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6/27/2016

Vacuum tube mixing board?  Yes, I did it.  

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Yep, it works and it sounds great!  A one-off for LBA Recording Studio (new website coming soon with photos).  After I finished designing the Op-2 Comp and finished teaching Jon how to build them exactly as I would, I was supposed to get back to work on the Trinity project.  I decided to take a slight detour and completely rebuild the control room at LBA Recording Studio from the ground up.  lol.  That was no slight detour, btw!  I have been planning to do this for years.  Really, I just needed the time, money, and motivation.  It was a huge job that would not be complete unless I built a vacuum tube powered mixing board.  Here it is... the Trinity Master Module.  Its expandable, so as the years drift on I can keep adding modules to expand its capabilities.  The Master module seen here is a 10 channel mixer with pan controls for 8 channels.  The other two channels are fixed hard left and right.  There's a Master output volume attenuator (Gold Point stepped attenuator), and left/right master trim controls for the tube output amplifier stage.  Most of the controls are for the stereo master, which include independent left/right channel mutes, a master mute, phase invert, mono/stereo switch, speaker selector, input selector (external stereo input or 10 channel internal mixer), and output selector (monitor, bounce).  The board is powered by the Trinity system's "Beast Mode Power Supply," which can supply power to 4 different Trinity system devices.  Right now its powering the Trinity Master Module, the Trinity ARA (Auxiliary Return Amplifier), and a prototype Trinity Channel Strip.  The idea is a bunch of Trinity Channel Strips feed into the Trinity Master Module.  This is probably the first all-tube point-to-point hand wired mixing board made since the 1950's, but its lightyears beyond in terms of technology and fidelity.  The mixer is basically noiseless (-110dB noise floor) and has practically no crosstalk, with a flat response from DC-30kHz.  In terms of sound its more punchy and forward than the Flux Bender EQ, but with some of the same tonal qualities.  Very clean, but tastefully warm.

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6/12/2016

Op-2 Comp power adapter update

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I have been hunting for a low noise 12v power adapter with a negative barrel center for a long time.  Up until now the best solution for someone looking to power their Op-2 Comp off a single wall adapter (not a multi-pedal supply) has been the TC Electronic adapter we have been offering.  I was not entirely satisfied with the noise performance of this adapter, but it was better than average.  The main reason I had to look harder is because one customer had a problem with their TC adapter not working sometimes.  Lightning Boy can not back a shoddy product and thankfully we don't have to thanks to the new adapter option I'm about to tell you about.  We're now offering a new adapter for sale with or separate from the Op-2 Comp.  This 12v adapter was designed for computer applications, so it has super low noise.  The main problem with adapters like that is the barrel jack's center is positive.  To remedy this, we are including a polarity reversal adapter jack that plugs onto the DC barrel jack of the power adapter.  The combo ships together for one price of $24.95 USD.  I'm happy to say I finally found a low priced low noise 12v solution for Op-2 Comp.  This power supply offers a whopping 2A of current. Its plenty of juice if you wanted to daisy chain a few 12V tube pedals off one low noise supply.  

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    About the Author

    Mike Congilosi II, Owner/Designer/Electronics Engineer at Lightning Boy Audio and Owner/Audio Engineer/Music Producer at LBA Studios.  

    Mike received a Master of Music Degree in Studio Production from SUNY Purchase in 2007.  He has been engineering and producing music for about 15 years and has been a musician since early childhood.  Mike's electronics background comes from self education fueled by love, necessity, and a insatiable drive to create.  

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  • Home
  • Store
  • Products
    • Dark Storm - Mic Pre
    • Sun Storm - audio compressor
    • Super Storm - 500 Series Preamp
    • Eye of Jupiter - 500 Series Re-Amping DI Box
    • 23Fe+ Instrument Transformer
  • Mike's Blog
  • Reviews & Demos
  • Customer Support
  • LBA History
  • LBA User's Guides
  • LBA Studios