Germanium First Impressions

[chrisrulesmore]

My Chandler Germanium preamp arrived on Friday and it looks perfect...all knobs, buttons, and switches are perfectly aligned and I'm proud to say the faceplate is straight as an arrow!

I've only had a few hours of tracking through it, so take this review with a few grains of salt...still, I feel obliged to write a few words given the buzz about this unit.

The Germanium comes with a rather crude xeroxed copy of a manual, not that you really need one, but it does have four sample settings labeled clear, big, bigger, and biggest.

I set it to "big" with a Mesa Stiletto through a Bogner 4x12 and an SM57 and here is my one word review...

"HOLYFUKKINGSHITBALLSTHISTHINGSOUNDSAMAZING"

I remember reading Mike's review in Tape Op and thinking the bit about getting lost in his bass playing was a bit corny, but, I inadvertently spent 30 minutes playing my guitar and listening through the headphones before I could bring myself to even try the next setting.

All four sample settings sound better than any pre I have ever heard on electric guitar. My SM57 now has the smoothness of a ribbon with the balls of a 57. Generally with preamps, I plug in and say, eh, okay, that probably sounds better. With the Germanium the audible improvement is all but palpable...

Next up was DI bass and as you can probably guess, it sounds amazing. I believe Mike's review alluded to the pre yielding a very warm sound without sacrificing punch and clarity. I couldn't concur more. It sounded so good, I tracked through the first setting I tried and didn't even bother listening to any other settings.

I ran out of time, but did manage to track one backup vocal through a Studio Projects C1 condenser...all I can say is it sounded great. I completely expected it to sound too dark or weird on vox, but nothing could be further from the truth. Just a great big vocal sound.

The track I was working on entailed double tracked guitars using different Germanium settings, and the Germanium Bass DI...to answer your question, no the resulting sound was not muddy. I didn't eq anything and the three tracks sat together perfectly...the only difference in the guitar tracks were the preamp settings and they retained excellent stereo separation, clarity, etc...

If it helps, my other pre is a Great River ME-1NV with an FMR RNC 1773 used on the insert point. Interface is an M-Audio Project Mix I/O.

Look forward to hearing others comments on their first impression.

-Chris

[Empty Planet]

Thanks for that, Chris.

[Rogervandeberg]

Originally Posted by Empty Planet

Thanks for that, Chris.

Indeed! nice to hear people rave about it, gets me thinkin

[aves]

something bad happend,
i just worked 9 month with my band on our new album,
using old neve 1073, api 3124, v72's, helios, avalon all kind of ua pres, and two days after the mastering i'll get a pair of germaniums and two days later i'll wish i could do all the tracking again.
used it on kind of everything, while doing layouts for some film music and recording a band the last days.
this is a hell of a preamp. everything is sitting so well in the rough mixes.
i got instantly my best bass di sound ever (can't get my fingers of the thick switch), my best guitar sound ever, and the first time i had the feeling to find the perfect matching preamp for our female lead singers voice in combination with a M149 ( with the 149 on figure 8 and the feedback way up, it's vintage haven).
her sisters came into the studio and asked me about this vocal sound and why we hadn't this sound on the record, aarrrgghg.
before that we tracked vocs mainly through the neve, which was somtimes a bit to hard with her voice at high levels, while the v72 and ua's where only suitable to smoother tracks ( couldn't understand the sound of the avalon at all?).
the germanium even makes me do my first gs post ever, after reading a while, i need to recommend the germs.
i tracked through a fireface, ad16x and a metric halo,while comparing the converters ( have to send the apogees back to our producer )
bought it because i couldn't resist the indtroduction pricing and i'm so lucky i bought two for the case that i liked it that much as i do now.
but it's definitly worth the standard price.

only problem is one unit is making flattering noises pulling up gain and feedback to the edge the other one doesn't? sounds like a broken tube on a non tube piece of gear, hate to send it back, it's quite a distance from berlin to the states...

so hello to everyone and thank's for helping me making decisions without knowing
(also bought a c2 recently), and please excuse my english.


greetings aves

[Hans Styer]

Very well could be the best preamp on the market at any price.

Seems like its adding something to the signal to make up for whatever woofers and tweeters are taking away from the translation.

HS

[thejook]

Wow.

I have an old 40s/50s STC-4033 (the precursor to the Coles 4033, http://www.btinternet.com/~roger.bec.../mics/4033.htm) that is half ribbon mic half dynamic cardiod mic. First of all, it needs a LOT of gain, which the Germanium has more than could ever be useful, and second of all I'm simply blown away by how 'finished' the vocal sounds with this combo (Apogee Rosetta as my a/d)

Punchy, huge, and with TONS of character. I think this has got to be one of the best combinations for this pre possible, given the really vintage-y sound of the STC-4033 as it is.

I'll try to post some mp3s of this when I get something that my singing isn't awful on enough to post. But *damn*.

For comparison, I tracked the same vocal through the Germanium with a KSM-32 and an SM57 just for kicks. The STC-4033 blows away the others; I think it's just a great match for the pre. I have a CMV-563 on the way, so we'll see how cool that sounds.

[bent sounds]

Just done 4 days of tracking electric guitars, bass and acoustic guitar with the germaniums. Our studio has an MCI JH-500, plus a pair of TG Channels, 2 JLM Audio TG pre's and a V72 (not a bad selection of pre's for recording these instruments by any means....)

That said, I noticed a significant difference with the Germaniums - particularly in the way they saturate when you drive them and use the feedback loop. With the TG channel, I often found that you could only drive the pre to a certain point (on electric guitar or vocals) before it started getting the crackly, grainy artifacts - at which point I'd usually settle for less drive and back off the input gain. With the Germaniums, you can push the input quite a lot harder and it sounds creamier and rich until you reach full gain, then a bit of the crackle is introduced. It didn't take long at all to find the right amount of input gain & feedback to pull some absolutely superb guitar and bass sounds. One guitar sound in particular was so close to george harrison it was scary - admittedly it was a pretty similar signal chain to what they may have used back in the day at abbey road (except we don't have a Coles/STC 4038...... yet.....)

Gretsch Duo Jet - Vox AC30, miced up with an AEA R84 - Germanium - HEDD, plus a 57 - V72 pre - TG Channel (as a line amp) - HEDD.

****ing killer pre's Wade - you've out-done yourself! My only concern is the longevity of these 'new generation' germanium transistors - there's a bit of a history there and i'm hoping that the problems from the original germaniums have been completely sorted....

Cheerio,
Bent

[Cujo]

Must control the urge..r...Mercinary is so close too...

[ripper]

Just reading a post here about a studio w/ a MCI 500, telefunen and chandler pres.. thought "lucky bastards" , then realized it was from bent,the other engineer at my studio... not kidding and that strikes me as pretty funny!

bent tracked instruments while i jealously waited at home (not really... i like my time off! but i was itching to check at the new pair of germs)..

i got to give the germs a go on lead vocals with a very powerful, on-key, dynamic singer. think a male bjork....

brauner vm1-germ-EAR 660-Hedd 192= ohmygawd!

had the feedback only on 1, the -10db pad in on the VM1 (this guy got pipes!), and max 10 db compression on the EAR (10 db may sound like a lot, but if you know the knee on the EAR660, it's well within reason... i go fickin 20 db on rawkers and come up unsqueezed).. so pretty clean and gentle all around but it sounded so FAT, LOUD and ARTICULATED!!!! really amazing!

i've done this same singer last week witht the same chain except tg pres instead of germs and the germs smoked em!

that said, we were doing some key (Moog opus through vox ac30, aea r84) overdubs and they were too round fro the track... swithced to the tg pres and it sounded perfect... moral? glad i ain't wasted no $ with chandler. i really think all of the chandler gear i have has added a lot of what i look for.

i bought these things on the strength of the other chandler stuff i have, coupled w/ the excellent support and i'm a happy lil gear slut! yeah, baby!

[sloanfiske]

first session over the weekend.

used it on a room mike for drums (cool), bass (unreal...really another level), and a smattering of guitars and keys.

i got great results on certain things...kind of sick. it plays well with others, but realized after tracking, my biggest enemy was compression. it sounds so much better alone. it adds a great dimension when paired with something else when tracking stereo images as well (keys esp.)

oh...if speaking in metaphors...it adds molars to the set of teeth on blazing guitar tracks.

buttons are a bit ascew and the faceplate is a bit convex (wade?). but it does sound kool.

[wade goeke]

Originally Posted by bent sounds

****ing killer pre's Wade - you've out-done yourself! My only concern is the longevity of these 'new generation' germanium transistors - there's a bit of a history there and i'm hoping that the problems from the original germaniums have been completely sorted....

Thanks for all the great feedback guys! It so cool to hear these things after all the work that has gone into the GERM.
I wouldn't worry about life of the transistors. All the negatives with older germs seem to have been solved by making our own new ones. Much more consistent, less noise, less prone to overheating etc...
Thanks again!!!!

[aves]

hallo wade,

congratiulations for building that pre.
noise itself i find no problem at all, but do you have a guess, about that wild crackling noise my one pre does, that the other one doesn't? turning the gain full up it starts to be audible at a feedbacklevel of 3 at a normal listenig level.
guess i have to send it back? or is somebody here in europe able to fix it?
i really would need right now for the tracking i have to do, but can't use it like this.

in general, would you think it could help to put them in the rack with a lot of space around, to preserve them from to much heat, our you think it's no problem?

thanks,

aves

[wade goeke]

Originally Posted by aves

hallo wade,

congratiulations for building that pre.
noise itself i find no problem at all, but do you have a guess, about that wild crackling noise my one pre does, that the other one doesn't? turning the gain full up it starts to be audible at a feedbacklevel of 3 at a normal listenig level.
guess i have to send it back? or is somebody here in europe able to fix it?
i really would need right now for the tracking i have to do, but can't use it like this.

in general, would you think it could help to put them in the rack with a lot of space around, to preserve them from to much heat, our you think it's no problem?

thanks,

aves

They dont really need a bunch of space around them. Most of the heat is in the PSU which is external and vented so no problem...
Email me about the noise and we will figure a way to fix it or send you a new one...
wade@chandlerlimited.com
Cheers!

[chrisrulesmore]

Update to my earlier post...

After additional time spent tracking through the Germanium, I now have a second unit ordered.

[Agli]

I placed an order for a Germanium with VK early in december and nothing has happened. They have'nt processed my credit card and e-mail response is incredibly slow so I don't know what is going on.
I guess I'm not Lenny Kravitsky

[Rader Ranch]

Originally Posted by Agli

I placed an order for a Germanium with VK early in december and nothing has happened. They have'nt processed my credit card and e-mail response is incredibly slow so I don't know what is going on.
I guess I'm not Lenny Kravitsky

neither am i (whoever the hell that is) but i placed my order at Vintage King on 3/1 and received 2 units a week later. not trying to rub it in, just reporting the facts...

[Matthew Murray]

Wow... all of this chatter has me rethinking some things. I had a chunk of my studio budget set aside for a Chandler LTD-1 ... I wonder if maybe I should get a Germanium or two instead.... though the LTD-1 was to be my big vocal strip, my perfect 1073. I suppose I should continue as planned, as the Germanium likely isn't meant to be quite that.... but it's hard to ignore all the praise....

[chrisrulesmore]

Originally Posted by Matthew Murray

Wow... all of this chatter has me rethinking some things. I had a chunk of my studio budget set aside for a Chandler LTD-1 ... I wonder if maybe I should get a Germanium or two instead.... though the LTD-1 was to be my big vocal strip, my perfect 1073. I suppose I should continue as planned, as the Germanium likely isn't meant to be quite that.... but it's hard to ignore all the praise....

I wouldn't be so sure...I too figured the Germanium would be my "guitar" pre and was pleasantly surprised to find it absolutely kills on vocals. I haven't used the LTD-1, but I can compare the Germanium to a Mk I Channel and I vastly prefer the former. Further, I have been amazed at how nothing I have tracked so far has needed much if any eq OR compression.

I'll shut up now.

-Chris

[Matthew Murray]

Oh no, Chris, why'd you have to go and do that?

[shuld]

Got my 2 Germs last week. Been tracking everyday! My DI bass tracks never sounded better. Guitar tones sound wicked with the Germ and a 57. Playing with a Jeff Beck Strat and a Mesa Boogie Lonestar.
The pre's are the S***

[alberta_pete]

i just recorded a old jazz vocalist with a Germ and a really cheap apex tube mic. It blew my mind how good it made that mic sound. I've just found a use for the 'thick' button.

[Rader Ranch]

my 1st session with the pres was an operatic soprano (2 mics, R84 and Lawson 47). this girl could sing and project. sure was glad i had the kind of headroom the Germs have. of course i didn't push the color aspects. the Germs did a great job. they're obviously very versatile.

[chrisrulesmore]

Originally Posted by Matthew Murray

Oh no, Chris, why'd you have to go and do that?

Well, I've clearly made the point that I am more than enamored with the Germanium! I don't particularly need a second one, but I got another from my dealer at the introductory price

For those of you who are looking for stock, proaudiodirect.net had them in stock as of today when I spoke with them. Please, please, please tell them Chris sent you as they have been really superb to me over the last few months and I owe them my recommendation. The Germaniums are not up on the website, so you'll have to call...talk to a dude named 'Chick' and he'll set you up.

-Chris

[Aearth]

I really regret getting my Germanium. Now I'm trying to hold back on buying another one. Wade you really did well on this and I just can't believe I bought this pre not hearing it first, but I did, I am very happy in deed.
I have a TG2 and a pair of LTD-1 now Germanium. I hope the intro price stays around for a while longer so more Gearsluz members can get a chance to get one or two maybe three. Or I can get another one.

Nick

[MKR]

Hi,

Can anyone tell me how much the introductory price should be? and what its going to go up to? And where in the UK i can get one of these babys?

cheers

m

[musicsound-2]

is the introduction price still valid ???

Looking at your positive feedback it seems that I need one or two (for the introduction price)

[Beneficial]

I'd like to know the same thing.

[Ol' Betsey]

Intro period?

Me 3...

R.

[wade goeke]

Originally Posted by Agli

I placed an order for a Germanium with VK early in december and nothing has happened. They have'nt processed my credit card and e-mail response is incredibly slow so I don't know what is going on.
I guess I'm not Lenny Kravitsky

Hey man-
Email me with your details and Ill check into it. Sounds like it got lost in the shuffle at VK.....
Cheers
Wade

[wade goeke]

Originally Posted by MKR

Hi,

Can anyone tell me how much the introductory price should be? and what its going to go up to? And where in the UK i can get one of these babys?

cheers

m

Hi again-
The intro price was $800 usd not including the supply. They went up to $1050 on March 1st...
In the UK they are available through Unity Audio. Drop Kevin a mail...
sales@unityaudio.co.uk
Best wishes
Wade