vintechs and distressors -- where to begin?

[lilcapn]

hey --

a friend just lent me a pair of vintech pres and a pair of distressors. i'm recording at home, to a tsr-8 and also a vs-1680.

i've not used either of these baby's before; if you were to give them a test drive, where would you begin?

guitars? vocals? rhythm tracks?

i've heard a lot about both, and have a couple weeks to check the out, but have never used either...

thanks for any recommendations!

[tubedude]

Use them for everything that you can.
What are you tracking? The Distressor is a very powerful box. I would use it wherever needed before going digital and probably on the stereo bus too on mixdown.
As for the pre's, are they the dual 1272 box or the single channel w/EQ boxes? The EQ's in those boxes is very powerful also, and you are more likely to screw up your sound than help it if you arent experienced with good EQ.
If it is indeed the pre/eq box, then you are pretty lucky and should be tracking every possible minute you have to spare with these things. Most likely they sonically kill everything else you have.
Wish I had a friend with some even semi-cool toys. No one at all.

[lilcapn]

are the single channel w/eq.

i've got a UA 2-610, and i love the eq on that, so i'm psyched to experiment with these.

in other studios i've mainly experienced the distressors on drums, and its tough for me to track drums here at home, so i'm wondering what else they'll be killer on...

thanks for the tips!