help laying out a lab series 5 rackmount preamp

[dellamorte]

i have the original schematic and have redrawn it in eagle. im wondering if anyone can help me laying it out and checking for errors.
im after just the dirty channel without the compressor.
original schem  -

my schem -

[elwood]

Hey Dellamorte,

Good work copying all those nets from that old drawing. I was studying the original L5 circuit a while ago and found some of it very hard to read. (low-res scan I guess)

Your schematic looks good, but may I politely suggest a few things that will make your drawings even better? These are my personal opinion of course:

- Don't use angled lines for wires. It's better to make a bit more room and take a few right-angled turns. Lining up stuff visually really helps make things look neater.

- Beware of text that is obstructed by other parts. The text is important and I always like to make room for it. When you print out your drawing in black, text that is covered by wires or other parts will be unreadable.

- Further to the idea of reduced visual clutter, I would also say to use as many straight lines without turns as possible. Usually this just means nudging a few parts so that lines can connect straight into the part. See for example your TREBLE pot, or the MID-FREQA and B pots.

Before I start into too much checking on a complicated circuit I usually do the things I've listed above. I find that with less visual clutter and a more "readable" circuit drawing, errors are much easier to spot.


Cheers!

[dellamorte]

thanks for the advice !
i plan on cleaning it up a bit tonight ill re post an updated copy when i do

[dellamorte]

the schematic has been cleaned up and updated

[blandman74]

Not sure why, if you don't want to have a compressor stage, you left the CA3080 in there.  You should probably just have a simple buffer using the 2n5487. Better yet, go ahead and put the compressor in there, since it's a great feature of the amp.

[blandman74]

And D1 appears misplaced.

[dellamorte]

i already have a compressor and like the flexibility of using it where i need it in the signal chain. im also trying to limit the complexity and parts count as im new at making my own layouts and only have the freeware version of eagle(limited board size)

[J M Fahey]

Dear Dellamorte: to begin with, congratulations for your great work. 2) I don´t think you´ll be able to fit everyting into the small board Free Eagle allows you, and that without the pots or switches, what will turn your preamp into a messy wire jungle. Please consider copying the original preamp layout which can be easily found on the net (if you can´t, I can send you a copy) Just print it 1:1 size (2 or 3 sheets of paper) and copy it by hand using first pencil and then China Ink, on tracing paper. I think it will be the fastest and less frustrating option. And, BTW, build the full preamp, even if you won´t be using some of its features. Good luck with the project.