Barcus Berry - 3000AE  [schematic]

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Bernardduur
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Post by Bernardduur »

So I was busy with adding electret mics to almost all my instruments (awesome stuff!!!!!) and I needed something to power em. My friend gave me his BB 3000AE to borrow. I can't post pictures (he asked me not to do that) but it is 99% identical to the BB3000 preamp as made for piezo and which schematic is on Analoguru's site here

Only difference: one resistor on the input (2.2k) to V+ (R4????)

Result: great preamp in combination with the mic!


I made my own unit with a stereo jack. The tip is the guitars / bass' pickups, the ring is the electret mic, sleeve is ground. Pickups' signal is fed through a buffer and is mixed with the BB through a simple mixer so I can dial in a mix of both sounds. AWESOME!
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Post by flood »

hi,

i made a PCB layout based on AG's schematic - it is a bit crap (my layout, not the circuit or schematic), to be honest, but seemed to work in conjunctiion with a piezo disc. it's just VERY small and uses an SMD IC (i used OPA2134). the reason is that i wanted to fit it into my bass' electronics cavity along with everything else to be accessed from the back

i still have to create some space under my bass bridge to fit in 2-3 piezos in parallel for a more even sound (6 string bass)... would the thus lowered impedance create a problem?

i could upload the eagle files if you like here.

one last question - would this preamp work with magnetic pickups?
In the interest of full disclosure, I am Animal Factory Amplification.

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Nikifena
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Post by Nikifena »

If you like to use piezo, why not try serial ?
There is no problem to use paralel, but need to change input resistor with higer -10Meg. Paralel wiring will give you more noise.


There is no problem to work with magnetic preamp. If you like to use ONLY macnetic, just change input resistor to 1Meg - 2,2Meg.

I suggest to use OPA2132 instead of 2134.

I suggest some more changes from analogguru sch.

-Change 1/2v resistors (100k and 121k) to smaller value - 2x47k is better.
-Change C8- 100nf to 100uF
- Insert 1k-10k resistor between C4(47n) and U1a.
- R3 can be 1k.
- Insert paralell cap 100-470nF to C1 (10uF)
- Insert 100uF and 100nf capacitors between + and GND. (100n cap must be closer to U1 - pin 4 and 8 )
- You can use 10-47 ohm resistor between Vbatt and Vopamp.

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Post by analogguru »

You can also give this project a chance:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3239

analogguru
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Post by flood »

Nikifena wrote:If you like to use piezo, why not try serial ?
There is no problem to use paralel, but need to change input resistor with higer -10Meg. Paralel wiring will give you more noise.


There is no problem to work with magnetic preamp. If you like to use ONLY macnetic, just change input resistor to 1Meg - 2,2Meg.

I suggest to use OPA2132 instead of 2134.

I suggest some more changes from analogguru sch.

-Change 1/2v resistors (100k and 121k) to smaller value - 2x47k is better.
-Change C8- 100nf to 100uF
- Insert 1k-10k resistor between C4(47n) and U1a.
- R3 can be 1k.
- Insert paralell cap 100-470nF to C1 (10uF)
- Insert 100uF and 100nf capacitors between + and GND. (100n cap must be closer to U1 - pin 4 and 8 )
- You can use 10-47 ohm resistor between Vbatt and Vopamp.
thanks for the tip! will try serial wiring, i wasn't aware that parallel would cause more noise. am a bit of a noob :P

what is the difference between 2132 and 2134? i somehow managed to solder the SMD in, am definitely not taking it out now :D will keep 2132 in mind for future builds.

@AG - thanks for that link - looks interesting to say the least! it will definitely give my soldering some well needed training.... i should try it sometime.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am Animal Factory Amplification.

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Post by flood »

sorry for the late follow up. here is my layout in eagle 5.0 format. it's cramped as hell, and could use improvement but seems to work.
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BB3000.rar
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juj0
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Post by juj0 »

There was a mistake in previous layout. Here's a new one, anyway it's still not verified - at least it doesn't work for me. By the way, could anyone tell me what is this additional 100-470nF cap, parallel to C1 for?
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Barcus Berry 3000A Vero.pdf
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Post by greg_is »

Hi everybody [smilie=a_okbyenow.gif]

I'm going to build this preamp but, on the schematics, i'm not sure about some components.
-the potentiomenters. The bass and treble ones are 100k linear with center detent, isn't it? Those guys would be good? ( https://www.ebay.com/itm/5-pcs-20K-pot- ... 0440690007)
-the value of R4. I will use it with piezo discs, and in the best case i will plug one, but on another setup i will have 4. Should i have a variable resistor? Or a rotary switch connected to different resistances? If someone who understand well that can explain me the relation between resistance/number of piezos, i dont get it :oops:

Image

NB : Actually here (http://windworld.com/tools-techniques-i ... -together/) they give information about wiring them together. They write :
In hooking up multiple piezos, you have a choice of whether to join them in series or in parallel. Because of the electrical nature of piezos, series connection yields poor results; parallel is the way to go. In practice this means: connect the hot lead from each of the piezos in the group to a common wire for the hot side of the output, and connect the ground from each peizo to a common ground wire.
If you can help me, i'm stuck :(

thanks!!

greg

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Post by greg_is »

Little up, i'm stuck on that :(

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Post by greg_is »

What about this correction of the schematic? Is it a correction to do if you use a NE5532?
Sorry for those newbie questions.
http://translate.google.ca/translate?hl ... CDwQ7gEwAA

thanks again analogguru for sharing the original schematic.

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Post by yes2matt »

Just finished building this one, don't have a pic yet. And it sounds great! But it's SO NOISY. I'm a rookie at this and I suspect it's an easy fix but I'm not sure how.

Basically it sounds like a ground loop. Whenever I contact the circuit with my finger (via screwdriver) I can touch a lead that goes to ground and the noise goes away. And the sound is really good. Also, when I plug the guitar into a stompbox, there's a huge *pop* when I turn the box on and off (it's a true-bypass design) that doesn't happen w/ other guitars.

I don't know how to solve this, I'm sure it's easy but like I said I'm a rookie. Any help is appreciated!

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Post by yes2matt »

yes2matt wrote:But it's SO NOISY. I'm a rookie at this...
Got it. Little thing called a "Faraday Cage." An Altoids tin works just fine.

btw for an earlier question, I used these pots. They are scratchy to turn and they have suggested life of 200 cycles (!) but that's enough for me to set-and-forget. http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/produc ... KU=70M7209

This is a great little piezo pre! a huge upgrade from the one I had installed prior. Though if I would rebuild it, I would bypass all of the "EQ" circuitry and also the volume, because I am running them all "dimed." it would make it even smaller then.

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Post by greg_is »

yes2matt wrote:
yes2matt wrote:But it's SO NOISY. I'm a rookie at this...
Got it. Little thing called a "Faraday Cage." An Altoids tin works just fine.

btw for an earlier question, I used these pots. They are scratchy to turn and they have suggested life of 200 cycles (!) but that's enough for me to set-and-forget. http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/produc ... KU=70M7209

This is a great little piezo pre! a huge upgrade from the one I had installed prior. Though if I would rebuild it, I would bypass all of the "EQ" circuitry and also the volume, because I am running them all "dimed." it would make it even smaller then.
omg thanks a lot !!!

I've built different preamps and all were noisy and i didn't think about putting them in a metal box.
You solved my problems.

thanks for sharing! [smilie=rlp_smilie_242.gif]

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Post by greg_is »

Though if I would rebuild it, I would bypass all of the "EQ" circuitry and also the volume, because I am running them all "dimed." it would make it even smaller then.
how would you do?

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Post by manontheedge »

i was bacly searching a preamp for my acoustic guitar!
This looks really interesting!
But i wanna add a "middle" control, cause specially with UST pickup, the middles are the crytical frequencies...
How can i add a "middle" pot on the eq section?

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Post by manontheedge »

searching on my collected files, i founded this 3 band parametric EQ.
I don't remember who is the autor of this schematic...
Do you think il could work as a preamp?
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3B Equalizer.jpg

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Post by greg_is »

My knowledge is limited but looking at it, it looks like a preamp, but a modular version i guess, with the positive and negative power supply.

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Post by staedlercombi »

The link pointing to the original schematic is dead, so here is the schematic again!
schematic
;)

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Post by marcelitoescort »

HI, i know that is an old post but, does anybody know if the changes proposed are for magnetic pickups only or for use with piezo pickups too?

thanks a lot...
Nikifena wrote:If you like to use piezo, why not try serial ?
There is no problem to use paralel, but need to change input resistor with higer -10Meg. Paralel wiring will give you more noise.


There is no problem to work with magnetic preamp. If you like to use ONLY macnetic, just change input resistor to 1Meg - 2,2Meg.

I suggest to use OPA2132 instead of 2134.

I suggest some more changes from analogguru sch.

-Change 1/2v resistors (100k and 121k) to smaller value - 2x47k is better.
-Change C8- 100nf to 100uF
- Insert 1k-10k resistor between C4(47n) and U1a.
- R3 can be 1k.
- Insert paralell cap 100-470nF to C1 (10uF)
- Insert 100uF and 100nf capacitors between + and GND. (100n cap must be closer to U1 - pin 4 and 8 )
- You can use 10-47 ohm resistor between Vbatt and Vopamp.

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DarthMalgus
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Post by DarthMalgus »

Hello, i know this thread is old but i got my hands on a Barcus Berry 3000A buffer preamp and saw someone suggesting several modifcations to the circuit. Were they suggested for the original version using TL062 or for the OPA opamps ?
Thanks in advance!

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