Short list of gear to avoid at all costs.

[cominginsecond]

Newbies, mark my words. You will rue the day you ever buy any of the following pieces of equipment. Don't make the same mistakes I did!

1. Alesis Monitor Ones - Mixing with these was like painting with the lights off. I learned more about my mix from playing it in the car than I did from these monitors. They made everything, no matter how messed up, sound fairly good. AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL!

2. AKG C1000s Mic - Brittle, harsh, and thin. Good for nothing other than guitar cab.

3. Presonus Blue Tube - Dark, noisy, and ugly. OK as a bass DI, but not worth the price.

4. Any Nady rackgear - You don't want this stuff in your signal path. The compressor pumps and breaths like a mofo and just introduces way too many artifacts. The parametric EQ is harsh, and the graphic eq sucks as well. As cheap as Behringer, but not as good, and that says a lot.

5. Sonic Maximizer - Basically, this thing is a "suck" knob. Unless you're recording to a cassette four-track and need to brighten up a few tracks, this box is more or less useless.

[Blue Bear Sound]

Add any gear by Rolls and Bellari to the "avoid" list...

[regebro]

Behringer Ultramizer

[muttley]

195? behringer tube composer....



da MUTT

[foreverain4]

Originally posted by cominginsecond
Newbies, mark my words. You will rue the day you ever buy any of the following pieces of equipment. Don't make the same mistakes I did!

1. Alesis Monitor Ones - Mixing with these was like painting with the lights off. I learned more about my mix from playing it in the car than I did from these monitors. They made everything, no matter how messed up, sound fairly good. AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL!

i am going to have to disagree with you on that one. i know they are not the best, but i have found that my mixes translate very well with these monitors. i have, of course, added a sub with them. you do, like any monitor, have to get to know them a bit.

[cominginsecond]

Originally posted by foreverain4
you do, like any monitor, have to get to know them a bit.

I spent two years trying to get to know them to no avail. I guess I didn't have a sub, though. Either way, I got some 20/20s and my mixes have never been better.

[jayoneill]

Whew! I'm a newbie and I'm glad I don't have any of the gear your listed. In fact, I've never even heard of any of the gear you listed.

Maybe ignorance is bliss.

J

[Bass Master "K"]

The sonic maximizer I might take a little issue with, not so much in the signal chain, but for guitarists with amps that need a little more snap to them, the little box can do wonders!

This is a good thread.

[60's guy]

Bass Master,
SHHHHHH! Be careful what you say.
http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthr...threadid=96335

[Jblount]

As far as nady rack equipment, I would lump all of nadys equipment in the short list of gear to avoid. Along with any microphone that uses the 3/16" mono jack.

[Bass Master "K"]

Originally posted by 60's guy
Bass Master,
SHHHHHH! Be careful what you say.
http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthr...threadid=96335

LOL, well actually I am in agreement with Blue Bear and Tex with what they said. I'm just saying that my guitar players *okay* amp was missing some punch and depth before the sound even hit the mic and so he threw one of those on his amp and it made my job a bunch easier. I probably could have EQ'ed to the same or similar effect but it saved me the hassle of having to. He also started using it in live gigs and it gave his rig that extra punch it was missing. I told him replacing his fifteen year old tubes in it would probably help as well but he never had the money for it.

Beer yes, tubes no.

[Dom Franco]

I have been dissappointed with almost every thing I have purchased from Radio Joke, with the possible exception of plugs jacks and adaptors. These are pretty simple devices and hard to screw up!

The trouble is that other electronics stores are hard to find and often closed when you need something right away.

Dom

[invisiblemute]

Hosa Cables
Maybe all cables in this price range aren't great but I've had a couple Hosa cables become crackly and they don't do much moving so there is no good reason they should die. Not sure if it's worth it to solder new connectors to these cables.

Gemini Mixers
(For the DJs.) I've used many different models and very few of them were working 100%. Not useful except for beginners in the bedroom. I think even Numark is better if you're going to gig out occasionally.

[Track Rat]

Originally posted by cominginsecond

2. AKG C1000s Mic - Brittle, harsh, and thin. Good for nothing other than guitar cab.

I strongly dissagree on this. It is good on guitar cabs but also this is my favorite tom/ snare mics I own. They do however suck on overheads or acoustic guitar.

[Blue Bear Sound]

Originally posted by invisiblemute
Hosa Cables
Maybe all cables in this price range aren't great but I've had a couple Hosa cables become crackly and they don't do much moving so there is no good reason they should die.

Yes there is a reason --- wire ages and oxidizes over time, degrading the ability to conduct signal.... that is one of the biggest differences between the expensive and cheap cable - expensive stuff is as oxygen-free as possible, while the cheap stuff isn't and tends to breakdown more quickly over time.

[Captain Nuke'em]

.........AND MOST OF ALL, STAY AWAY FROM ANY AND ALL
BEHRINGER MIXERS !!!!!

[Ed Dixon]

Actually we have had very good luck with Behringer mixers. We have multiple and our church also has them. All have worked flawlessly.

Ed

[cominginsecond]

Originally posted by Track Rat
I strongly dissagree on this. It is good on guitar cabs but also this is my favorite tom/ snare mics I own. They do however suck on overheads or acoustic guitar.

I guess I never tried it on those sources. They did really suck on acoustic guitar, overhead, tamborine, vocals, flute, mandolin, and shaker.

[sae]

Originally posted by cominginsecond
I guess I never tried it on those sources. They did really suck on acoustic guitar, overhead, tamborine, vocals, flute, mandolin, and shaker.

hahaha lol

I used it on a female vocal once that was horrid

[ron82]

Captain Nuke'em
.........AND MOST OF ALL, STAY AWAY FROM ANY AND ALL
BEHRINGER MIXERS !!!!!

WHY do i always hear bad things about behringer products, on this board? and i'm asking because i'm really interested. i have the UB1204FX, and recently added the small UB802 - and i would buy a new behringer mixer anytime! the only thing i now miss is a phase switch..

but yea, i AM a newbie, and have never tried another mixer, that is why i am asking, what i did wrong with buying those behringers.. lol

[joro]

I use a MX602A...........


it has a nice quiet and warm Pre...........



I guess it is about luck and a lack of quality control on Behringer's part.....

same deal with my Rode NT1....
nice mic......captures the acoustic guit beautifully....
not considered a high quality mic though......


perhaps it has to do with the combination of gear within you signal chain all together....seems reasonable to me that you could possibly get a good signal chain with what is considered inferior products if the mix of products is right....if they compliment one another....ya know?



Joe

[COOLCAT]

Stay Away List:
this is a good thread.....

Behringer- I tried the stereo compressor and an effects-Multi Pro unit both super thin sounding...
i felt the knobs on the mixers were flimsy to the touch also.

Pawn Shops::::I've been burnt numerous times with used stuff...it worked fine in the Pawn SHop...but as it heated...ZZZBBZZZZQQQQ(*&$(*&#ZZZBZZZBBBZZZZ, broken jacks that were glued together........


over the years, I've wasted alot of time swapping out equipment.
hindsight at 20/20, many of us probably could have used a thread like this...and we'd all have Nuemanns and Tube Pre's and Compressors by now!!!

[Phreesoal]

Originally posted by Blue Bear Sound
Yes there is a reason --- wire ages and oxidizes over time, degrading the ability to conduct signal.... that is one of the biggest differences between the expensive and cheap cable - expensive stuff is as oxygen-free as possible, while the cheap stuff isn't and tends to breakdown more quickly over time.

Blue Bear - can you offer any cable brands to stay away from? I've used a few 1/4"-to-1/4" Hosa's in the past and also Radio Shack gold-tipped Dual RCA stereo cables.

The Radio Shack cables seemed to be okay. However, I'm a noob when it comes to knowing good cables vs. bad cables.

Phree

[Blue Bear Sound]

Avoid any cables with moulded ends -- Hosa is a good example. Radio Shack cable is pretty much garbage....

Some of the good brands include Mogami, Canare, Belden, Gepco, Zaolla....

[invisiblemute]

Crap Cables:
Good point about metal oxidization. But I'm not talking about degradation over several years -- more like one or two. Hosa really sucks! I'm guessing other cheap wiring is also made under similar low quality conditions but I wonder why I have cheap phone wires that work after several years, cheap headphones, and other cheap crap that still works. Eh... caveat emptor right. Kids definitely go out and get decent cable, not necessarily that $1k a foot stuff but decent stuff.

Alesis Monitor Ones:
I have Alesis Monitor Ones and while they definitely aren't even close to performing like real studio monitors they are a huge improvement over computer speakers and boomboxes that some bedroom musicians are using to monitor their mixes. I think the Ones serve decently for what they cost and if you use them for what they are. They're solid entry level bedroom monitors and they're priced that way. A little tip for the geeks. A friend gave me a pair of 360 ribbon tweeters that when used with the Ones make a huge difference. I'm sure the curve gets a bit out of wack and wavy but the upper and mid clarity and spacial field are hugely improved. I've tried to do research on the tweeters but there are no markings I can find and I couldn't find it in any catalogs. They aren't constructed particularly well so I don't think they would cost all that much. Places like Part Express sell comparable components.