Anyone Used Or Tried This Unit? Cranesong Hedd.

[Vikki]

Seasons Greetings......
I'm going to go a wee bit up market gear wise with the hope of recording a solo guitar mini album.
Has anyone used or tried this piece of gear........

http://www.cranesong.com/hedd192.html

Any thoughts?......i know there's other factors as well i was going to buy a couple of Schoeps mics, only part of a bigger story i know.

Regards
Vikki(uk) :thumb:

 

[Gold]

What is your application? It is an "enhancer" that adds "tube" distortion along with an AD/DA converter. As with all Cranesong gear it is of very high quality.

 

[Vikki]

Thanks Paul
I was thinking this maybe a good unit for acoustic fingerstyle guitar recordings?
Vikki :thumb:

 

[TomWaterman]

Not used a Hedd but like the Phoenix plugin very much, which is the tape code from the Hedd with some extras I think.

Phoenix is great and will add some girth/softness and general frequency response shaping to your guitars.

Just a bummer its only on PTHD. Sorry that didn't help much :green:

-T

 

[Gold]

I think in order of importance it would be mic, pre-amp, A/D converter. The Hedd has very good converters. If you are looking for the last set of conveters you may ever need than that is a good box.

The Hedd process is a quick and variable way to add tube distortion. I would think you could build a preamp that you could drive hard and get some of the same type of thing. It's a specialized box. You see it in mastering and mixing rigs. You would want a very clean preamp in front of it. I don't think it's the best choice for your narrow application but you should check it out. It's a very unique box and nothing else does what it does.

 

[Kamel]

I tried and compare the Hedd 192 with other system, this is a very top high quality AD DA converter, the triode, pentode and magneto control are really smooth, and las but not least the word clock of this machine is very good and can be a good clock master with small system

 

[electrog]

I would echo what Gold says; the Hedd is a fairly specialized, but really amazing box. Very easy to overuse until you get the hang of what it does. It might not be the first choice for your application, but do try it out if you can....your own opinion is worth more that anything anyone here can tell you.

 

[Vikki]

OK
Thanks everyone, i'm going to try and audition one after New Year, it was the converters i was after really but the other functions intrigue me.
Regards
Vikki(uk) :thumb:

 

[Guest]

I don't like any distortions with acoustic guitars...

 

[Vikki]

I was looking for a warm not distorted acoustic sound, i thought this unit may add some enhancement?
Regards
Vikki(uk) :thumb:

 

[Guest]

[quote author="Vikki"]I was looking for a warm not distorted acoustic sound, i thought this unit may add some enhancement?
Regards
Vikki(uk) :thumb:[/quote]

Dumb electric guitars need smooth addition of distortions with loudness for better dynamic articulation: they have very little of it without tubes or opamps with non-linear elements in feedback, while acoustic instruments would not benefit from them.

Warm acoustic sound according to my experience means as less enhancements as possible, especially less distortions added when current changes direction and / or goes through zero. Class A tube amps don't add such distortions, transistor differential cascades and complementary output stages do. It is impossible to "add warmth" simulating tube distortions that are not needed at all and are not the essence of tube sound, they are a trade-off we pay for absence of "transistor" distortions. Simulation of them using opamps and A/D converters means adding worses of all of 3, though some people believe in such "enhancements"...

However, if the unit has decent A/D, D/A, and very good opamps, it may itself sound warm without any "pentode/triode" additional distortions, you may try it and compare sonically with other digital converters.

 

[Ptownkid]

Chrissugar has one of these, try messaging him.

 

[Nadege]

Hello,

I own a HEDD, And it's a marvellous convertor, I don't use the triode , pentode and tape emulation a lot, as it's very addictive and you can ruin your mix in a second, but, used with care at the mastering stage, it's a great tool.

I sometimes use the HEDD as my master clock and it's sounds really good, as good as my Apogee Big Ben.

It's a bit expensive but really worth the money as the overall quality of the mix going out of the studio as increase since the purchase of this machine. Really, I love it and wouldn't like to give it back...

Give a try, you won't be disapointed

regards

 

[tony dB]

+1 on Nadege's post.

Except I don't use the triode function that much at all.
Super box and the proof that digital can sound right if well designed/build