Prostheta Posted May 16, 2012 Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 As part of my SB Black n' Gold project I made the decision to lift the "BB Noisekiller" active pre-amp from the Aria Pro II SB-1000 for my bass. I've already made a lot of these in the process and managed to resurrect six vintage basses for people whose BBs died. It turns out that the major culprit as to why these have had such a high failure rate in the field is not the fact they are over 30yrs old but because 70s Tantalum capacitors were virtually miniature explosives. Cool. The way these little babies worked in the original SB-1000 was to just drop the ground altogether and create a differential amplifier where noise cancels out neatly pretty much the same way as a humbucker. Nothing spectacular, however it does have a clarity of sound compared to the passive mode. The boards were etched, assembled and encapsulated in epoxy. I am likely going to pop one into my Ibanez S to convert it to active. That and lifting the earth makes them inky quiet! My friend Zuma did a great demo of the SB-1000 including the varitone and the active/passive modes. FF to 1:10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Workingman Posted May 16, 2012 Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 Nice review, very nice bass. Glad to hear the pre-amp is working. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2012 It's an exact copy of the original so it better work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkAvenger Posted May 17, 2012 Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 Oh wow, that's cool! I was playing with the idea of trying one in a project, but I've never actually seen/heard one in a guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2012 EMG, et al. have them hidden in the pickup itself, so it is surprisingly common! This does not "model" the tone like EMG says theirs do (long story) but certainly quietens instruments and drives cables without losing top end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 EMG, et al. have them hidden in the pickup itself, so it is surprisingly common! This does not "model" the tone like EMG says theirs do (long story) but certainly quietens instruments and drives cables without losing top end. i would be interested in hearing that story, i am trying to see what the differences in the preamps are i have the 81 schematic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Which schematic do you have? Those buffers are a little different to these. Same kind of idea though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Which schematic do you have? Those buffers are a little different to these. Same kind of idea though. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.picvalley.net/u/464/115788_577.JPG&imgrefurl=http://music-electronics-forum.com/t9095/&h=1024&w=1280&sz=78&tbnid=R-FihgjE-iLWgM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=113&zoom=1&docid=pLgyLCvFGPikqM&sa=X&ei=a-K1T-GfMIes9ASxnOCaCg&ved=0CHUQ9QEwAg&dur=373 this was the one over at freestompboxes.org its been verified and the old one i tore apart was pretty darn close from what i salavaged from my first emg teardown ie destroyer this is also a similar version to what i am using in my mini 81 on my wiring diagram minus a few parts swap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Yes, that looks familiar. You can change the current setting of the LM4250 also to open up the top end. Same idea as early MM preamps. If the LM4250s weren't so expensive compared to TL0x2s and other similar op-amps i would have used that myself. Great lil micropower chip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Yes, that looks familiar. You can change the current setting of the LM4250 also to open up the top end. Same idea as early MM preamps. If the LM4250s weren't so expensive compared to TL0x2s and other similar op-amps i would have used that myself. Great lil micropower chip. not to be rude but are you outside the usa? they are around a buck each ok i am an idiot i didn't check profile before i asked lol sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 i meant to ask did you make the pcb yourself cause its quite tasty looking from what i can see in the pics very professional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 Yeah, but that's just a prototype board. I plan on getting a bunch professional screenprinted and drilled once the first three sell. Despite it being a retrofit/replacement for the Aria Pro II SB-1000 it can be used for any instrument as a general purpose buffer. If the instrument is fully rewired it is possible to do a ground lift the same as how EMGs work. The only downside is that in its current state it only works on a balanced 18v supply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 so wheres a schematic of this critter at i would like to see it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 I'm keeping that close to my chest since I am selling these. It isn't a circuit that a competent design engineer couldn't draw up themselves, however this unit as a whole is a straight part-for part replacement for the pre-amp in the SB-1000. I might shrink it to SMD for mounting on the back of a pot if demand presents itself, however that is not the intention at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted May 18, 2012 Report Share Posted May 18, 2012 fair enough just wondering i like to see circuits. i don't do buffers lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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