Hey y'all,

So I'd like to add a 'master' reverb to my new room and I've been weighing the pros and cons of these two boxes. I've searched the forum and seen what various folks have written, but I'd like to get a current reaction from everybody as to which is the better value. The 480 is clearly the king, but is it worth the extra money? Or am I perhaps better off with the 300 and another smaller box, which would still be signifcantly cheaper?

Thanks so much -- JB

Are freelancers using your place or is all in house engineering?

Is it an SSL studio or is it a PTools project studio?

Are you mixing in surround or all stereo?


All of these should factor in your decisions.

If its an SSL place,with freelancers coming in and out and the work is mostly stereo mixing than the 480L is a no brainer and yes the extra cash will make it worth it.

If its a PTools power project studio that plans to adopt the future(surround mixing with all TV's going HD) than i would consider something besides the 480L and 300L.

Hey Thrill,

Thanks for the quick response. It is a totally private studio for stereo mixing only. I will be working with certain other producers and engineers on a project-by-project basis, but there is no pressure to provide a standardized working environment. The configuration is a hybrid one, with Nuendo providing automation and the stems running through an analog desk and selected outboard for processing (Distressors, SSL Compressor, Massive Passive, 1073's, etc) -- JB

If you got outside guys coming through than i would say start writing that hefty check for a 480L. heh

I would suggest a 300L if you had lets say a 224XL and PCM70 lying around(which every studio should have anyway).

It fills in the gap well.

It's based on 480's algos. 300 L is not identical to 480 even with same algos, but it has classic Lex sound and if one need that sound 300 will deliver it.
There are no cards (as in 480) for 300L, just ROMs and last version is 3,5L with LARC capability and some effects added over previous versions.
It has one engine compared to 480's two.
Some of 480's programms cannot be used on 300 due to lack of second engine.
As flagship model, 480 has many algos that are not available on 300.
It has 20 bit resolution compared to 18 bit in 480. Both have 48 kHz sampling rate.
It has cleaner converters what might be good or not, depending on task, some organic sounds of 480 are chiefly results of its converters.
It is very well made, I use it for years and have no problem with them, can be moved from rack and transported without hesitation.
I had 480 and didn't find to need it much more than 300 (also due to many other reverbs I use constantly), still to some 480 is holly grail of all reverbs, so try before buy.

This thread is from 2005. I'd hope he'd have it handled by now.

I owned a 300 and a 480L. Is it worth the extra money? Well that depends on the price differential. How much could you get a 300 for?

I am offering a 480L for 4800 USD plus shipping from Sweden.

About the machines. If you want digital in and out the 300 might come cheaper overall, but it is exactly this advantage that might have pushed up the price of 300s relative to 480s.

Some people writing on harmony central paid USd 2000 for their 300L second hand and others paid over 4000.

My experience on the sound: I traded in the 300 for a 480 and was totally convinced it was worth it. With the 300 it was much more often a case of needing to tweak preset. With the 480 the presets were usually good to go and it was more a case of embedding the right one in the mix.

There are plenty of people claiming in forums that they tweak the presets of a cheaper reverb and it sounds as good as a 480. Don't believe them. The point about these comments is that these uers are usually tweaking on monitors where they don't hear enough of the detail and the depth. So they roll of the top end or the shorten the tail and nasty stuff is gone and then they compare it to a more expensive machine and say - wow it sounds just as good - but they have lost half the depth and detail info.

I have PMC Ib1s and at aq rough guess less than 30% of productions sound good on those speakers. But those productions that do sound awesome on any system including huge PAs. Some of my mixes are used by my friends who are live engineers to set up systems because I got the depth and space right. Getting the frequencies right is the easy bit and any mastering engineer will help you sort that out. But you want the reverb picture to still sound right even after all kinds of processing. I could do that thanks to the 480L.

So why am I selling it?

I've teamed up with another company so we got one spare.

All the best in your decision making.

You live in Switzerland and will ship from Sweden?

FWIW:

the 300 is a big step up from the pcm70 in terms of thickness of the reverb sound.
Hard to describe, More expensive sounding? Fatter?

I like the 70 too, but the 300 and 224 480 are in a different league.

Why are you guys responding to a 2 year old thread?

Interesting!
On one hand when someone post a new thread about a topic already discussed, he'll get a: " USE THE FREAKING SEARCH BUTTON!!!!! "
On the other hand, it seems like those who use it and add an additional question to it are weirdos!
.....We'll never agree! heh

And to think all this time I've been getting by with my little PCM70...never did buy the 300 OR the 480. Next year I'm moving to a bigger space, so it may be time to invest after all...I think the 300L will fit the bill nicely -- JB

not to mention the weirdos respinding to the weirdos responding to the 2 year old thread.


Another option is a Nuverb system. I just picked up a 2 card system and it sounds freaking great. Ancient and obsolete mac computer but way worth it. Better than my PCM80/90 for sure.

The search button is intended for getting information from threads that have already been discussed (so we don't repeatedly have the same topics posted).Adding answers (new posts) to questions that are years old (discussions long since past) is rather silly. That is why threads and posts alike include the date. If the respondent is really interested in a specific topic, he can start a new thread that utilizes the information he found as a result of his search. That way the topic is of actual use, relevance and purpose.

You added two posts, true just OT . heh

Well, yes and no.
Some new insights might emerge later and in relation to Lex 480 (I think it is around 15-20 years old reverb and 300L - 10 years) thread can not be old or outdated.
Actually it is better to respond (assuming it's done cleverly) on old thread than to repeat same all over again.

Alrighty then..i'll add..
I prefer the Bricasti reverb to both The 480L and 300.

I'll join, expect some test result in couple of weeks, side by side with TC Electronics 4000/6000, Lex 300L, Yardstick and EV 8000.
Hope it will meet highest expectation we all put to M7 and in this case probably this thread will really become outdated forever.

Yup.

It is actually that Ironic that when I am in the US I cringe at people who don't know the difference.

It's like I say that I am from Switzerland and they say "Gee do you speak Swedish".

I mean we had people in Nashville getting this wrong at a rate of one a day.

Well in this case it is actually the fact. I am selling on behalf of a client who happens to have her gear sitting in Sweden.

Do you have a 480 ( in sweden) for sale?

In this particular case the OP was looking to buy a reverb unit in 2005.

He didn't buy it. heh
Question is still open for discussion.

I actually prefered PCM 91 to Bricasti ... to my surprise ...

I prefered both 300L and Rev4000 to Bricasti to even greater surprise.
Not that M7 is not good reverb, but it cannot fill the missing hole in my reverb rack.
480 could do it, but I hate this old piece of junkheh

For me Bricasti sounded "too perfect" somehow, for a lack of better term. Too "virtual" and polished. Lexicon sounded more "dirty" or "blurred", but it gave me more real or musical feeling on whatever I tried ... YMMV, of course ...

one day I have to check out the Bricasti but the Lex480 is still one of the most used reverbs to date. So I guess I like it because I heard it on so many records. That thing sounds allways like a record

The 300 is nice but it absolutely lacks the mojo I get from the 480. It hardly gets turned on nowadays ...

(note to self: use more reverb )

Jo

+1 on the Bricasti!

I still have never heard an actual 480l in person to hear this mojo you talk about. I have a PCM80/90 and Nuverbs and they sound great. If the 480l sounds that much better I would love to hear the difference. Maybe if I give you a small vocal sample you could process it through the 480l for me? THen I can mimic your settings on Nuverb so I can really compare. Maybe even post up the results.

thanks

I already did it some time ago (480L vs PCM 91). On single samples of various instruments (Large Hall, Drum Plates etc.) the differences ranged from none (Large Hall) to very subtle ... (plates were slightly better on 480 L). Nothing too dramatic overall ...

thanks Siedlacek. I always wondered how much of the mystic of the 480l was just psychological. I mean it's worth $5k or more so it must sound better! ;-)