Alice Mixer

[dukeofearl]

Hi Ted, I was wondering how difficult it would be to add individual channel outs to an old Alice Mixer. The mixer looks similar to a 828 but doesn’t have a model number printed anywhere on it. Thanks!

[Ted Fletcher]

I would say, relatively easy…. It does depend a little on what the mixer is; most of the old Alice mixers did have individual channel outs, maybe it’s one of the really old ones like the AD62. Send me a picture of it!

As long as the individual channel output is used to drive a high impedance input on some equipment that’s close, then the output can successfully be taken from the wiper of the channel fader.

[dukeofearl]

Thanks for the quick reply! Here’s a pic. Was considering purchasing this one but might be better for me to try and find one with individual outs and limiters.

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[Ted Fletcher]

That’s actually not one of mine!

That looks like a broadcast mixer built by Alice Soundtech sometime after we sold the company back in 1984.

My designs were all before that!

[dukeofearl]

ah ok. i think i’ll continue my search. thanks for the info!

[Ted Fletcher]

Whoh! Hold on….. I have had another good look at your picture and the penny has dropped! That little mixer is one of the Alice ACM series that we designed and built for radio station use…. it IS one of mine!…… it’s a talks studio ‘sidecar’ controlling six mics around a conference table.

The mic amps will be superb, but there’s not much in the way of facility! I can’t remember which station that was made for….. it could have been Capital Radio in London.

It looks in wonderful condition!

[inlieu]

Hi there Ted! I’m the lucky owner of this desk, and as per the initial posters plans, am looking to add direct outs to the board.. It looks in wonderful condition! Thankfully, did the same to an old Sony broadcast desk a while back so am not quite going into the process in complete ignorance, but wondered if you had any thoughts on where might be the best place to tap the signal post EQ/prefade, & any other considerations were i to impedance balance the ouputs? The circuit boards themselves are marked as APC 210/1078, ACM 2/4/8302, and am happy to provide pictures if that helps.. Thanks for crafting such wonderful audio equipment over the years!

[Ted Fletcher]

As it’s an ACM. it’s very likely that the channels have post-fader buffer amplifiers, and that’s the place to take your direct outs from…. either from the top of the fader (if you want a pre-fade output) or from the output of the buffer amplifier via, I suggest, a series R of about 680 ohms, to avoid loading issues.

I can’t really help further than that; that was a long time ago and I don’t have any records of the circuits, only some memory of how I did it in those days!

Those ACM mixers were the peak of audio excellence; they were built to absolute highest broadcasting spec and were the equivalent of the Neve and the Calrec.

[inlieu]

That’s perfect! Thanks very much for your help, looking forward to giving it a new lease of life!

[inlieu]

Hello there Ted! Have had great joy bringing this desk into my studio set-up.. Ended up mounting a d-sub connector on the rear & running the 6 direct outs(on detachable connectors for ease of service), & stereo outs through it, so it can be easily integrated as a summing mixer, too, which has worked out brilliantly. It sounds amazing! I was wondering if you may be able to offer a tiny bit of advice regarding the phantom power circuit, which unfortunately is out of action.. Can you recall anything on these desks(if the phantom circuit wasn’t a consistent design throughout this era of boards & is thus too specific, no worries!) which might be a first port of call with troubleshooting, or is it best to just get a multi-meter out & work my way through the circuit? Thanks again, this is probably my favourite sounding set of pres in the studio right now, it’s really stood the test of time!!

[Ted Fletcher]

I don’t have any info on the power supplies for the ACM mixers….. the 15-0-15 supplies were very standard series regulator types and caused little in the way of problems.

The phantom supplies were usually voltage doublers off the AC and then series regulated…. but nowadays there’s a very much better way: Go on ebay and buy a DC to DC converter board for just a very few pounds. I have to admit that I now use these boards myself on new equipment to achieve the 48V phantom power. They are reliable, quiet and extremely efficient. Just connect one to the +15V rail and adjust the output to 48V….. it really is that easy!

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