CoolCat
Well-known member
I finally had to test drive this thing. I grabbed it used for $1050.
Old school vibe was the draw, the large old knobs, the history of tubes, the tracking gear.
Price...$1050 used!! seems so expensive but is it?
Beautiful preamp with pads and Gain switching and a gorgeous huge LEVEL knob driving the valve.
Lets say $500-$600 for the preamp.
$450 left to account for.
It has a Impedance switching, Line In, Mic In....and a tube DI channel for instruments.
If a Radial DI is $200....this is at least that.
$250 left to account for....
now lets not forget the 2 knobs of EQ, well, for a vocal touch this eq is beautiful. Two knobs with band selector, sure the low end cut and the 10k sparkling touch...has to be worth $100. ..but I'll go $50 for fun.
in reality some might pay $200 for a tube eq like this.
~~~$200 left to account for....a LA2A...now even the frugal gerheads have to agree, its well worth the scratch cash. oh, yeah the LA2A based compressor/limiter.....simplicity of two huge analogishness high quality knobs to adjust the peak work or vocal squash of yesteryear with that familiar sound. admitted to be great for vocals and even intended for. what a smoothness this compressor can do. I love it.
So in short, really its not very expensive for a pro-end piece of hardware when you piece part it.
I did not have any issues with my KSM44 which is hotter mic, like the U87ai, as compared to a SM7 or Ribbon being low output/db.
My only issue is I dont have much activity in the HR studio anymore so its like buying a Marshall Stack to jam once in a great while, or a $1990 Fender Elite bass to record one half song a year.
what a beautiful piece of gear though.
The vibe made me wonder if every track was ran through this unit, say a early Beatle cover tune, or Indie band song, or blue grass Bill Monroe, would it sound good without adding 500 plugins during mixing?
I'll guess....yes.
Old school vibe was the draw, the large old knobs, the history of tubes, the tracking gear.
Price...$1050 used!! seems so expensive but is it?
Beautiful preamp with pads and Gain switching and a gorgeous huge LEVEL knob driving the valve.
Lets say $500-$600 for the preamp.
$450 left to account for.
It has a Impedance switching, Line In, Mic In....and a tube DI channel for instruments.
If a Radial DI is $200....this is at least that.
$250 left to account for....
now lets not forget the 2 knobs of EQ, well, for a vocal touch this eq is beautiful. Two knobs with band selector, sure the low end cut and the 10k sparkling touch...has to be worth $100. ..but I'll go $50 for fun.
in reality some might pay $200 for a tube eq like this.
~~~$200 left to account for....a LA2A...now even the frugal gerheads have to agree, its well worth the scratch cash. oh, yeah the LA2A based compressor/limiter.....simplicity of two huge analogishness high quality knobs to adjust the peak work or vocal squash of yesteryear with that familiar sound. admitted to be great for vocals and even intended for. what a smoothness this compressor can do. I love it.
So in short, really its not very expensive for a pro-end piece of hardware when you piece part it.
I did not have any issues with my KSM44 which is hotter mic, like the U87ai, as compared to a SM7 or Ribbon being low output/db.
My only issue is I dont have much activity in the HR studio anymore so its like buying a Marshall Stack to jam once in a great while, or a $1990 Fender Elite bass to record one half song a year.
what a beautiful piece of gear though.
The vibe made me wonder if every track was ran through this unit, say a early Beatle cover tune, or Indie band song, or blue grass Bill Monroe, would it sound good without adding 500 plugins during mixing?
I'll guess....yes.