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Vintage Spectra Sonics?
- Thread starter hrn
- Start date
ozraves,
They seem to be rare, but I have been able to get some information. I've been talking to two persons with experience of these.
The first guy is the producer of the Swedish band Hives million selling latest album in the US. He told me the different parts can be quite difficult to put together to functioning modules. He told me when put together they sound fantastic. Hives is recorded throug them.
The other guy is a freak on vintage stuff. He told me the sound can be compared to early EMI and Neve, but still with its own sound, very warm, a lot of trafos everywhere with a comparable construction as these.
I have actually bought 8 channels pre/eq built into a small mixer. I can come back with some opinions when I have it hooked up. At the moment it's looked trough.
I heard alot of good things about the comp/limiter too.
Hans
They seem to be rare, but I have been able to get some information. I've been talking to two persons with experience of these.
The first guy is the producer of the Swedish band Hives million selling latest album in the US. He told me the different parts can be quite difficult to put together to functioning modules. He told me when put together they sound fantastic. Hives is recorded throug them.
The other guy is a freak on vintage stuff. He told me the sound can be compared to early EMI and Neve, but still with its own sound, very warm, a lot of trafos everywhere with a comparable construction as these.
I have actually bought 8 channels pre/eq built into a small mixer. I can come back with some opinions when I have it hooked up. At the moment it's looked trough.
I heard alot of good things about the comp/limiter too.
Hans
Hi. I just found this post, and am wondering if you ever got your specra sonics stuff hooked up. If so, how do you like it? I have a pair of 101's and a pair of 110's racked, and I really love them. The two are very similar to each other, of course, the main difference being that the 110 has more headroom since it runs from a bipolar 24 volt supply rather than single ended. They both have really good, clean overload characteristics, and fast recovery times, so you can kind of use them as a super fast limiter. The only reason I mention that is because sometimes I like the 101's because they start clipping earlier and you can crunch stuff down with less gain. Not that you'll want to use them as distortion boxes, but they can be used to block peaks in a fairly inaudible way. Otherwise I think go with the 110's. Clean, warm, quiet, great headroom.
Did the stuff you got come with the Triad transformers? If not, I'd recomend you find some. Spectra Sonics always used Triad as OEM and it's part of their sound. A-67J for input, HS-66 for output. Triad's cheap these days compared to some vintage iron.
Dilley (I want to say Bill Dilley, but that rhymes too much so I might be remembering wrong), the guy who designed all the Spectra Sonics stuff was head of the minute man missile program in the 60's and was literally a rocket scientist who also loved music. I think SS made some of the best first generation dedicated solid state stuff. I have three of the 610 compressors and they're probably my favorite FET compressor. I prefer them to the 1176, although they have a very low attack threshold so some people find them dirty. You just have to be willing to turn the input knob down low, and the output up high. They use the 101 for makeup gain, and it (unlike the 1176's in my past) is quiet enough to handle it.
I've never heard the eq's, so I'd be interested in hearing your take on them. I can only imagine that they're great.
I've heard that Led Zepellin II was mixed on a Spectra Sonics desk. Anyone know anything about that?
Did the stuff you got come with the Triad transformers? If not, I'd recomend you find some. Spectra Sonics always used Triad as OEM and it's part of their sound. A-67J for input, HS-66 for output. Triad's cheap these days compared to some vintage iron.
Dilley (I want to say Bill Dilley, but that rhymes too much so I might be remembering wrong), the guy who designed all the Spectra Sonics stuff was head of the minute man missile program in the 60's and was literally a rocket scientist who also loved music. I think SS made some of the best first generation dedicated solid state stuff. I have three of the 610 compressors and they're probably my favorite FET compressor. I prefer them to the 1176, although they have a very low attack threshold so some people find them dirty. You just have to be willing to turn the input knob down low, and the output up high. They use the 101 for makeup gain, and it (unlike the 1176's in my past) is quiet enough to handle it.
I've never heard the eq's, so I'd be interested in hearing your take on them. I can only imagine that they're great.
I've heard that Led Zepellin II was mixed on a Spectra Sonics desk. Anyone know anything about that?
Hi Ned,
Well, I love it! I do not own any Neve or other "high end" preamps to compare it with at the moment. But, I do have some experience. I think my Spectrasonics channels is my best buy ever for recording. I was looking for some preamp channels with that vintage transformer sound. I was investigating all the clones of old gear and also new stuff. I was looking into Daking, API, Vintech, the new Helios...many of them around...
Then I got an offer to buy an 8-channel Spectrasonics desk built 1968. A check by a tech was included in the price. I even got it modified with direct outs.
Well, about the sound. The sound is phat. Everything going through it is better when it comes out... if you like that iron sound.
Actually I don't know if I have the 101 or the 110....maybe I have both. As you describe the 110, I guess I have the 101, it's definately not clean. It's "warm" with a lot of colored tranny sound with nice harmonic distortion. You can use it overdrived as hell for a nice guitar sound.
Is there a way to easily find out what pre I have, could be interesting to know...as the "tech" kind of guy I am.
I have no clue about the transformers used in it.
Didn't know Dilley was in charge of bigger stuff. I know he was in the airforce in Vietnam.
He still have business going on. He learn people to fly airplanes and do Spectrasonics gear. I have the tel number somewhere.
Have a look at my Spectrasonics:
http://www.hig.se/~hrn/spectrasonics/
Hans,
www.hagen.nu
Well, I love it! I do not own any Neve or other "high end" preamps to compare it with at the moment. But, I do have some experience. I think my Spectrasonics channels is my best buy ever for recording. I was looking for some preamp channels with that vintage transformer sound. I was investigating all the clones of old gear and also new stuff. I was looking into Daking, API, Vintech, the new Helios...many of them around...
Then I got an offer to buy an 8-channel Spectrasonics desk built 1968. A check by a tech was included in the price. I even got it modified with direct outs.
Well, about the sound. The sound is phat. Everything going through it is better when it comes out... if you like that iron sound.
Actually I don't know if I have the 101 or the 110....maybe I have both. As you describe the 110, I guess I have the 101, it's definately not clean. It's "warm" with a lot of colored tranny sound with nice harmonic distortion. You can use it overdrived as hell for a nice guitar sound.
Is there a way to easily find out what pre I have, could be interesting to know...as the "tech" kind of guy I am.
I have no clue about the transformers used in it.
Didn't know Dilley was in charge of bigger stuff. I know he was in the airforce in Vietnam.
He still have business going on. He learn people to fly airplanes and do Spectrasonics gear. I have the tel number somewhere.
Have a look at my Spectrasonics:
http://www.hig.se/~hrn/spectrasonics/
Hans,
www.hagen.nu
Just ran into this thread and was going to share my opinion of the Spectrasonics 610. I just saw that it was already covered and its cool that someone else had the same opinion on me.
They 610 is very similiar sounding to the 1176. Infact like mentioned above it was actually prefered. I had gotten a pair of these with the new studio and didnt think they were going to be worth much of trying. I finally pulled them out and i couldnt believe how fantastic they really were. Its funny why more people dont know about them.
However, ive just barely requipped my studio and couldnt afford to keep them so i sadly dont have them anymore. I hope later on i will be able to get them back though.
Danny
They 610 is very similiar sounding to the 1176. Infact like mentioned above it was actually prefered. I had gotten a pair of these with the new studio and didnt think they were going to be worth much of trying. I finally pulled them out and i couldnt believe how fantastic they really were. Its funny why more people dont know about them.
However, ive just barely requipped my studio and couldnt afford to keep them so i sadly dont have them anymore. I hope later on i will be able to get them back though.
Danny
hrn said:
Cool. I was just suggesting the triad transformers because for some reason I'd gotten the idea that you were just buying the component cards and eq's, so I thought you might be needed some xformers for in and out. Now I reread your previous posts and I don't know where I got that idea...whatever. Anyway, glad to hear you like it!
Ned,
Thank you for the info anyway, valuable to know. I have also heard the Zeppelin thing.
A desk (Auditronics) at the old Stax studio was made of Spectrasonics parts. That desk is still in use somewhere...seen it on Internet.
Stax story:
http://www.sl-prokeys.com/stax/stax-mclemore.htm
Hans
Thank you for the info anyway, valuable to know. I have also heard the Zeppelin thing.
A desk (Auditronics) at the old Stax studio was made of Spectrasonics parts. That desk is still in use somewhere...seen it on Internet.
Stax story:
http://www.sl-prokeys.com/stax/stax-mclemore.htm
Hans
i dont find the 610 and 1176 to be similiar at all.
i prefer the 610's brand of distortion and find the 1176 more versatile.
i prefer the 610's brand of distortion and find the 1176 more versatile.
Just ran into this thread and was going to share my opinion of the Spectrasonics 610. I just saw that it was already covered and its cool that someone else had the same opinion on me.
They 610 is very similiar sounding to the 1176. Infact like mentioned above it was actually prefered. I had gotten a pair of these with the new studio and didnt think they were going to be worth much of trying. I finally pulled them out and i couldnt believe how fantastic they really were. Its funny why more people dont know about them.
However, ive just barely requipped my studio and couldnt afford to keep them so i sadly dont have them anymore. I hope later on i will be able to get them back though.
Danny