What's your favourite DIY piece of gear to add colour/texture/punch etc.?

Guess this should be mostly about preamps. I've build lot's of compressors and EQs now and got a well-modified console running, but while sounding good they're all more or less on the clean side. I'd like something to put on the master insert or on a drum bus to add some sparkle, punch, texture, meat or whatever, to get a more interesting, finished sound. From what I've heard and tried the Chandler preamps seem to do what I'm looking for, but I don't want to throw that kind of money on it and DIY should be the way to go.

Would the Fetboy fit the bill? Or is there something better, maybe from the white market projects?

Thanks!

Igor 2254c

MILA?

babyhead said:

MILA?

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MILA is a super clean design. You won't know it's tubes until someone tells you. Input and output transformers play the most important role in the sound. MILA can be modded to produce more distortion, but it can make a bit unpredictable. Very subtle color and texture, yes. Punch, no.

I suppose what you are looking for would be a combination of EQ, preamp distortion and transformer coloration. In fact I'm prototyping such a thing, six tube stages per channel. Lot's of fun. Perhaps later this year I'll post a schematic if it's ready, but it's a point to point and PCB hybrid. not an easy project.

A harmonic generator with a "meat" knob.

Make sure your cat is not left alone in the studio. ;D

reanimatorstudio said:

Igor 2254c

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+1 !
I don't know about the Igor's version but I have a Neve 33609-J (ok it's not the same comp but I supposed they're close) and it's definitely a colored compressor who works on everything, including of course Master compression, drums buss... But above all, it magically brings up wonderful mids freq, unbeatable for elect guitars.

Ben

Hi,

  Normally on my mixbus from the DIY menu, 1G-SSL(with discrete vca's, either 202c's, or 2001's), 1pr Audiox 169-500's (with either OA10 or 2520). I could murder a Sontec . . . .
  you might want to try using a pad before a pair of preamps, such as API, Neve, etc etc. This will certainly add some colour . . . Why not build some Drip V72's or perhaps a Reddish47-type? I used to have a pair of 72's over the mix with appropriate pads. _ yum . . . Just used Peter's LA-Z pre's over the mix with a pad( and used the Maselec comp and eq for the first time too . . . . me likey . . . . . )

  Don't dismiss the use of various plugins here as well. I love the Cranesong Phoenix, Massey Tapehead for colour.

  Or, why not get a 1/4" machine? That's the way we used to roll . . . . .

Thanks to everyone so far! The Neve compressor is something I might build at some time, but not at the moment. What I'm looking for is not compression or tape (got two studio tape recorders) and also not harmonic distortion of the tube variety. The Chandler preamps seem to add a kind of thump to transients, a very defined aggressive midrange, as well as a complex texture to the sginal. As I understand it it's just a FET driving a transformer. This made me think of the FETboy. Has anyone tried it? I've got an ancient passive broadbast phase scrambler with giant UTC transformers inside that somewhat goes into this direction, but just for one channel, unfortunately.

Have you tried just patching in some old school 1:1 transformers? 

MikoKensington said:

Have you tried just patching in some old school 1:1 transformers? 

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No, since I'm told they're not supposed to change the sound much and won't colour the sound a lot. Are there any you would recommend for the task?

What about 2 x 1:4 Tx back to back ? Plenty of colour  ;D

flaheu said:

What about 2 x 1:4 Tx back to back ? Plenty of colour  ;D

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Depending on the transformers it could become a pretty pricy piece of gear that doesn't really do anything... ;-) I'd rather not order a lot of vintage transformers just to find out that not much is happening. And it would be cooler to build a preamp around it anyway. Maybe FETboy with a nice vintage transformer - has anyone tried it?

Yeah, I've used my Hampton JFP preamp (FETBoy progenitor) to add some bite to many source. U.T.C. Ouncer input transformer.

However, the Massey Tapehead plug that strangeandbouncy mentioned is much more useful as such, and much more adjustable. Record clean, dirty to taste in the box. I never thought I'd suggest that, but it works.

The problem that I've had with the JFP/FETBoy is that my build clips rather abruptly and therefore the range of microphone output level which achieves the desired distortion without turning to total splat is very narrow. Few source/microphone combinations produce the magic crunch. I've actually limited tracks in the box, then sent them out through the JFP for a consistent crunchy flavor. Works a treat on a muddy electric bass.

skipwave said:

Yeah, I've used my Hampton JFP preamp (FETBoy progenitor) to add some bite to many source. U.T.C. Ouncer input transformer.

However, the Massey Tapehead plug that strangeandbouncy mentioned is much more useful as such, and much more adjustable. Record clean, dirty to taste in the box. I never thought I'd suggest that, but it works.

The problem that I've had with the JFP/FETBoy is that my build clips rather abruptly and therefore the range of microphone output level which achieves the desired distortion without turning to total splat is very narrow. Few source/microphone combinations produce the magic crunch. I've actually limited tracks in the box, then sent them out through the JFP for a consistent crunchy flavor. Works a treat on a muddy electric bass.

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Thanks! I'm very skeptical any plugin can achieve the sound of good hardware. I've tried many and am a betatester for some, too. Anyway, Massey is not an option since it's only availible for Pro Tools.

What I'm looking for is not any obvious dirt or crunch or distortion (I've got some options here to do that) but something to add that extra punch and midrange clarity, thickening, snap on the transients etc. It's not compression but a little similar, a sort of shaping of the signal. My passive 50s box with the transformers sort of does it.

I've already got a Baby Animal preamp with OEP transformer, very nice sounding preamp but not too much of a coloration device so I wonder if the FETboy with that input transformer maybe driving an output transformer would be very different... Does the FETboy "color" a lot below the distortion point?

living sounds said:

Anyway, Massey is not an option since it's only availible for Pro Tools.

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The massey tape plug that's free runs fine in logic.

eskimo said:

The massey tape plug that's free runs fine in logic.

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In Windows?

No,



  logic uses au plugins on the mac

VMasuka said:

While on this subject,  what plugin offers the classic GATED REVERB like the old Alesis and Lexicon boxes had?

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The classic gated reverb either came from the AMS RMX 16 or from noise gating a real reverb track. The Yamaha SPX-90 is also supposed to do a credibly impression of the RMX 16s gated (nonlinear) reverb.

So far I haven't found a plugin that can do it properly.

living sounds said:

Does the FETboy "color" a lot below the distortion point?

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In my experience with the Hamptone JFET: no, it does not color a whole lot before overdriving.

living sounds said:

So far I haven't found a plugin that can do it properly.

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(the now dead) Kjaerhus Audio GAG-1 gate was easily the best gate, hardware or software. That one could achieve perfect, or even improved controlled eighties gated reverb on snare. Heck, I demoed that thing on their website long a go.

But it is challenge-response copy protection, dead server. Some developers are just stupid.