The 3630!
- Thread starter DenverRob
- Start date
DigitalSmigital
A slice of analog pie?
It is popular...
to crap on the 3630. Why? Because it only costs about $90 and they all spent hundreds on a piece of gear that when over-used sounds like crap anyway.
The 3630 does what I need it to do. I use the gate. A little comp on vocals. As a live guitar compresser. That's about it.
to crap on the 3630. Why? Because it only costs about $90 and they all spent hundreds on a piece of gear that when over-used sounds like crap anyway.
The 3630 does what I need it to do. I use the gate. A little comp on vocals. As a live guitar compresser. That's about it.
MadAudio
Damned if I do
The 3630 is the butt of many jokes and even the subject of a few threads here, including modding one for mobile recording.
I've never used one, but from what I gather it's a crappy compressor that colors too heavily. But in one thread we did figure that the Behringer DI-100 would make a better doorstop because: 1) the DI-100 has those big rubber corners, and; 2) you could get four DI-100's for the price of one 3630! Eat your heart out, Alesis!
FWIW, I love my SR16 and DM5.
I've never used one, but from what I gather it's a crappy compressor that colors too heavily. But in one thread we did figure that the Behringer DI-100 would make a better doorstop because: 1) the DI-100 has those big rubber corners, and; 2) you could get four DI-100's for the price of one 3630! Eat your heart out, Alesis!
FWIW, I love my SR16 and DM5.
Herm
Well-known member
In this months Tape op mag there is an article on a free mod you can do to improve the sound of the 3630. It is a very easy mod to do, It just invloves cliping two wires. It is suppose to open up the sound of the unit or make it cleaner. But the one thing that you loose by doing this mod is the gate.
I have two of them and have decided to mod one of them. Now if I could just get off my but and take it out of the rack it would be done
I have two of them and have decided to mod one of them. Now if I could just get off my but and take it out of the rack it would be done
dirtythermos
New member
Yeah, I was thinking about modding mine. I never use the gate anyway, because it clicks when it goes in and out.
Herm
Well-known member
Well just minute before you do it.
I just opened mine up and it does not have the same guts as the one in the picture in the magazine. There are no jumpers in mine to cut. In all of those jumper spots they show, even the row of about 6 jumpers you see in the pic.
Mine has got resistors in it. So alesis has changed the unit somewhere along the way.
I only bought my 2 about a year ago so they are fairly new, But I have never had any problems with mine doing nasty things but I will admit I dont and have never used the gates.
Also if you want to find out which one you have dont take the front cover off till you take the back off and look up inside and see if you have one with the jumpers or with a bunch of resistors in there.
Good luck with you unit.
I just opened mine up and it does not have the same guts as the one in the picture in the magazine. There are no jumpers in mine to cut. In all of those jumper spots they show, even the row of about 6 jumpers you see in the pic.
Mine has got resistors in it. So alesis has changed the unit somewhere along the way.
I only bought my 2 about a year ago so they are fairly new, But I have never had any problems with mine doing nasty things but I will admit I dont and have never used the gates.
Also if you want to find out which one you have dont take the front cover off till you take the back off and look up inside and see if you have one with the jumpers or with a bunch of resistors in there.
Good luck with you unit.
Herm
Well-known member
Ok I just found out that the resistors that are in the unit are dummy resistors and you can clip them. Atleast I did 
Now Im going to hook it up and try the unit and see (hear) how it does.
Addition. You do not have to take the front cover off or unhook any cables inside the unit to do this mod like the magazine says. If you have a small pair of dikes you can reach all the places you need to.
Now Im going to hook it up and try the unit and see (hear) how it does.Addition. You do not have to take the front cover off or unhook any cables inside the unit to do this mod like the magazine says. If you have a small pair of dikes you can reach all the places you need to.
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notbradsohner
Compression Addict
I modded one. Tapeop is dead on. You cant really hear the difference when you have really low compression settings. when get start using high setings (6:1) and up, you can really tell the difference. Still pretty useless compared to my rnc, but cool never the less.
shockingcandy
Leads for all occasions
Personally I have never understood why people are so down on the 3630 - sounds fine to me and I've had one for about 5 years.
Blue Bear Sound
New member
Well - if you have nothing to compare it against, you wouldn't know the difference, right?shockingcandy said:
MadAudio is bang on - it colours the sound heavily (and not the "good" kind of colour), and it also tends to sound quite harsh when pushed. A unit I had long ago didn't even like the +4 gain structure - would clip on a dime!
There are many better options available for the price........
shockingcandy
Leads for all occasions
Blue Bear Sound said:
Yes but that's subjective really isn't it? Fair enough some people don't like the sound of it, whatever, each to there own. But just 'cause you don't like the sound doesn't always mean it was spawned by satan him self!
Blue Bear Sound
New member
Not really... bad-sounding is bad-sounding.....shockingcandy said:
As I said, there's good coloration and bad, and the 3630 falls deeply into the bad category.
Harvey Gerst
New member
If the signal dies away slowly, the gate is also prone to chatter.
Blue Bear Sound
New member
Yup - that too!Harvey Gerst said: