Gear Overhaul- $4k budget to upgrade

BradLyons · Post by **BradLyons** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:31 pm

NOT the direction I would go.... but it's your money, so enjoy!

lodstudios · Post by **lodstudios** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:33 pm

Well, since this is NOT the direction you would go...what would you do if you were me in this situation. just curious.

BradLyons · Post by **BradLyons** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 2:04 pm

I already posted my response in this thread, perhaps you missed it

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 2:18 pm

I like a transparnet compressor on the front end for vocals... a little compression on the way in, and a little more added ITB. The Aphex VCA is really good. You may want to consider one of their compressors, all of which run balanced I/O.

gearboy · Post by **gearboy** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 2:23 pm

I think that this all comes down to what kind of projects you plan to work on. For drums, you said that you'll need five channels of preamps. The Sytek and the modded preamps in the 828mk2 will cover those bases.

I personally love my Sytek. I would love the Avalon, too, but I find it really difficult for me, personally to drop $2250 on 1 channel strip when I can buy another Sytek and a Hamptone JFET, or build 5 or 6 channels of SCA N72 Neve clones for that kind of money and use software, like the Brad-mentioned WAVES SSL bundle or the Nomad Blue Tubes V3, and get much much more out of it for the way that I work.

The dBX 160... I used them at school in the 90s. Joel Hamilton from Studio G in Brooklyn (Engineer for Tom Waits, Sparklehorse, etc... TapeOp monitor) swears by them as the compressor on a budget that sounds awesome and will deliver the goods.

You should manage to pick up a dBX 160 for less than $150.

Jeff

lodstudios · Post by **lodstudios** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 2:43 pm

I know Brad, I was taking a loving jab at ya!

lodstudios · Post by **lodstudios** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 3:04 pm

Are we talking the Vintage DBX 160 or the DBX 160x? You mentioned before that it was dual channel.

gearboy · Post by **gearboy** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 7:32 am

lodstudios wrote:Are we talking the Vintage DBX 160 or the DBX 160x? You mentioned before that it was dual channel.

I'm sorry, I meant the dBx 166. This is the stereo version of the 160A:

http://www.digitalimagepro.com/dbx166.html
http://www.gbaudio.co.uk/data/166.htm

I used these at school and would love to have two of them in a rack for remote work. Just in case.

Jeff

lodstudios · Post by **lodstudios** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:59 pm

So, after much debate and advice I have finally pulled the trigger on the following...Thought you might like to know!

Millennia STT1-

I decided that I would stay away from drums for now and go to the big boys when I couldn't program them...I didn't need a lot of preamps and this one has to be one of my faves

Soundelux U195-

I got it and used it with my Joe Meek and was blown away! I love this mic, thanks for the advice on this one!

Mackie HR824-

I wanted some more channel strips but these improved my mixes the first day! I am so happy on these!

Lucid Genx192-

Waiting it to arrive but I am confident it will do the trick!

I have a little bit more coming my way so I may pick up some Neumann KM184's

Again, thanks to all for your input and thoughts...I am really happy with my choices.

cloudy house · Post by **cloudy house** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:39 am

you'll dig the stt-1...extremely versatile! I plan on changing the tubes in mine at some point...here's the config. that really gives it some character from what I hear...

Vacuum Tube Input Amplifier - 12AX7 - Position V1 ••“ Mullard CV 4004
Vacuum Tube Input Amplifier - 12AU7 - Position V2 ••“ Mullard CV 4003
Instrument DI Input Amplifier - 12AT7 - Position V3 ••“ Telefunken ECC81
EQ & Dynamics Amplifier - 12AX7 - Position V4 ••“ Mullard CV 4004
EQ & Dynamics Amplifier - 12AU7 - Position V5 ••“ Telefunken ECC 82

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