Digi 003 rack

[max cooper]

Awesome!

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showt...threadid=24137

[wwittman]

I just want to point out that, unless you have ribbon mics that are incorrectly wired, there is no REASON to need switchable phantom power.
One could list dozens or world class studios that worked for 30 years without switchable phantom without any problems.
It's silly.

[DJ Insomaniac]

Awesome!

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showt...threadid=24137

How long did that take to doctor? What did you use, Photoshop?

[lwilliam]

Very cool on the 003R - someone was having some fun!

I just want to point out that, unless you have robbon mics that are incorrectly wired, there is no REASON to need switchable phantom power.
One could list dozens or world class studios that worked for 30 years without switchable phantom without any problems.
It's silly.

I don't know why we're discussing this on this thread, but...

WRONG! I can probably name most of the preamps in those world-class studios and they ALL had switchable phantom. The stand-alone preamp is a thing that only came out in the 90's. Earlier than that, they pretty much used the console preamp. I also worked in one of those very nice studios for a couple of years, and one of the things you are taught as a working engineer is to cut phantom before plugging the mics in. Otherwise, it's called "hot-plugging a mic" and is very frowned upon in pro studios. SSL, Neve, Harrison, Soundcraft, MCI, etc., they have/had switchable phantom per channel.

My very nice preamp is getting a bunch of new front end components at this very moment (well, during business hours) because I failed to turn phantom power off before switching a couple of condenser mics around. My mic cables are fine (Monster), my mics are fine (TLM103 & A/T 4030), and my preamp is a Studio Technologies Mic-PreEmminence (same kind used on MJ's Thriller album). All very decent quality stuff.

If you plug a mic in while phantom is hot, you CAN damage your preamp - not every time you do it, but you are taking a chance. I have first-hand experience with this - and "hot-plugging" my mic is what I was told caused the damage to my preamp (by Audio Upgrades, who is repairing the unit).

[Rail Jon Rogut]

Older Neve and API consoles had an all or nothing approach to phantom power.. if you're going to use a ribbon mic -- you could either turn off the phantom power on the whole console and use external phantom power supplies... or leave the desk phantom power on and use outboard preamps -- there are plenty of these desks still around which haven't been modified for individual phantom power switching.

If your phantom power supply is good, and your mics in good condition -- you should have no problem pluging them in while phantom is turned on (just keep the channel muted).

Rail

[LUEDEMANN]

Anyone know what the official price will be for the Digi1073??

1073's are THE [bleep]

[L.A.Branville]

Very crafty
len b.

[Guerrilla Tech]

lwilliam, the console you are talking about at Mad Hatter did not have switchable phantom power until LJ and I rewired it with an external supply. We then put switches on the back to enable phantom in banks of 8. This was around '96, '97.

Now Larry has designed an inline phantom power supply that is capacitor coupled, and cuts off phantom from the patchbay. No more 48v DC pops. We have kept to the bank-of-8 switching, though. It makes clients with ribbon mics more comfortable.

[lwilliam]

I wasn't particularly thinking about Mad Hatter (I think they have a classic Harrison in the main room), but my only point is that once I left the "pro" studio world with my own studio, I ignored what I'd been trained about hot-plugging mics and have been fine for several years doing just that. But when Jim Williams at Audio Upgrades told me I'd fried my preamp because I'd been hot-plugging (phantom on) my condenser mics, I changed my tune and will now turn phantom off before switching condenser mics.

The "proper" sequence is
1. preamp volume down;
2. phantom off;
3. unplug/plug new mic.
4. phantom on
5. volume up

As I said, I'd been hot-plugging for years with no bad results, but it just happened to fry my preamp last week or I wouldn't be on this particular high horse.

[max cooper]

As I said, I'd been hot-plugging for years with no bad results, but it just happened to fry my preamp last week or I wouldn't be on this particular high horse.

Ah the many times I could have done this. Funny how we develop "lazy" habits so fast. Methinks I'll be switching phantom "off' from now on too. Good reminder.