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Post by Tbone81 on Dec 8, 2023 14:20:28 GMT -6
I’ve been wondering about this company for a while. I’m considering buying a nice stereo vari mu. The dictator is one of the few vari mu comps I can afford. The demos online sounded nice. It seemed to add a nice roundness and polish to all the mixes.
Anyone have any real world experience with any of their stuff?
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Post by ab101 on Dec 8, 2023 15:46:24 GMT -6
Not sure. But I see some Manley Nu Mu comps on reverb for under $2000.
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Post by Tbone81 on Dec 8, 2023 18:43:29 GMT -6
Not sure. But I see some Manley Nu Mu comps on reverb for under $2000. Thanks for the heads up, somehow they slipped below my radar. Ever tried the nu mu yourself? There’s something pleasing to my vanity about having a Manley compressor in my rack lol. Ok, off to hunt for sound samples of the Nu Mu |
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Post by ab101 on Dec 9, 2023 0:11:23 GMT -6
Not sure. But I see some Manley Nu Mu comps on reverb for under $2000. Thanks for the heads up, somehow they slipped below my radar. Ever tried the nu mu yourself? There’s something pleasing to my vanity about having a Manley compressor in my rack lol. Ok, off to hunt for sound samples of the Nu Mu I have not tried it. I have tried the Manley Elop+ which was excellent. So, maybe someone who tried it can chime in here. |
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Post by Tbone81 on Dec 15, 2023 15:51:02 GMT -6
So in light of the lack of responses to this thread, I did the responsible thing and purchased one directly from VK  I guess there's no better way to find out if you like something than to just straight up buy and try for yourself! |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2023 6:11:44 GMT -6
Gainlabs stuff is excellent, I have the Empress EQ. Built like a tank, flexible and sounds great.
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 2, 2024 22:25:13 GMT -6
So I got a great deal on a B stock Gainlab Dictator. My initial impressions are that it sounds great on vocals, really does a nice job pinning down a jumpy vocal while adding some nice saturation when the input is pushed.
Still experimenting on mix bus but so far it’s sounding nice.
Unfortunately it showed up with a wonky Vu Meter so I’ll need to call VK and see what can be done.
More to come
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 4, 2024 13:30:11 GMT -6
Contacted VK and so far the customer service has been great. This is my first major purchase from them ever. So far I’m very happy.
Also, been playing with the compressor more and it’s definitely nice. Adds a nice round sheen to things. It kind of hugs the mix when strapped to the mix bus. It can clamp down on the low end, and change the transients of a kick drum in a big way. Which can be good or bad depending on your application. On a folk mix I just finished it sounds really nice. It glued the low end together nicely. Same for the country band I’m mixing right now where it makes the upright bass nice and round, and controlled. However I can see it sucking the punch out of a rock mix. That’s not really a criticism though, you can do that with just about any compressor. And my experience with vari mus on the mix bus is that they’re great for glue and warmth but not what you want when you’re looking for snap and punch. So I’m that regard the Gainlab is consistent with those results.
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Post by thehightenor on Jan 4, 2024 15:58:14 GMT -6
Contacted VK and so far the customer service has been great. This is my first major purchase from them ever. So far I’m very happy. Also, been playing with the compressor more and it’s definitely nice. Adds a nice round sheen to things. It kind of hugs the mix when strapped to the mix bus. It can clamp down on the low end, and change the transients of a kick drum in a big way. Which can be good or bad depending on your application. On a folk mix I just finished it sounds really nice. It glued the low end together nicely. Same for the country band I’m mixing right now where it makes the upright bass nice and round, and controlled. However I can see it sucking the punch out of a rock mix. That’s not really a criticism though, you can do that with just about any compressor. And my experience with vari mus on the mix bus is that they’re great for glue and warmth but not what you want when you’re looking for snap and punch. So I’m that regard the Gainlab is consistent with those results. Does it not have a HPF on the side chain? I'm not sure I could mix into my Phoenix MP vari-mu without using it's HPF options. |
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 4, 2024 16:55:33 GMT -6
Contacted VK and so far the customer service has been great. This is my first major purchase from them ever. So far I’m very happy. Also, been playing with the compressor more and it’s definitely nice. Adds a nice round sheen to things. It kind of hugs the mix when strapped to the mix bus. It can clamp down on the low end, and change the transients of a kick drum in a big way. Which can be good or bad depending on your application. On a folk mix I just finished it sounds really nice. It glued the low end together nicely. Same for the country band I’m mixing right now where it makes the upright bass nice and round, and controlled. However I can see it sucking the punch out of a rock mix. That’s not really a criticism though, you can do that with just about any compressor. And my experience with vari mus on the mix bus is that they’re great for glue and warmth but not what you want when you’re looking for snap and punch. So I’m that regard the Gainlab is consistent with those results. Does it not have a HPF on the side chain? I'm not sure I could mix into my Phoenix MP vari-mu without using it's HPF options. It does and that helps let some low end breath. But still not sure the compression character lends itself to rock mixes. Or at least it seams like it wouldn’t be my first choice. We’ll see, I’m just speculating right now, later tonight I’ll have some time to try it on a rock mix |
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 4, 2024 16:55:57 GMT -6
Does it not have a HPF on the side chain? I'm not sure I could mix into my Phoenix MP vari-mu without using it's HPF options. It does and that helps let some low end breathe. But still not sure the compression character lends itself to rock mixes. Or at least it seams like it wouldn’t be my first choice. We’ll see, I’m just speculating right now, later tonight I’ll have some time to try it on a rock mix |
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Post by Tbone81 on Jan 5, 2024 20:30:37 GMT -6
Tried it on a rock mix today, it was sounding nice and round, and just a little dark. It made it Big. But like most all things it didn’t really work with me just slapping it on top of an already finished mix…it sounded nice but threw off the mix too much for me to keep it there.
It’ll be very nice when I mix into it though.
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