TL Audio 5051 Ivory 1...just bought!

[jonmatthews]

Hi folks,

I just scored a used TL Audio 5051 Ivory 1 channel strip from ebay, around $440. I think that's a pretty good deal...?

I'm just looking for some general impressions on this unit from people that have it/have used it. I've used a friend's HHB Radius 40, which I understand is the same unit, and I've found it to be quite an excellent-sounding piece of gear. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on it - I'll be using it with my SP C-1, AT4050, and perhaps as a bass or instrument DI.

I'm pretty excited about my first "real" channel strip! Ahhhhh, the joys of gear addiction.

- Jon M.

[Gregory Colton]

Hi Jon,

I've owned a 5051 Mk 1 for a while now, having used it exclusively to track vocals from a Neumann TLM103 into a Roland VSS1880.

I have tended to set the input gain to around the 10 o'clock position, trying to avoid much valve drive: when the drive light is on, the distortion seems very audible and unpleasant to my ears. Also, using the gate is a complete waste of time: it's better to clean up the recording on the DAW after recording - otherwise I've found that the starts of words get chopped. I've tended to record with a compression ratio of between 4 and 6:1, threshhold around -3dB.

The results have been OK, rather than superb. The vocal tracks I am getting sit fine in a mix, but are far from being the last word in clarity. The vox seem to suffer from a little bit of stuffiness and are not as open and clear sounding as I would like.

On the plus side I did run a D50 synth through the pre with plenty of compression and then into a Mackie SRM450 PA speaker once for a laugh, and it sounded good for this application: doubtless the 58051 does make a very useful instrument pre/compressor/eq...unfortunately that's not really what I need.

My lack of enthusiasm for the unit may have a lot to do with poor results brought about by a relative lack of experience, or a bad studio setup (room acoustics?). I also wonder whether going into the Roland DAW in analogue and relying on the inbuilt converters may be the problem.

I am toying with the idea of trying some other channels - perhaps the Focusrite Voicemaster Pro with Digital Out - to get the fidelity I'm after. This may just be barking up the wrong tree and I would welcome comments and suggestions.

It would be very interesting to find out what you and any other users make of the Ivory 5051/Radius as a microphone pre.

All The Best,
- Greg

[qbert1]

I have a HHB Radius 10 which is a rack of 4 of your preamps, but no extras like gate or comp. I have to say, I really like it. If this is your first step up piece, I think you'll get a lot of life out of it. I do agree about the "drive" light. It's not bad distortion I'm hearing but general tube compression - at least on my unit. Sometimes that's what you're looking for though, but as mentioned before, you can get a range of color by chosing different gain settings on the input and or output knobs. I hope you like it as much as I do. Tony Larkin seems to know his stuff.

[jonmatthews]

I remember in another thread, Dot had some advice about good starter settings for doing vocals on the TLA5051/HHB Radius 40. Dot, can you repost this? I just received my 5051 and I'm looking for some beginning guidance on getting the most from it.

Thanks!

- Jon M.

[Gregory Colton]

Wow - I've learned some valuable tips since posting earlier in this thread (thanks in large part to some contributors elsewhere). I have found that using the following settings have worked really well:

From Mic - TLM103
INPUT - 12 o'clock
Threshold - 12 o'clock
Ratio - 1:4
Gain Makeup - 12 o'clock
Attack -fast
Release - fast (in the past I had set this to med-slow)
Output - Cranked around to about 2 o'clock
Meter - O/P +10dB (kept things just out of the red)

On my wife's vox with instrumental backing tracks: good sound - detailed but warm, no nasty distortion, decent levels -4dB peaks into my DAW (Roland VS1880), easy mixing.

- Greg

[Dot]

Jon, there's an archived thread on all things HHB Radius and TL Audio at http://www.vsplanet.com/cgi-bin/ubb/...;f=23;t=002957

Hope there's some info there you can use.

[nkjanssen]

Don't mean to piss in your cornflakes, but I can't stand that old TL/HB stuff. It sounds cloudy as hell to me. I once got a good sound on some tom mics out of the 4-channel unit. That's about it. I've never liked it on anything else, vocals least of all. I've seen Dot post before that he thinks they are "amazing". I've never understood that. The newer TL/HB stuff ("Mark II" or whatever it is called) is quite a bit better, though.

[Gregory Colton]

Hi NKJ - I guess it serves me right for having the breakfast bowl so near to the floor ... I'd be curious to know what you're comparing the HHB/TLA to?

- Greg

[nkjanssen]

Originally Posted by Gregory Colton

I'd be curious to know what you're comparing the HHB/TLA to?

Mostly stuff that costs more, but I'd take a Mackie VLZ over the TL/HHB stuff I've heard (assuming you take an insert out of the Mackie, so as not to go through the summing busses).