If you are hunting for NOS MN3005 here's your chance. Synthcube has a small lot. IMO, they are overpriced a $49 each (I think $35 maybe $40 is more reasonable) but we are probably past the days of spending $100 and pulling 2 genuine NOS off an old pedal.
I bought two of them. I tested them against 4 brand new Xvive RI in a delay circuit. The 4 Xvive all pretty much swapped out with a fixed input bias point. However, the two MN3005 had to be adjusted slightly from the Xvive to pass delay. That leads me to believe they could indeed be the real deal (not that implying synthcube isn't legit in their claim - it's just fakes do happen and these aren't cheap). FWIW.
https://synthcube.com/cart/mn3005-bucket-brigade-delay-analog-ic
Nice, I just built a setback with an xvive, sounds great. Really clean repeats IMHO.
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Haven't those been for sale for a bit? Beyond the change in bias, did you notice any appreciable difference between the originals and the RIs? I've done side-by-sides with originals in vintage Maxon AD-900 and DMM units vs the MBP counterparts, but there are far too many variables to call that an objective A/B test.
Quote from: benny_profane on March 07, 2022, 11:17:51 PM
Haven't those been for sale for a bit? Beyond the change in bias, did you notice any appreciable difference between the originals and the RIs? I've done side-by-sides with originals in vintage Maxon AD-900 and DMM units vs the MBP counterparts, but there are far too many variables to call that an objective A/B test.
I don't regularly order from synthcube so that may be. I don't remember seeing anyone mention it and I wanted to test a couple before saying anything about it.
I agree, there may be very minor differences between the OG and RI in terms of sound but nothing that jumps out as WOW THAT'S SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER!!!!!11venty, haha.
The OG might be ever so slightly hotter or perhaps a tiny bit cleaner, but I'll have to do more substantial listening. Today I was testing out 6 chips in a row so I didn't have time to dawdle. I do plan on recording some samples comparing both at proper bias and let ppl decide for themselves at some point. Just not today.
That sounds good. Thanks for the initial thoughts. I'm looking forward to the comparison (however underwhelming it may be!).
Right on Brian! I've got some of each and was planning the same comparison at some point, but now I can scratch it off the list. I look forward to your findings.
Quote from: fig on March 08, 2022, 01:03:55 AM
Right on Brian! I've got some of each and was planning the same comparison at some point, but now I can scratch it off the list. I look forward to your findings.
Yeah, I'm thinking maybe a spectrum analyzer and/or FFT? It would be a good opportunity to practice at that. I've got a mastering buddy I can get help from.
Quote from: madbean on March 07, 2022, 11:38:31 PM
Quote from: benny_profane on March 07, 2022, 11:17:51 PM
Haven't those been for sale for a bit? Beyond the change in bias, did you notice any appreciable difference between the originals and the RIs? I've done side-by-sides with originals in vintage Maxon AD-900 and DMM units vs the MBP counterparts, but there are far too many variables to call that an objective A/B test.
I don't regularly order from synthcube so that may be. I don't remember seeing anyone mention it and I wanted to test a couple before saying anything about it.
I agree, there may be very minor differences between the OG and RI in terms of sound but nothing that jumps out as WOW THAT'S SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER!!!!!11venty, haha.
The OG might be ever so slightly hotter or perhaps a tiny bit cleaner, but I'll have to do more substantial listening. Today I was testing out 6 chips in a row so I didn't have time to dawdle. I do plan on recording some samples comparing both at proper bias and let ppl decide for themselves at some point. Just not today.
Playing in front of an audience of anyone, no one will ever know. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone.
Quote from: jimilee on March 08, 2022, 01:23:22 AM
Playing in front of an audience of anyone, no one will ever know. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone.
Yeah, no doubt! All this fretting and fawning when that guitar solo is digitized into a computer, compressed to shit, and beamed to your iPhone speakers while you (well, not Jimi specifically) browses Reddit for pics of dogs wearing berets.
Quote from: madbean on March 08, 2022, 01:27:48 AM
Quote from: jimilee on March 08, 2022, 01:23:22 AM
Playing in front of an audience of anyone, no one will ever know. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone.
Yeah, no doubt! All this fretting and fawning when that guitar solo is digitized into a computer, compressed to shit, and beamed to your iPhone speakers while you (well, not Jimi specifically) browses Reddit for pics of dogs wearing berets.
Bwahahahahahahahaha
According to the Xvive datasheet, under 'Electrical Characteristics' (the graphs are just copied from the original MN3005) it has higher THD (2.5 - 4% vs 1 - 2.5%) 100mV less signal swing and 0.8 vs 0.4 mVrms noise voltage at the specified test conditions.
Quote from: jimilee on March 08, 2022, 01:23:22 AM
Quote from: madbean on March 07, 2022, 11:38:31 PM
Quote from: benny_profane on March 07, 2022, 11:17:51 PM
Haven't those been for sale for a bit? Beyond the change in bias, did you notice any appreciable difference between the originals and the RIs? I've done side-by-sides with originals in vintage Maxon AD-900 and DMM units vs the MBP counterparts, but there are far too many variables to call that an objective A/B test.
I don't regularly order from synthcube so that may be. I don't remember seeing anyone mention it and I wanted to test a couple before saying anything about it.
I agree, there may be very minor differences between the OG and RI in terms of sound but nothing that jumps out as WOW THAT'S SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER!!!!!11venty, haha.
The OG might be ever so slightly hotter or perhaps a tiny bit cleaner, but I'll have to do more substantial listening. Today I was testing out 6 chips in a row so I didn't have time to dawdle. I do plan on recording some samples comparing both at proper bias and let ppl decide for themselves at some point. Just not today.
Playing in front of an audience of anyone, no one will ever know. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone.
You know it! Now, if I could just get someone to listen....
Quote from: fig on March 08, 2022, 02:09:53 AM
Quote from: jimilee on March 08, 2022, 01:23:22 AM
Quote from: madbean on March 07, 2022, 11:38:31 PM
Quote from: benny_profane on March 07, 2022, 11:17:51 PM
Haven't those been for sale for a bit? Beyond the change in bias, did you notice any appreciable difference between the originals and the RIs? I've done side-by-sides with originals in vintage Maxon AD-900 and DMM units vs the MBP counterparts, but there are far too many variables to call that an objective A/B test.
I don't regularly order from synthcube so that may be. I don't remember seeing anyone mention it and I wanted to test a couple before saying anything about it.
I agree, there may be very minor differences between the OG and RI in terms of sound but nothing that jumps out as WOW THAT'S SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH BETTER!!!!!11venty, haha.
The OG might be ever so slightly hotter or perhaps a tiny bit cleaner, but I'll have to do more substantial listening. Today I was testing out 6 chips in a row so I didn't have time to dawdle. I do plan on recording some samples comparing both at proper bias and let ppl decide for themselves at some point. Just not today.
Playing in front of an audience of anyone, no one will ever know. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone.
You know it! Now, if I could just get someone to listen....
My audience of one is nice, but I'm a jerk and heckle myself.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Heads up: synthcube is running a 25% discount store-wide starting today. This brings the cost of their MN3005 to about $36. This is a VERY GOOD price.
You need to be registered for an account and enter MV25 as the coupon code to get the discount. I just bought another batch. This is probably my final MN3005 acquisition :)
To be be clear: I am not affiliated with them in any way.
If you aren't afraid of pulled specimens and long delivery times, UTsource hasn't done me wrong so far for other things like long-out-of-production Motorola 680x0 PLLs and ancient J-package VRAM chips for vintage Macs :P
Looks like they're going for $20 with quantity of scale getting as low as $17.70
https://www.utsource.net/sch/MN3005.html
It's kind of marketplace-ish, so make sure the seller is actually utsource (just below the package type)
edit: by long shipping times, I mean, typically 7-14 business days. At least my VRAM didn't take longer than that. YMMV.
Quote from: jessenator on March 10, 2022, 03:35:06 AM
If you aren't afraid of pulled specimens and long delivery times, UTsource hasn't done me wrong so far for other things like long-out-of-production Motorola 680x0 PLLs and ancient J-package VRAM chips for vintage Macs :P
Looks like they're going for $20 with quantity of scale getting as low as $17.70
https://www.utsource.net/sch/MN3005.html
It's kind of marketplace-ish, so make sure the seller is actually utsource (just below the package type)
edit: by long shipping times, I mean, typically 7-14 business days. At least my VRAM didn't take longer than that. YMMV.
Well hopefully no one has tried to purchase from Utsource... I was about ready to check out and with Shenzhen on total lock-down, nothing is coming out of there anytime soon. I mean it goes beyond our parts, but still, FYI.
I was part of a group buy on FSB where we tried to get a sizeable batch of MN3005 from UTSource. I think we got three different batches from them and none were good. However, we also went for some MN3007 and MN3101 and those were all good. I picked up about 25 or so of each. This was around 2010, FWIW.
Final follow-up on the synthCube batch - I went all in on their 25% off and bought 10 more MN3005. I tested all of them and they were all good. Some of them are clear "pulls" from old circuits. So, I've got my final forever batch of MN3005 which will go in my favorite classic delay circuits. Then I'll use the Xvive for everything else :)
Now, if we could just get NE570. Mouser does have current production SA571/2 in surface mount so I may go this route at some point. Not sure how available the CoolAudio through-hole version is at the moment.
Quote from: madbean on March 21, 2022, 11:30:40 PM
I was part of a group buy on FSB where we tried to get a sizeable batch of MN3005 from UTSource. I think we got three different batches from them and none were good.
yikes... well crap, IDK if I'm going that route for mine then.
I've bought xvive 3005's from Retroamplis, they were good, and just bought 2 more. In spain, $20 pounds each and decent shipping, just takes a whlie for to get to north america by snail mail.
https://www.retroamplis.com/epages/62070367.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/62070367/Products/IC-MN3005-XV
Thanks for the post earlier--- yes we still can find these , although every now and then bad ones do get through, but we stand behind the ones we sell.