Sound Performance Lab Gain Station 8 2383 manual

Mod e l 2 3 83 Us er ’ s Guide GainSt ation 8 Eight channel microphone and ins tr ument 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 las[...]

2 GainStation 8 User’ s Guide GainStation 8 Model 2383 Ve r s i o n 1.0 – 6/ 20 0 3 Designer : Ru ben Ti lg ne r Thi s use r' s gu ide co nt ains a desc ription of the pro duc t . It in no way represent s a guar antee of p ar t icular charac teris tic s or result s of us e. The infor matio n in t hi s doc ume nt h a s be en ca refully comp[...]

GainStation 8 3 Introduction .................................................................. 4 Be fo re you begin .......................................................... 7 Rea r p ane l/ co nne c t io ns ................................................ 8 Wi ri ng ....................................................................... 8 Genera[...]

4 GainStation 8 Introduction Inpu t make s all th e dif ference. Modern au dio prod uc tion relies increasing ly on digit al sy stems fo r recording and mix ing proce sse s (DAW ‘s, dig ital console s etc.). The advantages of di gita l audio a re man if old an d in clud e af f ordable storag e, comfor t able ed iting, rec a ll c apabili ties and [...]

GainStation 8 5 Introduction Main te chnic al f ea ture s of the Gain Sta tio n 8 • Cu s tom - de sig ne d an d buil t , f ull y dis cr ete , cl a ss A op - amp s (n o of f-t he -sh elf s t uf f here ). T he G ainSt a tio n‘s op -amp s fe atur e 60-V o lt ope r ating voltage —tw ice as hi gh as m o st common op -amps — f or an incredible dy[...]

6 GainStation 8 Thi s c uttin g-ed ge t echn olo g y ensures that signal s recorded with the GainS t ation 8 have m ore p re se nce a nd s ubs t an ce an d will easily cut thr o ug h a mi x e ven a t lo wer l eve l s . E x t rem el y low-f requency sig nal s ar e t ig ht an d t r ans par en t wi th c lear i nto - nation. Percus sive tr ansient s ar[...]

GainStation 8 7 It mak es good sens e to thi nk ab ou t wh ere y ou pl ace y our GainStation 8 b e fore connectin g it. It should be pos itioned so that you c a n ea sil y re ach i t , bu t th ere a re ot her c ons ide ra ti ons . Tr y n o t to pl ace i t nea r hea t sour ces or in dire ct s un li ght , and avoi d e x p osur e to e xce ssi ve v ib [...]

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 i le th e Ga inSt at io n 8 ‘s ho us ing is E MV- pro of an d protect s ag ainst HF- interf erence, pl acement of th e unit is ver y imp or t ant since it amplif ie s mic rop ho ne sig n al s a s w ell as oth er un wa nt ed si gna ls. Th us, i t i s extr emely impor t ant that the e x ternal power su pply n o t b e p o[...]

10 GainStation 8 R ear panel/connections MIC IN PUT Dynam ic, co nden ser o r tube micro phones ca n be con ne c te d to the Mic Input. The 48 V s wi tch p rov id es t he p han tom p owe r necessar y for s ome microphones (s ee also „Control element s/ Phant om “ on page 1 3). The MI c Input c a n al s o b e us e d a s a ba lan ce d conn ec tio[...]

GainStation 8 11 Control elements CLE AN GA IN Thi s po te nti ome te r cont r ol s t he am oun t of prea mpl if ic a tio n provided by the cl as s A so lid -st ate s tage. A r ange of up to + 63 dB is provided. Fo r mo re inf or m at ion , pl ea se s e e “ Se t t ing l eve l s on the Gai nStat ion 8 “ on page 1 6 . IMP OR T A NT NO TE : If a L[...]

12 GainStation 8 SOUR CE Thi s swi tch all o ws y ou t o sel ec t be t ween the Mic and Inst rum ent input s. Both input s can remain connec ted at all time s, reg ard- less of which in put is se lec ted. When f irst thro wn af ter powering up t he uni t , thi s sw it ch c an cause a not ice able p op due to t he d isc har ge of r esi dual cur r en[...]

GainStation 8 13 IMPED. Ω Thi s 3- way sw itc h a l lows you t o select be t wee n thr ee i npu t impedan ces for the Mic Input . In general , hig her impedan ces increas e level s and em phasize high f requenc ies , while mids and bass f requ enices are dampened. Convers ely , a lower i mpe da nce cause s lo wer leve ls and emphasizes ba ss and [...]

14 GainStation 8 LIM ITER The Ga inS tati o n 8 of fer s t wo t yp e s of out pu t lev el lim it ing: Pea k and F ET . Th e limi ter is p re - o ut pu t le vel co nt ro l , so t ha t the lim ited signal c a n be o pt imal ly a dap ted to an e x ter na l conver ter . The pea k l imi te r op er ate s w it h spe cial d iod es t hat c onv er t sig nal [...]

GainStation 8 15 POW E R Swi tch es t he uni t on or of f. Th e s wi tch il lumi nate s wi th d ela y , because it is fed by the 250 V ano de p owe r – don’ t pan ic . If the tube st age is ac ti ve when the unit is switched on, it can tak e sev eral second s befo re a si g n al can b e hear d —this t ime i s necessar y fo r the t ub e to rea[...]

16 GainStation 8 In spite of it s qu alit y an d f le x ibi lit y, the G ainSt a tio n 8 ‘s t r ans - parent us er in ter f ace allows quick , intuiti ve operat ion. The unit i s suite d f or a w ide v ar ie t y of a ppl ic at ion s. T h e fo llow ing sections will provid e an over view of the most impor tan t opera - tiona l conce pt s and sever[...]

GainStation 8 17 Combining dif f erent amount s of cl ean an d tub e g ai n will cre ate vari ous e f fect s. The G ai nSta tio n 8 oper a tes v ir tual ly di sto r tion - fr ee w it h the tube stag e byp a ss e d. T h e so und is c lean a nd t r an s- parent with ext reme de tai l an d ve r y low noise. Th e cl ean s t ag e is ideal for most acous[...]

18 GainStation 8 Limit er To a c h i e v e the desire d resul t s w it h t he in teg r a ted l imi ter, it is impor tant to unde rstand its op eratio n. Th e th res hol d v alu e is fi x e d a t 2 0 d B u . The cle a n and/or t ub e g ain set ting s determine the amou nt of limiting, so that these set t ings mo re or less work like a threshol d con[...]

GainStation 8 19 The adv ent of di gital recording and th e f ac t t ha t mor e and m ore material remains in the digit al do main from s tar t to f i nish ha ve rai sed dem and s o n pr eamplif iers . The Gain St at ion 8 is p re de s- tined to ac t a s a pre mium re cord ing f ront e nd , ens ur ing th at sig nal s of all ki nds ar e pream pl if [...]

20 GainStation 8 Vo c a l s/s p e e c h The tube stag e is well s uite d f or ad ding p re se nce to v oc al s . Ex e r c i se c a u t i o n wh e n set tin g le ve ls, pa r ti cu l arly wit h the cl ean stage , s ince voc al s can be e x t remely dynamic. The FE T li miter can be v er y help fu l h er e t o l e vel peak s in a subt le , mu sic a l [...]

GainStation 8 21 Ele c t r i c Ba s s If an elec t r ic bas s is directl y connec ted to th e instr ument input, a combination of clean an d tub e s t age s is u sual ly b e st . In t he c a s e of e x t rem e dy namic s, t he F E T lim ite r wil l del i ver e xc elle nt r esu lt s and a t ig ht , pun chy b a ss s oun d th at u suall y ne ed s no a[...]

22 GainStation 8 Dr ums / snare dr um Ex e r c i se c a u t i o n wh e n s e t t i n g l e v e l s t o avoid clippin g. Dr ums are notoriou s f or f a s t , p owe r f ul tr an sie nt s t ha t c an ea sil y ad d 10 dB t o the average level . In addition, few drum mers (or any musicians , for that ma tt e r) a r e s o dis c ipl ine d t hat t he y don[...]

GainStation 8 23 Inside th e Ga inSt at ion 8 The most tim e- co nsu ming par t of the deve lopm ent of the GainStation 8 wa s searching f or , selec t ing and matching compo- nents , PCB‘s and IC‘s . One d ec isi v e f ac tor in ac hie v ing imp e c - cab le au di o quali t y i s th e ref us al to a ccep t any w eak sp ot s in the chai n— th[...]

24 GainStation 8 An ou tput stag e, which also ope rat es i n clas s A m od e wi th o ver 6 m A of c los e d- circ uit cur rent , f unc t ion s a s a cur r ent a mpl if ier. The trans ist ors and resis tor s ut il ize d al s o ha d an en or m ou s ef f ec t on the audio qualit y . T o f acilit ate selec tion, we as sem - bled sever al models and su[...]

GainStation 8 25 The Instru me nt Input is a f ul ly di s cre te imp e dan ce con ver te r that also operates in class A mo de. It is based on a l ow- n ois e fi e l d e ff e ct t ra n s i s t o r t h a t i s e s p e c i a l l y w e l l s u i t e d t o t h i s t a s k due to it s ex tr eme ly hi g h inpu t imp ed anc e. T he sig nal th en passes to[...]

26 GainStation 8 In the c ase of the power supply , no e x p en s e wa s s pa red . A f ter all, th e powe r sup pl y is one of t he p r imar y f ac tor s in t he aud io qualit y an d o ver al l soun d of any d ev ice . Ju s t like t he b es t co f fe e bea ns in t he w orl d will n ot pr oduce a g o od cu p of cof f ee w it h poor water , the best[...]

GainStation 8 27 Fr e q u e n c y re sponse (Cl ea n G ain 30 dB, T u be Ga in o f f, outpu t level 0 dB, +/- 0.5 dB ): ‹1 H z -125 kHz Fr e q u e n c y r e s p o n s e ( 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 -31 0 kH z Fr e q u e n c y r e s p o n s e (C l e a n Ga i n 3 0 d B , T u be G[...]

28 GainStation 8 Dimensions ( W x H x D): 482 x 8 8 x 237 mm Weig h t ( w/o Lu nda hl trans f or mer): 6 , 3 k g Ext e rn a l p o w e r s u p p ly – dimensions: 219 x 85 x 25 7 mm Weig h t: 6 , 8 k g The foll ow ing access or y is optional ly avai lable: • L un dah l inp ut t r ans fo r me r (up g r ade s af te r sa le by aut ho r ize d ser vic[...]

GainStation 8 29 SPL produc t s are manuf ac tured using c aref ully sele c ted compo - nent s an d mater ia l s and s t ate - of-th e -ar t p rod uc ti on tec hn o - log y. Ever y S PL p ro duc t is t hor oug h in sp ec te d an d tes te d be fo re leaving the f ac tor y , including acous tic and elec tr onic testing. SPL war r antees the SP L 2 4/[...]

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