Could Distressor color do what some pre's do for color?

M

mixsit

Well-known member
Could the distortion effects available in a Distressor be near the effect of some of the nicer pre's out there -say fed by a pre from the clean' camp? I have RNP's and True Precision, no Neve or API for example.
Wayne
 
You won't be able to use a distressor to make one preamp sound like another. You will however be able to make a clean pretty sound a lot thicker without necessarily sounding compressed. Or add a nice hint of 2nd and even 3rd harmonic distortion to your signal. Distressors were designed to have all sorts of character to them, not just the 1176 thing. That is why they are one of the most comon and flexible compressors on the market and in pro studios.
 
xstatic said:
You won't be able to use a distressor to make one preamp sound like another. You will however be able to make a clean pretty sound a lot thicker without necessarily sounding compressed. Or add a nice hint of 2nd and even 3rd harmonic distortion to your signal. Distressors were designed to have all sorts of character to them, not just the 1176 thing. That is why they are one of the most comon and flexible compressors on the market and in pro studios.
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Yes that follows. So excluding the compressor for the moment, I was wondering if the addition (in small amounts perhaps) of what it could do to a clean source mighty be rather similar to what happens in some pre stages?
 
I guess in some ways, yes it could. It could certainly make your stuff sound very different than how it does without the compressor. Any good vintage comp will tend to do that, some more than others. Personally though, I would not know how to use it to make preamp A sound more like preamp B. I do however know how to use it to make source signal A (un-distressed...) sound like signal X (who knows which preamp sound that would be). The distressor is a very nice little unit. It isn't the be all end all of compressors, but it offers a very large amount of sonic and dynamic flexibility and will offer you a palette os sounds that no preamp/mic combo can give you without a compressor of its caliber. It's a pretty large investment, but I don't think it is one you would regret if it isn't stretching your budget too much. Distressors do a great job of offering a lot of very different options ranging from pretty clean low ratio compression to 1176 style compression to crazy way out nuked FX. In fact, it offers so many options that often times the hardest thing to do with it is decide which route you want to go. The one thing it does not seem to do as well though is 2 buss style compression, but it can give good results on just about anything else:)
 
Ah yes, the budget. I feel new monitors, a two-buss/tracking comp and at least something with a bit of hair on it (in it? :rolleyes: ) pulling me at the same time..
Thank you for your input there.

Overdubs today and another $ closer. :D
 
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