jimmarchi1's Reviews
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41028
less money then a 57?!
shockingly good Chinese condenser... one of the better ones really. Very Neumannish. One of the few cheapies I can stand on vocals and an excellent room mic thanks to the multiple patterns. If you're all out of 414s or never had any to begin with this is a good choice for a lot of those jobs the AKG would do well. Its hard to believe you can get a couple multipattern mics like this for about the cost of a night on the town.... less if you're a heavy drinker! These are so cheap I literally went to a store and bought just to solve a problem in my buddy's studio... yup. They're like that. I figured if I hated them I would return them but I didn't hate them.
41028
you owe it to yourself to try a 219 or 319
Even if you're not ona budget you should try out some oktava's. The 219 is the original and it was the first affordable true condenser I can think of. I started my mic collection with a 319 but shortly after that I got a 219 for free froma store thrown in with a compressor or preamp or something and while they're similar I liked them both a lot in different ways. For how little they cost you should own a couple of each if you record music.
41028
YES
these are some of the best SDC mics out there... they have won shootouts on many isntruments versus vintage AKG 451s and Neumann KSMs etc... their extended low frequency response make them a cool choice for room mics too, especially if you have omni and figure 8 capsules for them. If you're looking at a pair of these buy them. I also had a par of matched Rode NT5s but I kept the Oktavas. Even if money's no object for you I still recommend a pair of these great microphones.
41028
these were a big deal when I was a kid
the oktava brand reset price performance expectations in microphones when the 219 hit the scene... around the time the early Chinese budget condensers like the uber-harsh studio projects mics came out we started seeing these 319s and I like them even better than the 219. This is the best budget LDC going and it can be modded to sound even better. As fixed pattern mics go I willt ake one of these over a neumann TLM103 any day... well, maybe not on vocals.
41028
similar to a BBE
this unit has the bass phase alignment and enhanciness (like that word? you can use it) of a BBE with the better top end enhancement of the famed Aural Exciters. I remember really liking this unit but having limited applications for it.. the abss enhancement is mainly good for live sound and dance music but in the studio I definteily used this on the odd overhead recording or on a dull snare or hihat track... useful but not worth keeping aorund
41028
ugh... i always get this mixed up with the 204
I got one of these as part of a package deal at GC where I bought 2 mics and they basically gave me this... it crapped out in no time. I opened her up thinking it was a tube but it wasn't. The thing is basicall just an electronic preamp fulla ICs with a tube chucked in the signal apth to add some 'color'... I was pretty unimpressed with this thing. Any old mixer or interface preamp will be just as good to your microphones. I think I took this back after it failed and got them to give me a BBE maximizer instead. I worked for a guy who had one of these units in his studio and eh would be like "use the Aphex, don't use my shitty mixer pres" and I was all like "I can't hear any difference and I like the whopping amount of clean gain on the junk mixer pres for ribbons anyway dude! Why plug it in if its not super duper special? Its a waste of time and it might just crap out mid-take."
41028
exciter enhancer thingy
I never found a use for this mixing records, it never seemed to improve single sources or busses... I sued to sue it when I did live sound on the bass guitar or the whole 2 bus though and lived the punchy bottom and sheen available from it. I don't do live sound anymore so I got rid of it. Frankly I coulda done without it. Nothing special here. Its a well designed piece and all, its just not something you'll need very often. If you need this much frosting on your cake maybe its a dry, flavorless cake, you know?
41028
wow
this wah wah kicks the crap out of every wah I've ever owned... has features you would pay top dollar for if it said Teese on it. I don't usually use a wah wah, but when I do it'll be this one. Seeya crybaby mini. This thing is amazing value for dollar, well done BBE.
41028
a solid freeware LA2A
This has replaced the Cakewalk CA2A in my mixes lately not because it does a better LA2A but because I lost my copy of the CA2A and can't replace it. I prefer this compressor to the waves CLA2A but it doesn't sound as spot on as the cheesy little cakewalk one. What it lacks in perfect opto realism it makes u for with an adjustable attack and decay, ratio control, saturation cknob and a parallel control making it ore than an LA2A. When you open it up the ratio and time constants are set to LA2A 10ms etc although the stock distortion setting seems a little too dirty to be a well serviced or reissue teletronix unit... but its good. Knee feels right on most sources, particularly vocals where you really want good grab on softer notes. The thing even makes a nice parallel distortion box. Its just the time constants on that cakewalk oen grabbed just right and if I"m being really critical this one isn't perfect when you're just tickling the meter. As far as the extra features its infinitely more useful though. I'm living with it for now.
41028
not good, not bad... wish it had a figure 8 or omni mode for the money
not my favorite neumann… makes a good mono room mic for softer music though... needs an omni or figure 8 to be truly useful
41028
the original sampling beatbox software
I was an early adopter of Fruity Loops. I tried version 1 as a highschool senior and fell in love with its ability to load up and edit an unlimited number of my homemade samples and then sequence them with an easy to understand TR808/909 type grid layout. I've been with Image Line ever since. This gets five stars because of how innovative it was at the time. Compared to rebirth it was harder to get useable stuff out of, but it was way more versatile and it sounded as good as what you put in. THis was such a chameleon and combined with hardware synths and something like acid for loop manipulation you really were at the cutting edge of computer music. The toughest thing was syncing it all up back then. Everything had to be done in little bite sized pieces and the workflow was tedious at best!
Version: Image Line FruityLoops
41028
really great if its free.
solid if slow USB drive... compact size means its not terribly rugged, but it's a great in-house only backup solution because of that small physical footprint. Geek Squad gave me one of these for screwing up one of my computers. By the way, don't trust geek squad with a music machine unless you speak with the manager or an actual technician. The guys at the counter claim they're techs but they're just salespeople. They'll say anything they need to in order to get your money. Everyone lsot on that deal... I lost data I hadn't backed up yet because I was too lazy to do my own tech work. Best buy lsot profit on a drive and refunded all my labor costs. No one got anything out of that. Hats off to the manager of geek squad who was not above taking a hit to satisfy a customer who was straight up lied to by the front desk personnel. But eyah, this drive's not abd for a cheap consumer type of backup... gives me added epace of mind having a drive I regularly mirror my internal drives to so more than my big project files are backed up.
41028
a supro 24 by any other name...
Both Valco and Dano produced variations of their circuits as OEM amps for guitar companies like Gretsch and retailers like Sears. Montgomery Wards stores sold the airline rband and the amps were all made by Valco as well as Dano. The Valc models include rebranded versions of the Thudnerbolt and this one, the 1624 dual tone... the dual tone sues the odd-ball 6973 power tube which was designed for jukeboxes but combines elements from the 6V6, 6AQ6 and 6BQ5/EL84. Its a robust sounding tube, especially for a noval base although Valco doesn't squeeze much out of it in this circuit. it does have a distinct USA meets UK breakup in this amp. This is a second generation 1624 circuit so only the first channel has the gnarly grid-leak bias whereas channel 2 is a traditional cathode biased triode stage. CHannel 1 does the zep thing at volume and channel 2 is like a poor man's ac15 right down to the choppy trem… but no vibrato. It comes equipped with an OEM Jensen C12p (I think, its been awhile) and the speaker handles the wattage but gives up the goods even before the power amp. No farting out though. This amp was basically a 2 trick pony. Channel 1 has a muddy clean tone but fat distortion at reasonable studio volumes and can make a tele sound like a paul and a paul explode lke you have a fuzz on.... the 2nd channel ahs this voxy clean with grit going but it sounds anemic cranked to 10... tis ebst enjoyed with the extra fast hummingbird trem settigns supros are known for. I sold this to a buddy who really loved it. I just didn't love it as much as he did. If you see one of these r a 1X15" airline combo with rear control panel you're looking at direct supro-equivalents of the early 60s models people are gaga for. you will save a good $400 from a supro branded original. There are very similar amps to this with different speaker configurations in the Valco and Gretsch lines, but this is the only 1x12 dual tone I know of that doesn't have a Supro brand. If you're into early Zep you might want to check one of these out because its one of 3 supros that may have been sued in the studio by page. I suspect all 3 contenders, the Coronado, Thunderbolt and dual tone were used at times.
41028
a classic of sorts
not my favorite single-ended amp... not even my favorite champ. The distortion sounds boxy. However the trem circuit fender designed for these sounds really nice and it most definitely delivers the blackface clean in a small package with some really smooth harmonics. For the prices these command today I don't recommend it... but I got mine for peanuts in the late 90s and it served me well doing some early home recordings with guitar and not just DI synthesizer. I suspect the stock 8" speakers are half of the problem with these amps and today weber offers some great replacements but reviewed stock its clearly a student amp struggling to maintain the fender signature sound of the push-pull amps fender had out at the time. This is one of the few amps that remained unchanged from blackface to silverface, so no need to shell out BF prices.The only change was speaker manufacturer and all those cheap 8s sound just as bad.
41028
a really nice nd affordable alternative to a TS9
Digitech's bad money is literally a tubescreamer variant with treble and bass controls. I acquired one of these for like $20 when I was fiddling with TS9 alternatives many years ago. I quite liked it through a fender amp although the tone controls never worked the way I imagined they would... but I spent much more on pedals by xotic in this style and had a similar experience. In the end I really like the SD1 and MXR Custom Badass... I prefer the clipping and voicing and I definitely find the 100hz knob on the MXR to be the most useful additional tone control ever on a soft-clip overdrive. If I wanted extra knobs on a symmetrical clipping TS type pedal I would get a green rhino mk2. But for the price you may have a love affair with the bad monkey. Its a really fine pedal.
41028
up to TC's high standards, not a desert island box
lots of bread and butter stuff aimed at vocals, includes some high quality but gimmicky effects... cool when used subtley. Really a unique processor. Was handy for live sound because it provide things like the telephone speaker patch that you could quick punch in to replicate an album sound for a band if you knew their tunes. There's nothing I would use this for today in a recording situation, but when native processing was more limited it was a handy box when mixing or just to give the singer some cool foldback fx when tracking with zero latency (in the days before UAD boxes)
41028
a must have
PSP's vintage warmer has been around a long time and is one of the first analog saturation plugins I can think of... it still holds up. Adds generic saturation and tone shaping. You don' need to understand what all the knobs do, generally a little fiddling will produce what you need. Excellent for gluing busses without a compressor but the compressor is really nice and pretty unique sounding whether you're just tickling or slamming.
41028
I like harmless a lot
its a really streamlined additive engine with a bunch of subtractive features tagged on. You can create great patches of all sorts really quickly with this and its a very low CPU hit in FL studio.
41028
the 50s fender 15" reborn
this is the speaker that should e in your fender Pro.... the reissue is brighter and louder then an original but that suits me fine. If you want one that sounds like a vintage Jensen when it was new, get yourself the Weber copy. I think the original jensens are a bit muddy at higher volumes though.
41028
WOW
though it doesn't exactly emulate any particular amp's response you will not believe clean and dirty tones of this caliber can come from a solid state amplifier in an MXR sized enclosure. The microblock eschews the fancy tone shaping features of the larger quilters in favor of a streamlined no-nonsense amp that fits on your pedalboard. It won't replace my vintage vox, but its definitely the finest backup amp money can buy.... and its not a lot of money! I'll always have this on my board at a show along with a super long speaker cable just in case. Get one.