Hard2Hear
New member
There's not much, if anything, I can find on the web about this pre, so I thought I'd share here. Well, I got a Toft EC-1 in and tried it out. So far, I've only been doing vocals. But that is the main thing I got this for anyways, to see if it would work with my vocals.
First off, it's a nice looking and feeling unit. Its pretty heavy for being only one rack space. The knobs are all firm, yet easy to turn, and there are center detents on the knobs that need that. The VU meter looks nice, too. I like the round meters like that. You can change it from showing input level to showing gain reduction. There are 3 sections, the pre, the EQ, and the compressor. The pre itself just has a gain knob, line/mic switch, and phantom power switch.
The EQ has 4 bands, and really sounds quite nice to me. I listened while I swept the frequency and gain of each band to listen to it, and it sounded nice on my voice. I think there is a whole lot in this EQ I will be able to use over time. There is a switch to use the EQ or not below it, so you can bypass it if you want. I noticed on the high EQ that even when you add in high frequencies, it still sounds kind of smooth. It never really got overly harsh on the mic I was using, a V67, until I just cranked it way up. Thats a really good thing to me. My voice has built in harshness enough.
The compressor is a f.e.t. design..in case you wanted to know that. It is really pretty easy to use. I really smashed it so I could hear it working and there it was. It's not a completely transparent compressor, like an RNC. It's got a little beef and color to it, sorta like the 1176 I have used from time to time with an isa110. This is my ticket, cause it's what I wanted in a channel strip. I'm not always looking for clean pure, I need a little flavor to it. There's enough flavor to this to make it interesting. I also backed way off the compressor where it was barely there and it still worked well.
You can switch the order of EQ-Comp or Comp-EQ on this unit. I've already found that pretty useful. You can get different characters of sound, and change the way it interacts with itself.
This unit is directly replacing my old Symetrix 528. I got a whole lot of use out of that, but this unit is pretty superior just from what little I have used it. I also like it quite a bit more than the Focusrite Voicemaster I tried for a while. I still like the Red7 a little more. Just cause I like the pre that has in it. It has a bit more creamy gut or something. But give me some time to really learn how to use this EQ and I don't think I'll be having to borrow the Red7 nearly as much. I have a few songs that need finished, and hopefully will have a push mix within a week or so. When I do, I'll put up a link so you can hear it in action. Cause the proof is in the music!
H2H
First off, it's a nice looking and feeling unit. Its pretty heavy for being only one rack space. The knobs are all firm, yet easy to turn, and there are center detents on the knobs that need that. The VU meter looks nice, too. I like the round meters like that. You can change it from showing input level to showing gain reduction. There are 3 sections, the pre, the EQ, and the compressor. The pre itself just has a gain knob, line/mic switch, and phantom power switch.
The EQ has 4 bands, and really sounds quite nice to me. I listened while I swept the frequency and gain of each band to listen to it, and it sounded nice on my voice. I think there is a whole lot in this EQ I will be able to use over time. There is a switch to use the EQ or not below it, so you can bypass it if you want. I noticed on the high EQ that even when you add in high frequencies, it still sounds kind of smooth. It never really got overly harsh on the mic I was using, a V67, until I just cranked it way up. Thats a really good thing to me. My voice has built in harshness enough.
The compressor is a f.e.t. design..in case you wanted to know that. It is really pretty easy to use. I really smashed it so I could hear it working and there it was. It's not a completely transparent compressor, like an RNC. It's got a little beef and color to it, sorta like the 1176 I have used from time to time with an isa110. This is my ticket, cause it's what I wanted in a channel strip. I'm not always looking for clean pure, I need a little flavor to it. There's enough flavor to this to make it interesting. I also backed way off the compressor where it was barely there and it still worked well.
You can switch the order of EQ-Comp or Comp-EQ on this unit. I've already found that pretty useful. You can get different characters of sound, and change the way it interacts with itself.
This unit is directly replacing my old Symetrix 528. I got a whole lot of use out of that, but this unit is pretty superior just from what little I have used it. I also like it quite a bit more than the Focusrite Voicemaster I tried for a while. I still like the Red7 a little more. Just cause I like the pre that has in it. It has a bit more creamy gut or something. But give me some time to really learn how to use this EQ and I don't think I'll be having to borrow the Red7 nearly as much. I have a few songs that need finished, and hopefully will have a push mix within a week or so. When I do, I'll put up a link so you can hear it in action. Cause the proof is in the music!
H2H
Its like new, though.