Purple Audio Biz pre-amp, API 500 slot compatible

[DrDeltaM]

http://www.purpleaudio.com/Product/biz.html

[max cooper]

Always nice to have another 500 Series option.

Thinking it would be fun to have a lunchbox with an API, the three OSA's, BA, Purple...

Hope the price is reasonable!

[pramrod]

I have checked out the prototypes and all i can say is YES!YES!YES! this thing has tons of gain and the output control makes it all happy happy. this is a very forward preamp with tons of character. and as you can see, purple has layed out a beautiful looking circuit (look at the workmanship on that thing, gorgeous!). i can't wait to get my filthy hands on a rack of these puppies.

p.s. a little birdie told me that that's not all andrew has up his sleeve that will slot into the 500 series racks- maybe some comps?

[Don]

Very cool!A comp would be the nice

[max cooper]

In my dreams, there's a summing solution coming from Purple too...

[petemin]

quote:
Originally posted by max cooper
In my dreams, there's a summing solution coming from Purple too...


actually the prototype exists in my studio. the final product is supposed to be coming soon. the prototype sounds great. i'll report back when i get the final product. pete

[max cooper]

petemin:

I'm a little dense in the head sometimes. Did you mean the Super 8 or a stand-alone thang?

[petemin]

max,

i have the super 8 and the master section.

pete

[max cooper]

I thought those were Marshall knobs. Mebbe they used 'em for "vibe". Purple have been known to use those "plush toy" eyes with moving pupils on knobs.

[pramrod]

Cheap looking nobs?!? this is what we are talking about? i can tell you 2 things about those nobs (perhaps someone else can tell me more about "the nob..."). first of all, purple specs their gear out to a very high level (cheap parts is not what they are about at all). if those particular nobs are the nobs they chose, i'm sure they are there for a reason (and i must say they felt very solid to me when i used these preamps in prototpye). second of all, i lent the guys at purple one of my 500 series preamps coming from another company making pre's that slot in those racks (rhymes with benny hill) and two things they said to me after a/b ing them were they were not quite as clear as the stock api's and that the reason the throw was so strange on the gain control was that the company that packaged them used a very cheap nob on the input control. purple will be replacing all those cheap nobs with real quality nobs for me on the other guys preamps (which i have been very happy with sonically, i have 6 of them amongst many other great preamps, just they have such a small sweet spot with regards to the throw of the gain nob). all i can say is as soon as i tried purple's new preamp, i have been harassing andrew to get them out so i can get a pile of them (i too am having purple build me a custom console based on the super 8 and the master section, and it will have a bunch of his preamps in it too, oh it's gonna be futin shweet). best way i can describe the "biz" preamp is the "forward" thing i mentioned in my last post. and ton's of gain, i mean like tons! i'll push andrew to get some audio samples out too (i actually made him 2 reggae jams using only his preamp which maybe he wouldn't mind me posting)... so, in the words of mr. markie- "nobody beats the biz!".

[pramrod]

you are correct sir- there is a big difference between a nob and a pot (i was just shooting off an early sunday morning response after a late saturday night and not thinking too deeply...). my problem, well it's not really a huge problem, more like a criticism, with those other pre's is with both the nob and the pot- the throw of the pot has a very small sweet spot and the nob itself is not very precise (it kind of slips through the fingers and is kind of slippery and small) so even tiny turn is a big change in sound. the two things together make it a bit more finicky to dial in the sound.
i guess this is partly about ergonomics and feel- i know of one great preamp/console maker whose gear i love the sound of but the feel of the nobs on the console was very rough (you could barely get your fingers in between the nobs, you had to turn them from the top). in terms of feel, they nobs almost hurt to use, but man that thing sounded great, so you kind of had to weigh the two.
as for the nobs on the purple, they felt very nice in terms of ergonomics and i had no trouble dialing in a variety of sounds with the huge gain range and the output control- it just felt much more precise with a big range of different sounds. Purple has definately thought about ergonomics and i would assume that the nobs on this preamp were thought out carefully.
another point that shouldn't be confused about these new preamps of Purple's is that they are in no way an api copy or clone, they are, as far as i understand, a new circuit using purple's proprietary opamps. i believe they are just making them in this form factor as one version (they will also be available in purple's consoles and maybe even 4 in a one space rack version too). all i can say is i really liked these preamps, they just sounded right and rich.

[hollywood_steve]

I don't know anything about this specific module, but I think its a great idea that it was built to API 500 standards. This format is the closest thing the biz has to a "standard" so I've never understood why so many designers feel the need to design their own proprietary module format / power supply / etc. The German system of all manufacturers building to a client specified standard seemed like such a good idea; and the 500 series is the closest thing we have to that kind of shared standard. I hope more manufacturers follow his lead.

[Samc]

"I don't know anything about this specific module, but I think its a great idea that it was built to API 500 standards. This format is the closest thing the biz has to a "standard" so I've never understood why so many designers feel the need to design their own proprietary module format / power supply / etc. The German system of all manufacturers building to a client specified standard seemed like such a good idea; and the 500 series is the closest thing we have to that kind of shared standard. I hope more manufacturers follow his lead."

Steve,
Maybe one of the reasons that some manufacturers are designing their own systems as opposed to designing modules for the API format/system is because this (API) format/system might have limited resourses to support some of the features that they might want to include in their modules and systems. Personally I think it would be a mistake to limit ourselves to this, or any other single system especially since no single system can or will adress all the needs of designers and/or end users.

[Nutmeg II.]

Originally posted by hollywood_steve
I don't know anything about this specific module, but I think its a great idea that it was built to API 500 standards. This format is the closest thing the biz has to a "standard" so I've never understood why so many designers feel the need to design their own proprietary module format / power supply / etc. The German system of all manufacturers building to a client specified standard seemed like such a good idea; and the 500 series is the closest thing we have to that kind of shared standard. I hope more manufacturers follow his lead.

One point is the PSU on the API rack, that would limit designers to that specs.
BTW There ARE standards! Think of the Danner system wich were comen by a lot of european companies. TAB, Telefiunken, Maihak, Siemens, Neumann, Filtek, ... all build to a the standard.fuuck

[hollywood_steve]

BTW There ARE standards! Think of the Danner system wich were comen by a lot of european companies. TAB, Telefiunken, Maihak, Siemens, Neumann, Filtek, ... all build to a the standard.

somebody didn't read the entire post before replying.....

(from the earlier post:

"The German system of all manufacturers building to a client specified standard seemed like such a good idea; and the 500 series is the closest thing we have to that kind of shared standard.")