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calling Line drive/passive pre users??

qboneus

qboneus

Senior Member
I know there has to be a few here!
this the Mod squad Deluxe Line drive..:thmbsp:

various067.jpg

various077.jpg


Let's see your's!
Next I'll have to shock everyone else who doesn't line drive and post nude pictures of the components of the LD.
This Mod squad easily has the nicest volume control I have personally ever had the privledge to twist!:thmbsp:

Am I alone here??
tal
 
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Very nice!
thanks for sharing
As stated a couple of nudies of the Mod Squad/McCormack Audio Line drive

IMG00341.jpg

IMG00336.jpg

IMG00340.jpg
 
I used a McCormack TLC-1 for quite a while before selling it to a fellow AKer. Nice piece of gear, but now I use no preamp at all in the main system.
 
qboneus said:
This Mod squad easily has the nicest volume control I have personally ever had the privledge to twist!
Click to expand...

:yes: I have the same passive pre, courtesy of fellow AKer doucanoe.

That would be a Penny & Giles potentiometer...silky smooth feeling, for sure.

A bit of the Mod Squad's history:

"The Line Drive series of passive preamps was produced originally by The Mod Squad, which then became the McCormack Audio Corporation. They were built in the California facility between 1984 and 1992. The design evolved over that period, incorporating a variety of different wire, solder, grounding arrangements, volume controls, RCA jacks, and switches. This evolution culminated in the development of the TLC-1 preamplifier introduced in 1992, and in production until about 2001.

The Line Drives were purely passive - there was no power supply and no active buffer. This feature was not added until the design change to the TLC-1. (For the sake of historical accuracy, I should add that a very small number of active preamps were built in the mid-80's using the Line Drive chassis. These were active/passive switchable, with an external power supply. Only a few of these were made so you will probably never see them.)

The Standard and Deluxe models are functionally identical. The difference is in several key parts that were chosen for cost-effective performance in the Standard model and cost-no-object performance in the Deluxe version. The Standard model has a Noble volume control; the Deluxe has a Penny & Giles or TKD (depending on vintage) conductive plastic control. Tiffany RCA jacks were used on both Standard and Deluxe units, but the Deluxe has WBT or Cardas jacks fitted in the CD, AUX 2, and MAIN OUT (1) positions. High-quality copper hook-up wire is used in the Standard model, while higher-performance wire was used throughout the Deluxe unit (again, the specific wire depends on when it was built).

Best regards,

Steve McCormack"

I also have a fine sounding little QED passive, which is not much larger than a pack of smokes.
 

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I use a passive attenuator(Lightspeed stand-alone unit,RCAs in RCAs out)with an active buffer(The Burson.Discrete op-amps,discrete regulators).
Not passive overall.The Lightspeed is passive.It's designer is insistent that it needs to be used sans buffer for it's ultimate performance.
Not possible in my system due to impedance interaction.

Still sounds pretty darn 'Jones-inducing' with the buffer. :D
 
Pretty amazing how sweet 'nothing' sounds:music:, and there isn't anything that possibly can go wrong with it to degrade the sound, or cause the unit to fail:banana:
gotta love that:yes:
so far there are four of us passive/LD users , anyone else care to chime in?

Does the general public exen know the difference between a LD/Passive and active pre?
If they did I would have to assume there would be more users.

Please everone post a photo so people can put a face to what exactly does a Line Drive look like.
Other than the lack of a phono stage I can't see any real drawbacks; i hate loudness/bass/treble controls anyways and I always use quality, short interconnects.:yes:
 
Luminous Audio,
http://luminousaudio.com/

Got one and love it... Perfect for a bare bones system. These guys will build it to match your system. They will ask you several questions, then try there best to match the pre to your current source, and amps.
 
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My current passive. Promitheus Reference TVC 4.

RC
 

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Awesome!
thanks for the pics guy's!
I'm gonna have to DIY myself one someday soon.
gotta love the simplicity.
tal
 
Urizen said:
:yes: I have the same passive pre, courtesy of fellow AKer doucanoe.

That would be a Penny & Giles potentiometer...silky smooth feeling, for sure.

A bit of the Mod Squad's history:

"The Line Drive series of passive preamps was produced originally by The Mod Squad, which then became the McCormack Audio Corporation. They were built in the California facility between 1984 and 1992. The design evolved over that period, incorporating a variety of different wire, solder, grounding arrangements, volume controls, RCA jacks, and switches. This evolution culminated in the development of the TLC-1 preamplifier introduced in 1992, and in production until about 2001.

The Line Drives were purely passive - there was no power supply and no active buffer. This feature was not added until the design change to the TLC-1. (For the sake of historical accuracy, I should add that a very small number of active preamps were built in the mid-80's using the Line Drive chassis. These were active/passive switchable, with an external power supply. Only a few of these were made so you will probably never see them.)

The Standard and Deluxe models are functionally identical. The difference is in several key parts that were chosen for cost-effective performance in the Standard model and cost-no-object performance in the Deluxe version. The Standard model has a Noble volume control; the Deluxe has a Penny & Giles or TKD (depending on vintage) conductive plastic control. Tiffany RCA jacks were used on both Standard and Deluxe units, but the Deluxe has WBT or Cardas jacks fitted in the CD, AUX 2, and MAIN OUT (1) positions. High-quality copper hook-up wire is used in the Standard model, while higher-performance wire was used throughout the Deluxe unit (again, the specific wire depends on when it was built).

Best regards,

Steve McCormack"

I also have a fine sounding little QED passive, which is not much larger than a pack of smokes.
Click to expand...

I also have a Mod Squad passive, the standard model I guess, as it has a Noble pot (which is getting noisey!). You don't happen to have a part number for either of the DeLux pots do you?

I've also played around with a Radio Shack stereo in-wall attenuator used as an Autoformer line stage. With good shielded cables, it actually sounds very nice, although it only has 9 settings (clicks).

Best Regards,
TerryO
 
TerryO said:
I also have a Mod Squad passive, the standard model I guess, as it has a Noble pot (which is getting noisey!). You don't happen to have a part number for either of the DeLux pots do you?
Click to expand...

Other than the numbers on the above pic, that's all I have, Terry.

Have you tried cleaning the Noble with DeOxit or Fader Lube?
 
I built a Haller series-shunt passive pre last year.
Alps Blue 10K pot with two 16.9K Dale RN-60 MF resistors.
Trust me.....it is FUGLY!!
A Mustard colored plastic hobby box.....an ON-ON DPDT as a two position selector switch.....and an old bakelite stove-top knob for volume.
If you guys want a pic.....don't eat first?

Steve
 
Nudies of the Mod Squad? Shucks, at first I was picturing Peggy Lipton without clothes on... :D

Some nice passive pres in this thread. "Thank you" to the OP and those who posted pics for the inspiration; one of these days I HAVE to make one of these and try this approach. One never runs out of things to try, in the audio hobby!

Hhhmmm, some of these things pretty closely resemble my vintage Sony system selector. I need to go back and take a closer look at it!
 
gearhound said:
I built a Haller series-shunt passive pre last year.
Alps Blue 10K pot with two 16.9K Dale RN-60 MF resistors.
Trust me.....it is FUGLY!!
A Mustard colored plastic hobby box.....an ON-ON DPDT as a two position selector switch.....and an old bakelite stove-top knob for volume.
If you guys want a pic.....don't eat first?

Steve
Click to expand...

Yeah, I vote PIC! :yes: Fugly can be quite endearing, too... or at least fun!

[Please, no "people who live in glass houses" comments.. He asked first. :D]
 
Arkay said:
Nudies of the Mod Squad? Shucks, at first I was picturing Peggy Lipton without clothes on... :D

Some nice passive pres in this thread. "Thank you" to the OP and those who posted pics for the inspiration; one of these days I HAVE to make one of these and try this approach. One never runs out of things to try, in the audio hobby!

Hhhmmm, some of these things pretty closely resemble my vintage Sony system selector. I need to go back and take a closer look at it!
Click to expand...


Pic!

RC
 
Pics PLEASE!

Arkay said:
Nudies of the Mod Squad? Shucks, at first I was picturing Peggy Lipton without clothes on... :D

Some nice passive pres in this thread. "Thank you" to the OP and those who posted pics for the inspiration; one of these days I HAVE to make one of these and try this approach. One never runs out of things to try, in the audio hobby!

!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the Pics guys!

I hope everyone who has a photo of their LD/pre will post it here for for us to admire.
The beauty of this device is that it CAN be beautiful, or not so beautiful; but either way the sonics stomp any biased active pre I have heard.

This is exactly what I had hoped when I started this thead; that we could get users of this elegantly simple and often overlooked device to see ours and give some thought to the fact that there are people who use and LOVE line drive's/ passive pre's and for good reason and possibly to illustrate a few of the reasons why we love them.:yes:

I think we should get together and do our own AK version of the "indignia" project on something like a linestage or possibly, the pass B1 Buffer Preamp or another modern circuit variant some time.
I know the parts list for the b1 total is sub $100 and that should put it comfortably within the range of most people who would be interested in building; and of course the sky's the limit when you start upgrading parts if someone feels froggy.
nothing like the feeling of building something that kicks ass yourself:yes:

tal
 
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