A little dremelling, shrink wrap and zip ties…


A little dremelling, shrink wrap and zip ties…
I’ll just put this here. My DBX 166A compressor had terribly corroded 1/4″ phone jacks, and I found these exact replacements with gold-plated contacts. Neutrik part number NRJ6HF-1-AU (Gold plated) or NRJ6HF (Silver plated). These jacks are used in many other DBX products.
Hey internet, I just finished refurbishing this GFA-555, and the customer opted to go without the BFA-555 Smart Soft-Start Power Supply, so if you’re wondering what you get without this option, here it is! I do install some Capacitor Hats to replace the crusty originals. The original power supply capacitors were replaced with Kemet ALS30, 22,000uF, which is about as big as you can go without a soft-start. (Or the switch will spark too much and the fuse may blow due to the in-rush current.)
Invoice on this one was $1210.
Dust is attracted to high static voltage, dramatically illustrated here on the underside of an Adcom GFA-555. These dusty traces are at only 80V potential, but that’s enough to make them dustier than surrounding traces at lower voltages.
** I have no affiliation with Galaxy audio in any way and this review is strictly impartial.
So I’ve started doing sound for techno raves with a friend’s production company, and I needed a good monitor speaker so the DJ’s can hear what’s going out to the floor.
Continue reading Galaxy Audio GPS-8 Mini review and tear-down.
For those of you who prefer a more original looking GFA-565 board, I still sell this older version, the BFA-565. It works great. I prefer the new version, the EBFA-565; It has many subtle improvements, is easier to build, easier to install, and even shows a measurable improvement in performance.
But the original board is still available if you want it! Here.
Printed circuit board+Pogo pins=Test jig.
Every circuit board I sell need to be thoroughly tested, and measurements taken that should agree with expected values. Tests are chosen to show up any errors I might have made in the board’s assembly.
Here’s how I build my test jigs.
Continue reading How to build a Test Jig, or Test Fixture, for your Printed Circuit Boards
Good news! I have tested and validated the performance of the new heat sinks for the BFA-565 power supply board. They work great, and the boards will be ready for purchase later this week.
Continue reading Heatsink WIN! New BFA-565 power boards are go. 👍
Check out these serial number tags! So cool. They’re made of 1mm thick FR4 PCB material, with the text in ENIG gold finish. I use an engraver pen to fill in the date for the serial number. Held in place with a little JB Weld epoxy.
Launching a new product is a lot of work! I’ve been working on these new boards for the Adcom GFA-565 for about six months now. (Now available here.)
This is the last step before I consider it fit for sale—design validation. It has to perform at least as good as the previous version, and it has to deliver on the usability improvements. I need to install it into an amp, and not only test its electrical operation, but the user experience of installing it.
Continue reading EBFA-565 versus BFA-565 (Validating a new design)