Well, If I can do it, anyone can do it. I dove into this project with practically no experience. I've soldered cables, and that's it! I was a little intimidated, but I knew this was something I wanted to do, and I just had to sit down and figure it out.
I wasn't sure if this was something that would take weeks or minutes to complete. I know I will be quicker next time, I was overly cautious with every little component. I checked, double checked, and made certain everything was right.
I was pleased that I was able to begin stuffing my preamp on one Sunday afternoon, and was 90% finished by midnight. The next morning I put the last few pieces in and was finished at noon on Monday.
I really began to doubt myself when I saw pictures of other completed A12's. I first noticed that my solder joints were a little messier, and some didn't bleed to the front of the board. I was very nervous. I had a few questions about powering up the PS03, but when I finally got it running, I performed the tests, and everything was in spec.
I've read stories of people completing these preamps and plugging them in to find nasty hums, or noise, but mine sounds absolutely beautiful. I tracked some guitars and compared the tracks to my SYTEK and to my Focusrite preamps. My A12 had hotter output than both pre's and far less noise than my focusrites. The top end was cleaner and the tracks on the A12 were more present. I always need to use HPF's on guitars through my syteks, but the A12 sounds just right as is.
SO I have to ask, is it really this easy, or am I just naturally this good?Okay, don't answer that.
Thanks Tim, I was a little nervous at first with the time it took to get my pre's, but in the end it was well worth the wait. You've done a great thing and should be the first abductee into the studio electronics hall of fame!!!