The NASON-2
From the Ashes
The "NASON-2" was really nothing more than an improvement on the original "NASON-1" design.
The old console had a lot of ground loop problems and was prone to horrendous buzzing (not ideal for recording).
Although the circuit boards remained the same, the new board solved these issues through better shielding, shorter wire length and a new layout based on a modular design. It rocked the house!
The "NASON-1" gutted in preparation for rebuilding.
The plan was to reuse all the circuit boards, but shorten the wiring paths and add more shielding while creating a modular design for each channel strip.
Each channel strip was cut from a piece of 1/8" aluminum, 1-5/8" wide by 24" long. I did all the layout on the living room floor.
Then I did all the drilling outside the step of our Nashville apartment.
The new modular channel strips used the circuit boards from the original NASON-1 console, but added a metal shield along with much shorter wiring paths.
Each channel strip was now removable and provided for a really short connection path to the main buss.
The finished console achieved the intended design goals and sounded great without the horrible noise that had plagued the NASON-1 from the beginning.
The finished product added 2 channels to the original design, bringing the completed total up to 12 inputs, 4 outputs and 2 monitor sends. Combined with a direct out on each channel, this formed the foundation for all the studio's multi-track recording for the next several years.
Channel Strip Design
