Top 5 gear under $500

[Rufuss Sewell]

Ok, so I have a pretty large budget for my new studio and thus I've been focusing on the expensive stuff. For example I just bought a 32ch Daking board, Blue Bottle, U87, old La-2a, UA 6176, DW drumset, G5 w/Logic and PT HD and (as soon as I can find them) a suite of Apogee products and a couple 1073's. Then I need to build the building. So now my budget is pretty much spent, but I know there are tons of cheap pieces of gear that are essensial for the studio as well. I'd like to ask you guys to list your top five under $500 (not including the obvious cables, headphones, SM57.) These could be mics, FX, compressors, EQ's, pre's, gadgets, you name it.

[C/G]

Little Labs IBP box at $475, and Tab Funkenwerk V-71 DI at $550 ( Over the limit I know but...) I have bought so much cool used stuff for way under that so if you look hard enough you can find some super deals on cool things. I rarely buy new anymore, unless I have to. Lots of cool mics can be found used for under $500 or just over. Most of the items I have been buying lately have been right here on Gearslutz in the classifieds. Good prices and no real fear of being ripped off.

[max cooper]

Audio Technica 4047SV. I swear by it. And the SM7. Also the BSS AR-133 DI. Get a couple; they're killer. Get some of that Stabilant 22. It's a contact enhancer and it's awesome, especially for connections between the mic and the preamp where the signal is delicate. Finally, gotta have the Pana-Vise. I wouldn't try to solder without it.

Hey, congrats on the Daking. I often see one of those in my dreams.

[JonCraig]

sm7, RNC, oktava mk-012's, how much does a 4050 run? maybe it, also. an re-20.

--jon

[raal]

A Designs ATTY

[audioboy6]

DPA mini Lav mics.
Beyer M88
Audix D4 & D6
ART Leveler
Old solid state Altec stuff if your doing rock
AKG BX-5 Old spring reverb if you can find one.
TC Electronics D-2
old symetrix compressors

and the list goes on...

[brownmouse]

little labs ibp
fmr rnc
fmr rnp
shure sm-7
beyer m-88
sennheiser 441
beyer m-201
sennheiser 421
cad m-9

i'm sure i'm forgetting a bunch of others...
joshua

[esiclene]

Originally Posted by max cooper

Audio Technica 4047SV.

+ 1

[Zarathustra]

Originally Posted by Rufuss Sewell

I know there are tons of cheap pieces of gear that are essensial for the studio as well. I'd like to ask you guys to list your top five under $500 (not including the obvious cables, headphones, SM57.) These could be mics, FX, compressors, EQ's, pre's, gadgets, you name it.

There's nothing classier than a hand blown glass hookah in the lounge, right next to the playstation. It'll keep the band out of your hair while your mixing.

Z

[natpub]

add ATM25's

[sonic dogg]

ATM4033
ATM25
QuikLok large mic boom stands with casters.
ART VLA w/Mullard tubes
Good quality used refrigerator

[squeegybug]

mmm-mmm, cheap and good....

Looking around I see:

TC Electronic M300. Clean reverb, dynamic delay, real knobs. $200
Speck ASC. $500
Senn HD280. Nice tracking phones. $100
Avenson STO-2. Absolutely. $500 matched pair.
Swiffer dusters. Indispensable. $don't know, less than $500.


Mentionable:
On Stage rolling mic boom. $130
TC Electronic SCF pedal. great chorus and pitch shifter. $300
Ashly MQX-2150. Dual 15-band graphic, smooth sound, 1 RU. $285
HHB Burnit. ok, $550 then
Boss GE7 DI/EQ. Simple and quick, $100
Behringer Beat Counter. Where to set the metronome? Here's the tempo. $5


"High End" doesn't mean High-$, right?

Steve

[raal]

if you're using PT i have to add hydratone (best sounding plug EQ at any price), and phase tone (free).

[u b k]

Originally Posted by raal

if you're using PT i have to add hydratone (best sounding plug EQ at any price)...

raal, how's the cpu hit with that thing? i'm running a 1ghz g4 tower... do i have a prayer?


gregoire
del ubik

[Bosskitty]

Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner $99

[Exsanguis]

I strongly recommend at least one IBP. Other than that, I'd say go for an SM7 and an RE20. Great, very flexible mics.

[raal]

Originally Posted by u b i k

raal, how's the cpu hit with that thing? i'm running a 1ghz g4 tower... do i have a prayer?


gregoire
del ubik

i had a G4@400 - it was sad... so i upgraded to G5 dual @ 2.3.
you may get more mileage with a G4@1GHz, but my main reason for upgrading to G5 was hydratone... hope this helps.

[Anderson]

Beyerd. M-201
Aktyna A.R.I.S.
Electrovoice RE-20
SPL transient designer
Littlelabs IBP Junior
AKG C451B (or *EB* with CK1 2nd Hand)
Summit 2BA-221
AKG D112
Sennheiser MD421
Sennheiser e606 & e609


+.... extra Ikea sofas?

[junior]

looking around the room...

ev 635a ($35 used)
blue sky mediadesk monitors ($499)
rockbag mobile rack-bag w/ wheels ($99)
cubase sx3 competitive upgrade ($399)
venus ds3 external firewire enclosure ($35)
studio projects c1 ($199)

[drockfresh]

Cordless electric screwdriver $30

[Joel Hamilton]

Under 500?

Um.... off the top of my head:

Dbx 160 x or XT or A 50- 250 dollars.always work for something. Always.
Symetrix 501 complimiter- 10- 150 dollars.always work for destruction, maybe work for some random thing that needs to be squeezed....
AT 4033: same deal, always works for something, even if it is "keepable scratch voc" in the control room... can be found for 200- 350 dollars.
Two new 57's always come in handy.
a few random mics like an ev 666 and an ev RE11 and some random old thingy. Can be the feature of a session in the right hands.

a pair of oktava mc012's for toms....and money left for a nice dinner...
a silver face LA4 for the times when you just HAVE to compress the banjo or the dobro.... slew rate performance being slow as hell, it is like the fastest attack time ever if you hit it hard.....

some weird ADR thing, like the express limiter. I have used it on room mics for total explosive mayhem, and for really pulling snare up out of cymbals in a room mic with the expander section.nothing like an expander freaking out on the kick to give you some air around the beater sound, run right into a neve 33609....

You could probably find an ampex 601 to make into a gorgeous mic pre for well under 500 dollars. Those things kick so much ass for vocals it is silly.... Mine were modded with master volume pots where the headphone jack normally lives. Each one cost me about 350, and the mods and rebuild took it to about 550 each.

Have fun! hit record and explore!

[Elsteve9]

Originally Posted by Joel Hamilton

Under 500?



You could probably find an ampex 601 to make into a gorgeous mic pre for well under 500 dollars. Those things kick so much ass for vocals it is silly.... Mine were modded with master volume pots where the headphone jack normally lives. Each one cost me about 350, and the mods and rebuild took it to about 550 each.

Have fun! hit record and explore!

What eez zees..."Ampex 601"?

-Stephen

[warhead]

Snare drums
Percussion items
Used Guitar Amps
Cymbals / Hi Hats

Those will net you a lot forever, and you'll never jones to upgrade your tambourine or Black Beauty...

War

[GYang]

Used Joemeek and TF Pro compressors and pres, well under 500 $ and heavily underrated.

[cdog]

Kurzweil Mangler
Radial JDVmk3
Roland GP-16
Soldano SP77
Shure KSM 32

[junior]

Originally Posted by GYang

Used Joemeek and TF Pro compressors and pres, well under 500 $ and heavily underrated.

true.

[Yannick]

Definatively, the only highend item in my studio at $499 is my Sennheiser HD650 headphone.

Hours of digital editing and checking masters without red ears ...

[C.Lambrechts]

dbx-160

[Riad]

Tech21 SansAmp RBI Bass DI.

[songisking]

Originally Posted by Elsteve9

What eez zees..."Ampex 601"?

-Stephen

http://www.angelfire.com/la3/ssaudio/index.html