
I've built 4-5 tube a I'm building a clone of an old Altec 1566A mic preamp, and I'm having some issues that I. If you can't find anyone local, Robert at Vintage Loop ( does a great job of rehabbing these things and the final result is a great preamp for numerous applications. I'm building a clone of an old Altec 1566A mic preamp, and I'm having some issues that I don't know how to track down. Old timers who hear my stock 1566a swear that I must have had it hot-rodded nope, they've just heard so many lame examples over the past 25 years that a fully functioning unit surprises them.Įvery town with at least one radio station probably has a tech capable of putting your 1566a back in good shape. If you are lucky enough to snag one of these things cheap, take some of the money you would have spent on a new preamp and put it towards a thorough servicing by a good tech. The best of the old tube designs sound clearer and more wide open than the current solid state crap that is sold today. I'll bet that every criticism I have heard about this unit is due to the fact that these are 40+ year old units and 9 out of 10 that I run across shouldn't be passing signal at all, based on their sorry state of maintenance and ill-advised "upgrades." I don't have any brilliant tech advice for you, other than to say that you should not need to perform any "mods" to the 1566a to get a quiet, high gain preamp.
