Better make sure that Triple C is the stereo version. They came in two versions: mono and stereo, and both look alike. Very hard to tell them apart from the looks alone. If you paid around $200 it's probably the mono Triple C (or maybe a very beat up stereo Triple C).
I contacted the seller before I bid. It is indeed the stereo unit. I paid $250 for it and it looks clean in the pics.
Also, TC gear is about as far to the opposite end of the spectrum from "nasty" as you can get. Their gear tends to be polite and clean sounding.
Further, the Triple C is a digital compressor. So I always wonder why buy a digital box when you can get a plugin to do more or less the same thing more conveniently? For me, outboard needs to be analog (other than reverb and fx boxes).
I don't want to rain on your parade, but the Triple C is a curious choice given what you stated your were looking for in your first post. As a general all-arounder, yes it is a good choice. As a mangle box, I don't think it's going to get you where you want to go.
I agree and it wasn't my first choice. Frankly I have given up on compressor plugins. Since I began upgrading the circuitry in my console I can hear things so much better and listening closely to tracks using the plugins I hear artifacts I don't like. I may eventually hear some artifacts with a digital hardware compressor too. Just playing around with the compressor in my G-Major was pretty eye-opening though. Sounded fine and performed respectably.
The preset thing is gonna be handy too. With ditching the compressor plugins I lose the ability to make presets of commonly used settings. So there's another bonus with the Triple-C.
As for mangling, the more I read up on envelope style compression the more I think I can use it for creative sound design. I like the idea of being able to boost only the attack or decay way out of proportion. In one of my songs I got a very cool noisy effect on the vocal by allowing the mic to pick up sound from my monitors during tracking and then creatively using a noise gate and EQ on the bleed. I like stuff like this and having finer control over the envelope will open up more options.
Later this year we will start doing shows again and it will be pretty sweet having a multi-band compressor with presets on stage. So, yeah not the ultimate trash-box but a neat little collection of tools for a number of scenarios.
Perhaps another one to look at is the Urei/JBL 7110. Of course, the current king of this style compression is the Distressor. But that's a lot more money. The MXR will do part of what the Distressor will, but not the whole thing. It can do like one trick the Distressor can, but it doesn't sound as hi-fi of course. The Distressor is amazing in that it can do all sorts of different compression and compression styles. Quite a remarkable box.
I've been trying to get my hands on the Urei/JBL 7110 for ages. Some local jerk recently tried ripping me off with an ad on craigslist for a pair of these. Wanted the money mailed to him up front because he was out of town and couldn't let me demo the units
. I keep getting beat on Ebay for them too where people are bidding stupid money for them.
The Distressor is enticing from all the good I have heard about them. It's just a stretch for me to cough up almost 3 grand for a pair of compressors just to trash sounds with. The logic doesn't work for me. Of course they can be used clean too but even then I'd rather get something like
the Drawmer 1968 and spend some money in other areas - like synth stuff or more John Hardy 990Cs for my console
It's interesting to read reviews of
the DynaMaxx where some people are calling it the new Distressor. For the price it's pretty tempting.
I wish I could get my hands on one to demo...
is this what your talking about
