Talk to me about faders - reviews of different faders, favorites?, etc

[666666]

I'd like to learn more about faders and hear opinions.

P&G of course are the most well known, good, but expensive... you pay partly for the name.

I've heard of Alps and Panasonic faders as well but do not know as much about them.

I guess there are three main ways to rate a fader: sonics, feel and reliability... in my opinion, it is important for a fader to be excellent in all three categories.

If you had to build your dream console right now, unlimited budget, what make and model faders would you put in?

If you had to build your dream console right now and had to be conservative but still wanted something that would be adequate for full professional use, what make and model faders would you put in?

It's pointless to read sales hype, I just want unbiased opinions from some slutz here that have some direct experience. Thank you.

[Rick Sutton]

My last three consoles have all had P&G faders. Had to pay extra on the first two to have them and they were a big factor in the choosing of the third console. To me the faders are just about the most important part of an analog console....when they aren't PERFECT you regret it everytime you use the console. I've had my grubby fingers on them for thirty years now and I've never had one let me down, even when they get dirty they are easy to take apart and clean/relube and bring back to perfection. Consoles I had before without P&Gs had a myriad of fader issues.

[Matt Syson]

Hi
One of the main aspects is probably the choice between 'carbon' and 'conductive plastic'.
All are variants of scraping a bit of metal (or possibly a carbon stud) up a resistive track.
P+G make several 'series' of faders although possibly only a couple of track element variants which once produced are graded and used appropriately.
The old 1100 and 1500 series units could be 'adjusted' to your hearts's content but the newer types 3000 and 8000 series are good enough. I feel the 3000 is probably optimum for price / quality.
Anything 'conductive plastic' can probably be cleaned more successfully than carbon but the amount of use and environment is very significant. The ability to strip and replace parts of P+G units is a major plus although the ALPS K series (available in carbon and plastic variants I believe) can be opened for cleaning easily but not have parts replaced.
If you have at least a 'semi tech' person available who can dismantle and repair faders it can tip the balance over simply replacing cheaper 'sealed' units.
Matt S

[666666]

Thanks guys