Higher end Gear you've hated?

[boedoconstrictor]

Avalon's (Crap)

Focusrite Red's (dfegad)

Drawmer's (WTF?)

Millenia's Pres (Boring)

CLONES!!!!!

[rjs]

All 80's tube peavey 6L6 amps
All solid state amps besides the Randall
Ensoniq MR-61 (Junk compared to earlier DS1 & TS-10)
Ross Mic's
Mesa Boogie Quad Preamp

Like older marshall tube and new Rivera hand crafted tube amps
Newer Yamaha workstations are super. Still like sm57, beta58,
for mic cabs etc.. and middle upper sennheiser and countryman mics
for vocals.

[toasteh]

Originally Posted by dannycurtean@yah

Didint, you JUST say that there are no bad gears, just bad users?

I dont think plugins suck at all, I think you need to get your head out of your ass and start using them as TOOLS not magic boxes that fix shitty recording and inadequate mixing talent.

Sweeeet.

[dkelley]

Originally Posted by boedoconstrictor

Avalon's (Crap)

Focusrite Red's (dfegad)

Drawmer's (WTF?)

Millenia's Pres (Boring)

CLONES!!!!!

yea, hate that shit too. especially clones. I despise the ward beck 460 pres (which are clones in one sense of the word) that I'm borrowing from a friend. just godawful. would never recommend them to anybody. in fact, anyone paying money for these should be shot.

To assist in ridding the world of clone crap, I personally will pay all shipping and handling for clones of ssl/neve/1176/la2a/pulltec and so on so you can get rid of it. I'll receive it and you can be sure that it will die a horrible death in the rack in my home studio. I assure you they will never leave my studio so you won't have to ever see that terrible gear again. ;-)

Cheers,
Don

[Chaellus]

Profools HD
All New neuman mics

[Flexable]

Originally Posted by Improv

I think the thread title alone might indicate that many of our gear purchases are driven by fear. Don't wanna get something that's not popular! Surely it will ruin your productions! Especially if it was expensive....

It's the fear, not the gear.

So true!! Amen to that.

[Stefan Luan]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

Wow! Someone else!

yours are guys are anarchists!!!!

[Stefan Luan]

I am talking about the people who hate the distressor

[NewfoundlandRec]

- Everything ever made by Avalon, ever
- Digi 888....nuff said
- Yamaha PM5D (does anybody know how to do the patch on this thing)
- Liquid Mix (Does that count ?)
- Shure SM7, maybe not super highend, but I still hate it.
- API 560 (don't get the praise, it's not horrible, but I wouldn't pay money for it)

...and for live

K-Array (All)
JBL Vertech (Nasty)

[narcoman]

API2500!!

Got one. Hate it.

Never use it!!

[jozef]

My 30 year old american strat, never play it. I love my 100 dollar fake strat though.

[Flexable]

I hate this negative crap. (Sorry for my bad english)If you do not know how to use high quality studio stuff why you buy those things?

Ask people who really know how to deal with and learn from them.

Is there a magic box? yea dude ... In your wet dreams. right?

Anyway, Merry Christmas and a slutty new year .. peace!!

[Space Station]

Yeh narco, learn to use your 2500

[newdigitaluser]

everything hyped by stereophile magazine

[tridelica]

I sat through this entire interminable thread, mostly standing tall and unscathed, since no high-end kit I own was mentioned, until people started
kicking Mesa through the mud.
Some wise person said that Mesa has too many knobs. My Mark 5 has more tweakable knobs than your standard significant other, and I am glad, because nothing gets more boring than running out of option 'headroom' in the studio. When I get bored with a guitar sound, I want to dial something fresh, and the Mark 5 is probably the most logical studio amp you can buy.
It is like a tone museum, and any amp that can make me sound like a cross between Santana and Metallica is real swell.
Mesas are American made by true believers, and at a reasonable price, although they do have a uniquely biting Mesa sound.
As for equipment being too boring. If you think that is bad, try boring performances: much worse.
Although I agree that there is a big problem with DAWs and how they have latency issues with outboard equipment, I think it is safe to say that we are
entering the era of reduced sginificance of analog equipment.
For example, a reviewer in the current issue of SOS stated that in his own tests, he could not tell the sonic difference between actual Portico equipment and the new Steinberg emulations.
The increasing quality of plugs, combined with workflow issues in large DAW projects, combined with the cost and hassles of owning and using exoteric hardware, means that not too many people in the future, professional or otherwise, will be buying 5000$ compressors.
However, I must say that I think many high-end plugins are somewhat of a
scam. I have some Waves signature compressors that I don't love any more
than the generic plugs that come in Cubase.
And finally, I think that 'colored' analog is over valued. Sure, thick, warm
sound is great, but distortion, not so much, unless it is emanating from a guitar amp or a judiciously used tube pre-amp. Transistorized devices, when they are pushed, sound like high-end guitar pedals to me. I prefer warm and clean, or 'clean with benefits,' as some astute 'Slutter coined while describing the API sound.
Your source is supposed to have color, like Ninet Tayeb, or my Mark 5, not so much your outboard, unless you're trying to spread frosting on a shit source,
which is what 39$ guitar pedals are for.

[Hamburg58]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

Wow! Someone else!

Thank you. I know so many engineers that think these are God's gift to man. Nothing they've ever done that I've really said to myself, hmm I need one. I'd rather have a rack full of Sta Levels and DBX160 Vu's!

[narcoman]

Originally Posted by Space Station

Yeh narco, learn to use your 2500

yeah - wot a ****** I am......

(holy moly - they ban the word "dou.che"? - it's not even a swear word!!)

[Beyersound]

Originally Posted by NewfoundlandRec

- Everything ever made by Avalon, ever
- Digi 888....nuff said
- Yamaha PM5D (does anybody know how to do the patch on this thing)
- Liquid Mix (Does that count ?)
- Shure SM7, maybe not super highend, but I still hate it.
- API 560 (don't get the praise, it's not horrible, but I wouldn't pay money for it)

...and for live

K-Array (All)
JBL Vertech (Nasty)

Have to agree with you on most all of these (haven't heard K-Array) except for the PM-5D. It is simple to patch on, but if you are trying to do it for the first time on the PC Editor software, it can be very difficult. The Yamaha stuff is actually pretty simple and the absolutely most solid stuff on the planet. I have to admit, I have been using their digital consoles for years, my first true large format was a PM-1D, which has almost identical software to the 5D, it made the transition a no-brainer. Vertech really does tend to be nasty!

[cyjanopan]

Fender Bassman, not enough ...bass. But AKG D19 saved me last time I recorded it, that`s when I deicided not to sell it ever (AKG, not the Fender).

Fender Twin Reverb, ok maybe I just hate Fenders all together, but mud with no resolution is not my idea of an guitar amp, and they have this spike/resonance in higher midrange thats just killing me. It will be blasphemy but I prefer solid state fenders, like Jazz Chorus.

Cheapest Brauner mic (still pretty expensive), I got tracks to mix recorded on it (vocals and bass cab) and it`s just opposite of what I expect of good microphone, no body and just sterile without any mojo.

[Magic Alex]

Originally Posted by PhilE

ProTools software since OSX.

I remember how every time I went into PT on OS9.2, I'd have to switch color display to 256 colors. Loved it! Proof that Digidesign was saying, "We're not as pretty as other DAWs, but a DAW is for audio, not graphics".

With my last PT upgrade (to 8.0), I noticed my system laggin because the channel strips are all so pretty and shaded. Audio meters seemed to be .5 second slow!

As things get better, they just get worse!

[Magucci]

Sold my RME FF400 and SSL G BUS Comp (hated both).
Bought MH ULN-2 and Elysia Xpressor (very happy with them).

[jayson_p]

Fender Bassman, not enough ...bass. But AKG D19 saved me last time I recorded it, that`s when I deicided not to sell it ever (AKG, not the Fender).

Fender Twin Reverb, ok maybe I just hate Fenders all together, but mud with no resolution is not my idea of an guitar amp, and they have this spike/resonance in higher midrange thats just killing me. It will be blasphemy but I prefer solid state fenders, like Jazz Chorus.

My experience is that the Bassman is pretty much useless as a bass amp; not too bad for rhythm guitar if you're looking for that sound.

I hear ya on that "bark" that a lot of Fender amps have in the high mids. Mesa Boogies in the wrong hands can be much worse; the hyperactive eq on them is a real minefield.

Certainly no shame in liking the Jazz Chorus; it's certainly been all over a lot of great records (but then so has the Fender Twin). They have a really great 3 dimensional texture in the "air" freqs. My gripe with the J-C is the hiss they generate and they can get a little too swirly and muddy if there's too many layers of it. I get a kick out of the synthetic raunch you can squeeze out of 'em with a Pro-Co Rat or any of the old Electro-Harmonix stomp boxes. Context is everything though.

[Strange Leaf]

Originally Posted by Chaellus

All New neuman mics

This statement makes me wonder... if you tried all the new ones except one, and hated them all. Why the hell did you try the last one too?

[vicjohnson]

Originally Posted by jozef

My 30 year old american strat, never play it. I love my 100 dollar fake strat though.

I ended up installing EMG's in my 76 Strat and Changed the tremlo !!! Sounds brill .. My main axe

[Bassmankr]

That Fender bark is exactly what makes the Twin so useful for a Rhodes piano. The trick with any gear is to use it where it shines (and it might not be obvious). You are right the Fender Bassman is crappy for bass but can shine running other stuff through it. Many of the older Fender tube amps can be modded into a nice blackface without too much effort.

[Jim Williams]

Or anything else for that matter. I have JCM800 preamps in some of my old Black Face Fenders, A 1966 Deluxe Reverb and a pair of '67 Showmans. Voicing is done to taste.

Most of the sonic problems in Fender amps are not from the amp, they used the crappyest speakers ever made. Get some Eminence with your voice and that problem is gone.

Can't say I'm a fan of the Distressor, for me it lived up to it's name.

All the stuff I don't like is either sold off or was never bought. I love what I'm left with, no complaints.

[imaginaryday]

you are all a bunch of spoiled brats

[Telefunk]

I mixed with Neve 88r and my mix sounded like sh't, so i got few U47's and re-recorded & re-mixed. Still sounded like sh't. Well, got some 1176's, La2a's, EMT140's etc and it STILL sounded like sh't.

I think all that gear is so over-rated, man. My friend suggested that it might be because the music was sh't and that i cant mix, but i don't think so.

[NoFalsetto]

Originally Posted by Acoustic Cloud

Seems like all the questions have been asked, except this one. (As far as I have read) Are there any higher end gear, pres, mics,comps,lims, EQ's, that have just stunk to the trolls, especially given the cost?? Lets say cost per "thing" is 800 bux and up...to... more $$$$$$$$

NECAM 96 whoever designed that piece of trash should be shot.

[alooker]

distressors, avalon ad2055 and ultimation!