Cheaper alternatives to Distressor and/or Culture Vulture?

j_howell · Post by **j_howell** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 8:13 pm

While I'd lovelovelove to have either/both of these, I am certifiably poor. Any suggestions for good cheap stuff to rough things up with?

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 8:39 pm

Something must be in the air, why just last week....

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... distressor

getreel · Post by **getreel** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 6:25 pm

Valley People Dynamites sound kinda like that and are cheaper but not $100 either. They keep going up in price these last few years. Also try out old dbx stuff even the old consumer units like the 117, 118, 119 and especially the 128. Killer for drum crushing and vintage mojo.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 7:41 pm

Symetrix 501.
Effectron II with the delay buttons popped so they arent engaged.

Those two will do some great, great things together.
Even with the "inflated" prices of those units, they are certainly much more affordable than the two you referenced in the original post.

tomberdude · Post by **tomberdude** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:49 am

joel hamilton wrote:Symetrix 501.
Effectron II with the delay buttons popped so they arent engaged.

Those two will do some great, great things together.
Even with the "inflated" prices of those units, they are certainly much more affordable than the two you referenced in the original post.

dude, +1 for the effectron! i use one of those regularly with the live sound company i work for. definitely the coolest delay i've used. the infinite repeat is a great tool for dialing in vox.

j_howell · Post by **j_howell** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:08 am

Thanks for the advices, folks! I'm especially curious about the 501/effectron combo...

Anybody have anything to say about the FMR stuff? The RNC and RNLA seem nice, and affordable. Also curious about good and cheap-ish pres, though so far, the pres in my old AHB desk are really pretty good...

Wanted to buy your Echolette, Joel, but alas, have to pay for an old National reso I got to be completely rebuilt, and it wasn't exactly cheap!

anyway...

Shane Michael Rose · Post by **Shane Michael Rose** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:17 pm

the rnc is probably not going to do what you are looking for in a distressor. it is a very subtle comp in terms of color. dont get me wrong, i have two and i love them for lots of applications, but not for distressor kind of things.

an ashly cl50 or something similar will do the really smacky snare thing like a distressor, but not as clean.

a dbx 163x will do the room mic thing really well.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 5:05 pm

Seriously, an effectron Jr with no delay, just using the diode limit on the input. it sounds like the culure vulture in a lot of ways, especially for the more drastic settings. Look for things that clip well, rather than the compressor aspect of a box.
a distressor doesnt really sound like anything, compressor wise, but the clipping is colorful and euphonic. The culture vulture is not a compressor, but it compresses stuff.

distortion=compression.
compression=distortion.

AstroDan · Post by **AstroDan** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 5:25 pm

dbx 161's are pretty cheap. No one really raves about the FMR RNC anymore, but it can certainly squash things - it's really great on a full drum kit mix.

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:30 pm

RNC? RNLA?

I think of the RNC as a tamer (especially with the "really nice" setting), but you can get some aggressive sounds if you want.

I think of the RNLA as a thickener- great for tracking, maybe not so great for 2 buss mixdowns.

j_howell · Post by **j_howell** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:50 pm

Interesting...

Yeah, I didn't think the FMR stuff would be quite as aggressive; I guess I was inquiring more about general-use applications regarding them. Shoulda been more specific.

I suppose the Culture Vulture would compress things as the total THD starts getting up there; I guess what I was thinking with regards to an alternative to it would be something that similarly adds THD, in a relatively controlled/controllable way? "Colorful and euphonic" hits the nail right on the head.

I'm beginning to wonder what would happen, provided I could get impedances to match, if I were to basically reamp (or send a mic directly into) something like a tweed Champ or GA-5, run that into something like a THD Hot Plate, and basically use the whole thing as a pre/compressor/clipper? I've heard someone somewhere say that a guitar amp is the most aggressive compressor ever...hmmm.

Still curious about the Effectron...I'll be looking for one!

weatherbox · Post by **weatherbox** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 7:18 pm

Some of the Lexicon units take on a pretty cool sound when the input is clipped. It's like there's a brickwall limiter on there where it absolutely stops gaining volume, but the distortion grows and can really get pretty searing. I've put a Vortex in my synth rig pretty much just for that purpose.

touched1 · Post by **touched1** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:02 pm

When I am looking for a less than clean, maybe even beat up sound, my Joe Meek VC3's rarely fail me. I love the smack they give to drums. I'll often patch one to another for another level of destruction. Mega hiss.... but if I wanted clean I'd stay in the box.

They can be had for less than $150 for a mono channel. The VC3Q has a minimal EQ as well. This is not a Culture Vulture or Distressor, but it's inexpensive and fairly rough on the sound.

I've considered picking up the stereo Meek cheapo compressor just for drums.

I've wanted an Effectron for years for the delay features, didn't know about the input limit, cool!!

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:17 pm

AstroDan wrote:dbx 161's are pretty cheap. No one really raves about the FMR RNC anymore, but it can certainly squash things - it's really great on a full drum kit mix.

I love the RNC in regular mode set really fast with some serious GR for the drum bus parallel.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:25 am

You could also just post whatever tracks on the new teledub you want to mangle, an let me print them through the C.V... !

When is that happening?

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Cheaper alternatives to Distressor and/or Culture Vulture?

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