J
Jan
New member
Some experiences with my new Joe Meek VC1Qcs:
Transformer pre-amp
Opto compressor
Equalizer
Enhancer / De-Esser
What I immediately liked about the box is the fact that all units really do something audible. It’s not like you will be seriously questioning yourself if the compressor is activated or not. You can clearly hear the difference while turning various knobs.
The first thing that is really impressive is the preamp itself. Very smooth, warm, transparent and noiseless. I like it much more then the Focusrite Trackmaster I tried for one week which really sounded thin!
The compressor is really something completely different then all other compressors I tried before. The attack and release are very natural, but the compression itself changes the tone of the signal audible. If you stand in front of your mic sing a constant tone and gradually sing it louder you can hear how the compressor literally squeezes the signal, emphasizing the middle frequencies and cutting high and low.
This is an effect that is supposed to be the characteristic Joe Meek sound, but it must be said that one really needs to know this box and experiment a long time before starting to dip your vocal tracks in heavy Joe Meek compression sauce. Nevertheless, it really does something and I already like it!
The Equalizer is wonderful on vocals. High is really high, which means that you can effectively raise the “breath” frequencies and low is “Warmth Low”. The parametric mid lets you cut or add presence accurately. I love this equalizer.
The Enhancer / De-esser also really works. It has a Drive, Q and Enhance / De-ess knob and produces a pleasant non artificial Enhancement effect. The De-Ess function seems to cut the whole high frequencies a bit to audible, so for that I will continue using to my trusted Waves plug-in.
No noise in this unit, and great pre-amplification without hindering artifacts.
It won’t leave my rack anymore!
BTW I’ve tried it with TLM103, NTK and C2000B. All with great results.
Transformer pre-amp
Opto compressor
Equalizer
Enhancer / De-Esser
What I immediately liked about the box is the fact that all units really do something audible. It’s not like you will be seriously questioning yourself if the compressor is activated or not. You can clearly hear the difference while turning various knobs.
The first thing that is really impressive is the preamp itself. Very smooth, warm, transparent and noiseless. I like it much more then the Focusrite Trackmaster I tried for one week which really sounded thin!
The compressor is really something completely different then all other compressors I tried before. The attack and release are very natural, but the compression itself changes the tone of the signal audible. If you stand in front of your mic sing a constant tone and gradually sing it louder you can hear how the compressor literally squeezes the signal, emphasizing the middle frequencies and cutting high and low.
This is an effect that is supposed to be the characteristic Joe Meek sound, but it must be said that one really needs to know this box and experiment a long time before starting to dip your vocal tracks in heavy Joe Meek compression sauce. Nevertheless, it really does something and I already like it!
The Equalizer is wonderful on vocals. High is really high, which means that you can effectively raise the “breath” frequencies and low is “Warmth Low”. The parametric mid lets you cut or add presence accurately. I love this equalizer.
The Enhancer / De-esser also really works. It has a Drive, Q and Enhance / De-ess knob and produces a pleasant non artificial Enhancement effect. The De-Ess function seems to cut the whole high frequencies a bit to audible, so for that I will continue using to my trusted Waves plug-in.
No noise in this unit, and great pre-amplification without hindering artifacts.
It won’t leave my rack anymore!
BTW I’ve tried it with TLM103, NTK and C2000B. All with great results.
