Germanium 500 series in da house!!

[crypticglobe]

So... I guess if you buy enough gear... there are some perks.... HA HA!

I got the germanium 500 series pre to check out for few days before I have to give it back to Dave from Vintage King.

Here's a couple of pics (oh yeah... 2nd one is my new coveted MW-1 guitar tool!!):

(click on the pic to see full size)


[IMG]******//www.clubcubasenashville.com/FILES/rack_t.jpg[/IMG]



[IMG]******//www.clubcubasenashville.com/FILES/mw1_t.jpg[/IMG]


Anyway... I would say this germanium sounds almost identical to it's rack mount counterparts. When I switched back and forth on the patchbay I noticed only that the 500 unit seemed an infentismal bit darker and tighter... but I chalk that up to cable, or the point on the patchbay (I had to switch about 10 times just to be sure it wasn't mental... and then I still wasn't sure). In all the different settings I tried the 500 series sounded virtually identical to the rack unit. On guitar it just rules!!!

I only wish we could get the TG-2 pre's in this format. I would fill out my rack with those pretty quick since the TG-2 is the next "must have" pre on my list.

The germaniums are amazingly lovely though... and I could do a whole record with them for sure (500 series, or Rack!!).

Great work Wade!!!

[mrpony]

WOW! When will they be out on the market, or are they allready there? Do you know any price? They look extremely sexy!

[Jon Harter]

Mmmmm. I'm a bit envious of your seventh circle kits.
I'd put a few together myself if I felt capable.

Anyway, badass.

[neujan]

looks good, so when they come out i got no excuse to not fill up my lunchbox

not to hijack the thread, but looking at the pic and seeing the valleypeople dynamite cramped in your rack, don´t you have any problems with hum or did you put a xformer on the I/O? i can only use my dynamite when i put it a little off the side from my rack...

anyway, have fun checking out more gear...

cheers jan

[matthew.sawicki]

Ooooooooh wee! That's very exciting news for me! I love my Germ pair, and I was considering selling them off to start filling up a 500 rack with them instead. Any opinions on this?

I wonder how many other people are considering selling off the independent units to switch to 500's...

[roger]

the germ looks so cute!

[CorkyTart]

What are your thoughts on the rackmount one vs the 500?

Thanks
CT

[crypticglobe]

I am not sure when they will be on the market. There is another thread about them here: ******//www.gearslutz.com/board/new-p...m-500-pic.html Wade made a few comments there, I just don't remember what they were.

My thoughts on the difference between the rack and the 500 are on the original post... almost no discrenable difference.

About the Valley's.... no noise or hum..... but the top one needs some work. On most days... all the leds light up and it won't pass signal. On a few rare days... it works perfectly! Just haven't had a chance to pull it and send it to my tech. I honestly never even looked to see if they were balanced or not.... but wired em up balanced, and based on signal.... they appear to be.

[mrpony]

Originally Posted by CorkyTart

What are your thoughts on the rackmount one vs the 500?

Originally Posted by crypticglobe

Anyway... I would say this germanium sounds almost identical to it's rack mount counterparts. When I switched back and forth on patchbay I noticed only that the 500 unit seemed an infentismal bit darker and tigher... but I chalk that up to cable, or the point on the patchbay. In all the different settings I tried the 500 series sound virtually identical to the rack unit. On guitar it just rules!!!

I don´t mean to be rude, but I think he answered that question kind of well in his post...


EDIT: Sorry, crypticglobe was faster answering that than me...

[Mike Caffrey]

What is that Furman box? Is that some kind of guitar distribution system?

[crypticglobe]

Originally Posted by Mike Caffrey

What is that Furman box? Is that some kind of guitar distribution system?

It's actually the cue distribution. Greatest setup ever. I love it!!!

The base unit is what you interface with, and the then you have the remote units for the talent.

The only thing I don't like about it is that it interfaces with these big centronics connectors, and it makes running cable a real PITA. But... it's worth it. All analog... sounds great, and always works!

The remote units are DA BOMB! There is an internal talkback system that let's the talent talk to each other. You can even use footswitches to activate the switch. There is an out on the main box that lets you run their talkback into the console. Each remote box even has it's own effects loop and you can put a little cheap verb or something on them so the talent can dial in their own verb. Love it!!

Anyway, back to Chandler.... I was at blackbird today... they bought 10 Tone Benders, and 10 Zener Limiters..... oh man.... i love that place.

[gm5k]

Originally Posted by crypticglobe

Anyway, back to Chandler.... I was at blackbird today... they bought 10 Tone Benders, and 10 Zener Limiters..... oh man.... i love that place.

wow

[crypticglobe]

Originally Posted by jonaknt

Mmmmm. I'm a bit envious of your seventh circle kits.
I'd put a few together myself if I felt capable.

Anyway, badass.

Hey.... I know a guy that builds them and sells them very afforadably. He can get them done a lot quicker than pre-built ones from SCA too.

Just e-mail him rob AT robwolford DOT com

He used to be here in Nashville, but he's in Branson now.

[CorkyTart]

Oooops, I completely scrolled down after the pics. I'm an ass......

Originally Posted by mrpony

I don´t mean to be rude, but I think he answered that question kind of well in his post...


EDIT: Sorry, crypticglobe was faster answering that than me...

[mrpony]

Originally Posted by CorkyTart

Oooops, I completely scrolled down after the pics. I'm an ass......

------ That´s ok, so am I ------

[roger]

where is the south-park-lookin bloke who is always hanging around 500 threads with a bulge in his trousers? thought he would have shown up by now......don't tell me he's actually working?!

[crypticglobe]

Originally Posted by roger

where is the south-park-lookin bloke who is always hanging around 500 threads with a bulge in his trousers? thought he would have shown up by now......don't tell me he's actually working?!

I may not have enough stuff in my 500 rack yet to peak his interest.... lol.

[KROK]

That Germ looks sweet! Great gear too.

Btw....how do you like that API 5500?? Thinking about one of those.

[crypticglobe]

Originally Posted by KROK

That Germ looks sweet! Great gear too.

Btw....how do you like that API 5500?? Thinking about one of those.

LOVE IT!!!! API 550's are one of my favorite EQ's of all time, and the 5500 does not disappoint. It gave me everything I expected (sounds just like a 550B), but the "range" feature that allows you to change (globally) the cut/boost steps from the old standard (2db) to either 1gb, or .5DB is DA BOMB!!!

Really fantastic for mastering.... and just for tracking... since you often don't need a full 2DB.

[stevetgn]

Originally Posted by crypticglobe

I only wish we could get the TG-2 pre's in this format.

ABSO-BLOODY-LUTLY

[Chris]

Originally Posted by stevetgn

ABSO-BLOODY-LUTLY

Please yes. That way I can have one without spending 2k. :(

[hendo]

Originally Posted by crypticglobe

So... I guess if you buy enough gear... there are some perks.... HA HA!

I got the germanium 500 series pre to check out for few days before I have to give it back to Dave from Vintage King.

Anyway... I would say this germanium sounds almost identical to it's rack mount counterparts. When I switched back and forth on the patchbay I noticed only that the 500 unit seemed an infentismal bit darker and tighter... but I chalk that up to cable, or the point on the patchbay (I had to switch about 10 times just to be sure it wasn't mental... and then I still wasn't sure). In all the different settings I tried the 500 series sounded virtually identical to the rack unit. On guitar it just rules!!!

The germaniums are amazingly lovely though... and I could do a whole record with them for sure (500 series, or Rack!!).

Great work Wade!!!

Thanks for the report, Steve. Did you really push the Germ 500s, though? I can't help but think there has to be a performance difference. One of Chandler's selling points about the 19" Germ is it "runs on +40V, high current, and has a huge +34 output before clipping." I'm not a tech, but I don't see how the 500 series Germ can compare, when the VPR 500 power suppy spec is +/- 16VDC.

Thanks,
Scott

[crypticglobe]

Originally Posted by hendo

Thanks for the report, Steve. Did you really push the Germ 500s, though? I can't help but think there has to be a performance difference. One of Chandler's selling points about the 19" Germ is it "runs on +40V, high current, and has a huge +34 output before clipping." I'm not a tech, but I don't see how the 500 series Germ can compare, when the VPR 500 power suppy spec is +/- 16VDC.

Thanks,
Scott

Yes, I did push it pretty hard. I had it for about 3 weeks. I used it on mainly electric guitars and vocals. The only differences I heard between my 2 rack mount units were very, very minor, and could be attributed to the API power supply. Wade was telling me that he could modify his PSU's slightly and they would power my 10 space rack a little better than the APU PSU's do.

So... I would no qualms using these instead of hte rack units. I was very, very happy with it. So... how about an API 1608 with a bunch of these babies as your pre's? Old Neve meets old API! A match made in heaven?!?!?

[xj32]

Since this thread has taken so many turns...

Steve,

Just wondering why? / What are your thoughts and reasons for both Auroras and the UA converter? Do you use them differently for different sources or mixing?

I tried both extensivly and found the Lynx to be the some of the most transparent "I am not here" converters in their price range, while the UA had a more forward, tight dare I say analogish sound (much more close, but to my ears still better than Apogees).

Nice set up by the way.

XJ

[crypticglobe]

Originally Posted by xj32

Since this thread has taken so many turns...

Steve,

Just wondering why? / What are your thoughts and reasons for both Auroras and the UA converter? Do you use them differently for different sources or mixing?

I tried both extensivly and found the Lynx to be the some of the most transparent "I am not here" converters in their price range, while the UA had a more forward, tight dare I say analogish sound (much more close, but to my ears still better than Apogees).

Nice set up by the way.

XJ

Hey there. Why??? Money.

I really do love the Auroras as well. That's why I have 3 of them. They are definitely fantastic. However, the 2192 is my favorite converters of all time. I love them for what I do (mostly rock). There is just nothing better in my experience.

So... I would love to have 25, 2192's... but that is WAY more change than I have. Here is what I currently do:

The first 2 Aurora 16's provide 32 i/o to the console. That more than handles all my tracking needs (thus far, but the console is 40 channels, so I could use the third one for that as well). The 3rd Aurora get's pressed into action for mixing mostly. It allows me to have 16 i/o that I use to interface my hardware (in the rack) in my Nuendo mixes (like the ultimate plug-in). So... I often (for speed) mix to stems on the console (I just set the faders to unity). I create the fully latency compensated "hardware plug-in's" in Nuendo and insert them on the tracks I need them on. The extra i/o allows me to do this.

When I am doing a big production and have the time/budget, I have a second computer that runs at very, very low latency and allows me to turn verb and delay plugs (UA, Waves, PSP, etc) at under 1ms latency. At this point I interface the 3rd Aurora to that computer and I have the ultimate multi-effects processor! I have up to 16 inputs/outputs that I can send (running Nuendo, or reaper, or whatever) to the effects loaded in that host. It works great, sounds amazing (Digital reverbs and delays are the same as a plug-in, with converters... and these converters are better than what's in most digital processors), and everything (settings) can be saved right to the project folder on the main DAW because everything is networked. I can even syncronize the 2 computers and automate the effects in the "effect" machine. I have a monitor switcher that allows me to switch the main studio monitors between the 2 production computers with hot key commands on the keyboard.

So.. the 2192 is wired to a digital patch bay (as are 8 channels coming off one of the AES sound cards in the computer). I can patch it in, so that I can use it for tracking overdubs... or even in the main tracking process. It mostly get's used for mixdowns though. The 2192 goes into the SPDIF of the FF-400. That is attached to a 3rd computer (that is completely silent by the way), and it runs Wavelab. It's my "mixdown deck". So I mix to, and monitor back off the 2192. The mixes also go directly to the project folder of the main DAW over the network. This keeps everything in one place, and makes backup super easy.

Hope that helps.

I build all the computers, and designed the network etc. That's part of what I do for the other business I own (Cryptic Globe Recording). I build high end DAW's (for Michael Wagener, Sawyer Brown, etc...), and also design and implement the studio network for storage, backup, redundancy, etc.

So... I am a tech geek to the nth.... lol!! Between my wife and 2 small kids, tech stuff and the production and engineering I stay super busy...

[xj32]

Wow thanks for the detailed post!

XJ

[hendo]

Originally Posted by crypticglobe

Yes, I did push it pretty hard. I had it for about 3 weeks. I used it on mainly electric guitars and vocals. The only differences I heard between my 2 rack mount units were very, very minor, and could be attributed to the API power supply. Wade was telling me that he could modify his PSU's slightly and they would power my 10 space rack a little better than the APU PSU's do.

So... I would no qualms using these instead of hte rack units. I was very, very happy with it. So... how about an API 1608 with a bunch of these babies as your pre's? Old Neve meets old API! A match made in heaven?!?!?

That's good to hear and reassuring. There's a lot of pressure on manufacturers to offer something in the 500 format, even if that means compromising on their pedigree designs. Hmmm... we've been contemplating a 500 rig and happen to have two empty spaces. Could be the Germs are the perfect fit.

BTW, I second XJ's kudos on your reply to him. Had to read it a couple times. Unfortunately, it's got me adding to my lust list!

Cheers,
Scott

[lpkyer]

interesting post steve!

[TAVD]

I'm trying hard to resist. The only thing holding me back is the upcoming germ channel. Since there's no germ lovin smilee, this will have to do.

[h-man]

When is the lil' Germ coming out? I have two spaces to fill and money burning a small hole in me pocket. haha