Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - Holy cow of all mothers! Trident A-Range

Jeff Goodman · 14th December 2003

What I meant was that while 1700 is about right per module, 17k is a big chunk o change, and seems a little steep to me for non original modules. That's probably just me though. Having said that, I have worked with these extensively, and they are ****ing awesome to say the least. I have a pair of original A Range modules that I've been carrying around for about 15 years and have put them up against those at Cherokee and there is NO difference in sound. My modules were actually put into one of the consoles there for comparison. The Robbs and I listened to a variety of signal through both and could find no real differences.

Actually the story behind these Cherokee A ranges is that they had a second (maybe third) one on order and partially paid for and Malcolm Toft came back to them and said that it wasn't going to happen, costs too much to produce and he couldn't get the same xformers anymore, but I got something new for ya, it's called the TSM. They took the TSM, liked it but eventually decided that they liked the A Range that much more. They had their chief engineer at the time, Toby Foster, back engineer the console, changed some things in the aux sends, and a few other things, had the xformers remade to the original specs by someone else, and made one themselves. For those that are familiar, that's the one with 48 input modules and no monitor section. It was in studio 1 up until the API went in about 2 years ago (it's back in there now). They made a bunch more input modules and sold I don't know how many.

They have had a pretty sizable number of the original 13 A Ranges over the years. Sold most, kept 1 (in studio 3) and their homemade one and most of the modules in both of those are the ones they made. They still have 15 or so original modules peppered through the 48 ch console.

I have seen more than one person that think they own Tridents but actually have Cherokee's. Any A range modules that are not the plum colored, brownish paint, have been through Cherokee. They are usually the grey lexan like the modules on ebay, but they did do another color at Cherokee at one time (I don't remember what it was though).

So with all that in mind, you cannot go wrong with any A Range modules, Trident or Cherokee. They are truly oustanding mic amps and eq's. Maybe Fletcher will chime in, I know he loves them and has a good story about the A range console up there near him.

Jeff

14th December 2003	#10
Jeff Goodman Gear maniac Joined: Aug 2002 Location: Los Angeles, CA	What I meant was that while 1700 is about right per module, 17k is a big chunk o change, and seems a little steep to me for non original modules. That's probably just me though. Having said that, I have worked with these extensively, and they are ***ing awesome to say the least. I have a pair of original A Range modules that I've been carrying around for about 15 years and have put them up against those at Cherokee and there is NO difference in sound. My modules were actually put into one of the consoles there for comparison. The Robbs and I listened to a variety of signal through both and could find no real differences. Actually the story behind these Cherokee A ranges is that they had a second (maybe third) one on order and partially paid for and Malcolm Toft came back to them and said that it wasn't going to happen, costs too much to produce and he couldn't get the same xformers anymore, but* I got something new for ya, it's called the TSM. They took the TSM, liked it but eventually decided that they liked the A Range that much more. They had their chief engineer at the time, Toby Foster, back engineer the console, changed some things in the aux sends, and a few other things, had the xformers remade to the original specs by someone else, and made one themselves. For those that are familiar, that's the one with 48 input modules and no monitor section. It was in studio 1 up until the API went in about 2 years ago (it's back in there now). They made a bunch more input modules and sold I don't know how many. They have had a pretty sizable number of the original 13 A Ranges over the years. Sold most, kept 1 (in studio 3) and their homemade one and most of the modules in both of those are the ones they made. They still have 15 or so original modules peppered through the 48 ch console. I have seen more than one person that think they own Tridents but actually have Cherokee's. Any A range modules that are not the plum colored, brownish paint, have been through Cherokee. They are usually the grey lexan like the modules on ebay, but they did do another color at Cherokee at one time (I don't remember what it was though). So with all that in mind, you cannot go wrong with any A Range modules, Trident or Cherokee. They are truly oustanding mic amps and eq's. Maybe Fletcher will chime in, I know he loves them and has a good story about the A range console up there near him. Jeff