I had heard another ATB console that he had worked on and was blown away with the sound, I contacted him and had him rework the master bus. This immediately opened up the sound, the low-end muddiness was gone and the headphone amp was accurate. The preamps still were not doing it for me so I contacted him again to get new preamp chips. After going through the board and installing all the chips I was floored by the difference in the sound. The pres are now super fast and articulate.
Hi...i contacted Jim about the preamp chip mods...how easy was it to do for you...he said its only for version 1 of the board...how do you tell which version your toft is any idea?
ReplyDeleteSounds like you liked the mod!
Yeah it worked out really well. I am not sure how you determine the version of the board but i knew mine was version 1. It is fairly easy to do the mod but you have to bend a couple of capacitors out of the way and make sure the chip is fully seated. I think to do every single channe1 it took about an hour and a half.
ReplyDeleteOne quick way to discover the revision is to check for multicolor mute/solo LEDs. The first gen did not have these.
ReplyDeleteI have a first gen ATB24 and I'm curious about these mods. I might start with the master section and maybe 2 channels of PIPs (plugin preamps.) Was the master section upgrade worth it by itself? (I realize this is very subjective, just looking for general impressions)
I read that the line inputs are just the mic input + a pad. As such, did you notice a big difference in the line input behavior after the PIP upgrade? I use mostly external preamps, and the existing pres work well enough when I need them. However, if there were a big difference in the line or monitor inputs then I'd consider upgrading more channels if the initial experiment helped. Thanks!
The master bus mod on these is totally necessary way reduces the noise floor and mud. Jim also cleans up the headphone amp to make it usable, this was worth the price alone for me. The PIP upgrade improves the accuracy of the line inputs. I will say this if you do an A to B between the PIP channel and an unmodded channel you may think that the unmodded channel sounds fuller. But in reality this is just low mid mud that is added by the pre. The PIP is much more accurate. When all is said and done I decided to decommission the Toft and went to all outboard pres and an SSL Xdesk. Even with the PIPs I still was reaching for my outboard Pres.
ReplyDeleteHow should I contact about these mods and/or parts?
ReplyDeleteSORRY... Make that "WHO should I contact about these mods and/or parts?
ReplyDeleteThank You!