POLL: underrated and cheap secret weapons. 1st example incl. MP3: siemens W295b EQ

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mig27

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hi everyone,

I already posted this over at george massenburg's pro forum, but why not have it here as well:

There have been numerous threads in pro audio forums leading to a wide popularity and acceptance of totally underestimated inexpensive studio gear - FMR RNC, behringer ECM8000 omnis, etc.

Many among us have some less popular bargain one trick ponies in their racks. Or some piece of weired gear that excels on a special task. Wouldn't it be nice to share this information and eventually accumulate a list of all-time cheapo winners?

Let me start the listing with a warm recommendation on some piece of vintage german studio gear: The siemens W295b solid state EQ:
siemensw295bEQ.jpg


You can grab these units for around $150.00 second hand - quite often on eBay Germany.
I dropped an MP3 with samples on drums, female vocals and acoustic guitar here. File size is just 1 MB - should be worth the download. You'll also find detailed information on the settings over there.

From what I can compare with, these are the sweetest, silkiest trebles I came across so far. A no-brainer on vocals. Also the low shelve adds a lot of punch to drums.

I'd be glad to hear of your personal cheapo secret weapons. For example, I read from tom cram (techie @ dbx), that the dbx 119 compressors are supposed to be very close sounding to the 160VUs. I just won the auction on a 118 at eBay => 40 bucks.
As soon as I have it here in Germany, the 118 will be compared to my pair of 160VU's and I'll post the results including an MP3 with the A/B-verdict.

Very much looking foward to hearing from you...
All the best.

Michael

Note:
The audio samples are taken from a demonstration CD from Royer Labs featuring the RE121 ribbon mic. Please notify if there are copyright issues - I'll clear the MP3 from the web immediatly. Thanks.
 
Good Idea.

I recently Picked up a dBx 118 for 15.00 us at a high end stereo shop and also an ADC analog reverb unit from the early eighties for 20.00. The stuff Im getting for that cheap costed a pretty penny at one time.
 
Secret weapons . . .

I hear a lot of people are getting good a/d conversion with their ART DIOs for around $150 - $200.

I can think of a few that I use on a regular basis:

* Joemeek VC3Q - I truly believe one could get results worthy of a commercial CD with this thing if used exclusively for micing guitar amps. It's decent on vocals, at best, but I've heard absolutely blissful recordings of guitar amps mic'ed with a 57 or an AT 4050 running hot in to either the VC3Q or VC6Q that just plain smoke.

* Behringer Multicom Pro. Not as good as the RNC because you don't get the same level of control, nor is it quite as transparent on higher settings. But when tracking several instruments at once, it is extremely useful. 4 independant channels, or two stereo channels. All ins and outs completely BALANCED, +4. And when the comp is not active, the unit itself adds almost 0 noise and/or distortion to the signal. Quiet as a mouse.

When used mildly, the comp is quite transparent and usable. I don't normally recommend using a whole lot of comp. during tracking anyway, so it's perfect for my purposes. The comp isn't really what makes it special anyway. It's just a little extra icing, to me.

What makes it such a great weapon is the fact that it allows you 4 simultaneous channels worth of very usable peak limiters. The peak limiting is indespensable for recording digitally to DAW. All of my tracks go through it on their way to ins 3-6 of my Delta 1010lt. I consider it a necessity in my "studio."
 
Furman RV-1 spring reverb. $50 on eBay (still < $100 sometimes). Get that HUGE lush analog springy Red Sovine/Minnie Pearl/Boxcar Willie vocal or snappy old skool sound.
 
furman RV-1? si, señor!

Thanks to everyone for the input so far.
Keep it comin' in!

I have this thread going on on to other forums and will compile a listing of recommended sleeper-gear to share with you.


Spiral,

You are absolutely right about the RV-1.
I also own one and am very happy with it.
Lately, I read about someone who hot rods them to raise the S/N-ratio from 60 to something like 90dB (!) by recapping and replacing the opamps.
Sounds very interesting to me, since I regularly use my RV-1 for additional reverb on lead vocals in my DAW environment, where hiss can become an issue. I'll give it a go.

For what it's worth, here's a short description on how to do it:

>Strategy: replace mediocre old parts with good new parts.
>Don't go overboard and get AudioPhlake stuff -- it's a waste
>of money on this application. Buy reasonable modern stuff.
>
>If possible, sweet talk Furman out of an RV-05 schematic.
>
>Replace transformer with 24VCT 200ma torioidal transformer.
>The space is tight. A metal encased transformer from Radio Shack
>works just as well. You want to minimize the radiated electric
>and magnetic fields so the reverb transducers don't pick them up.
>
>Replace power supply caps with low ESR 4700uf/25V snap-in caps.
>(note: you need to drill the board).
>(note: I used United Chemicon filter caps because they were
> at hand. Any good Panasonic will do fine and cost less, too.)
>
>Bypass the large caps with .1uF/50V Panasonic V-series stacked
>metallized film caps. They cut high frequency noise better.
>
>Add .01uF/50V polypropylene caps across secondary power supply diodes
>for noise suppression. (There are two power supplies on board)
>
>Replace 100uF local filter caps with low ESR 150-250 uF filter caps.
>More is better.
>
>Replace all 10uF and 22uF coupling caps with Elna Cerafines or
>Nichicon Muse. Anything more costly is excessive. There are
>audio grade Panasonics that work fine, too. See Digikey.com
>
>Replace all the opamps. Anything is better than the original
>15 year old 4558's. I used Burr-Brown OPA2604 dual opamps at
>~$2.50 ea. That was excessive. The NE5532 still gives excellent
>sound quality at about $0.50 ea and I'd use them if I had it to
>do again.

BTW: schematics of the RV-1 or RV-5 anyone?

Good luck and happy tweaking.
All the best,

Michael
 
Radio Design Labs stick-on compressors. There really not even designed for pro audio, there more of a compressor/limiter for sound installations like in a bar. Sounds cool on vocals especially, acoustic guitar too. I got three of them free (which makes them a good deal for me anyway:D ).
 
What I consider to be one of the best, cheapest and definitely underrated secret weapons:



PRACTICE


Especially after reading tons of threads about new cool gear and thinking that the gear will make my mixes perfect. ;)
 
I have an old Stage DE-1 analog delay from back in the late 70s. It is great for guitar and even adds some warmth to guitar that is run DI.
 
Lessee...

This is a tough one. I second the Behringer tip - I've got an Autocom 1200 that I picked up used for $90 - sweet, transparent limiting and very pleasantly colored comp for tracking (the Autocom also features gate and expander functions). Seems you can get the 1400 series now for $120 brand new (Musician's Friend carries them)

I'll also second the nomination for the ART DI/O - this is an indispensable tool for those who cannot afford top-shelf digital interfaces like the MOTU, Digidesign, or Aardvark stuff.

Now if you want to get into heavy electronics and really DIY applications, do a search some time for "compressor schematics" - you'll be amazed at what you find - how about a build-your-own LA2A? (Beats paying $100,000+ for an original or $5000 for a replica)
 
Ultradyne pro by behringer is the favorite finalizer of the reviewer at recording magasine. 189.00
 
Hmmm. What was it compared to? Did he compare it to the TC Electronics ?
 
JVC Wireless headphones

I have a set of these, and they work great. And you can run more than one set of the same transmitter....no dist amp needed. One less cable to run to the vocal booth.
 
Funny thing Chess.

The review was for the truth monitors, What was said of the ultradyne pro was in an anecdote at the beginning of the artical discribing his experince with behringer gear.
 
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