Hairball Audio Gold 500 series Mic Pre -Jensen OpAmp

Hola! I built these Hairball Elements Gold mic pres in 2021 and 2023 as I was building up my 16 channel live studio. My original idea was to have different flavored pres for specific instruments and I love how these sound, but I've since decided I prefer the metering capability that comes with the Hairball Lolas, so I'm selling most (but not all!) of my Elements. I used the Gold for Toms and Guitars. Super clean sound. I built these with the optional Grayhill input gain switch and have added small rubber o-rings to the output gain knobs to make them easier to adjust without accidentally nudging them while working. I've included pics of the PCB so you can see the quality of the soldering.

Here's what Hairball says about the Golds:

"Clean. Open.

Gold is based around the classic Jensen 990 op-amp. The Hairball Audio 990 is assembled in the USA and built to the specifications of Deane Jensen’s now famous JE-990 paper published in the February 1980 AES journal. The 990 op-amp has become the GOLD standard for discrete op-amp performance.

To complement this pristine signal chain, we've worked with Jensen Transformers to create a 500 series sized version of their classic JT-16 input transformer. This transformer has set the bar for clarity and performance. To complete the chain we've used the equally impressive Jensen JT-11 output.

This is one of the highest quality clean and open pres available. Unlike the cheap transformerless pres that come with many common audio interfaces, Gold does not sound dull. It enables the kind of clarity and detail you'll only find with components of this caliber. It's the perfect pre for recording acoustic instruments and anything you'd like to remain true to the source."