Seeker of Rock
The One and Only
Well, it's not really a battle because I think all three are winners, but I put together a little drum clip in my home studio and posted samples of all 3, including a dry sample. Before I bought each of these boxes (first the LXP-15II in 2005 or something), I did a lot of reading and opinions were all over the place for each of them.
This is not a scientifically geared comparison and I am a home recordist (but fairly experienced guitar player from the '80s rock music scene) with a decently treated room. Sorry if it (or my drumming ) doesn't meet up to anyone's standards, but that's not why I'm posting it.
The three contenders are: PCM 90, PCM 70 and a Jim Williams (audioupgrades.com) modded LXP-15II. I found the preset names weren't really accurate from one unit to the next as far as the way the preset parameters were set up, so I picked a hall preset (concert hall algos from 90 and 70) from each and proceeded to tweak the parameters of each to get them as close as I could. I set each room size to 39 meters and tried to adjust the EQ of each to match one another the best I could. The 70 is just bright, so I maxed the lows and reduced the highs for the selection I was using (Long Hall). The 90 and 15 are both dark so I maxed the highs and cut some of the lows within the boxes only. Board/channel EQ remained flat and consistent on each audio clip.
Of note:
This is not a scientifically geared comparison and I am a home recordist (but fairly experienced guitar player from the '80s rock music scene) with a decently treated room. Sorry if it (or my drumming ) doesn't meet up to anyone's standards, but that's not why I'm posting it.
The three contenders are: PCM 90, PCM 70 and a Jim Williams (audioupgrades.com) modded LXP-15II. I found the preset names weren't really accurate from one unit to the next as far as the way the preset parameters were set up, so I picked a hall preset (concert hall algos from 90 and 70) from each and proceeded to tweak the parameters of each to get them as close as I could. I set each room size to 39 meters and tried to adjust the EQ of each to match one another the best I could. The 70 is just bright, so I maxed the lows and reduced the highs for the selection I was using (Long Hall). The 90 and 15 are both dark so I maxed the highs and cut some of the lows within the boxes only. Board/channel EQ remained flat and consistent on each audio clip.
Of note:
- The PCM90 is running in stereo through my effects sends/returns, the other two are mono in, L/R out into their respective returns on the board.
- I set the auxiliary return levels HIGH (as I'm sure you noticed). Even an '80s rocker like me would never want that much reverb in a real mix, but I wanted to demonstrate the sound of each box and what it was doing to the dry signal.