Altec 'Green Face' users unite: Most/Least Favorite Model(s)

Darlington Pair · Post by **Darlington Pair** » Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:27 am

I have a 1628 that I just finished modding last night and it sounds great.

I started with the beyond sanity mods and then departed a bit. There are a bunch of mics that I always end up summing to mono anyway so I separated all the channels from the mix buss, built a little summing board. The first 4 channels are just the 1488c's and mix pot (with the adjustable gain mod) summed to the output attenuator, then skipping the output amp straight to the stock output transformer. Then I have two pairs of 1588c's summed through two edcor 600:600 transformers. I cut all of the hissy op amps out of the signal path and I also added more filtering to the power supply.

I'm really happy with the results for electric guitar, bass, and drum room mics.

I'm Painting Again · Post by **I'm Painting Again** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 1:57 pm

the only one i have is the 1566a..love it with the beyer m160 for snare..adds a nice wooly big presence to most everything..such a cool amp

Angie · Post by **Angie** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 9:39 am

We have a whole rack of green; 1592's, 1566's and 1591a's. We love them all, but my absolute favorite is the 1591a. Vocals are great through it!

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 11:46 am

I have an 463C that I really, really love on certain things. There was a period where it went unused for a long time and I almost sold it, but I'm SO glad I didn't. When it occurs to me that it might be the solution for a certain sound, it almost always is.

I've had a few other later Altec pieces that were all cool and trashy-sounding (mic preamps and compressors), but I've sold them all to make way for more interesting and/or useful stuff.

Oh, I also really love the 633 "Salt Shaker" mic. That's green. I just got a pair of M11 "Coke Bottle" mics, too, but those aren't green.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 2:11 pm

So I looked up the 436.

Check this out!

FlowersForHuman · Post by **FlowersForHuman** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 11:50 am

I have two 1589s with 1588b and c pre's. I keep them around just to fill one of my racks. If you want your stuff to sound lo-fi then this is the pre, but there are about a million ways to make something sound like crap without spending a few hundo. Mega noise, low output, extremely limited frequency response, but man do they look and feel cool!

rhythm ranch · Post by **rhythm ranch** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 12:27 pm

FlowersForHuman wrote:I have two 1589s with 1588b and c pre's. I keep them around just to fill one of my racks. If you want your stuff to sound lo-fi then this is the pre, but there are about a million ways to make something sound like crap without spending a few hundo. Mega noise, low output, extremely limited frequency response, but man do they look and feel cool!

I'd be happy to trade you a 2U rack panel for them!

Seriously, if you'd like to sell them let me know.

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Altec 'Green Face' users unite: Most/Least Favorite Model(s)

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