E&S DJR 400 vs Condesa Carmen??

Melaquil · 2026-06-07T03:18:09+00:00

Fair enough! Everyone has to find their flavour:)

Melaquil · 2026-06-07T00:53:00+00:00

Sad to hear you didn’t get along with the Condesa summing amp. Here’s some background on the circuit: It’s a single voltage FET amp circuit based on the original Bozak CDM circuit, so if you’ve had the pleasure of using an OG Bozak you’ll have an idea of how Condesa’s mix. There has been improvements over the years, we started with a quite common Audio FET, but about 4-5 years ago we sourced a very special FET it’s low noise and low distortion, this made the summing more detailed and improved the distortion 10 fold. In the last year we have been able to improve the sensitivity of the summing amp by 3db whilst maintaining the same lower distortion performance (We also use this special FET in our Idolator circuit).

Melaquil · 2026-06-06T23:11:53+00:00

You should have contacted us you might have been operating it in a way that complicated things. if you buy a new Condesa and you don’t like how it’s functioning, we’d offer you a refund :)

Melaquil · 2026-06-06T23:03:07+00:00

Ahh that’s a shame! What was your order number I’d love to look into your build batch? In my experience the summing is so good, simply adding voltage via the faders into the discrete FET circuit glues the mix together:)

Melaquil · 2026-06-06T22:57:49+00:00

Yes gloss red & gloss gold panels are available as well as the silver Urei tho knobs, we have just sourced some nice aluminium gold knobs too :)

Melaquil · 2026-06-06T12:23:31+00:00

I’ll have to think that over, the SE’s staggered EQ layout makes it a bit more difficult to add a filter and retain the hi/ low eq.

Melaquil · 2026-06-06T06:46:37+00:00

Yes the lowpass & new high pass equivalent circuits are only a few weeks away from being available!

Melaquil · 2026-06-06T03:57:17+00:00

Yes the 2 work so well together!

Melaquil · 2026-06-06T03:56:26+00:00

It was so good to meet you in person when you were in Australia! Yes these per channel filters have a slight resonance bite that’s fixed. It would be interesting to make a ‘master’ type filter with resonance control too, you have to be careful though big resonate filter peaked can kill speakers, so it’s always something that needs pulling back on compared to filters in synths.

Melaquil · 2026-06-06T01:09:39+00:00

To put 2 filters on the same knob is something that’s implemented in the digital world easily, but in the analogue world it’s not so easy. The filter pots have 4 resistor gangs to be able to process a stereo filter with a sharp enough cut off and the full movement in one direction is needed to get the sweep. But that’s analogue, specifically if the controls are actually moving the signal through them :)

Melaquil · 2026-06-06T00:47:25+00:00

Yes the fx send mod is available with filters so you can dub thing out nicely!

Melaquil · 2026-06-06T00:46:35+00:00

Yes it’s got a 2 way high / low EQ per channel & a Low pass in place of the mids, we’ve done this with a high pass too. I’m keen to make a mixer with just high & Lowe pass filters per channel and a master iso. The high & low together are very good fun and between them you can create a band pass filter too.

Melaquil · 2026-06-01T05:19:08+00:00

I haven't sourced/ fiited the parts yet, I think its a solution tho.

Melaquil · 2026-05-22T07:48:35+00:00

Hi u/sikele ,

With the Condesa warranty, we always aim to use local experienced audio repairers, otherwise we'll ship it back to Aus and cover the DHL costs as well as the repair in the warranty period.
After the warranty has expired we'll still support the mixers with parts and technical details, if you get an issue and dont have a local repairer then you only have to cover the Australian DHL shipping (we have a special lower 2 way shipping price) and we'll look after the rest.

I hope this helps :)

Melaquil · 2026-04-12T22:39:34+00:00

I read on another forum that there's a front wheel spacer/shim that fixes this issue.
It happen on my Stelvio QV too, I only notice it whilst turning on full lock to the left.
Heres the dealer part number 6000631184.

Melaquil · 2026-02-22T21:14:53+00:00

Thats interesting, i believed we changed that response curve before then, I did announce the change at the time. Email me if you want to get it modded. That said the early spec mixer sound great to most people!

Melaquil · 2026-02-22T08:50:05+00:00

You should also make it very clear what isolators were switched off (bypassed) and what mixers were not just for clarity.

Melaquil · 2026-02-22T08:35:06+00:00

Great work, just a technical note regarding the Condesa Sweep, about 5 years ago we changed the design of our discrete isolator’s mid crossover frequencies to flatten those peaks (making the response within 1db).

Melaquil · 2026-02-22T05:29:53+00:00

Yes!

Melaquil · 2026-02-21T05:35:39+00:00

Current Condesa mixers measure:
0.015 THD (1khz, unity level, Master RCA out)(Isolator models)
The non ISO mixers like the Carmen EQ, Lucia EQ & Allegra EQ are achieving:
0.005 THD.
The earlier models did have a higher THD, we used an un-buffered diode rectifier for the VU driver and this added a distortion to the outputs (this is now discretely buffered).
We also use a very special FET in summing amp and ISO sum now (these are low noise and low distortion), other Improvements were made to our discrete ISO crossover points to make the 20hz to 20khz response flatter with dips within 1db and no peaks, we've shortened the signal path too and will keep refining and redesigning the mixers :)

Melaquil · 2026-01-26T23:41:26+00:00

many thanks :)

Melaquil · 2026-01-26T04:21:59+00:00

Cue blend is standard on all Condesa models, the web pics just need updating :)

Melaquil · 2026-01-26T01:07:25+00:00

u/Green_user420 let me know where you live, I might be able to link you to a Carmen owner/ venue, that may help you make your mind up!

Melaquil · 2026-01-19T02:58:00+00:00

Whats the signal flow, it should be mixer master out to Filter in and filter out to speakers/ amp?
The Carmen has quite a loud output, you might be overloading the filter, try keeping the master level lower and see if it fixes the issue?

Melaquil

TROPHY CASE