[jaotao]

Is the TLAudio gear any good? I'm talking about the original grey ones not the new blue 'classic' ones or the ivory, indigo or crimson.

I know someone with an EQ2 he wants to get rid of (£450). Its got a ton of EQ, instrument & mic pre's.. and i like the idea of getting a bit of valve charactered distortion by overdriving things thru it.

Good idea?

any comments?

thanks in advance (i know this aint really the place to ask this kind of question but i trust u guys so there u have it- sorry if i upset anyone)

[MikoKensington]

Sounds a little pricey to me.  But that stuff does sound pretty nice.

[soundguy]

I had one of the grey limiters which was a chip festival with a tube stuck in there.  I wont say that it sounded bad, because it didnt, but it sure as sh*t wasnt a tube limiter, thats for sure...  WAAAAAY overpriced IMO and the gain structure with the unit was always really wierd.  Make sure you listen to the box before buying it, you may be incredibly disappointed.

dave

[SSLtech]

Their stuff is a little market-driven, the family of companies has a history of "cheap-and-cheerful" products that really weren't what you'd call professional... always second-best... (Bel Flanger, Bel BD80 etc...)

I have a very hard time shelling out long dollar for anything from any of the Larking family's companies...

It doesn;t actually stink, but it doesn't actually shine either... The only people who I've ever met who think it's any good are home-studio types who've never used real tube stuff... Everyone else who uses the real 'pro' gear usually gives it a miss... It's like Kia or Ford... built down to a price rather than being built up to a standard... but then not everyone can afford a Mercedes... I know I can't!

Keith

[thermionic]

TL are pioneers within the field of relatively new discoveries...

They invented the "marketing tube"

 :razz:

BTW, they use Sovtek and a lot of ics. Is it a genuine valve-gyrator, or do ics perform that task with valve buffers?

J

[soundguy]

I always felt the limiter sounded like that trident compressor with just a tube on the end.  It didnt have much tube character at all, especially with the release.  If it uses the tube for control, its really poorly implemented as it doesnt sound "tube" at all...

dave

[Bo Hansen]

Keith,

ok, this have not with the jaotao`s question to do, but when you mention BEL I must pop up and do a comment.

Yes I remember this time when Don Larking was distributor for the BEL equipments that was desiged and made by Mike Bernard.
It was in the 1980`s when "TL" Tony Larking work for Don Larking Audio Sales in Guildford Street, Luton Beds.

I think the first BEL product was the BF-20 Stereo Flanger that near all UK studio have in the FX-rack in this time.

In the end of 1980`s they have a lot of very nice (as you say) "cheap-and-cheerful" product as Flanger, Phaser, Delay, Noise reduction, Di-box, and also a 24 inp, 8 group, 16 monitor multitrack mixing console

(I was dealer for BEL in Sweden between 1980 to 1990)

--Bo

[tommytones]

My 2 cents...take it as you would...RUN AWAY!!!  You can better spend that money for sure (DIY Sontec??).  I'm not a fan.

[fuzzbox]

I had one, it's ok in a pinch, made some stuff sound softer ( yes sometimes you need soft) and the pre wasn't the worst I've heard.
450 pounds is just too much! I'd buy one for 200 maybe 250 just cause it's an ok box. You could Make something much better for that price. Traded mine for an 1176Ln.

[soundguy]

Traded mine for an 1176Ln.

OMG

someone got the godly end of that trade!

 :thumb:

dave

[chrissugar]

I had for testing long ago that grey tube compressor, I think it was called C1. Never liked it, and it was also very expensive.
Forget any TL product.

chrissugar

[jaotao]

good work people, good work. Thanks for confirming my suspicions, for 200 of our english notes i'd 'ave it. We'll see.

ta

[fuzzbox]

Soundguy
To be honest I also threw in a tc fireworks, Never really used both that much :roll:  I'm HAPPY.

[SSLtech]

Yes I remember this time when Don Larking was distributor for the BEL equipments that was desiged and made by Mike Bernard.
It was in the 1980`s when "TL" Tony Larking work for Don Larking Audio Sales in Guildford Street, Luton Beds.

Ah. thanks for clearing that up!

I always suspected that 'BEL' might have stood for "something something Larking"... We had a couple of BF-20s in our studios, but we also had the AMS-DM-2-20... a rather more capable box, though the sound was very different and we still used the BF-20 sometimes... (Hiss and all!!!)

The BD-80 however really only sold as a result of the "sample and trigger" phenomenon of the 1980's... we had several AMS DMX-15-80s and 15080S's, and the difference in editing capability was colossal... you couldn't edit the front of the BEL sample...

I wasn't trying to knock the BEL product and I hope that I didn't come across that way! -Sometimes when all you can afford is the BEL, it's good enough... but if you have it next to the top-line stuff in the same rack (as we did) it was always the thing you only turned to when the "real" gear was already tied up for whatever reason.

The TL audio stuff is still only half-assed really... I stand by that!

Keith

[Mbira]

On this same note (I think) I have a HHB Radius 40 that I have only used a few times.  I paid $500 US for it on evilbay.  Is it worth moding, or should I sell it back so I can finally afford those last parts for my G9?  

 :roll: Sorry if I'm hijacking the thread.

Joel

[chrissugar]

Sell it.

chrissugar

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