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Solid State Logic FX384, XLogic G Series Compressor, Smart C2 ripper High end 26 2nd July 2006 03:11 AM

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Old 5th July 2006, 04:25 AM   #1
warhead
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The A Designs Solid State Shootout (500 series + Pacifica)

About a month ago my friend Bob Moore of Sound Lab Recording and I decided to spend a day with the new 500 series preamps from A Designs, as well as the Pacifica preamp. Every "EM" series module (blue, silver, red) and the "P1" module was loaded into an API 6 space lunchbox and connected directly to a Tascam MX-2424 hard disk recorder via Canare cables, recording at 44.1/24 bit. The same channel was used on the MX recorder and the same Canare cable for every test (we just kept physically popping the cable into the next unit). The mic cable was a Monster 500 series. The mics used were:

Overhead: Shure SM81
Kick: E/V RE20
Snare: Shure SM57
Floor Tom: Sennheiser 421
Acoustic Guitar: AKG C451B
Electric Guitar: Sennheiser 421
Bass DI: Washburn 4 string w/ passive pickups (Monster bass cable)

Every mic on hand is considered a standard in its given position. It's not about the mics though, it's about hearing the differences between each preamp in this series.

Gearslutz member "Glitch" offered to host the .wav files here:

www.studionu.com

I would suggest saving the files and loading them into your DAW to play back in a real monitoring environment. On a laptop / cheap PC speakers you're not going to learn much by comparison.

The tests started as a way for me to familiarize myself with the differences within the line for Front End Audio but we went ahead and tried our hardest to make comparison clips in as fair a manner as possible. The drums are played by me, the guitars by Bob. We are both musicians to an extent (like most here!) and we understood the goal was to play easily repeatable lines and swap cables out as quickly as possible! Not rocket science, but not 100% perfect either.

Thanks Glitch for covering bandwidth duty, and putting together a nicely laid out page. I hope you all enjoy and learn a bit by studying these clips.

War

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Old 5th July 2006, 04:51 AM   #2
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Thanks War!!

Looks like it was a ton of work and time on your end.

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Old 5th July 2006, 07:09 AM   #3
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I made a couple quick tweaks.

Also, War, edit the link to be www.studionu.com

That's it.
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Old 5th July 2006, 04:04 PM   #4
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Peter, I'll send you a bill for the hours. :)

Glitch, got it changed...thanks again.

War
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Old 5th July 2006, 04:50 PM   #5
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"EM Blue Electric" is not working here...
Thank you for this work.
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Old 5th July 2006, 05:11 PM   #6
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very cool of you Warren!
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quote: The Hammer is like sonic crack. I'm actually afraid to use it for tracking Brad McGowan

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Old 5th July 2006, 06:07 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by funka
"EM Blue Electric" is not working here...
Thank you for this work.
Someone else must have been accessing the file at that exact moment. I just checked link and source and they're good.


Thanks!
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Old 6th July 2006, 12:53 AM   #8
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This is really cool. I'm looking forward to hearing the clips and have been waiting for an opprotunity to check all these pres out.

I also just picked up Preamps in Paradise, so I'm looking forward to a long day in the studio...

Thanks.
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Old 6th July 2006, 02:27 AM   #9
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Very cool of you to take the time Warren!
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Old 6th July 2006, 08:26 AM   #10
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Yes, that's all ok, I managed to download all the files...now, I'll have a listen...
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Old 6th July 2006, 10:46 AM   #11
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lol, War, you oughta hear the tracks we made today with the P1, holy cripes, delicious!

got a "short" review coming, once my head stops spinning


KT

P.S While I luv the purple cables, the wife wants hot pink (ouch!) for her birthday next month...sigh...cool but expensive when one's wife is a gear fanatic too...any suggestions on who deals hot pink? (blush, that sounds weird~~~~~)
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Old 6th July 2006, 02:02 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by natpub
P.S While I luv the purple cables, the wife wants hot pink (ouch!) for her birthday next month...sigh...cool but expensive when one's wife is a gear fanatic too...any suggestions on who deals hot pink? (blush, that sounds weird~~~~~)
Apogee AES cables are a nice pink or pink/purple color (pricey though!):
http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/wydeeyecables.php

I haven't used them but Horizon makes a series called 'Neon' and they have pink :
http://www.horizonmusic.com/catalog2...hone/flLzn.gif
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Old 6th July 2006, 08:21 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by natpub
lol, War, you oughta hear the tracks we made today with the P1, holy cripes, delicious!

got a "short" review coming, once my head stops spinning


I PM'd you on the cables.

War
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Old 12th July 2006, 09:45 PM   #14
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So, anyone care to post some more impressions thus far?
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Old 13th July 2006, 02:38 AM   #15
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I was actually surprised at how little the P1 sounds like the Pacifica honestly.

I really gravitated towards the Blues for most the drum duties. If I had to pick one for everything on the kit, it would've been them. They were fast, but still had some wicked depth. The red sounded pretty damn good on snare, as did the P1, but again, the blue was just the all rounder for me.

Pacifica on guitars for me, all the way. Lots of gel. It's polished and softer, but not via distortion seemingly, like what a nicerizer does to a mix. It just makes it better.
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Old 13th July 2006, 06:14 AM   #16
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Each of those preamps are equally fast. The opamps are all the same so therefore same slew rate. The input and output transformers are the only thing that vary. Actually the Red and Gold are the only ones with different input transformers. Everything else has the exact same input transformer as the Pacifica. The difference between the P-1 and Pacifica are due to different power supplies and output transformers, the Pacifica having a much larger one.

Brad
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Old 13th July 2006, 06:27 AM   #17
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I am hearing perhaps a little extra "richness" in the pacifica. Listening on Tannoys and my sony mdr headphones (not simultaneously). Almost like it's slightly "slower," too.

I particularly like what the silver does to the the snare on the overhead takes with the sm 81.
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Old 13th July 2006, 06:29 AM   #18
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hmmmmmm..


Is that a pro vla I see in the background? Is it modded?
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Old 13th July 2006, 01:56 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by astronmr20
hmmmmmm..


Is that a pro vla I see in the background? Is it modded?
I PM'd you.

War
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Old 15th July 2006, 06:21 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by astronmr20
Listening on Tannoys and my sony mdr headphones (not simultaneously).
Haha! Thanks for the clarification!
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Old 15th July 2006, 09:16 PM   #21
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SOT...hey War...What console is that with the purple arm padding?....
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Old 15th July 2006, 09:50 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Snatchman
SOT...hey War...What console is that with the purple arm padding?....
Amek Angela.

War
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Old 16th July 2006, 12:57 AM   #23
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humm...
kick: silver
snare: red
floor: none really

I wouldnt buy the pres for the last three, im sure i could dig something better for the drums (512s? OSA?)

ovh: pacifica

bass: pacifica (excellent sounding!!!!)

acoustic guitar: blue or pacifica, cant decide...it really would depend on the context.

electric: Red, P1 and Pacifica are equally good to me, though in a mix, i think the pacifica would stand out because of the brighter top end.


moral of the story: i'm totally buying a pacifica !!!!!!!!!!!
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Old 20th August 2006, 12:41 AM   #24
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Hey Warren, thanks for this demo!

Lots of work for sure.

I couldn't hear tons of difference:

Does anyone think the the Behringer Truth's I'm listening on could be to blame?



Three things DID manage to grab me though:

Silver on snare
Red on bass
P1/Pacifica on El. guitar

Maybe my opinion will change when I get some actual monitors up in here!
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Old 20th August 2006, 01:19 PM   #25
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man!! I love the pacifica...I picked it soooo often...even in blind tests!!!

a nice surprise was the silver...often liked it too, on acc git e.g....P1 was cool, but still no pacifica.

holy schmoly
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Old 20th August 2006, 05:40 PM   #26
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad McGowan View Post
Each of those preamps are equally fast. The opamps are all the same so therefore same slew rate. The input and output transformers are the only thing that vary. Actually the Red and Gold are the only ones with different input transformers. Everything else has the exact same input transformer as the Pacifica. The difference between the P-1 and Pacifica are due to different power supplies and output transformers, the Pacifica having a much larger one.

Brad
Transformers change slew rate in varying amounts. It's the hysteresis - iron is slow, nickel is fast, blah, blah, blah.

The pacfica is my favorite all arounder pre. It always rules on overheads and gutiars. It's a nice match with a 121, better than the neves. Neves feel kinda clunky on a lot of stuff to me. API's and dakings aren't as sweet. I still usually like the MP2 best on bass.

The Red sounds closer to an API to me and the Blue kinda like a Daking (closer than the others). Sorta hard to judge by the clips. Gotta do a few sessions with the pre before you really know it.
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Old 11th December 2006, 06:05 PM   #27
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I finally loaded in some samples, mainly listening to the pacifica and p1, with a few Em Red samples.

My question was in regards to the acoustic guitar samples. I was surprised that the Pacifica and p1 both sounded darker than I expected. Like the mic was stuck in the soundhole. Any info on the type of guitar and mic position.

I was expecting a brighter sound.

Thanks to War for doing this.
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Old 12th May 2008, 08:00 AM   #28
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Old thread back from the dead... I really like the EM blue on snare...
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Old 12th May 2008, 09:08 AM   #29
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Old 13th May 2008, 02:55 AM   #30
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Quote:
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Old thread back from the dead... I really like the EM blue on snare...
me two
the A-Designs EM-BLUE is amazing on snare as well as anything acoustic.
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quote: The Hammer is like sonic crack. I'm actually afraid to use it for tracking Brad McGowan

IF YOU ARE NOT INTO THE 500 FORMAT,
THEN YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS!

quote: your secret identity is safe with me superman! Peter Montessi

it is easy to sound as though one was endowed with great intelligence, whilst speaking amongst a crowd of total morons
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