Sound Performance Lab 2272 manual

Mod els 2 2 72, 22 73 Use r ’ s Guide Gain St at ion 1 Single ch annel micr ophone and instr ument pre amplif ier N I A G E B U T N I A G N A E L C T u b e + F e t O f f Gain Station 10 21 19 18 15 16 14 13 12 11 22 24 26 29 32 35 38 41 46 54 63 dB dB L E V E L T U P T U O -26 6 -10 -12 -14 -18 -16 -20 -22 -24 -25 -9 -8 -6 -5 -2.5 0 2 3.5 5 5.5 d[...]

2 GainStation 1 User’ s Guide GainStation 1 Models 2272, 227 3 Ver s io n 1.0 – 6/ 2003 Designer: Ru ben Ti lgne r Thi s use r' s gu ide co nt ains a description 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 an[...]

GainStation 1 3 Introduction .................................................................. 4 Be fo re you begin .......................................................... 7 Rear pane l/ co nne ct ions ................................................ 8 Wi ri ng ....................................................................... 8 General ad[...]

4 GainStation 1 Introduction Input ma kes al l the dif ference. 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 are m anifo ld and in clude af fordable storag e, comfor table ed iting, reca ll capabili ties and automa tion[...]

GainStation 1 5 Introduction To a c commo date por tabilit y , the optionally av ailable SPL GainBag ensures safe trans port o f th e Gain Stat ion 1 and of f ers additional stor age for cables and an average -sized micro- phone. For mo re perman en t ins tall ation s, up to f our GainSt ati on 1‘s can be ra ck -mou nted in one optionally availab[...]

6 GainStation 1 Thi s cu t tin g-edge tech nol ogy ensures that signal s recorded with the G ainStatio n 1 ha ve more p res ence an d subs tanc e and will easily c ut thr o ug h a mix e ven at lo wer le vels . E x tr emely low-frequenc y sig nals ar e t igh t and t rans paren t wit h clear i nto- nation. Percussi ve transient s ar e inter pre ted m[...]

GainStation 1 7 It mak es good sens e to thin k about w here y ou pla ce your GainStation 1 be fore co nnec ting it. It should 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 igh t, and avoi d e xp osure to e xces sive v ibr ation s, du st [...]

8 GainStation 1 R ear panel/connections Wir ing Made in Germany PUSH 230 V – 50 Hz/315 m A 115 V – 60 Hz/630 m A OPTICAL SPDIF SPDIF LOCK x2 48 44.1 XLR W iring : 1 = GND/ 2 = (+)/ 3 = (–) Jack: Tip = (+)/ Ring = (–)/ Sle . = GND RISK OF ELECTRIC SHOCK DO NOT OPEN CA UTION AV IS: RISQUE DE CHOC ÉLECTRIQUE - NE PAS OUVRIR AD I N 2 ANA. OUT [...]

GainStation 1 9 Aga in , wh il e t h e Gain Stat ion 1‘s hou sing is E MV-pro of and protects ag ainst HF-interf erence, plac ement of the unit is ver y impor tant since it amplif ie s microp hone signals as well as other unwante d signal s. Be fore c onnecting the Gai nStation 1 or any other equipment tur n of f all po wer . IMPO RTANT : Adj ust[...]

10 GainStation 1 R ear panel/connections MIC INPUT Dynami c, co nden ser o r tube micro phones ca n be conn ec ted to the MIC i nput. The 48 V sw itch pr ovid es the p hantom p ower necessar y for some microphones (see als o „ Control elements/ Phant om“ on page 1 6). The MI C input c an al so b e use d as a b alan ced con nec tio n for profess[...]

GainStation 1 11 POW ER The POW E R sw itch tu rns t he Gai nStat ion 1 on ( ind icate d by th e blue POWER LED on t he fr on t p an el) o r o ff . 24 / 96 AD Conver ter (optiona l) The opti onal 24 /96 Co n ve r te r modul e (mod el 2376) pro vide s a digit al ou tpu t fo r the GS 1 in the f orm of a n S /P- DIF ou tput w ith RC A and o ptic al co[...]

12 GainStation 1 AD IN 2 If the optional 24/96 AD conver ter module is installed, this input can be used to conver t an exter nal anal og signal . T o avoid clip - ping, the inpu t level shoul d not e xceed + 12 dBu (+ 12 dBu c orr e- sponds to f ull digit al gain of 0 dBf s). Ex c e s s iv e i n pu t le vel s are indicated by the A D O VL LE D . I[...]

GainStation 1 13 SYNC I NP UT The SYN C input al lows y ou to fe ed an e xte rna l sign al into th e conver ter to control the sample rat e. C o nnect an S/P- DIF ou tput fr o m yo ur m as t e r sour ce (e .g. so und c ard ) to the S YN C input . The AD c onv er ter will au tomati call y conve r t to the s ame sa mple rat e t hat is received. T h e[...]

14 GainStation 1 CLE AN GA IN Thi s po te nti ome ter con tro ls t he amoun t of preamp lif ic at ion provided by the cl ass A sol id-s tate s tag e. A rang e of up to + 6 3 dB is provided. Fo r mor e infor mat ion, p leas e se e „S et ting l evel s on the Gai nStation 1 “ on page 19. IMPO RTAN T NOTE: If a Lundah l input t ran sfor me r is ins[...]

GainStation 1 15 SOURCE Thi s swit ch a llo ws yo u to select between th e MIC and H I-Z/L INE inputs . Both inputs can remain connec ted at all times, reg ard- less of which in put is se lec ted. When f irst thrown after power ing up the uni t, th is swi tch ca n cause a not iceabl e pop due to th e disc harge of r esidual cur ren t. Thi s is norm[...]

16 GainStation 1 IMPED. Ω This 3-way switc h a l lows you to sel ect betwee n thr ee inp ut impedance s for the MIC input. The e f fect vari es depending on the microphone us ed. With dyna mic microphone s, a lower impedan ce set ting will als o reduce the inpu t level—this ef f ect is less pronounced with good co ndenser micropho nes. We recom[...]

GainStation 1 17 LIMI TER The Gai nStat ion 1 of fers t w o t ype s of outp ut leve l limit ing: PE AK and FE T . Th e limi ter is pr e- out put le vel con trol , so t hat the limit e d sig nal c an be op tima lly ada pted to th e inter nal or exte rnal conver ter . The pea k l imi te r ope rate s with s pecia l diode s that co nver t sig nal peaks[...]

18 GainStation 1 POW ER -LE D This LED i n dicates that the Gai nStatio n 1 is c onnec te d to the proper AC curren t an d sw itche d on. I f the tu be st age i s act ive when the unit is switched on, it can ta ke se ver al sec onds b efor e a sig nal c an be he ard— t his ti me is ne cess ar y f or the t ube to reach operatin g tem per ature. LE[...]

GainStation 1 19 In spit e of its qua lit y and f l ex ibil it y, the Gain Stat ion 1‘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 icat ions . The f ollow ing sections will p rovide an over view of the most impor t ant opera- tional concep t s and sever al applic ation ex[...]

20 GainStation 1 Combining dif ferent amount s of clean and tube g ain will create vario us e f fects. The G ainStation 1 oper ates vir tually distor tion- fr ee wi th the tube stage b ypa ssed. Th e s ound is cl ean and t ran s- parent with extreme de ta il a nd v ery low noise. Th e cle an st age is ideal for most acous tic in stru men ts, as w e[...]

GainStation 1 21 The pea k l imi ter s ounds di f fere nt wi th the t ube s tag e act iv ated , since leveling occur s so mewhat asy mmetrically with the tube in the si gnal path, so that the neg a tive ha lf-wave is leveled with a much f lat ter cur ve. To d e t e r m i n e the idea l li miter s et ting f or th e inter nal con ver ter, act ivate t[...]

22 GainStation 1 Ne xt to th e obviou s recording or sound reinforcement appli- cati ons, the GainStation 1 is al so ex t reme ly inte rest ing a s an instr ument preamp for musicians. Bassists can go throug h it direc tly into a power amp, resu lti ng in a soun d tha t is hard to achi eve w ith s tan dard ba ss pr eamps, with unpar alleled punch, [...]

GainStation 1 23 Vo c a l s /sp e e c h The tube stag e is well sui ted f or adding p res ence to vo cal s. Ex er c is e c a u ti o n wh e n set tin g lev e ls, parti cul arly wi th the cl ean stage , s inc e v ocals can be extr emely dynamic. The FE T lim iter can be v ery hel p fu l h er e t o l eve l p e ak s in a subt le, mu sic al fas hi on an[...]

24 GainStation 1 Elec t r ic B a ss If an elec tric ba ss is direct ly connected to the HI-Z input, a combi- nation of clean and tube st ages is usually best. In th e c as e of extrem e dyn ami cs, t he FE T limite r will d eliv er exc ellen t resul ts and a tig ht , punch y bas s sound t hat u sually ne eds n o addit ional compression. Key bo ar d[...]

GainStation 1 25 Drum s /snare drum Ex er c is e c a u ti o n wh e n s e t t i n g l e v e l s t o avoid clippi ng. Drum s are notoriou s fo r fa st , pow er f ul tr ansien ts t hat c an eas ily add 10 dB to the averag e level . In addi tion , few dr ummer s (or an y musicians, for that ma tte r ) ar e so d isc iplin ed tha t they d on‘t play lou[...]

26 GainStation 1 Inside the Ga inStat ion 1 The most tim e-cons u ming par t of the development of the GainStation 1 wa s searching for , selec ting and matching compo - nents , PCB‘s and IC‘s . One de cisi ve f ac tor in ach iev ing impe c - cab le aud i o qual it y is th e ref us al to acce pt any wea k spot s in the chain —the insistence u[...]

GainStation 1 27 An o utpu t st age , w hi c h als o ope rate s in c la s s A m od e wi t h ov er 6 mA of cl ose d- circui t cur rent , fun ct ions a s a cur rent am plif i er . The trans ist or s and re sistor s uti lize d als o had an e nor mou s ef fec t on the audio qualit y . T o fac il ita te sel ecti on, we asse m- bled several model s and s[...]

28 GainStation 1 The Hi- Z in pu t is a f ully dis cre te impe dance c onver te r that al s o operates in cla ss A mo de. It is base d o n a low- nois e f iel d ef fe ct trans istor that is 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 d u e t o i t s extrem ely high in put impeda nce. The signal then passes to the clean gain stag e. [...]

GainStation 1 29 The 2 x 3 0 -V curr ent alo ne is f ir st p re- reg ulate d to 33 V and th en reduced to 30 V in orde r to f ilter o ut the l as t remna nt s of hum. Thi s tas k is handled by selec t 100 0 -µF elec troly tic capacitors . In addition, crit ical current s are stab iliz ed vi a a 10 0 -nF M KP f oil condenser, t o ensure suf f icien[...]

30 GainStation 1 Fre q ue n c y r e sp o n se (Cle an G ain 30 dB, T u be Ga in of f , o utput level 0 dB , +/- 0.5 dB): ‹1 H z-1 25 kHz 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 -31 0 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 be Gain 1 [...]

GainStation 1 31 Dimensions (W x H x D ): 10 6 x 122 x 27 1 m m Weig ht (w/o Lund ahl tr ans for mer an d AD co nver ter ): 2 .65 k g The foll ow ing access or y is optionally avail able: • L undah l input t ran sfor me r (upg rad es af ter sal e by auth oriz ed ser vic e perso nne l or SP L only ) • 2 4-B it/96 k Hz A D conve r ter (U pgr adi [...]

32 GainStation 1 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 thoro ugh 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[...]

GainStation 1 33 ............................................................... ............................................................... ............................................................... ............................................................... ............................................................... .............[...]

User ’ s Guide GainStation 1, Models 2272 & 22 7 3 All yo u need i s imag inat ion, g ood ea rs and t hree l et ters :[...]