Mic Pres and Comps with color?

  • Thread starter Thread starter zeppelin
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zeppelin

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I'm looking to get a new Mic Pre or compressor unit pretty soon and I wanted to know what gives that similar british flair for about $500 or under? I have a Joe Meek VC3Q that I like alot. I was thinking about the RNC but it's pretty transparent. I might still pick one up but what other options do I have?

Thanks
 
zeppelin said:
I'm looking to get a new Mic Pre or compressor unit pretty soon ... for about $500 or under?
Click to expand...

Mic Pres under 5 bills, you have a few options. I think the RNP is the best bet in that price range. But there are other decent pres like DMP3, VTB-1, ART VLA.

Compressors with color ? I honestly don't think there are any "good" compressors in the market in that price range "with color" ... unless you're talking about an API compressor ... but you would have to own the power supply to use it. That alone will cost you about $500... so no dice. RNC is a good choice to record with ... good clean compression, even an extremes. You could then get a UAD-1 sound card and use the LA2A and 1176 plugs. IMO, these are the most DY NO MITE compression plugins that exist. So you can get the color at that price point, but it will be software.
 
Colored compressors abound in that price range, if you don't mind buying used.

MXR Dual limiter,
Ashly SC-50,
JBL / UREI 7110 (my personal favorite),
ART Pro VLA,
Bellari RP583.
 
Focusrite Voicemaster Pro. It just got a big thumbs up in Recording magazine and has a top notch preamp and built in compressor. $550 street price.

The author of the review stated he did not want to part with the unit which says alot.
 
guitars, vocals drums ect. Pretty much everything for right now.
 
Hey Chessrock.

You mentioned the JBL / Urei 7110. I finally decided to grab the two of these i have in my new studio and hook them up. Unfortunately i didnt have time to go through tests with it yet.

What do you like about this compressor? What kind of color does it give? Im sure i will patch these in later today to test them out but since you said they are your favorites i was really curious as to what i have been missing out on.

danny
 
On the JBL's, if you mess around with the "Peak / Average" dial, it can give you sort of a hard-knee like effect if you turn it one one direction, and an overeasy effect if you turn it the other way. Not sure how all that crap works; it just sounds pretty cool. On drums and vocals, you can get what they call the "poor man's distressor on nuke mode," so it's capable of some pretty extreme settings and compression effects if you mess with it enough.
 
ahhh cool. I will definately have to try them out on a few things. ive been kinda slow at testing out all this new stuff because i wonna learn everything in detail. i kinda wish i would have pulled these out earlier though.

danny
 
zeppelin said:
I'm looking to get a new Mic Pre or compressor unit pretty soon and I wanted to know what gives that similar british flair for about $500 or under? I have a Joe Meek VC3Q that I like alot. I was thinking about the RNC but it's pretty transparent. I might still pick one up but what other options do I have?

Thanks
Click to expand...

My Joe Meek is green
My Avalon is silver
My DMP3 is black and silver.

There is some color.
 
If Led Zeps sound is what you want...try an old soundcraft board from the 70s. they are out there and thats what they used for live shows...under 500 smackers on ebay.
 
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