Hand crafted labs products

[HandCrafted Lab]

Cladue! Our congratulations!
Thanx for kind words, guys perform bows many times


Well, we glad that device impressed you and we are waiting with impatience your audio. Try also bass, electric and acoustic guitars. Preamp is gluttonous for cool music,btw

Pics will be appreciated highly, of cousre. So... send info here and to us.

Nice thanksgiving!!

[mahasandi]

Originally Posted by filltrate

Ok so Ive recently been a little bummed out about my S2 distorting on me but Albert has been very helpful with trying to trouble shoot the problem and has told me if my local tech comes up with the same problems that HCL will fix & or replace it with a new one. I'm still using the S2 on the insert of things (thats where it seems to sound best) i just cant plug a mic pre into it Oh well.
Anyways I'm happy to say that my Affinty mic pre has arrived in one piece and in HCL fashion this thing is built like a tank. I love the fact that the input knobs are steped Ive pluged a couple of mics into it (Blue Mouse & U 47) and it sounds wonderful I didn't have to much time to really a/b it with my V72's and UA 2-610 but i was liking what i was hearing. Clean warm and detailed, when cranked up loud it was still clean with very little noise and it gave a nice tube overdrive that sounded pretty interesting. Cant wait to hear my RCA 44 thru this pre.
Then I thought i would try to plug the Affinity into the S2 but unfortunately the S2 still distorted on me This to me just reinforced the fact that something is wrong w/ my particular S2. Oh well im confident that Albert and the HCL crew will rectify this matter and all will be good again in studio land. THANKS ALBERT & HCL CREW for all your help....soon i will be ordering the Faust

Iam having the same problem filltrate.

signals from the mic pre get crunched but line signals are great.

the s2 sounds amazing but i don't get this level behaviour from any other gear mic pre/comps i own.

i've been talking with Albert but i don't understand why its happening yet.

[filltrate]

We have left the studio we've been at all year and we moved the project to a different studio two weeks ago. I brought some of my gear to this new spot including the S2 and Affinity as I wanted to test them some more.

On Sunday GS member Azzzy came by the studio with his Faust mic (he told me a few weeks prior he would to be in town) We did a little mic shootout, we put his Faust up against a U67, C800G, ELM 251, and U47(clips of which will be posted soon) He also had some tubes that Albert had suggested he bring with him to test on my S2 to see if they helped with my little distortion problem. Long Story short the new tubes sounded good but i really couldn't test the S2 properly because i was using all 6 of the mic pre's in the room to mic up a drum kit and didn't want to change any of my setting. We did our little mic shoot out and Azzzy took his new tubes with him and left me with my stock S2 tubes.

Anyways yesterday I had to setup to do vocals. The singer i was recording is a belter and the beat she sang on is an up tempo hard driving track, a recipe for loud vocals. I figure lets try the S2 as my compressor to see what happens. My vocal chain was the C800G into a Neve 1073 into the S2 right into Protools (One of the many chains that gave me problems at the other studio). The S2 held up like a champ it sounded great. There was no distortion just nice smooth opto compression and i was getting great level to protools.

Im going to have to do further testing cuz now im confused but happy. Im starting to think that the studio we were at before (BTW it's not the greatest of places) either had some wiring issues or the protools system there wasn't aligned properly or maybe just reseeding the tubes helped... i dont know, but my S2 seems to be working like it should now I hope it stays this way.

[Vertigo2006]

Hi all!

Finally, this is my control room with Affinity and Solution...
...and vocal booth with my Faust...


Mats

[HandCrafted Lab]

Mats! here we go again

Ah..... nice view, we were impressed... our babies sited into rack modestly, but proudly. So... upload audio, you promised

[mahasandi]

Originally Posted by filltrate

........Im going to have to do further testing cuz now im confused but happy. Im starting to think that the studio we were at before (BTW it's not the greatest of places) either had some wiring issues or the protools system there wasn't aligned properly or maybe just reseeding the tubes helped... i dont know, but my S2 seems to be working like it should now I hope it stays this way.

Well I was getting distortion with the s2 on input using a geffel um92
thru a dw fearn vt-2 in s2 into lavry blue.
No wiring problems here.I think calibration level issuses are more to the point.

But in my case the lavry's was seeing -20 to -10 dbfs
and the s2 was distorting too much.

After talking with Albert (correct me if iam wrong here
Albert) and he said the s2 takes +16dbu with replacement tubes it takes
maybe +18dbu a little more peak room.
As some gear is +28dbu or more it is understandable
Why unprocessed mic transients
could hit the s2 differently then other gear I have around.

When I get the new tubes in I'll report back.

[mahasandi]

i thought there was another thread , i guess this is it, thats what you get for having 2 pages open....

anyway Albert is helping me out with the s2 .

i would say that although the headroom is a lower then my other gear the sound itself is phenomenal.

though i'am addited to it for mixing and tracking it CAN do the 2-buss beautifully.

[azzzy]

I thought I'd chime in with my S2 (I am recovering from surgery and finally have time to stop by gearslutz).

I've been using my S2 for tracking only. Personally I have not experienced the issues mentioned in this thread and after talking to Filltrate about his problem I even made some clips with my A2 pre and Manley pre going through the S2 at various settings including maxed Input Gain. If anyone's interested I can get the clips to you.

But the reason I am posting now is the 2-buss. I used to mix everything ITB and Albert's been bugging me to try to run the mix through the S2. I finally gave in and hooked the S2 to my Lynx Aurora. OH MY GOD!!! The difference is unbelievable! All of a sudden the stereo field widened and every drum hit now is audible, and everything sounds so natural. Now of course I will have to remix everything I've done through the S2. Poop.

[HandCrafted Lab]

Originally Posted by mahasandi

....i would say that although the headroom is a lower then my other gear.....

actually, LA2A has 16dB for in/out

Teletronix LA2A | Dancetech

though we(and many customers) had not a problems with s2 with hooking up to ProTools never

...the sound itself is phenomenal.

though i'am addited to it for mixing and tracking it CAN do the 2-buss beautifully.

[mahasandi]

I have used an la2a in here with same signal chain no problem.



I have changed tubes to ecc88 ,
and now iam not having input
distortion.
first month or so I had it no problem.
I don't know what was up but it wasn't pretty.
and now iam not getting distortion.
Thanks for your help Albert.

Hey bud now all I need is real vu meters in this thing! ;)

[mahasandi]

man all i can say is now that ive got the s2 working again thanks to Albert,
iam in love with this thing !

try soft knee with class a for butter and cream on vocals
or hard knee and cascode driver for a slamming drum buss.
it is amazing how sweet and versitile this thing is , considering its an opto with no att rel, but it can do it all.
i was mixing and ran a guitar stem out thru it and the gtrs just gelled in a fantastic way

you owe it to yourself to hear this thing!

Thanks again Albert , this guy takes care of his customers
he also cracked me up in the process!

nick

[HandCrafted Lab]

Originally Posted by azzzy

..... All of a sudden the stereo field widened and every drum hit now is audible, and everything sounds so natural. Now of course I will have to remix everything I've done through the S2. Poop.

Yes, tubes add air into mixes and good recognising of the instruments. 3D how it name mahasandi

Originally Posted by mahasandi

man all i can say is now that ive got the s2 working again thanks to Albert,
iam in love with this thing !

Originally Posted by mahasandi

try soft knee with class a for butter and cream on vocals
or hard knee and cascode driver for a slamming drum buss.

good note , Azzzy attentinon please

Originally Posted by mahasandi

it is amazing how sweet and versitile this thing is , considering its an opto with no att rel, but it can do it all.
i was mixing and ran a guitar stem out thru it and the gtrs just gelled in a fantastic way

you owe it to yourself to hear this thing!

upload something sweet here

Originally Posted by mahasandi

Thanks again Albert , this guy takes care of his customers
he also cracked me up in the process!.....

He-he, our devices has smallest soviet spy inside , so... we know your thoughts and native language in any case

[azzzy]

Hey mahasandi, post your detailed settings please. I am trying S2 for different things and having other people's suggestions would be a tremendous help. In fact anybody who's used an S2 post your settings! I remixed one tune with the S2 - re-ran all the tracks through it and then the whole mix and it sounded awesome! But then the f@cking Cubase crashed! And now I can't open the arrangement. Boy, I need a new computer. Well, once I manage to open it up again I will post the clips.

[Marogru]

1 s2 heading my , tests soon to come!!!

[Claude G.]

Albert: I have now been using the Affinity mic pre for a while and all I can say is that, as good as my Great River M1NV is, it is now collecting dust in a corner of my studio! I AM ADDICTED TO THE HCL!!!!! I LOVE THIS THING!!! THANKS MUCH AGAIN......

[fez]

Yo,

Its almost a year gone by since I have the S2. Still sounding awesome and strongly have the feeling that it sounds better now than when received. They say when the tubes get older they sound better you know.

But is there any update about a new product from you guys at HCL yet?


Looking forward to your response,
Dennis

[HandCrafted Lab]

Originally Posted by Claude G.

..... I AM ADDICTED TO THE HCL!!!!! I LOVE THIS THING!!! THANKS MUCH AGAIN......

ha-ha.... thanx Claude In turn we are addicted by your jezzz .....

Originally Posted by fez

Yo,

Hi

..... They say when the tubes get older they sound better you know.

aha.... like a musical instrument. And if you are playing good music through device your soul settle inside of device

But is there any update about a new product from you guys at HCL yet?

Looking forward to your response,
Dennis

Yes, besides of finishing the new Mirror all balanced preamp we have a fuss with some Harm Box which will have triode and pentode stages and leveller evidently.Device will be intended for the voice or instrument processing and should work with odd and even harmonic, till harmonic distortions also, and may be with compressing and frequency filters.Now we make a first experiments with this strange box (easy, it`s a experimental laboratory chassis, not ready device)

And some first audio - sorry for a funny singing and playing, I was excited

it`s a first 3 variants for the voice and bass - signal pass through device circuitry without overloading/harmonic processing, with processing/overloading by triode and by pentode

[HandCrafted Lab]

continue

[azzzy]

Originally Posted by fez

But is there any update about a new product from you guys at HCL yet?

Personally I'd like to see HCL make a vari-mu compressor. Everybody, let's bug Albert to get on that!

[fez]

Great, new devices from HCL!


I hope that the fuzz box will be so extreme like the Culture Vulture. They have similarities. If so it sure can find a spot here Albert.

Distortion is very important to me because I like it extreme, but subtle as well. So I and probably more of us should like to see a very versatile unit. Probably having a great price.


Greetings,
Dennis

[fez]

Originally Posted by HandCrafted Lab

Yes, besides of finishing the new Mirror all balanced preamp we have a fuss with some Harm Box which will have triode and pentode stages and leveller evidently.Device will be intended for the voice or instrument processing and should work with odd and even harmonic, till harmonic distortions also, and may be with compressing and frequency filters.Now we make a first experiments with this strange box (easy, it`s a experimental laboratory chassis, not ready device)

Hey man!


Can you tell us when the Harm box will be available? I got two people willing to buy them a.s.a.p. because they want to buy the Culture Vulture, gave them the advice to wait. Myself am a potential customer as well but for me it has to be stereo. If it ain't stereo, hopefully features a 'stereo-link'.

Very excited about that box man! Is it possible to give more info about it to keep the buyers "warm" ?


Greetings from Holland,
Dennis

[HandCrafted Lab]

Hi Dennis,

I think that first devices will be acceptable in the end of april. We spend many experiments with this box, and amount of knobs/switches is growing... because many sweet variants, and we would like to apply all.

Device will have usual input stage for mic and Hi-z, but next 2 stage can be a triode, pentode or both. A tubes has bias control, negative/positive feedback (affecting of presense), output stage has A class/Cascode driver mode.
Also device will have an our optical leveller, may be a frequency depending, we experiment with it now also.

Initially device are intended for mono vocal and instrument processing, but stereo variant will be possible also (with stereo link). In both cases it will 3U device with a lot of knobs and pots like rare spy transmitter

Our main device maker Gen add new knob or pot each day and I can not to stop him

Upss!

[HandCrafted Lab]

Well guys,
on reason of many requests we put first variant of the front panel design for distortion box, with laboratory name meanwhile