Vintage Rack Gear- Who uses it, what do you use, what do you recommend?

[petejt]

now I'm scared. this is a dangerous rabbit hole to go down it seems.

nah, 'tis cool

[ben_allison]

 

I refuse to let you /thread my thread. LIVE ON, THREAD!

 

 

I will / and thread I see fit.

 

But +1 on the Fairchild.

 

A fee channel of API couldn't hurt either.

 

And a Distressor.

 

And some 1176's.

 

And an LA2A, of course.

 

But after THAT, finito.

[sparkfriction]

Boss CE-300 Super Chorus, one of the best!

[Phil O'Keefe]

well I definitely intend for "vintage" to be used pretty loosely here. mainly i'm looking for stuff you can scoop up on ebay for non-ridiculous prices but that will still sound great. like... yeah, i'd kinda love to have a 5k eventide rack or something but... no. $200ish is sort of the limit I'm thinking about with this stuff but if it was something REALLY cool I'd consider going over. But so far I have gotten killer deals on everything I've bought so I'm looking for more stuff like that.

 

 

If you can find a used Ensoniq DP/4 (or DP/4+) for that price, grab it. It can do four different things at once, in series OR parallel. Killer sounding box, and they usually go pretty cheap. I have one of each. They also made a DP/2, which usually go for even less.

 

The SPX90 can often be found in your price range, but IMO, the later SPX 900 (or 990) units sound MUCH better all the way around - 16 bit (instead of 12), better converters, better sounding algorithms... they're still in decent demand among pros, so they'd probably be half again, or even double your budget cap, but they're excellent processors IMHO.

[ben_allison]

AMS RMX 16.

 

Beat Sigur Ros at their own game.

[acdc518]

i have a spx90 and midiverb II. i like them

[Phil O'Keefe]

No, not /thread. The pulltec is rad, but if you want to go down that road, gotta have this:

You know, while I know how easy it is to spend huge amounts of money on a guitar rig / collection, it really does pale in comparison to what goes into tricking out a cool studio.

A few points to consider before making your Fairchild 670 purchase:

Yes, it is indeed one of the coolest "compressors" (actually a Vari-Mu limiting amp... ) ever made... except in terms of operating temps. They utilize a huge number of tubes per channel (IIRC, 20 of 'em in a 670), and the unit can heat a small room all by itself. Some of the tubes are very hard to find on the vintage market these days, and command high prices. The unit itself is rackmountable, but you'd have to be a fool to want to "transport" one on a regular basis, because they weigh about seventy pounds.

Oh, and last time I checked, you're looking at over fifty large if you want to buy one...

Killer sounding units though. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up. Just be aware of what you're getting into if you do.

[Phil O'Keefe]

AMS RMX 16. Beat Sigur Ros at their own game.

 

 

Hardly a "budget" unit either, but it is indeed a "big studio standard".

[Phil O'Keefe]

 

Not a vintage piece.

 

A buddy of mine reps these. I really need to hear one soon, but I'm a bit afraid, because everyone I know who has heard one has wanted to buy one, and they're not cheap. But the word on the street is that they sound glorious - even better than something like a Lexicon 480 or 960.

[Karma1]

I've got a ton of rack gear - some might be considered vintage, or semi-vintage. The problem is that in the last few years, I've been using plug-ins more and more and hardware less and less. But I still like having it around:

 

Lexicon PCM 60 reverb

Lexicon MX200 multi fx

Yamaha SPX900 .. ..

Ensoniq DP/4+ .. ..

Boss Pro SE-70 & VF1 .. ..

Focusrite Penta compressor

PreSonus Blue Tube preamp

Behringer T1953 Ultra Gain tube preamp

Behringer Ultra Curve-Pro EQ

ART dual 15 band graphic equalizer

BBE 862 Sonic Maximizer

TC Electronics G Major guitar processor

Lexicon

[Secret Seasons]

 

Sexy!!!

 

Thanks for all the tips guys, this has turned into a great thread. Muchas gracias to Phil for dropping the knowledge as well.

 

This is all gonna start out pretty small time for me, but I've got this thread bookmarked for future reference, who knows where it'll go over the next few years. Good stuff

[ben_allison]

Oh Phil. I'm just trying to spend Newark's money instead of my own.

 

Let's shoot for the moon!

[Phil O'Keefe]

OK - shooting for the moon. Rackmount stuff covers a lot of device types - what specifically am I "shooting for the moon" about? Effects processors? Mic preamps / channel strips? EQ units? Dynamics processors?

 

Cost and availability / scarcity is no object?

 

I'll start with two items that are almost made out of unobtanium - the REDD (EMI) RS124 compressor (a highly modified Altec) and the REDD 47 mic preamp.

 

I'll go on from there once I know what you're looking for.

[ck3]

You have a nice looking collection of budget rack gear there and seem to already have most bases covered. The GL-100 is highly underrated, and I often wish that I'd opted to keep mine. It's pretty much every analog Boss dirtbox in a single space rack unit.

If you are looking for a hot-rodded-marshall-type tone, aka "t3h br00tz", for under $200, the Peavey Rockmaster may be worth a try. I've also read favorable reviews for the original Rocktron Progap, which is supposed to be one of the most versatile and affordable solid state preamps in existence. Another half rack cheapie that might tickle your fancy is the Lexicon LXP5, a processor that typically goes for well under $100 and looks as though it has tons of shoegazey goodness inside.

[RoboPimp]

[ben_allison]

OK - shooting for the moon. Rackmount stuff covers a lot of device types - what specifically am I "shooting for the moon" about? Effects processors? Mic preamps / channel strips? EQ units? Dynamics processors? Cost and availability / scarcity is no object? I'll start with two items that are almost made out of unobtanium - the REDD (EMI) RS124 compressor (a highly modified Altec) and the REDD 47 mic preamp. I'll go on from there once I know what you're looking for.

 

Everything. NW is a total gearslut. He'll buy whatever we tell him to.

[vinnies]

boss rps-10, microrack delay. kicks ass, has a hold function, can be set up as a harmonizer (doesn't track all that well tho). can't find any on ebay right now, check my sig. can be had for like $150 or so.

[narwhal]

I have one of the old Pearce G2x preamps in a rack along with a Bryston 4B amp. It sounds a bit dated to me, but has some cool drive sounds and a nice clean tone. I don't use it a whole lot.



.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Everything. NW is a total gearslut. He'll buy whatever we tell him to.

 

Have him take a look at this picture of Jack Joseph Puig's rig (this is Studio A at Ocean Way Hollywood... he's now moved his lockout to Studio D at the same studio complex - the board in D is a Neve 88RS, the one in A is a Focusrite), and have him try to replicate it... that should be good to get him started...

 

 

JJP - the idol of studio gearsluts everywhere! :phil:

[Mr. Sarum]

Have him take a look at this picture of Jack Joseph Puig's rig (this is Studio A at Ocean Way Hollywood... he's now moved his lockout to Studio D at the same studio complex - the board in D is a Neve 88RS, the one in A is a Focusrite), and have him try to replicate it... that should be good to get him started... (large image) JJP - the idol of studio gearsluts everywhere! :phil:

[Secret Seasons]

Oh yeah, that'll be NO PROBLEM for me to replicate.

 

WHEN I WIN THE FREAKING LOTTERY THAT IS.

 

Lotus-- I have noticed that it gets pretty hot. Its yet to reset on me or anything like that but I am a bit concerned about it. So far I'm really loving the reverbs, but I've got an incoming SDE-330 Dimensional Space Delay and may wind up picking up its sister unit the SVE-330 Dimensional Space Reverb to go with it, especially if the 3030 winds up being problematic. So far no issues, but I've been a little concerned about how hot it gets for sure.

 

And sorry I'm not addressing everyone individually here but this thread has gone far beyond my expectations! last thing I'll say in this post-ck3, you are right, the GL-100 is pretty damned cool. I was surprised at how rich the harmonics were on the drive and distortion settings. The cleans even sound good, although I'd never use them over the natural cleans of my amp. Drives 2 & 3 and Distortion 1 on the first channel are so, so good though.

[Secret Seasons]

oh yeah you're right.

 

Hmm, I guess I got my timeline backwards. The natural assumption from the numbers (and that its a rather spiffy looking unit) suggested to me the 3030 was the later one but SOMEBODY (coughbobbydcough) told me it was the other way around.

 

But yeah, it gets hot. hopefully it won't be too big of a problem.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Oh yeah, that'll be NO PROBLEM for me to replicate.

 

I dunno dude, some of those lamps might be kind of hard to find.

 

Personally, I love the "vibe" of the room, and his little personal touches like the lamps, tapestries, etc. YMMV.

 

WHEN I WIN THE FREAKING LOTTERY THAT IS.

 

It had better be a pretty large lottery payout. A measly million isn't going to set you up with a room and gear list like that.

[ben_allison]

Have him take a look at this picture of Jack Joseph Puig's rig (this is Studio A at Ocean Way Hollywood... he's now moved his lockout to Studio D at the same studio complex - the board in D is a Neve 88RS, the one in A is a Focusrite), and have him try to replicate it... that should be good to get him started... JJP - the idol of studio gearsluts everywhere! :phil:

 

Phil... that's ridiculous.

 

I mean, what, that could easily be $1,000,000 worth of gear, no?

[Secret Seasons]

That is the coolest room ever. Would be tough to maintain the "smoke free environment" line, though.....

 

It is nice knowing that if I ever have one of those cliche'd mid-life crisis "MUST SPEND HEAPS OF MONEY NOW" moments it'll go into something like that rather than a measly car or boat or space shuttle or something.