cool, colored pres and compressors

[luckybastard]

hey guys... i have a pretty solid clean pre(hamptone) and transparent compressor(rnc) that pretty much can give me a faithful recreation of sounds i'm putting out. now i'm trying to get some esoteric very colored sounds into some mixes. from trashy distorted to flatteringly beautiful. so what are u guys using to f*** up your sounds? cheap or expensive... don't matter...

[mjau]

A friend with a local studio played me some drums pushed hard through an ART MPA dual pre, and they sounded messed up, distressed, and great.

Seems like I've been talking about this one a lot today, but I recently found an Altec 1589b and I really like the color it imparts.

I've got some overdrive pedals I use if I want to give something tons and tons of color...

[joninc]

i have been loving the transformer based pres- they are so big sounding and give the tracks so much more girth and weight.

but they're really expensive! (for me anyways).

i have a great river ME-1NV, a vintech 1272 and a chandler tg2 and the drums are sounding enormous with them.

[Russian Recording]

hey guys... i have a pretty solid clean pre(hamptone) ...

hi luckybastard.

I think the Hamptones are a very colored/flavorful preamp, particularly the JFET. That thing can get crunchier than Corn Nuts, and more flavorful than the Ranch ones. With a relatively low "break up" point and also fitted with some heavy input and output trannys, that thing's got some beefiness to it.

If by "colored" you mean a skewed frequency response, than I could recommend an Altec 1591A, which has a lot of unique character to it. Also comes with an electroptical limiter built in.

mike

[joel hamilton]

To "F*^*%$ up the sound" ?

For Fukking stuff up, I use any number of devices, including "normal" gear outside of its acceptable parameters, which is more fun IMO..

As far as fun destructo boxes, I seem to go to a few different things:

ADR limiter express: totally hell expander/limiter that distorts like CRAZY. The most amazing room mic destroyer I have ever heard, bar none.Sometimes it takes a line amp to get back up to level because the thing will crush harder than the make up goin can deal with..

Neve 33609: The original one, with metal knobs. For explosive drum buss mayhem, this is my #1 choice.

ART Tube MP: one of my favorite limited bandwidth limiters/clippers.

EH NY2A: Totally psychotic crunchy cartoon tube squeeze. Will distort pleasantly or really aggressively. A great versatile tool for mixing stuff.

UA 2-610 used as a destroyer with EQ, this thing is great. As a mic pre it isnt terrible, but it is way better at line level IMO... The EQ works and the gain at line level will make things grind nicely.

The McMartin limiter: a mono 1U unit that i have no idea what the hell it was SUPPOSED to do, but it is CRAZY. The thing was totally modified and made very much cooler by Ed Anderson @ purple audio, with modified attack and release times, and other refinements. This thing will do the craziest pumping insanely punchy nightmarish distorto drumm hell... Nothing sounds like these things, even stock. Totally weird, can be found cheap, pretty rare, usually broken... AMAZING when dialed in and re-capped. A little noisy (with the input ALL the way up, duh) but totally great. One of my favorites.

There are a ton more...

[luckybastard]

i have the hamptone tube pre and it doesn't break up at all. i don't know if clean is the right word for it.. it makes stuff sound somewhat bigger but in a natural way, i don't know if that makes any sense...

those altec 1591a's look pretty damn cool. and i definitely have to check out the stuff you're talking about. you have so many toys! i'm literally over here drooling... funny thing is for the longest time i've worked to have a nice pre for accurately recorded stuff and now that i have one, i just want to fukk stuff up...

[drumsound]

Mjau is talking about some stuff I played for him. The ART toob MPA is a great and cheap rackmounted distortion box. I love to take a mic and put right over the BD and run it through the MPA and just kill it!

[Russian Recording]

i have the hamptone tube pre and it doesn't break up at all...

The tube hamptone should break up very nicely. Ive done it many times before... Try sending a pre-recorded track into the line input and cranking it. It should break up easilly with a condenser mic on a relatively loud source as well. Just crank it.

mike

[Meriphew]

On the cheap, try a Boss CS-2 (not 1 or 3) for guitars.

[vvv]

I supect anything Meek, based on my VC3q, might suit you.

And the Studio Projects VTB1 pre can get weerd (Think ZZ Top's "Manic Mechanic" on vocals, for example.)

[mjau]

Yeah, those vtb-1 studio projects deals are pretty cool, and if you throw in a really colored tube (EH, for instance), they make a cheap vocal fuzz box.

[mjau]

Off-topic, but I just scored an Ashly sc-50 for $30. Today must be my day.

[lunabeach]

I've been getting some interesting sound with this lomo preamp buy cranking up the input and turning down the output.

[cgarges]

I've been getting some interesting sound with this lomo preamp buy cranking up the input and turning down the output.

So you're one of the folks who bought those? How do you like it? What does it sound like? Have you used any other older tube pres to which you can compare it?

I'll second the votes on the Altec stuff, both tube and solid state. Cool-sounding and very whacky. Especially great for guitars and drums. Very trashy.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[lunabeach]

It's great! Chip did a great job of racking them. He also still has more that he's going to rack up. It has nice robust lowend. It also sounds good when not cranking up the input and turning down the output. But doing so can be fun. I just bought a altec 1567a preamp that I haven't wired up yet and ampex 360 that I need power supply for. So...no I haven't had a chance to compare them to any other vintage preamps. I think I'm gonna sell 1567a to help fund my electronaut preamp. Anyone interested in it feel free to PM me.