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

My favorite color pres would be the REDD 47 style for tubes and any of the Neve '3055' based pres, 1272 or 1073. They both have really cool obvious distortion/compression characteristics. They distort differently but both have really cool characteristics when driven hard. I also absolutely love the LA2A for crunch when pushed hard. Not having a tape based recording system, i can get close to many sounds pre digital recording with these 3. Many people love driving API style pres, but i have always liked them cleaner.
I came to the realization on my last recording project that 90% of what makes me choose a pre is based on its distortion characteristics. The difference with most pres, assuming the mic/pre impedance is in line, is pretty minimal. I really hear a big difference however when they are pushed, so i have tried to put together a mix of 'clean' and 'driven' pres

Thanks, I think I'll build a dual Neve with DI soon. ;-)

I know you have mentioned you are leaning towards hardware on this but i see some people have suggested some plugs.
The best colour plugin i have found is Wave arts - tube saturator, it also has an eq built in.
Dont dismiss it out of hand, check out the Tape op review which can be found on wave arts web site (you will have to google it)
it is very cpu hungry, cant run more than one instance of it, so definately an offline effect, but perfect for colouring a mix. I really cant reccomend it enough, I implore you to try it.
Once I have installed the panels in my new mix room and got the computer back up and running i'd be happy to boot a mix through it for you.

Autophase said:

I know you have mentioned you are leaning towards hardware on this but i see some people have suggested some plugs.
The best colour plugin i have found is Wave arts - tube saturator, it also has an eq built in.
Dont dismiss it out of hand, check out the Tape op review which can be found on wave arts web site (you will have to google it)
it is very cpu hungry, cant run more than one instance of it, so definately an offline effect, but perfect for colouring a mix. I really cant reccomend it enough, I implore you to try it.
Once I have installed the panels in my new mix room and got the computer back up and running i'd be happy to boot a mix through it for you.

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Yes, I've tried it, it sounds great for a plugin. But tube overdrive is not really what I'm looking for.

That one sounds fantastic. But yeah, what a hog! 1 took about 30% of the cpu.

Meathands said:

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.

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I think we may be bogged down by semantics in this discussion, but I would say my JFP has a very prominent and distinct distortion profile.

The midrange is noticeably more upfront and biting on transients than any of my other preamps, including my 1272 clone. There's a useful comparison there, because the distortion (pre-clipping) of both the JFP and the 1272 and similar in effect. Both help sources cut through a thick rock mix, but the 1272 is vastly more hi-fi and clear, reproducing low level detail that is not there through the JFP.