just finished racking a pair of Melcor GME-20 Eqs!!

GroupDIY Audio Forum

Help Support GroupDIY Audio Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

JRE Productions

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 10, 2004
Messages
255
Location
Chicago, IL USA
Well I just finished (for now) my 2U rack with a pair of Melcor GME-20 2 band EQs. These are the predesessor to the 3 band API 550. I just plugged them in, and they worked great!

Even with the EQ set to 0db on both bands, the unit adds a nice subtle (discrete) sound. It seems to add a touch of clarity to the track. Of course by-pass is completely out of the circuit. (true bypass). What I found so far is that the EQs are really musical, and not harsh. Even with 4 or 6 db of boost, they sound pretty natural. ( I did not add transformers, so the tone is just from the Discrete opamp-simular to API 2520). It seems to add just a little upfront clearity. I normally do Subtractive EQ, but this was musical enough that its boosts were just as nice.

I tried the eq in several places. First accross the two buss, just because it easiest to hear changes to an entire mix. By adding a touch at the top (7.5k) and a touch at 110 the mix fattend up but remained clear. This is not where I would normally place it, but for sanity, its easiest to here it here.

Next I place one on the channel of a 18x18 kick drum that was a little wimpy. More attack and less boom...no matter how I tracked it. The eq gave a gentle boost that fattened it right up. The second channel I used on the bass which was a DI into API. It had a great clearity, but I was having trouble getting the bass and kick to lock together. Well with a 2 db boost in the right spot the fattened kick and bass now locked together. I bussed that into a 160X to level it all out. Sounded natural and clear.

Next I placed it on a sax track. Just a little cut around 220 and a slight boost around 3200 and the sax was breathing real nice.

Last I tried it on vocals. With a slight boost around 220 and around 7.5K the vocals were warm but had nice air and breath. Again very musical, and natural.

I also used them in conjunction with my boards eqs. I used them in the insert on my console to I could add detail with the GME's while reducing some mud with the console eqs. Worked great.

So far I love this EQ. I wish I had a few more but the guy I got them from is whording a few extras for him self...besides the 6 he has racked.

As soon as photobucket is back up I will post pictures.

Joe
 
Top rack is the pair of GME-20 eqs. The silver box below it is 4 API 312 cards from a vintage console. The black box below it is a single API 312 with a hotter transformer. Give a real upfont sound.

untitled.jpg
 
Yes I like it too. Seems a little less colored then API but with the same qualities. If I could have gotten a second pair I would have consider a second box with a preamp too. Then again, I may have racked all 4 in one box, and just patched the APIs in the silver box below them directly into it. That would be just as cool!

I wish I could figure out how you guys are labeling your boxes. Notice mine are all blank. UGH!!!!!


Joe
 
Miko,

Explain the wiring. Is the mic pres connected to the Eq's or are they seperate? I see ins and outs for the pres but only one pair of XLRs by the Eqs. Also did you add ouput trannies to the Eqs?

I really like the gain pot setup and DI setups you are using. I need to build me some of those little boards!
 
Thanks for the kind words. The preamps have transformer I/O. The preamps also feature unbalanced outs. I used those to feed the input of the eq and threw some Jensens on the EQ outs. Seemed the simplest way. THe preamps are the AM-27/4004 Modular Audio Products cards. The other lineamp in question from the AML-27 thread. The DI's and switch panel are from JLM Audio. Joe's a helluva guy and his products rock as well.

Gary, I am waiting on some rack cases and other parts and I'll get to the Melcor cards. I'm going to try using a Cinemag 1:7 on the input and see what that does. So many projects, so little money. :green:
 
JRE Productions and Miko GREAT work!!! So inspiring.
As much as i understend the eq schemo (Miko's) it should not be to
difficult to DIY it...or shall I :oops: for saying that?
Any hidden points?
 
[quote author="MikoKensington"]Thanks for the kind words. The preamps have transformer I/O. The preamps also feature unbalanced outs. I used those to feed the input of the eq and threw some Jensens on the EQ outs.[/quote]

What model Jensen output transformer are you using? I'm running my GME-20s without transformers now, but I found some Jensens for the input. Now I'm looking for a good deal on some output iron.
 
Back
Top