Bang-for-the Buck Gear

[JMURRAY16]

Hey all,
My friend asked me today what the best bang for the buck gear was.
He was not referring to cheap gear, but instead what gives the best value for the money.
So I am trying to get some ideas together and I know I have not tried everything out there so you opinions would be helpful.

My nominations thus far:

Mic Pre - Grace 101 - For a single channel I love it on lots of sources
Compressor - Crane Trakker - Just works on almost anything
EQ - UAD Plugs
Microphones - Large Cond - Peluso; Small - Jospehson; Ribbon AEA 84
Monitors - Dynaudio BM5A's - I love mine for the cash
Misc - Gotham cable; MoPads;

So what do you guys think?

Thanks.

[NathanEldred]

It's kind of a wide criteria/range, one man's value is another man's month of Ramen noodles....but stuff that I see as being popular (from a dealer's perspective anyway) by the 'not a lot of money but wants a pro sound' set is (in addition to what you listed):

Mics: lower cost Pelusos, CharterOak, less expensive Crowley and Tripp, Gefell 930, AEA R92, Mojave Audio M-200

Preamps: Chameleon Labs, FMR RNP, less expensive OSA models (A & C), Groove Tubes Brick, Great River 1NV, TRUE P-solo, Vintech 1272, Buzz SSA1.1, anything Toft

Converters: Apogee Mini-xxx, two channel Mytek 96k boxes, Lynx Aurora

Some stuff we don't sell that I have experience with that I know to be a good value - Urei La4's, EV RE20's, Shure SM-7b, TAB/Funkenwerk DI, Avenson mics.

I'm sure there's lots more...

[JMURRAY16]

Originally Posted by NathanEldred

It's kind of a wide criteria/range, one man's value is another man's month of Ramen noodles....

Hi,
Thanks for the reply.....I know exactly what you are saying which is why I wanted to post here to get a bunch of opinions.
You made some great suggestions.....thanks.

[Bump Music]

-Drawmer 1968 ME is great value. Gonna pick up another soon.
-SM57 - use it all the time for everything
-Chandler Germanium isn't cheap but it can do soooo much so I'm including it.
-UAD plugz
-The Shadow Hills Equinox looks mighty "bang for the buck" worthy. Plenty of useful features and two pre amps to boot.

[cramseur]

Art Pro VLA ( thanks Warren) $249
Speck ASC-T EQ (thanks Fletcher) $1150 for 2 racked
DAV BG-1 $ 700 for 2 ch pre

[warhead]

Monitors: Tascam VL-X5
Interfaces: Echo Audiofire line, RME line
Microphones: CAD M179, ADK Vienna / Hamburg, Audix i5, AEA R84, Joemeek JM37
Preamps: A Designs 500 series, Speck 5.0, Rane MS1B, Mackie Onyx
Channel strips: Joemeek OneQ, ART Pro Channel, Safe Sound Audio P1, Toft EC-1, Chameleon
EQ: Speck ASC, dbx242, Toft AFC-2
Compression: Safe Sound Audio P1, ART Pro VLA, Joemeek, Drawmer

War

[Steamy Williams]

Mics - Beyerdynamic M160
Pres - Brent Averill 312A
EQs - API 560
Converters - Lynx Aurora
Monitors - PMC TB2+
Other - Crane Song Spider

[TEMAS]

Shadow Hills custom built Gama 8 @ under $600 per channel is pretty good value.

Apogee AD-16X / DA-16X is way cheaper per channel than anything else in its class.

[84K]

#1 has to be the Empirical Labs Distressor

The Pendulum Audio Quartet 1 and Quartet 2 are a STEAL!!!! If you realize all you are getting for the $$.

Royer R-121 (not exactly cheap, but hard to beat)

Yamaha Sub-Kick

SM-7

TD-4

IBP by: Little Labs

[Albert]

I agree about the Distressor, great bang for the buck. Plus:

DAV BG-1 preamp
Speck X.Sum mixer
Kurzweil KSP8 multi-effects
Presonus Central Station

[mhartman]

The Randall MTS modular guitar amps are a great value. Plus, for $200 you can buy additional modules that give you a whole new sound (i.e., after the initial investment, it is fairly cheap to cure a case of gear acquisition syndrom).

[Faderjockey]

I'd also have to say Chameleon Labs... We've sold a bunch of these..So far everyone loves them for the $$ and thats guys with really nice gear...

I myself don't own but have used the langevin DVC...I think it's a cool bang for the buck.

[not_so_new]

Originally Posted by mhartman

The Randall MTS modular guitar amps are a great value. Plus, for $200 you can buy additional modules that give you a whole new sound (i.e., after the initial investment, it is fairly cheap to cure a case of gear acquisition syndrom).

thumbsup

I also agree with Nathan about the TAB V71DI, great value. Same goes for the Apogee DA and AD-16X stuff, per channel it is hard to beat.

I would add that SCA preamps here. I have 7 A12's that crush and for the price they are a smoking deal.

I only have one thing from Rupert Neve Designs, the tape emulator and I think that is a good value for the money piece. Others around here say that the compressor is killer and for $800 a channel it is a really bargain. That is one of the next things on my list.

[T.RayBullard]

DAV preamps
AT4050 mics
Beyer Ribbons
Hamptone preamps
truth audio TA-p1 monitors