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I got this info in a thread from back in April regarding NEW 610's.

The info above is from Spectra Sonic in Utah.

So I just got off the phone with them and the lady I talked to says they still manufacture the 610 and they sell for $1800 100% BRAND NEW! I asked if the specs were the same as they were back when they first came and she said yes. What I should have asked is if the components used are the same as back when they were first released. DOH!!

Perhaps most of you knew this already? I have been looking for one of these. Nice to know that I could get a brand spanking new one... but yes, it will cost me a lot more.

Has anyone used a new one and compared it to old units? I am guess with the age of the old ones, that they vary in sound from unit to unit. All I know is that I want one.

Consider you can find a nice blackface 1176LN for about the same price; a Rev F went for under $1700 last week on eBay. The minute you plug in a new 610 it'll be worth half what you paid for it. I know some folks like the 610 but used units have nearly doubled in price in the past year (overexposure from Gearslutz, no doubt). dfegad

I found out the same thing 12 years ago when I wanted to get my pair fixed. The going price then was $699.00 brand new about what used black face 1176's were going for. I always thought they were trying to follow the 1176 trend..... Anyway if your going to buy one and spend the money then buy new. It will drop like a rock in value but you will get one that is in great condition. Most of the 610's I have seen are in pretty bad shape which can be good depending on the sound your going for.

As for the insides I do believe that they are 100% the same. The only thing I have seen change over the years is the meter and the knobs. All the guts are the same to the best of my knowledge.

On a side note. If I had any idea that Tchad Blake and some other fans would send the value of these thru the roof like they are I would have bought up the studio that had 20 of them sitting in a storage room for sale at $50.00 a piece about 14 years ago. At least I only paid $50.00 each for mine!!!!!

Its just stupid what the feeding frenzy has done now.

MIchael Greene

Thanks!

Sonic Circus has an NOS 610 for $1000. Just checked it out.

Please be aware that this compressor is an effect.

It does not sound "good."

It sounds bad in a cool way.

Do not expect it to sound anything like an 1176. The 1176 is super-hifi by comparison. The 610 is a wild, strange, arcane compressor that, by current standards, falls way short of full fidelity.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not putting it down. I do like the way it sounds, but I also like the way the Valley People Dynamites sound and you can get their "bad" sound for a lot less dough. If you buy it for $1800 (?!?), make sure they have a return policy!! Once it's in your studio, you might find yourself saying "Oh... is that all there is to this thing? Why did I just spend $1800?"

Bear in mind with $1800, you're more than 1/3 to getting a Thermionic Culture Phoenix!

--- Chad

p.s. I am 99.9% certain that there is a smart software manufacturer who is making a 610-style compressor plug-in that will appear within the next year. It's such an obvious move. It's only a question of who will get their first...

4 years ago I got a quote from PAD that a new Spectrasonics 610 was selling for $750. You could spend a $100 more and easly pick up a pair of used distressors. Hmmm... which is the better deal?

You can get a pair of used Distressors for $850?

Anyhow, I have a 610 and occasionally use it to rough up the sound of a sampled kick drum, but not much else.

-R

I disagree that the 610 is only an fx unit.
I've used it extensively on kick and snare, and with careful use it's capable of some subtle colour which can often fatten and liven up a boring snare sound. Of course it can be a destroyer too.
I think it is still a gem of a piece for under $1000.
However (I agree) that it's nowhere near as useful as an 1176, not even in the same ballpark as the Distressor.
I've been told the older 610's (pointy knobs) do sound better, but that could be vintage voodoo I suppose. I have an old one. Paid $800 for it on Ebay.
It turned up broken, but it took my tech no time to fix it up (a simple unit he said).
In short, a better compressor than most people think (IMHO), but not worth anything like $1800 (IMVHO).

Let me make myself clear. I never said or meant to say that it sounds like an 1176. Or that in any way shape or form is an 1176. I was just saying that I get the impression from talking with the company over the last 15 years that they sort of think of the 610 as competition to the 1176. Read the manual and they make a big deal out of it being a compressor and a limiter compared to other units etc. etc.

Having used one for 17 years now I can tell you a couple of things from my experiences. This unit is not clean. It is not transparent. It is grungy. It pumps and breaths and distorts at the weirdest times. It is an effect and really not a whole lot more. Don't get me wrong. It is a great effect. It can lift up some really bad sounding distorted guitars and make them HUGE. It can take a loop and make it gritty and dirty in a really great way. It can take a drum sub mix and make it spank with a very unique sound. Again a really great effect box.

But. I do not agree with spending $1800.00 for a unit like this unless you have all of your other bases covered. The prices are just way over inflated but if the market demands it and is willing to pay it then I am sure the prices will continue to go up and up and up.

Lets just keep it in perspective. We are not talking about a Fairchild, Pultec, 1176 or some other piece of "Vintage" gear.

Also to clarify a previous post. I had two of the pointy know 610's. One of them went bad and I had a new model 610 that had sat in a closet for 5 years without being used or even turned on. I pulled the top off to see if I could swap cards and get my working again and it was EXACTLY the same boards down to the resistors and the transformers. No difference other than the meters and the knobs and the face plate. So if anything sounds different about the old ones versus the new ones it would have to be the capacitors or some other part or the calibration that is off.

Lets not perpetuate the hype and crap of older gear being vintage. Sometimes is just old!!!

Just my observations and opinions,
Michael Greene

I have a friend who picked up a new one and while good it did not quite do the same thing as the older ones. I have some early ones (sn 9 & 11 -- bought those and a third from PAD for under $1000 w/a stereo strapping module and a manual thrown in! Tchad got my third one), and it may just be do to age and drifting out of calibration over the years. A tech friend told me it was a nightmare to get it to 'factory calibration'. While I'm not sure how many Tchad eventually bought [maybe he has 5 total??], he was the last guy who wanted to see those go up in price. In fact, when it was first mentioned that he used them in an interview, it was said by a producer he had worked with!

Chad, I have heard a few that are broken and sound 'single ended' almost. One of mine had a bad cap when I first got it, and sounded really thin. I think if the basic audio path is in good shape, you can do a lot with them -- over the years I've gotten a lot of use out of mine, although i agree it is not for everything. Kinda more toward the Chandler EMI compressor end of things than the 160X end. The Slope control is kind of interesting in how it changes the tone, attack, and compression at the same time [whether or not that was the intent, I don't know].

But $1800.00 for one?? Not for me...

Cheers,
John

From talking with older fellas around here, the 610 was a real de facto workhorse back in the day. Guys used it routinely for almost every application imaginable. Spectrasonics and their associates Auditronics where very respected names back then. The Spectrasonics 100 (101? or 110?) line amp and their passive eq block were apparently big deals when they came out. The 610 is capable of a ridiculous range of complimiting, or whatever it calls what it does. And the compression can be relativly clean, just don't push it. Remember that the 1st light is the compressor and the needle is the limiter. Keeping in mind that the unit's time constants are measured in friggin nanoseconds (it holds the fastest attack time world record) and that ballistics won't respond to that, watch your peak meters in pro tools and you'll notice that it's working long before you hear its signature color. The manual is really indepth, super technical but actually very informative and it explains how to set the compressor up for comp, limiting, complimiting, and "oh ****!the red light came on!" and how to use the various modes for different applications. Around these parts, every studio had a spectrasonics board, 2 spectrasonics 610's and Scully tape machines. Of course, Auditronics was based here so that was part of it I'm sure. I don't know why anyone would want to use it without the distortion though. It's like using a marshall plexi for smooth jazz.

Forgot to add that I'm looking for another one so ya'll lemme know if you've got one you wanna let go of!

The 610 is pretty much the coolest compressor ever, IMHO. I almost never record an acoustic guitar without it anymore.

It was nice to know about the new ones. But realistically, I probably wouldn't get a new one. I would love to own an old one though. There was just one on ebay that I had bid on. If I had bid what I was originally going to bid, without a doubt I would have won it. I chickened out at the last min cause it wasn't very logical for me to buy something like that at the moment. I'm regretting it now.
Thats why I wanted it

Yes, but these don't have the fancy old style VU and knobs anymore, and 1800$ is
a bit to much to pay if I needed more (I already have 3).
btw. there is no rock tracking or mixing where I don't use at least one of the 610s amazing units.


wolfgang

One more time... what do you use it on?

You mean me ?

I use it on drum subs if I need something dirtier than the TG1, bass, bass mult,
strumming ac-guitar, FOK mics or single drum sounds. I even used a pair on an
reverb return, but I'm not sure if it found it's way to the main mix but was really
interesting.

The 610 is definatly an character piece and get used along with my TG1 or Inovonics 201s.

wolfgang

I meant you can get a pair of distressors for around $1900 on the used market. which is a hundred dallors more than what a new 610 goes for.

I have a stereo power amp setup with 60 watts each card, and 2 crossover cards at 400 and 1200 Someone shorted the amps output (no protection). Anyone have a line on schematics for the amps/

Dick Wagner 818-888-3333 [email protected]