Langevin DVC

[Big Kenny]

Anyone using one of these? I'm looking at one. Thoughts?

[kojdogg]

awesome. i've gone through a lot of pres and that is one unit that i held onto. a little low on gain (around 54 db) so it's not great for ribbons and curious lack of phase reverse, but great sounding pre, limited but good sounding eq and a great, great limiter section on each channel. make sure you get one of the later units which lets you use the limiters separately and concurrently with the pre/eq sections

[kidvybes]

...gets major props on GS...for instance:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/good-...gs-around.html
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/high-...gevin-dvc.html

...saw that one on eBay a week or two back...is that the one you're looking at?...

[Big Kenny]

I am currently using a DAV BH1, Phoenix DRS1, Safe Sound and a John Hardy Personal Pre.
Will this give me a different flavor, texture, what???

[Farview]

It's a good solid preamp. Not very colored, but the limiter is worth the price of admission.

[tdukex]

Originally Posted by Big Kenny

I am currently using a DAV BH1, Phoenix DRS1, Safe Sound and a John Hardy Personal Pre.
Will this give me a different flavor, texture, what???

Supposed to be a great box but not a lot of gain--I think only 50db.

Yes, I want one.

[kojdogg]

Originally Posted by Big Kenny

I am currently using a DAV BH1, Phoenix DRS1, Safe Sound and a John Hardy Personal Pre.
Will this give me a different flavor, texture, what???

I've only owned and used the Safe Sound P1 (great unit), but the DVC has a transformer input and balanced output, so it will have a bit more 'weight' (transformer asymmetrical response, a bit of low end emphasis) to it than the Safe Sound and probably the DAV. I think the difference in flavoring will come from the elop limiter, which is fairly transparent itself unless cranked, but which by being there will make the sound out of the box a bit different. IME the DVC limiter is a bit slower than the Safe Sound P1's-- while it's pretty transparent, you still know it's there. It's great for recording vocal tracks because it will sound better-- more finished, to the singer in the cans, which in turn can make them sing better, and it's pretty hard to make the limited sound bad or heavily artifacted like many other compressors or limiters often will if not set very carefully.

[Big Kenny]

Cool! Thanks you guys..

[Big Kenny]

Originally Posted by kidvybes

...gets major props on GS...for instance:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/good-...gs-around.html
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/high-...gevin-dvc.html

...saw that one on eBay a week or two back...is that the one you're looking at?...

A friend of mine has a bunch of Manley stuff( including a vox box and a SLAM) and i was lusting over it. He said the Langevin was in the same ballpark and a bunch more affordable. I've been Jonesin' for one since then. I am a lttle wary about ebay when it gets past $1000

[Farview]

Originally Posted by Big Kenny

A friend of mine has a bunch of Manley stuff( including a vox box and a SLAM) and i was lusting over it. He said the Langevin was in the same ballpark and a bunch more affordable. I've been Jonesin' for one since then. I am a lttle wary about ebay when it gets past $1000

The Manley stuff is all tube, the Langevin stuff is all SS. They are both owned by the same company.

[Daveg62]

I have one, pretty much what kojdogg said. It's really nice on acoustic guitars too. So vocals and acoustics is what I use it for most always. Yeah would be nice if it had just a bit more gain, but the limiter is very nice.

[kojdogg]

Originally Posted by Big Kenny

A friend of mine has a bunch of Manley stuff( including a vox box and a SLAM) and i was lusting over it. He said the Langevin was in the same ballpark and a bunch more affordable. I've been Jonesin' for one since then. I am a lttle wary about ebay when it gets past $1000

Originally Posted by Farview

The Manley stuff is all tube, the Langevin stuff is all SS. They are both owned by the same company.

Yeah, Manley bought the rights to use the Langevin name, but IIRC only loosely based the new Langevin circuits on the old. Yep-- solid state vs. tube and transformers only on the inputs-- not on the outputs (same input transformers though IIRC).

The DVC is an especially good value IMHO if you consider that it combines two Langevin products-- the Dual mic pre w/ eq and the ELOP, each of which costs well over $1,000 new each for around $1800 new and considerably less used. If you get one of the later models (I have the first, by serial number, of the newer series), it is pretty much like having both units in one box which you can use together or separately.

If you are so inclined read the manual for the DVC. Their propaganda is pretty convincing and it gives you a better sense of how the unit is designed and operates.

[Supercreep]

I'm cautiously eyeballing this unit as well. I'm also looking at the Presonus ADL600.

[Daveg62]

Originally Posted by Supercreep

I'm cautiously eyeballing this unit as well. I'm also looking at the Presonus ADL600.

Same two I was considering about 6 months ago. I went with the DVC, but never tried the ADL600. I was a bit dis-appointed at first because of the low gain on the dvc but quickly found out that you can run it full out if you need to and it sounds great. I don't think I will get rid of it any time soon. It's a really nice box.

[Farview]

Originally Posted by Daveg62

Same two I was considering about 6 months ago. I went with the DVC, but never tried the ADL600. I was a bit dis-appointed at first because of the low gain on the dvc but quickly found out that you can run it full out if you need to and it sounds great. I don't think I will get rid of it any time soon. It's a really nice box.

If you engage the limiter, you can use the makeup gain for more power if you need to.

[kojdogg]

also i think there's an internal trimpot to eke out a few more db's of gain.
if you're recording at 24 bits, some db's of headroom is a good thing anyway.

[Daveg62]

Originally Posted by kojdogg

also i think there's an internal trimpot to eke out a few more db's of gain.
if you're recording at 24 bits, some db's of headroom is a good thing anyway.

Yeah, I saw that in the manual. Just haven't gotten around to pulling it from the rack and opening it up.