Behringer and Tubes

Rochey

Rochey

New member
okay people... before you begin a rant about how crap Behringer are, let me begin by saying, I'm not running a proffesional studio, i do not have paying clients, and when i do have people coming round to record, they are eternally gratefull for almost anything i give them on CD. So, quality is important, but if I can get 95% of the quality at 20% of the price, i will be happy.


Anyway, on with my question....

I've seen that behringer have recently released a lot of new tube based designs. The main one's that have cought my eye are:

Behringer - Magician T1950
Behringer - Tube Ultragain T1953

for £180 each, (about $270 ea)


does anyone have any genuine experience with this kit. I understand that Behringer have more sales guys than engineers (if you know what i mean) -- but for $500, are they worth it?


thanks again guys,


rochey
 
Rochey said:
...but for $500, are they worth it?
Click to expand...
No........ do a search on the words "cheap" and "tube"....... I've posted on this subject a number of times.......

Bottom line, cheap tube gear gives you no sonic advantage over cheap, non-tube gear.... (Behringer or otherwise).... real tube gear costs upwards of a couple of thousand for a reason.....
(Because it's expensive to design proper tube circuits...)

And besides, Behringer gear is dicey enough anyways! (well... I HAD to say it!) ;)

Bruce
 
Some of the things ive learned in my 2 years on this BBS.....

-stay away from anything with the word "tube" on it that you can actually afford (Art Tube MP is only exception)

-Behringer mixers suck, but the rest of their gear performs reasonably well, enough for a home studio....their compressors/limiters/gates are good enough to make it in semi-pro studios......
 
Bottom line: For 500 dollars you could get for example an Art Dual MP plus a RNC, and you'd even have some money left for Smarties. This is not to mention what you could find if you look for used gear.

Besides, Gidge an you other guys, there is another exception to tube gear that is both decent AND affordable: The TLAudio Ivory product line (rebranded in the US as HHB Radius). They even come without the silly little window that lets you see the tubes!

Cheers
/Henrik
 
Well, if you compare my baby, the 5001 (four channel tube pre), to the B-word T1953, it's actually about the same price per pre.

/H
 
dbx 5x6 gear

I started another thread about this, but does anyone know anything about the higher end Silver Series (the 566, 576, and 586) from dbx?? I have seen good reviews of it, but people dont seem to think much of its lower siblings (the 3x6 line) around here. . still ive hardly seen the 586 mentioned. .
 
ahhh. TL Audio

well, i've just had another look around, and i think you guys may be right. Behringer are a load of crap (except for their compressors -- good workhorses).

The TL Audio stuff's specs look to be pretty good, but i've also just seen the Joe meek VC6Q -- instrument and mic preamp. It' looks like a good workhorse.

Anyone got experience with these little babies?


rochey
 
Hehe, that just happens to be my OTHER little baby.

(note to my girlfriend if she should read this: No I'm not forgetting you and our little girl. It's just a manner of speaking).

I think JoeMeek are discontinuing the VC6Q, so you might get it for a very competitive price (I bought mine a few weeks ago for about $390). It definitely has a sound of its own. Some don't like that sound, but I'm one of those who does. I've mainly used it for recording vocals and as a DI for bass (I also DI'd an electric guitar once).

Since it has it's own quite defined sound, I'd be careful to have it as my only pre. You don't want everything sounding the same in your mix. With that said: When used on vocals (I sing through a Rode NTK) it's just wonderful. With that combination I get a very defined vocal sound, that needs no further EQ'ing in the mix. It's like, almost no matter how low you turn the vocals in the mix, you can still hear them, know what I mean?

It's very bass heavy (and the EQ is PHAT), so the DI'd bass just makes everything shake. I dig it, but like I said, many people like more transparent channels.

Cheers
/Henrik
 
They are discontinuing it????? I thought that was the vc3q...(coming out with a model with sensing technology or something)

Anyway yeah I have a vc6q and it's great. I use it pretty much henrik...Vocals and direct bass. I couldn't be happier. Zounds has it for $349 and unless you live in new jersey, that's out the door...no tax, free shipping over $200.

It's not my only pre, but it's just about the only pre I use. The "character" or sound it ads is great, but different. The thing a lot of people overlook, is that if you bypass the eq and the compressor it just sounds like a great straight-ahead mic pre. I almost always use the eq and the compressor CRANKED.
 
VCQ6

They have them for sale in the UK for about $300 --

i'm tempted, but xmas is coming... and i'm away from home for the next 12 months... so I won't be able to use it... but... if it's going to be discontinued... well...

arghhhh...

stress!

d
 
Rochey,
there is a species called "the gear slut". Whenever a new model of any musical gear is introduced to the market, the gear slut feels an urge to get his (there have been no sightings of female gear sluts) hands on it. Getting a new piece of gear leads many a gear slut to sell some older piece of equipment they have. Now, thing is that the "older piece of equipment" may mean something that has been on the market for a year or sometimes even less. Perfectly good stuff, for a fraction of the original price. That's when the rest of us buy.

(That's also why I always like reading old music magazines, because the reviews are about the gear I'm finding on the pre-owned market).

From what I understand, the VC6Q will be discontinued, only because Joemeek have an updated version of it, involving some new technology. I'm positively sure that this will lead the gear sluts to fill the pre-owned market with VC6Q's - which of course will be just as good at that time as they are today.

In other words - don't worry. In a year you might even find the VC1Q used for the same price you can get a VC6Q today.

Cheers
/Henrik
 
I did some looking on the internet and I'm not findiing anything about the VC6Q being discontinued. I emailed joe meek to find out for sure.

I know I read somewhere (i think from alan hyatt) that the VC3Q (half rack model) was being discontinued to add the CS mic pre.

Actually wait, I found it on this board:

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30817

The VC3Q (half rack) is being discontinued and replaced with the MQ3 for the same price.
 
Trebles,

I would agree with you about the Presonus stuff. For some reason everytime I mention Presonus in a mic-pre thread, people just ignore it :)

I've got the Presonus VXP and it is a very clean sounding unit and miles above and beyond what the pre's on my Mackie 24 sound like. Better yet... when I originally bought my VXP it was scratched... yeah yeah I like my gear to at least START OUT looking nice ... anyhow... a rep at Presonus actually hand picked a unit from the factory and tested it for me to make sure it looked and sounded good. I was impressed (it was even their suggestion that I let them replace the unit rather than my vendor).

Just my $0.02 worth... good unit. Never tried any of the Behringer preamp products. I've got one of their quad compressors and a 1000 f/x unit. Compressors are good (though I wish the quad had built in gates) and the f/x unit is ok... noisier than even my old Digitech gear (DSP128) but has some interesting f/x.

Velvet Elvis:p :p :p
 
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