jeudi 10 novembre 2016

INA217 mic preamp

It's been about 10 years since I wanted to build a "good quality" mic preamp. I wanted to build the famous "green mic pre", I even did a PCB for it, but never had time or will to finish it. I also ordered some INA103 instrumentation amplifier at that time, thinking that it would be an easier and faster way to make something.
I made a simple one on a perfboard, about 10 years ago and never went forward... While "cleaning" my components stock I found those chip and though it was to do something with them! While looking after schematic and info, I found this project  ATPS mic preamp project based on INA217 IC. It's a really nice project, and you can even buy PCB from them (that's actually how I found the project, when looking for INA217 on ebay).
INA217 is also an instrumentation amplifier from TI (a "replacement" for the SSM2017), quite cheap (about $6), and I though I could make a design for both chip (using an adaptor PCB for INA103). I use different DPDT switch, so I had to redraw a PCB layout anyway.
Here's the schematic. Not really different from ATPS one, I removed the output offset control loop opamp to keep the design simple, and also the half rectifier for vu meter. There's also an EXT input for a line level signal (without phantom power). Could be used for a high-Z input too (with a proper buffer stage).


Remember that this schematic is AS-IS.
I also added a "daughter board" with a vu meter, 8 leds, the resistor value is for 12V, RL8 need to be change for other PSU.
I made 2 PCB using toner transfer, for the copper layer and for the top "silkscreen" :
The preamp PCB completed :