Recommend a 1000$ vintage console

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efinque said:
I've seen stuff like Amek, TAC Scorpion and Trident go for cheap too (the refurbished ones are a bit pricier)

You could also ask a theatre because they might have reasonable big desks too which haven't been used that much.

EDIT : from what I gathered the used Allen & Heath GL-series consoles have been usually toured to death

Oh man.. a Trident would be awesome, but judging from the prices i've seen them go for.. They're way out of my budget.
I've been looking at these Studer clones
Korean made
Use (almost) same parts as an original studer

Owning a Studer has always been a dream of mine, but due to the expensive price, i might just buy a clone

Here's a DSE 269
j5ckm6qnvf1piyxw4yoq.jpg
 
Keala said:
I've been looking at these Studer clones
Korean made
Use (almost) same parts as an original studer

Whatever next. I never knew the Koreans cloned Studers. Did they make cheap Neves too??

Cheers

Ian
 
ruffrecords said:
Whatever next. I never knew the Koreans cloned Studers. Did they make cheap Neves too??

Cheers

Ian

There's not much information about them.

Here's what i found

"DSE(Dong Seo Electronics) was a pro audio manufacturer, and they provided equipment to broadcast stations in whole Korea in 80's and 90's.

They made clone 169 and 269 series mixer, based on Swiss Studer 169 mixer design, and they were incredibly clone, and they made over 92% same design mixer using same parts or compatible parts.(some of them are same, for example input transformers, knobs, pots,,etc, and some are different part, for example fader. DSE used P&G faders which is way better than original Studer fader)"

- Andreas
 
I used a very similar Studer a long time ago ,and a very nice mixer it was too ,three band eq with swept mids .
The kinds of small broadcast consoles you showed can be found cheaply enough sometimes although prestige marques go for big money , I see you discovered OD&D as well .

Yeah the BC3 has a mic pre on the mono channels very similar to the 9098 series Amek  , balanced +4db outs on everything including pre and post fader sends using something Neve called hisTLA . Im not 100% as to the design of the eq on it ,it was during Graeme Langleys time with the company though,Matt Syson would know for certain  , three band swept mids and high pass. Some came with vca's some didnt ,they cost fortune new .

The Amek Angela was what I cut my teeth on ,I always found it quick to find the sweet spot on the eqs  ,wasnt quite in the same league pricewise as Neve or SSL's offerings but it packed quite a sonic punch all the same .
 
Hello

ruffrecords said:
Whatever next. I never knew the Koreans cloned Studers. Did they make cheap Neves too??

Not a clone as we usually mean it, DSE build (or just assemble?) studer design under kind of licence
For what I know it's more or less a rebrand to accommodate national radio and TV for "korean" product

Keala said:
There's not much information about them.

Here's what i found

"They made clone 169 and 269 series mixer, based on Swiss Studer 169 mixer design, and they were incredibly clone, and they made over 92% same design mixer using same parts or compatible parts.(some of them are same, for example input transformers, knobs, pots,,etc, and some are different part, for example fader. DSE used P&G faders which is way better than original Studer fader)"

Don't know what 92% refere to.... but there is a major change in design... the input preamp is no more discrete like the Studer x69. From pict I saw in the past, the input section show two IC  :-\
I never see inside pic of master module, if they keep the "0ohm" trafo summing with the discrete tweaked LM301 input.
Mechanically it seem the same build quality.

So I'll say if you want the "real" studer 169 sound buy the real thing  ::)

Best
Zam
 
I could buy a Studer Revox and mod it?
It's around the size that i need, but it only has a two band eq though
 
Those stuffer consoles come up from time to time - one on eBay last Christmas.

You should keep your eye out for a cadac board, they were designed by Barry Porter of trident fame as a theatre console and as every bit as good. Especially in the eq department.

It still stuns me that this £100,000 desk now goes for 6k but people don't know about them, mainly because they were built for Andrew Lloyd-Webber's theatres.


http://larkingslist.com/products/second-hand-desk-top-mixers/cadac-e-series
 
I'll second (or third) the recommendation for an Amek Angela. It's a great inline console which sounds punchy & real, unlike Soundcraft, Soundtracs & etc which I always thought sounded soft & squishy

If you could find a Trident Fleximix I think you'd approve  - it has a sound to it, as does the Angela. Lots of consoles sound meh but I don't think these two do

Nick Froome


 
Many years ago I found an old Trident Fleximix frame , four input channels and the master bus were left in it ,got it fairly cheap , did some renovation work on it ,but the tantalums in the signal path kept shorting and the Ic's would start smoking , I cut my losses with it in the end and scrapped it ,I of course kept onto the Zutt transformers which I now use along with other mainly tube pre's. The eq sections contained epoxy potted modules which in retrospect I should have kept also . It certainly was no trident model A ,everything in it was 741 op amp based  I think, I suspect the input transformers ,which have a high stepup ratio added a creaminess on high level sources too .I kinda wish I wasnt so hasty in hackballing  it now ,but no point in crying over spilt milk
at this stage.
 
I bought my MCI JH528 for around $600 almost 10 years ago, there are good deals out there.
 
user 37518 said:
I bought my MCI JH528 for around $600 almost 10 years ago, there are good deals out there.

Wow, that's a sexy console. And yeah, that's 10 years ago. In 2018, you can put some 50 dollars trannies in a fancy case and sell it as "Ultra rare summing mixer, custom made - Sounds like Neve and API" and get 3000 bucks for it. Vintage sound is so sought after that people would give their arms and legs to own an old console, so prices are sky high. But sometimes there are some really good deals.

A few years back a guy in my country sold a nice Studer for 1500 bucks on dba.dk (the danish version of craigslist/ebay) I was really tempted to buy it, but it was too far away.
 
Keala said:
Wow, that's a sexy console. And yeah, that's 10 years ago. In 2018, you can put some 50 dollars trannies in a fancy case and sell it as "Ultra rare summing mixer, custom made - Sounds like Neve and API" and get 3000 bucks for it. Vintage sound is so sought after that people would give their arms and legs to own an old console, so prices are sky high. But sometimes there are some really good deals.

A few years back a guy in my country sold a nice Studer for 1500 bucks on dba.dk (the danish version of craigslist/ebay) I was really tempted to buy it, but it was too far away.

That is true, the vintage gear and audio voodoo market is huge today, im not sure if it will be like that forever, I've seen more and more youngsters leaning more towards the digital stuff rather than analog.
 
user 37518 said:
That is true, the vintage gear and audio voodoo market is huge today, im not sure if it will be like that forever, I've seen more and more youngsters leaning more towards the digital stuff rather than analog.

To be honest, what you can do with plugins today is amazing. I'm actually 17 years old and i'm leaning more towards analog because it has a certain feeling around it. I love that i can turn the knobs and that i don't have to look at a screen for hours when working.

But then again,  equipment is expensive and i'm having great difficult funding my analog adventures. I'm hoping to get a job at a local studio to earn a bit more so i can buy a new mixer and some outboard gear.

- Andreas

 
Nobody has mentioned DDA yet. Perhaps a bit easier to find on this side of the pond, but sonically very pleasing and not expensive if you can find one.

Tbh, for what you need and well within budget, you could probably just track down a Soundcraft 400b and be perfectly happy, no?

 
Keala said:
To be honest, what you can do with plugins today is amazing. I'm actually 17 years old and i'm leaning more towards analog because it has a certain feeling around it. I love that i can turn the knobs and that i don't have to look at a screen for hours when working.

But then again,  equipment is expensive and i'm having great difficult funding my analog adventures. I'm hoping to get a job at a local studio to earn a bit more so i can buy a new mixer and some outboard gear.

- Andreas

Dont spend all your money on gear, better save it and do something more useful with it, DIY is a great option. I was like you, wanting gear and making just enough money to spend it on one piece of gear I couldnt afford, after some time, I ended up selling most of my outboard equipment with the exception of my console which I will never sell because it took all of my blood and sweat to make it fully work, and im too attached to it. I ended up spending more on test equipment and technical books, hey im single with no mouths to feed but my own, so I can pretty much do anything I want with my hard earned money.
 
L´Andratté said:
Well Soundcraft is not what I think of when I think of coloured sound ;)
Rather try an old TEAC or TASCAM console?
? Being very familiar with both, I wouldn't consider them as significantly different. They share a very similar topology, transformerless mic inputs, TL072's and 5532's. The only difference is the lower operating level of the Tascam, that would put it in an even more neutral category.
 
Soundcraft 200b/400b/600 and call it a day.

Over time you can replace the PSU, replace/upgrade the master section and recap the channels.  Performing all of this on my 200b has it sounding the opposite of soft and squishy.


David
 
Ive used a few of the older soundcraft mixers over the years too ,I have to say I liked them ,just seemed to have a good balance of features and sound for the price ,layout was just right too ,everything where you expected it to be .
 
pvision said:
I'll second (or third) the recommendation for an Amek Angela. It's a great inline console which sounds punchy & real, unlike Soundcraft, Soundtracs & etc which I always thought sounded soft & squishy

If you could find a Trident Fleximix I think you'd approve  - it has a sound to it, as does the Angela. Lots of consoles sound meh but I don't think these two do

Nick Froome

+1 on the Angela. Keala, they're taking offers:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Amek-Angela-28-Channel-Analog-Recording-Console/292470493578?hash=item441899918a:g:1K4AAOSwl~Vam2jX
 

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