Group Buy Interest?

[P. Glaser]

Professor M. Based on the last mass-email I received, the stand-alone pre will not be included in this group buy. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Question: again, based on what Chance said in the last email, do we need 100 units of all three pres to get the better price or just 100 units of any of the three?

Sure wish we could get prices on the mics. There are several I would like to order. Could someone please fill me in on how the shipping works? Amounts? I missed the last GB. Thanks.

Paul

 

[antichef]

Question: again, based on what Chance said in the last email, do we need 100 units of all three pres to get the better price or just 100 units of any of the three?

I think we can be sure that we need 100 units of any particular pre to get the pricing on that particular pre. So far we're seeing almost 300 people sign up on the form? Any notion of how that number compares to the number of email addresses in the mass email list? If it's smaller, then the order numbers will certainly go up as the rest of the mass email folks sign up on the form.

And again, although my own order is insignificantly small, I'm willing to switch pres in order to bring a particular one or two of them into 100+ territory.

Chance described the shipping in an earlier post in one of these threads - sounds like it will go very smoothly this time. Last time it went very smoothly, too but I think it's where Chance had to spend the vast majority of time and effort -- we still all hugely appreciate that, btw!

 

[backhair]

And again, although my own order is insignificantly small, I'm willing to switch pres in order to bring a particular one or two of them into 100+ territory.

same here. it looks like the acm 73 will break 100 without a sweat. i'm interested in the 84, but would gladly take the 81 if it helped reach 100 units.

also, are there any juicy tidbits on the phantom/tube ribbons that would make me prefer one in particular?

 

[gareth.h.rees]

I tried signing up on the form but it won't allow my email address to be fully entered. It's 35 characters in total.


Also, to repeat myself and others...

Could we get a description of what the mics actually *sound* like. It would also be really beneficial to get some recordings of them in comparison with eachother to see how they compare - eg the two valve LDC's. Is one bright and one "warm"? Or are they the same just in a different case?

Without some form of description is pretty hard to choose!

Also, my order, as I'm sure many others, will depend on prices. Could you give us the maximum and minimum price of each mic (via email of course) so that we can make a sensible judgement on the order form, rather than saying "i'll have two of each!" and then finding we cant afford it!

Thanks
Gareth

 

[crazydoc]

Professor M. Based on the last mass-email I received, the stand-alone pre will not be included in this group buy. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Question: again, based on what Chance said in the last email, do we need 100 units of all three pres to get the better price or just 100 units of any of the three?

Sure wish we could get prices on the mics. There are several I would like to order. Could someone please fill me in on how the shipping works? Amounts? I missed the last GB. Thanks.

Paul

As far as the shipping, in the past group buy shipping, duty, etc. from China to LA was included in the price paid for the mic. Shipping from LA to your address was extra - basically UPS ground rates per weight. I had about 50# which was about $50, but that was only from southern CA to northern CA. Longer distances, and especially foreign shipping, are going to be more.

I tried negotiating and they agreed to let us have them at this price if we can get 100 pieces OF EACH PRE.

I read this as meaning we have to have a minimum of 300 orders, with a minimum of 100 orders of each model. Correct me if I'm wrong. (And it looks like we're falling well short for the 84 and 81.)

Chance just sent another email - the standalone pre will NOT be included in this buy.

 

[chance]

Maybe my E-mail was a little unclear. Remember the ORIGINAL quote was the best/lowest price was @ 200 pieces of each pre ordered. NOW we will get that (lowest) price if we order only 100 pieces, as long as we order 100 pieces of ALL 3 preamps This is to cover the tooling/design expense of these new products.

 

[crazydoc]

Maybe my E-mail was a little unclear. Remember the ORIGINAL quote was the best/lowest price was @ 200 pieces of each pre ordered. NOW we will get that (lowest) price if we order only 100 pieces, as long as we order 100 pieces of ALL 3 preamps This is to cover the tooling/design expense of these new products.

Sorry to be dense, chance. So does this mean we have to order 300 preamps (100 minimum of each?) That's still the way I understand it.

If so, and we don't make the numbers (being still far from that quota at present), maybe we could still get the price if we all could agree on a 200 piece order of just one of the models.

Of course, if the price difference were small, we could still order all the models and pay a little more.

 

[gareth.h.rees]

Forgot to ask...

Will there be a "mass shipping" to someone in the UK, so that they can distribute the UK orders, or is it easier/cheaper to just send them individually from USA?

Gareth

 

[chance]

Forgot to ask...

Will there be a "mass shipping" to someone in the UK, so that they can distribute the UK orders, or is it easier/cheaper to just send them individually from USA?

Gareth

Thats a good question, and I don't have an answer. I feel a responsibility to everyone, and I wouldn't know how to do this. Everyone in the UK would have to organize this on their own and order as one order.

 

[earlwgreen]

I see you're still on line Chance. Will those 2 new mics be added to this or will they come in a later GB?

Your doing a great job!

THANKS

Earl

 

[gareth.h.rees]

Thats a good question, and I don't have an answer. I feel a responsibility to everyone, and I wouldn't know how to do this. Everyone in the UK would have to organize this on their own and order as one order.

Well if it comes to it we'll just have to pay extra shipping and such.

I would offer to do the UK end of things but I'm not sure I'd feel confident with doing it, and certainly dont have the time to organise anything in the next two weeks. Probably still be pretty busy till June time.

Also chance could you take a look at the last few questions I've asked about the sound and cost of the mics?

Cheers!
Gareth

 

[dgatwood]

Thoughts on the different preamp models

I'm probably going to get one with the DI just to have, but beyond that, I feel like I need two of the same model and I'm debating which model to get. I'm used to doing most of my EQ in the box, so the temptation would be to get the one with VU meters, but if I find myself wanting to do EQ while tracking, having more control over the mids sould probably be useful, which would push me towards the other model.

I've never used a preamp that didn't have any level indicators. I suppose if I had too much trouble setting the levels, I could always build a rack-mounted VU meter pair to the outputs in an extra rack unit, but then again, analog VUs are so slow to respond that I'm not sure they really do any good anyway, so even with meters, I'm probably going to have to bring it up to the point where the clip light comes on, then roll it back until I feel comfortable it won't clip anyway.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how to resolve this quagmire? I know, I know, order two of both.... That's a little much, though, plus there's not that much room left in my rack.

 

[P. Glaser]

As far as the shipping, in the past group buy shipping, duty, etc. from China to LA was included in the price paid for the mic. Shipping from LA to your address was extra - basically UPS ground rates per weight. I had about 50# which was about $50, but that was only from southern CA to northern CA. Longer distances, and especially foreign shipping, are going to be more.

I read this as meaning we have to have a minimum of 300 orders, with a minimum of 100 orders of each model. Correct me if I'm wrong. (And it looks like we're falling well short for the 84 and 81.)

Chance just sent another email - the standalone pre will NOT be included in this buy.

Thanks, Doc!

 

[crazydoc]

I'm probably going to get one with the DI just to have, but beyond that, I feel like I need two of the same model and I'm debating which model to get. I'm used to doing most of my EQ in the box, so the temptation would be to get the one with VU meters, but if I find myself wanting to do EQ while tracking, having more control over the mids sould probably be useful, which would push me towards the other model.

I've never used a preamp that didn't have any level indicators. I suppose if I had too much trouble setting the levels, I could always build a rack-mounted VU meter pair to the outputs in an extra rack unit, but then again, analog VUs are so slow to respond that I'm not sure they really do any good anyway, so even with meters, I'm probably going to have to bring it up to the point where the clip light comes on, then roll it back until I feel comfortable it won't clip anyway.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how to resolve this quagmire? I know, I know, order two of both.... That's a little much, though, plus there's not that much room left in my rack.

In my extremely limited recording experience, VU meters are not useful for digital recording (which is probably what most of us are doing.) They were developed for analog equipment (actually, telephone equipment), and have a built in delay making them useless for peak level/clipping indicators, which is what is needed to avoid digital distortion. I never use them, so it's not a consideration in my choices.

The rise and fall times of the meter are both 300 milliseconds, meaning that if a constant sine wave of amplitude 0 VU is applied suddenly, the meter will take 300 milliseconds to reach the 0 on the scale. It behaves as a full-wave averaging instrument, and is not optimal for measuring peak levels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VU_meter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:VU-meter-reponse-graph.svg

The DI would be OK, but I have other options. They all have clipping indicators. So my choice is the 81, giving me the most eq options.

 

[rockinrocker]

just to double check, the ACM 1200 and ACM-70 will be included in this buy, but haven't been added to the user console yet?

 

[dgatwood]

In my extremely limited recording experience, VU meters are not useful for digital recording (which is probably what most of us are doing.) They were developed for analog equipment (actually, telephone equipment), and have a built in delay making them useless for peak level/clipping indicators, which is what is needed to avoid digital distortion. I never use them, so it's not a consideration in my choices.

Analog VU meters on a preamp certainly won't tell you if your audio interface is going to clip, but then again, the audio interface has its own input gain and clip light, and most good ones also have fast LED-based meters to help out (though as you noted, you do need to leave a good bit of wiggle room).

However, the purpose of VU meters on a pre is not to prevent the audio interface from clipping. The purpose of VU meters on a pre is to prevent the preamp from clipping....

 

[crazydoc]

However, the purpose of VU meters on a pre is not to prevent the audio interface from clipping. The purpose of VU meters on a pre is to prevent the preamp from clipping....

I thought that's what the peak level/clipping indicator (on the preamp) was for. But you're right, the VU on the preamp has nothing to do with indicating clipping of the digital signal farther down the chain.

I used to use the VU meters on my tape decks 40 years ago - they were useful then as my recorders didn't have any other method of indicating the signal strength. Now that we have LED's with their fast rise times we have the peak level indicators (and meters made from LED's), which are adequate for my purposes. Besides, VU meters need to be carefully calibrated and manufactured to exacting specifications - I would have my doubts about the ones on these preamps.

I guess what I'm saying is that due to my ignorance of the usefulness of VU meters, I don't need them.

 

[chance]

I just finished todays session and before I go and eat, yes the two other mic will be available.
About the meter thing, I personally like to know what is hitting the mic pre on the way in. About me still being on line, I just haven't logged off or shut down. I hope to send another Mass mail tomorrow with price info on those other mics.

 

[chris carter]

Personally, I love having a VU meter on a pre in addition to the clip lights. It tells me a lot about the signal I'm getting and also helps gain staging going into other gear where I might want to hit that stuff in a sweet spot, or hard, or soft or whatever.

Additionally, I hope to use the 73s for tracking keyboards and samplers through the DIs because of the EQ, and when tracking stereo sounds it's really important to calibrate the balance between the two pres. It's a serious pain in the butt to do that with pres that have no meters because you have to use led's on the interface which have crap resolution. So I'm rather excited about having VUs on the 73s.

 

[JTC111]

I'm pretty new around here. How can I get the info on the GB? And how can I join in the buy?