Fender FR-12 preamp mod : The Hissterectomy

sashimi said:
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Hype Gambit GIF
 
WKSmith said:
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How then is phantom being passed from the xlr out to the xlr in through the stock FR input board?

Is a fluke meter capable of dis-information?

Y'all show $alesBitch to the door
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At first I was just worried that phantom power would fry the FR itsef. I wasn't even thinking about the voltage passing through it and hitting the modeler.

That should at least be made clear at the manuals for sure.
 
I edited my recent phantom post to include this guidance, that I also shared many months ago.

This will at least keep the XLR IN jack isolated from phantom power. The best protection is to never use the XLR out jack with any device that has phantom power on its inputs.

A quick and dirty fix is to push in the ground lift switch. It will at least keep the caps from charging up instantly to +48V DC when phantom is present.
 
WKSmith said:
I edited my recent phantom post to include this guidance, that I also shared many months ago.

This will at least keep the XLR IN jack isolated from phantom power. The best protection is to never use the XLR out jack with any device that has phantom power on its inputs.

A quick and dirty fix is to push in the ground lift switch. It will at least keep the caps from charging up instantly to +48V DC when phantom is present.
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This dirty fix only isolates the XLR input or does it also protect the FR own circuit?

I'm asking because my main concern always was to fry the FR itself, not the modeler, since the ones that I use or intend to use (Line 6 and Fractal) already have proper phantom power protected outputs.
 
davi_ssilva said:
This dirty fix only isolates the XLR input or does it also protect the FR own circuit?

I'm asking because my main concern always was to fry the FR itself, not the modeler.
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This is why I built phantom protection into the V pres. I don't want phantom to hit that first IC.

I am not trusting a ground lift switch to remove anything but hum. As it was intended.
 
So I started reading this thread last week and trying to understand the development of the upgrades to an amp I don't own yet. And right at the end, there is news of a bonus V3 board coming out soon. I couldn't have predicted that on page 50 or so.
So I guess I have time to locate an FR-10 as it might be a few months until V3 is available. I think I will subscribe to this thread.
 
Mincer said:
So I started reading this thread last week and trying to understand the development of the upgrades to an amp I don't own yet. And right at the end, there is news of a bonus V3 board coming out soon. I couldn't have predicted that on page 50 or so.
So I guess I have time to locate an FR-10 as it might be a few months until V3 is available. I think I will subscribe to this thread.
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You must. (it was either Dwight, or Palpatine)

Season 4 Reaction GIF by The Office
 
You forgot the $ . 🤣

Keep in mind. I am a customer. I paid for these FRs with my hard earned money.

Right up till seeing the voltmeter this guy insisted there was phantom protection in the fr (period. Dis-information?) there is none. Now the story is.. it's not that it has protection, but it's not needed.

Sound familiar ? My new FR is hissing.. no it's not that's normal. Let's gaslight you about 1000 watts (1st lie) about the hiss being normal (2nd lie) and moms sedan vs a hotrod.

Although the IC swap to "fix" the hiss production date was actually before I received my FR-12 from F corp with the hiss... Meaning F-corp knowingly sold me a defective product.
It's cool though. I fixed it. And several other ones.

Classy ? For the most skeezball PR I have ever PAID for. I think not.
 
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WKSmith said:
You forgot the $ .

Keep in mind. I am a customer. I paid for these FRs with my hard earned money.

Right up till seeing the voltmeter this guy insisted there was phantom protection in the fr (period) there is none. Now the story is.. it's not that it has protection, but it's not needed.

Sound familiar ? My new FR is hissing.. no it's not that's normal. Let's gaslight you about 1000 watts (1st lie) about the hiss being normal (2nd lie) and moms sedan vs a hotrod.

Although the IC swap to "fix" the hiss production date was actually before I received my FR-12 from F corp with the hiss. F-corp knowingly sold me a defective product.
It's cool though. I fixed it.

Classy ? For the most skeezball PR I have ever PAID for. I think not.
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I agree with you completely.

I could even forgive their choice to not put the phantom protection in a pass-through input board, as long as they warn everyone about it (which obviously they didn't).

But what doesn't make sense to me at all is letting the phantom power hit the FR preamp board and keep telling that the thing is protected. Did I miss something here? Did I get something wrong? I simply don't understand how such thing would be possible.
 
How hard is it to just tell the truth?
All this drama instead?

I think Mr. Salesguy (or PR guy or whatever) honestly believed the "official" phantom protection story. Yet calls this the herd?

Here is the truth:
1) There are many flaws in the FR stock pre design (fixed or hissy) The rest of the FR is pretty great.

2) We have been gaslit and lied to about these problems and talked to like toddlers.

3) The V2 and soon V3 preamps are vastly superior. Without the drama. They give performance rivaling much more expensive FRFRs using the FR platform as a donor carcass.


When I tell you the hiss is mostly the crap 12 amp channel eq design. Its The Truth

When I tell you there is zero phantom protection. It is The Truth.

When I tell you there is a nasty phase problem with my stock FR-10s . The Truth.

The crossover is tuned wrong
The input stage is tuned wrong
The gain staging for the horn is wrong
Cheap single sided board
Crappy 4558 ICs
Exactly 153 watts

all The Truth.

#keepitclassy
 
Could someone ELI5 how to make sure I don't destroy my setup with phantom power?

I hear this phrase from time to time but really don't know anything about it. A lot of the chat in this thread is above my head from a tech perspective

I tried an FR-10 and was surprised how much I liked it. Will be keeping it but really would like to avoid frying all my gear on accident...
 
AmbientOwl said:
Could someone ELI5 how to make sure I don't destroy my setup with phantom power?

I hear this phrase from time to time but really don't know anything about it. A lot of the chat in this thread is above my head from a tech perspective

I tried an FR-10 and was surprised how much I liked it. Will be keeping it but really would like to avoid frying all my gear on accident...
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What are you plugging into the FR?
 
AmbientOwl said:
Could someone ELI5 how to make sure I don't destroy my setup with phantom power?

I hear this phrase from time to time but really don't know anything about it. A lot of the chat in this thread is above my head from a tech perspective

I tried an FR-10 and was surprised how much I liked it. Will be keeping it but really would like to avoid frying all my gear on accident...
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Primarily, if you are connecting the XLR output from the FR10 to a PA’s mixing console, make sure the cable you are using to connect it is not plugged into an input that has engaged phantom power on the console’s input channel.
 
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