TAC Scorpion. Anyone used one? - Page 2

andreaeffe · 22nd May 2011

To the OP:

the Tac Scorpion (used one a lot, often) is a really nice board - friendly and simple in its layout & features, with perfectly useable preamps, a quite nice eq and overalla a good dose of what today we like to call "analogue colour" - it sounds phatt rather than thin (NOTHING to do, not in a million miles, with Mackie, or let alone the whole Phonic/Behringer/Alto etc supercheapo desk craze), a bit dark rather than bright or harsh (but nowhere as dark & muffled as most lower cost Souncraft Spirit/Folio/and even Ghost, and certainly a lot better than all the cheap small Yamaha analogue boards), and does have more noise/fuzz/grit than one might want in a superclinical recording situation.
As someone here already pointed out, the 2 buss master is not super high headroom, and levels are best kept a bit on the safe side. But, then again, when it starts to enter clipping/master max out zone, it doesn't sound displeasing at all in its' rounding of the edges & transients.
The eq is especially likeable, U can really notice/hear the family of desks (Amek/Neve design) it is derived from, and whatever one might think of when hearing the words "British eq", well, the Scorpion quite probably fits the description. It likes & complements guitars, bass, tubes & rock&roll & blues, perhaps even some electronica/dance looking for oomph and analog bite & grit - it's not a classical recordist's or a jazz-fusion purist tech freak's desk, to give a couple of examples.

Again as someone also pointed out, this desk's major pitfall and PITA (and, frankly, ALL Ameks' up to & except the Mozart and obviously the extraordinary 9098, in my experience) is the cheap pots & switches used - prone to crackling, intermittance, imprecise panpots, jumping levels, etc - clean them and use them often and regularly have them "in motion" and one might not have such a bad time, but let them stay put or (even worse) get any dust or moist or damp and U're in for serious trouble.

Still, for THAT kind of money, it's an absolutely wonderful buy, OP - congrats.
Enjoy them, make a good desk & make some great sounding music.

A
F

mistakenidentity · 22nd May 2011

Used a big one of these a long time ago in London, the more you get your mix nearly there the more it slips away from you if you dont look after your levels, as someone put it better than me above, keep an eye on the output bus, it will distort and not in a good way. But apart from that its great, and very nice armrests!!!!

22nd May 2011	#31
andreaeffe Gear addict Joined: Jul 2010 Location: By The Sea :) Posts: 320 4 Reviews written	To the OP: the Tac Scorpion (used one a lot, often) is a really nice board - friendly and simple in its layout & features, with perfectly useable preamps, a quite nice eq and overalla a good dose of what today we like to call "analogue colour" - it sounds phatt rather than thin (NOTHING to do, not in a million miles, with Mackie, or let alone the whole Phonic/Behringer/Alto etc supercheapo desk craze), a bit dark rather than bright or harsh (but nowhere as dark & muffled as most lower cost Souncraft Spirit/Folio/and even Ghost, and certainly a lot better than all the cheap small Yamaha analogue boards), and does have more noise/fuzz/grit than one might want in a superclinical recording situation. As someone here already pointed out, the 2 buss master is not super high headroom, and levels are best kept a bit on the safe side. But, then again, when it starts to enter clipping/master max out zone, it doesn't sound displeasing at all in its' rounding of the edges & transients. The eq is especially likeable, U can really notice/hear the family of desks (Amek/Neve design) it is derived from, and whatever one might think of when hearing the words "British eq", well, the Scorpion quite probably fits the description. It likes & complements guitars, bass, tubes & rock&roll & blues, perhaps even some electronica/dance looking for oomph and analog bite & grit - it's not a classical recordist's or a jazz-fusion purist tech freak's desk, to give a couple of examples. Again as someone also pointed out, this desk's major pitfall and PITA (and, frankly, ALL Ameks' up to & except the Mozart and obviously the extraordinary 9098, in my experience) is the cheap pots & switches used - prone to crackling, intermittance, imprecise panpots, jumping levels, etc - clean them and use them often and regularly have them "in motion" and one might not have such a bad time, but let them stay put or (even worse) get any dust or moist or damp and U're in for serious trouble. Still, for THAT kind of money, it's an absolutely wonderful buy, OP - congrats. Enjoy them, make a good desk & make some great sounding music. A F __________________ The story of life Is quicker Than the wink of an eye The story of love Is hello And goodbye Until we meet - Again. (Jimi Hendrix) ------------------ http://www.myspace.com/andreaeffe

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22nd May 2011	#32
mistakenidentity Gear interested Joined: May 2011 Location: Lanzarote, Canary Islands Posts: 4	Used a big one of these a long time ago in London, the more you get your mix nearly there the more it slips away from you if you dont look after your levels, as someone put it better than me above, keep an eye on the output bus, it will distort and not in a good way. But apart from that its great, and very nice armrests!!!!