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I've been researching a little on this mic preamp/compressor. Apparently this thing is incredible, but there are only about 40 of them out there in use right now. Does anyone know how it works? I know it uses (4) 6dj8 tubes (or 6922), and had a PCMCIA slot in the back which held the various compressor pre-sets. I wonder if this is some kind of vari-mu design with a solid state control voltage. At any rate, I'd be interested in finding out more about what's inside this beastie! Does anyone here have any insight?

Sweetwater's promo blurb:

http://www.sweetwater.com/publications/sweetnotes/sn-spring97/page-08.html

Ty Ford's review:
ftp://ftp.jagunet.com/pub/users/tford/Articles/Other_Audio_Gear/98.1_Greg_Hanks_BA-660.txt

Cheers,

Kris

Comments

anonymous Fri, 08/15/2003 - 08:05

That's really too bad, I've heard that the BA-660 was a really unique design. I understand that Greg was even seeking (or maybe even received) patents on some of the design aspects of it.

Vince, do you know anything about the internals of this thing? Does it use DSP for the sidechain control voltage (or maybe just solid state)...I know there's a few tricks in there? Do you think Mr. Hanks would be willing to send me a schematic...I'm looking for inspiration.

Cheers,

Kris

ghanks Mon, 05/06/2013 - 19:28

BA-660..... It's Back ! In memory of Ben Hanks RIP

MPlancke, post: 324236 wrote: It does for the few lucky ones that actually own one!

Greg is one great guy, too bad the DBX unit didn't get off the ground.

Mark

Thank you everyone for your kind words. I have brought the unit back to life. The only changes made have been to sonically improve the design. In supporting them over the years I have made a number of small changes to improve things as I found them. One of the big changes is to incorporate an output transformer to make the hook up trouble free. (It lowers the maximum available output from +34 at 150 ohms to +33 at 600 ohms... 150 ohm loads max out at +25) For additional output and purity the transformer can by easily jumpered out)
There have been zero pcmcia card change requests, so it's been incorporated into the Gain Control PCB. Additional emulations are available upon request.
I am doing the runs 20 at a time. Sales are queued up and I am on the second run.
Orders can be placed through [="http://greghanksdesign.com/ba-660.html"]my site[/]="http://greghanksdes…"]my site[/] .
Please visit [URL=https://www.faceboo… Son's Facebook page and "Like" it. It brings a smile to my wife's face when the count rises and she sees that people think about Ben.
Thanks you again