I wanted to add an aural exciter to my rack kit, but I couldn't justify the cash for an Aphex - so I thought I'd try a Behringer SX3040, at around 1/4 of the cost.
Seems to work pretty well - it certainly adds some 'punch and sparkle' to my mixes - but there were a couple things I didn't like...
The original knobs are very shiny plastic -- a bit too much 'bling' for my taste - and the positions can be difficult to read.
This picture shows what I mean..
Now these knobs are push fitted to a 6mm 'D' shaft - of which only about 3mm pokes through the front... So the choice of replacement knobs is a bit limited..
I thought these looked OK...
Much easier too read ! Bit too small diameter wise maybe?... but OK apart from that.
The other thing I didn't like was the mains transformer. Obviously Behringer needed to keep the costs down, to make the price point (nothing new there!) and used a cheap E/I transformer -- which works OK, but annoyingly buzzes a bit.....
So I replaced it with a toroid. That works fine and is now totally silent....
Some notes on the bits I used here:
http://www.jp137.com/lts/SX3040.mods.pdf
Seems to work pretty well - it certainly adds some 'punch and sparkle' to my mixes - but there were a couple things I didn't like...
The original knobs are very shiny plastic -- a bit too much 'bling' for my taste - and the positions can be difficult to read.
This picture shows what I mean..
Now these knobs are push fitted to a 6mm 'D' shaft - of which only about 3mm pokes through the front... So the choice of replacement knobs is a bit limited..
I thought these looked OK...
Much easier too read ! Bit too small diameter wise maybe?... but OK apart from that.
The other thing I didn't like was the mains transformer. Obviously Behringer needed to keep the costs down, to make the price point (nothing new there!) and used a cheap E/I transformer -- which works OK, but annoyingly buzzes a bit.....
So I replaced it with a toroid. That works fine and is now totally silent....
Some notes on the bits I used here:
http://www.jp137.com/lts/SX3040.mods.pdf