Joe Meek - ThreeQ

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DAS19

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Anyone have it? know about it? Like it? Hate it?

Found it for 200 and it looks really nice, I have the jm27s and thats got me liking joe meek a lot.

Thanks
Dave
 
For the price, it's amazing. Only sold mine because I needed some cash. It has a very nice fat character to it. It adds a nice color and the eq and comp are actually useful. Compared to the Eureka, which I also used to own, it was far better. The 3Q is a steal. Buy it!!!
 
I saw the Eureka to adn it looks a lot nicer then the ThreeQ but Joe Meek gibers you a bang for your buck. Thanks For your help to bad you hard to sell it.
 
Don't let the Eureka's pretty looks fool you. It's a very brittle sounding preamp and IMHO isn't worth 100 bucks.
 
I love the joemeek products I own, and their support is top notch too.
 
I've got a 3Q, and i love it too. Really clean and quiet mic pre with lots of gain, vintage sounding compressor, a very usable and musical sounding EQ section too. Definately a great little channel strip IMHO... I can't think of any others even close for the same money.
 
Blue Groove said:
I just recieved two oneqs, great for the price.
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Not to be confused with One 2Q... at about half the price ;)
 
I have a 3Q and I love it. Can't say more than that. I have been nothing but happy with the sounds I get from it. The price (I think I paid like £97 new) just makes it all the better. I couldn't think of a pre I would rather have at that price range. And it looks cool too. :D
 
Its OK. Good for the price. I don't use it very often, but I like it when I do. The pre is acceptable but nothing fancy and the EQ is nice enough- but I'd avoid using it while tracking unless you know what you're doing.

The compressor? I've liked it exactly once- trying to save a great direct in guitar take that sounded *terrible*. Squashy, quirky compression did the trick. I haven't like it much on anything else, but then I haven't really put in the time to learn how it works. The controls don't work the same as on other compressors and it seems to go from "Is this thing on?" to "OMG, turn it OFF!!!" way too quickly.

I prefer it over the stock pres in the MBox and as an instrument DI over the built in INST inputs on the Mbox and 002. Other than that, I use it when I need an extra pre and don't want to hook up the whole mixer (usually on light weight remote projects) and that's about it.

-C
 
I have it and love it. The compressor is VERY quiet and it works well with my TB1 tube mic. Be sure to read the posts on PMI forum for info on how to use the compressor section. They were very helpful. It has plenty of gain and I love having the compressor and eq built in. The eq gives it a little color even when set flat.
 
DAS19 said:
Anyone have it? know about it? Like it? Hate it?

Found it for 200 and it looks really nice, I have the jm27s and thats got me liking joe meek a lot.

Thanks
Dave
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I have a pair of threeQ's and I love them. They sound great with the JM27's, too! I'm not sure why, but that combination seems to be greater than the sum of its parts. :)
 
Chris Shaeffer said:
Its OK. Good for the price. I don't use it very often, but I like it when I do. The pre is acceptable but nothing fancy and the EQ is nice enough- but I'd avoid using it while tracking unless you know what you're doing.

The compressor? I've liked it exactly once- trying to save a great direct in guitar take that sounded *terrible*. Squashy, quirky compression did the trick. I haven't like it much on anything else, but then I haven't really put in the time to learn how it works. The controls don't work the same as on other compressors and it seems to go from "Is this thing on?" to "OMG, turn it OFF!!!" way too quickly.

I prefer it over the stock pres in the MBox and as an instrument DI over the built in INST inputs on the Mbox and 002. Other than that, I use it when I need an extra pre and don't want to hook up the whole mixer (usually on light weight remote projects) and that's about it.

-C
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Perhaps you'd be interested in selling it, then?
 
Maybe I can help some of you guys with the compressor....

I think the issue here is the new Joemeek unit is ten times faster attack then the old one. If you use the attack of the new unit like you use the old unit, you will see these problems you are having. A fast attack is very percussive and colored. The slowest attack time on the new Joemeek threeQ is the same speed as the fastest attack time of the old Joemeek unit. Either way, slow down the attack when starting off...

Here is where I suggest you start for a vocal.

Set your attack time to the slowest point at 100 msec and set the release to its mid point or at 0.3sec. Set the compression control to half way or less.

This is a good starting point. From there, simply start turning the attack time counter clockwise. The more you turn it, the more percussive it will be. You can hear snare drums become tighter and more aggressive. So a fast time for drums is good. A slower time for vocals is better, say about 75msec.

From there make your adjustments as you need them and for less compression, turn the compression down. With compression, lees is more, especially if you print the compressor to track...you never know how it will sound until you play it back, so less is more!
 
Hey guys,

I thought I was using the compressor correctly, but a friend came over to help me and after hearing a vocal he said they thought there was something going on with the compressor settings.

I've been setting the compressor like Alan suggests in the above post, but, after I read the manual I've become confused! I'm just learning how these work so I want to try to clarify which was is correct. I'm probably being dull and not quite getting it! :D

Alan says: (read above post)

Manual says:

‘ATTACK’ sets how quickly the compressor reacts to peaks above threshold. Turn this control anti-clockwise for a quick response. Slower (clockwise) allows the fast leading edge of percussive sounds to pass uncompressed for a moment, before the compressor reacts to control the gain. This example of “changing the envelope” of a sound exaggerates
the percussive nature of drums and other instruments. Faster attack times (anti-clockwise) are used where the compression needs to be less obvious. For vocals the Attack needs to be around 1msec for a natural sounding result.

Any one out there use the threeQ for vocals that can give some advice?
 
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I just heard from Alan. He said to just try different setting to find the sweet spot. I will try that. My concern is that I'm so new to this I'd be doing something that makes it worse, rather than helping.

When I use a plug-in compressor in Sonar I can use presets and hear clearly what is going on. Not so with the hardware. Probably my inexperience.

Any suggestions from you guys who use this unit will still be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.
 
I had this and it was cool, nothing special, but for the price, cant really beat it. If you are on a low budget, cant go wrong I guess, but its not really something you would be completely happy with over time. You lose out because its an all in one piece IMHO, even though its not bad, and good if not great for the price(if you are on a budget) it doesnt replace a better seperate hardware set up.

I experimented(money lost cause of this) and its a good thing I guess, but you get what you price for.
 
Jackrip said:
I had this and it was cool, nothing special, but for the price, cant really beat it. If you are on a low budget, cant go wrong I guess, but its not really something you would be completely happy with over time. You lose out because its an all in one piece IMHO, even though its not bad, and good if not great for the price(if you are on a budget) it doesnt replace a better seperate hardware set up.

I experimented(money lost cause of this) and its a good thing I guess, but you get what you price for.
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Sounds like you're not really sure what you think of the unit. Why do you feel you lost money when you bought this?
 
jonnyc said:
Sounds like you're not really sure what you think of the unit. Why do you feel you lost money when you bought this?
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I didnt mean I lost money when I bought the JoeMeek, I meant in experimentin with different setups and the JoeMeek was one of them. I tried out the Nady as well, I forgot the exact name but it wasnt very good.

I would recommend it, IF you dont have the money to buy seperate rack units. But I would strongly recommend gettting seperate rack units, well from my experience and experimenting, atleast. More things you can accomplish because instead of having everything in one, you can pinpoint everything you want with seperate rack units, and the simplier you make it, the better it will sound.
 
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