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I have listened to the tonelux eq's and some line ins summed thru their 2 mix bus (can't recall all the module numbers) but haven't heard the pre's myself. What little I have heard sounds fantastic in a sonic purity sort of way. Very large and open, but not intensely colored. A wonderful signal path with very little smearing, deepening, or other tone altering "color".
Now for vintage API's (I worked on 3288 for 15 yrs. and have owned and worked on a 3232 for the last 7 years) their pre/eq/summing amps all contribute character, but without big picture maintenance, they may not sound as good as a far cheaper console( i don't have the time or room to cover all the restore/upgrades) . Unless you have long term access to quality techs and are willing to commit money over an extended period of time, a big API may not be a good idea. The sound of an old API in good shape is absolutely "magic" , tight low end, punch and "smack" in the mids, air on top, and that weird "sheen" when driving the summing amps hard are all sounds most folks are familiar with from countless of their favorite records. By virtue of our shared aural experience, we tend to like what is familiar. "Color" is really just imperfect circuits that we have learned to like.
That being said tone lux may well be the "sound" we learn to like in the future.
Don't think this helps much, but I like old API's and Tonelux, so either way you can make great sounding records (unlike me)
stuart
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