Sound Performance Lab 2383 manual

Mod el 2 38 3 Use r ’ s Guide GainSt ation 8 Eight channel microphone and instrument preamplif ier Clip Hi Z Mic Off SOURCE HI PASS PHASE PHANTOM LIMITER 50 Hz Off Fet Peak Nor. Rev . Off 48 V -30 0 9 18 dB 1.2 k 200 IMPED . Ω 10 k 1 Discrete High-Gain Preamplifier Gain Station Ultra fast wideband Input Amplifiers 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Class A C lass A[...]

2 GainStation 8 User’ s Guide GainStation 8 Model 2383 Ver s io n 1.0 – 6/ 2003 Designer: Ru be n Ti lgne r Thi s use r's gu ide co nt ains a descr iption of the pro duct . It in no way represent s a guarantee of par ticular charac teristic s or result s of us e. The infor matio n in thi s docum ent ha s be en ca refully compiled and verif[...]

GainStation 8 3 Introduction .................................................................. 4 Be fo re you begin .......................................................... 7 Rear pane l/ conn ec tion s ................................................ 8 Wi ri ng ....................................................................... 8 General ad[...]

4 GainStation 8 Introduction Inpu t makes all th e difference. Modern aud io produ ction relies increa singly on digit al systems fo r recording and mix ing processe s (DAW‘s, dig ital consoles etc.). The a dvantages o f di gita l audio ar e manif old and in clude af fordable storag e, comfor table ed iting, reca ll capabili ties and automa tion.[...]

GainStation 8 5 Introduction Main tec hnical f eature s of the Gain Statio n 8 • Cu stom -de sign ed and b uilt , ful ly disc rete, c la ss A op -amps ( no of f-t he- shelf s tuf f her e). T he GainSt atio n‘s op-am ps fea ture 60-V ol t o pe r ating voltage — t w ice as hi gh as mo st common op-amps— for an incredible dy namic range. • A[...]

6 GainStation 8 Thi s cu tting -edge tec hno logy ensures that signals recorde d with the GainSt ation 8 ha ve more p res ence an d subs tan ce and will easily c ut thro ug h a mix e ven at l ower le vel s. E x tr emel y low-frequenc y sig nal s ar e tigh t and t rans paren t wit h clear i nto- nation. Percussi ve transient s ar e inter pre ted mor[...]

GainStation 8 7 It mak es good sens e to thin k abou t where y ou pla ce your GainStation 8 be for e con necting it. It shou ld be po sitioned so that you ca n easi ly reac h it, b ut th ere are ot her con sider ati ons. Tr y n o t to pla ce it near h eat so ur ces or in dire ct su nl i ght, and avoi d e xp osure to e xces sive v ibr ation s, du st[...]

8 GainStation 8 R ear panel/connections Wir ing Gain Station 8 1230321 Made in Germany XLR Wiring : P in 1 = GND/ P in 2 = H igh (+)/ P in 3 = L ow (–) OUT 2 ( BAL. ) INSTR. IN (UNBAL.) 1 POWER SUPPL Y DC INPUT OUT 1 ( BAL. ) MIC INPUT OUT 2 ( BAL. ) INSTR. IN (UNBAL.) 2 OUT 1 ( BAL. ) MIC INPUT OUT 2 ( BAL. ) INSTR. IN (UNBAL.) 3 OUT 1 ( BAL. ) [...]

GainStation 8 9 Aga in , wh il e t h e GainSta tion 8‘ s hous ing is EM V-pro of and protects agains t HF-interf erence, pl acement of th e uni t is ver y impor tant since it amplif ie s m icroph one sig nal s a s well as o ther unwa nte d s ign als. Th us, i t i s extr emely impor tant that the external power supply n o t b e p o s i t i o n e d[...]

10 GainStation 8 R ear panel/connections MIC IN PUT Dynami c, co ndense r o r tube microp hones ca n be conn ec ted to the Mic In put. The 48 V s witc h prov ides t he phan tom pow er necessar y for some microphones (see als o „ Control elements/ Phant om“ on pa ge 1 3). The MI c Input c an al so b e us ed as a b alan ced con nec tio n for prof[...]

GainStation 8 11 Control elements CLE AN GA IN Thi s po te ntio me ter con trol s th e amoun t of preamp lif ic ati on provided by the cl ass A so lid -st at e stage. A r ange of up to + 63 d B is provided. Fo r mor e infor mat ion, p leas e se e “S et ting le vel s on the GainS tat ion 8“ on page 16. IMPO RTANT NOT E: If a Lundahl in put trans[...]

12 GainStation 8 SOURCE Thi s swit ch a llo ws you to sel ect between the Mic and Inst rume nt inputs . Both inputs can remain connec ted at all times, reg ard- less of which in put is se lec ted. When f irst th rown af ter power ing up the uni t, th is swi tch ca n cause a noticeab le pop due to t he disc harg e of residual c urre nt. Thi s is nor[...]

GainStation 8 13 IMPED. Ω This 3-way switc h a l lows you t o sele ct bet wee n th ree inp ut impedance s for the Mic Input. In general , higher impe dances increas e levels and em phasize high f requenc ies, while mids and bass frequenic es are dampene d. Conversely , a lower i mped ance causes lowe r le vels and emphasizes ba ss and mi d f requ[...]

14 GainStation 8 LIMI TER The Gai nS tati o n 8 off ers t w o t ype s of outp ut leve l limit ing: Peak and FE T . Th e limi ter is pre - out put le vel cont rol , so t hat the limit ed signal ca n be opt imall y adapte d to an ex ter nal conver ter . The pea k li mite r ope rate s with sp ecial d iode s that con ver t sig nal peaks in to a ty pe o[...]

GainStation 8 15 POW ER Swit ches t he unit on or of f. The s witc h illumin ates wi th del ay, because it i s fed by the 250 V anode p ower – don’ t panic . If the tu be st age is ac tive when the unit is switched on, it can tak e seve ral seconds before a si gn al can b e heard—this time i s necessar y fo r the t ube to rea ch ope rat ing t[...]

16 GainStation 8 In spite of its quality an d f le x ibili t y , th e GainSt atio n 8 ‘s tr ans - parent user inter face allows quick , intuitive oper ation. The unit is s uited f or a wide v ari et y of appl ica tions . The f ollow ing sections will p rovide an over view of the most imp ort ant opera - tional concepts and several applic ation ex[...]

GainStation 8 17 Combining dif ferent amount s of cl ean an d t ube g ain will c reat e vario us effect s. Th e G ain Sta tio n 8 oper ates v ir tuall y dis tor tion - fr ee wi th the tube stag e byp as sed . The s ound is c lean and t ra ns- parent with ext re me de ta il a nd v ery low noise. Th e cle an st age is ideal for most acoust ic inst ru[...]

18 GainStation 8 Limit er To a c h i e v e the desi re d re sult s wit h the i nteg rate d limi ter , it i s impor tan t t o unde rstand i ts opera tion . The thres hol d va lue is fi x e d a t 2 0 d B u . The cl ea n an d/ or t ube g ain set ting s determine the amou nt of li miting, so that these settings more or less wo rk like a threshol d cont[...]

GainStation 8 19 The adve nt of digi tal recording and th e f ac t th at more a nd more material remains in the digital do main f rom star t to f in ish have rai sed d em ands on p r eamplif iers. T he Gain Stat ion 8 is pre des - tined t o ac t a s a premium re cording f ro nt end , ensur ing tha t sign als of all ki nds ar e pream plif ied w ith [...]

20 GainStation 8 Vo c a l s /sp e e c h The tube stag e is well su ited f or addin g pres ence to vo cal s. Ex er c i se ca u ti o n wh en setting leve ls, parti cu l arly w ith the cl ean stage , si nce vocal s can be e xt remely dynamic. The FET li miter can be v ery hel p fu l he re t o l e vel peak s in a subtle , musi cal fas hi on an d en sur[...]

GainStation 8 21 Elec t r ic B a ss If an elec tr ic bass is direct ly connected to the instr ument input, a combination of clean an d tub e st ages is u suall y bes t. In t he c as e of ex t reme d yna mic s, th e FE T li miter wi ll deli ver e xcell ent res ult s and a tig ht , punch y bas s sound t hat u sually ne eds n o addit ional compression[...]

22 GainStation 8 Drum s /snare drum Ex er c i se ca u ti o n wh en s e t t i n g l e v e l s t o avoid clippin g. Drums are notoriou s fo r fa st , pow er f ul tr ansien ts t hat c an eas ily add 10 dB t o the average level. In addition, few dru mmers (or any musicians, for that ma tte r) a r e so disc iplin ed th at the y don‘ t play louder duri[...]

GainStation 8 23 Inside the Ga inStat ion 8 The most tim e-cons u ming par t of the deve lopm ent of the GainStation 8 wa s searching for , selec ting and matching compo - nents, P CB‘s and IC ‘s . One d ecisi ve f ac tor in ac hiev ing imp ec- cab le a udi o qualit y is t he ref us al to acc ept any we ak spot s in the chain —the i nsistence[...]

24 GainStation 8 An o utpu t st age , wh ich a lso operat es in clas s A m ode wi th ove r 6 mA of c lose d- circui t cur rent , fu nct ions a s a cur rent a mplif i er . The trans ist ors and resis tor s util ized al s o had an en orm ous ef fec t on the audio quality. T o facilit ate selection , we a ssem- bled several model s and subjected them [...]

GainStation 8 25 The Instru men t Input is a f ully di scr ete impe danc e conver ter that also operates in class A mo de. It is based on a lo w-n oise fi e l d e ff ec t t ra n s is t o r th a t is e s p ec i a l ly w e l l s u i t e d t o t h i s t a s k due to it s e xt reme ly hig h input im peda nce. T he sig nal the n passes to the clean g ai[...]

26 GainStation 8 In the case of the power supply , n o ex pen se wa s sp ared. A f te r all, the p owe r suppl y is one of th e prim ar y f ac tors in t he audio qualit y an d over all so und of any de vice. J us t like the b es t cof fe e bea ns i n th e wo rl d will no t produce a g ood c up of cof fe e wit h poor wa ter , the best circuits ca n [...]

GainStation 8 27 Fre q ue n c y response (Clea n Ga in 30 d B, T u be G ain off, o utput level 0 dB, +/- 0.5 dB): ‹1 H z-1 25 kH z Fre q ue n c y r e sp o n se ( C l e a n G a i n 3 0 d B , T u b e G a i n o f f , o u t p u t level 0 dB, +/- 3 dB) : ‹1 H z- 310 kH z Fre q ue n c y r e sp o n se (C l e a n Ga i n 30 d B, T u be G ain 1 dB, ou tp[...]

28 GainStation 8 Dimensions (W x H x D ): 482 x 8 8 x 237 mm Weig ht ( w/ o Lund ahl transf ormer): 6 , 3 k g Ext e rn al p o we r su p p ly – dimensions: 219 x 85 x 25 7 mm Weig ht: 6 ,8 k g The foll ow ing access or y is optional ly availabl e: • L undah l input t ran sfor me r (upg rad es af te r sale b y author ize d ser vic e perso nne l o[...]

GainStation 8 29 SPL produc ts are manufa ctured u sing carefull y selected compo - nents an d ma teria ls an d sta te- of-t he- ar t pro duct ion tech no- log y . Ever y S PL pro duct i s thor ough in spec ted a nd tes ted be fore leaving the f actor y, including acoustic and elec tronic testing. SPL war rantees the SP L 2 4/96 A D Conver ter Mo d[...]

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