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Post by Chad on Feb 28, 2020 9:45:34 GMT -6
^^^ I have to agree with Charlie at AudioScape... In fact he's the one that told me about warming up a Sta Level for a minimum of 3 hours to get it in its "sweet spot". (Thanks, Charlie!) I was skeptical, but then I tried it (with my Retro Instruments Sta Level). And... He was right. It sounded more smooth, and something about it just sounded more pleasing to my ears. Things sounded more "full" and "balanced" top to bottom, for lack of a better description. Warming up is one of the total joys of hardware that... I enjoy. Can't wait for the first plug-in vendor to state "emulates three hours of warm-up time"... Actually, Bat, MOTU did do that with a plugin about 18 yrs ago. They said the longer you leave it on, the better it will sound. I’m not making this up either. Haha I can’t remember what it was, but it may have been a tube preamp simulator they made for DP. |
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Post by matt@IAA on Feb 28, 2020 11:24:16 GMT -6
Haha - I gotta go in early to make sure I give my plugin time to warm up before the session..
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Post by Bat Lanyard on Feb 28, 2020 18:15:49 GMT -6
Warming up is one of the total joys of hardware that... I enjoy. Can't wait for the first plug-in vendor to state "emulates three hours of warm-up time"... Actually, Bat, MOTU did do that with a plugin about 18 yrs ago. They said the longer you leave it on, the better it will sound. I’m not making this up either. Haha I can’t remember what it was, but it may have been a tube preamp simulator they made for DP. Ha ha ha, thanks for adding that note, Chad ! That's awesome and excellent total bullshit on MOTU's part. Genius. Edit: 66% of the time, it works... everytime! Bryan Fantana |
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Post by Bat Lanyard on Feb 28, 2020 18:20:49 GMT -6
Warming up is one of the total joys of hardware that... I enjoy. Can't wait for the first plug-in vendor to state "emulates three hours of warm-up time"... An animated switch that gives you the choice of "just turned on" "15 minute warm up" and "3 hour warm up." Ha ha ha. Makes me long for a Funk Logic panel! |
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Post by audioscape on Feb 29, 2020 20:22:37 GMT -6
WOW! That's AMAZING that your CLIENT's were able to hear it as well! Damn.... hahaha In my PERSONAL opinion it's a VERY real thing and is NOT subtle but we also understand that to some, it would be a bit too subtle to warrant the extra tube wear / electricity... hahaha - being real I'll say this: TOTALLY. WORTH IT. <3 <3 <3 ^^^ I have to agree with Charlie at AudioScape... In fact he's the one that told me about warming up a Sta Level for a minimum of 3 hours to get it in its "sweet spot". (Thanks, Charlie!) I was skeptical, but then I tried it (with my Retro Instruments Sta Level). And... He was right. It sounded more smooth, and something about it just sounded more pleasing to my ears. Things sounded more "full" and "balanced" top to bottom, for lack of a better description. ::wink wink:: your very welcome Mr. Chad!! ;-) I actually stumbled across this phenemona totally by accident... but my ears weren't lying to me. Later on I ran some very non-scientific tests and at the end of it, just decided to make sure my V-COMP was in Goldilocks Zone before printing any mixes / tracks ;-) You described the differences PERFECTLY, IMO... as I've mentioned - it's very hard to quantify but at least to my ears - it's definitely a "thing". I own the very first V-COMP built, the prototype, so it's seen TONS of use - but still, Goldilocks is real with even this unit which is arguably the oldest V-COMP out in the wild... lol. Components have settled in long ago but man... that 3-4 hour mark hits and WHAM-BAM - THANK YOU MA'AM!  @vincent R. - THANK YOU man!!! The OPTO and V-COMP BOTH sound amazing on similar sources but in totally different ways. I typically find when the OPTO isn't quite doing it for me on a vocal, I can switch to the V-COMP and almost bet MONEY that it will work ;-) CHEEEEEEEEEEERS!!! Love this forum SO MUCH - thank you John <3 |
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Post by shakermaker on Mar 1, 2020 12:48:48 GMT -6
Hey Audioscape, how about the opposite question ... Is there anything to worry about leaving it on too long?
Loving my vcomp!! I have a new digital patch bay (xbay) coming this week and I'm going to be able to mult vocals to track many diff combos. wooot
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Post by audioscape on Mar 3, 2020 18:38:25 GMT -6
Hey Audioscape, how about the opposite question ... Is there anything to worry about leaving it on too long? Loving my vcomp!! I have a new digital patch bay (xbay) coming this week and I'm going to be able to mult vocals to track many diff combos. wooot Hey there shakermaker !! ;-) Great question! The answer is two-fold, yes and no. Obviously, just like a tube amp - leaving the V-COMP on for extended periods of time WILL lessen the life-span of your tubes, but that's a no-brainer for most folks. Simply goes with the territory and falls within the category of maintenance  Other than that - nah, nothing serious to worry about that immediately comes to mind. It may be wise to use discretion as to WHEN you will be leaving the V-COMP on for extended periods of time if only to prolong tube life but all-in-all, I wouldn't worry too much about it. No more than leaving a tube amp on for extended periods of time! WOOHOO on the xbay my man! We recently acquired a Flock Audio PATCH and it's SOOOO NICEEE!!! As drbill knows - we DESPISE patchbays (lol) so this is a refreshing bit of kit to have! Still love running all of our analog gear as HW Inserts within PT, Cubase or Logic but we can now basically do the same thing, yet limit trips of audio through ADDA (which again, isn't a big deal in our opinions... never made a big enough sonic impact for us to take notice). With an Apogee Symphony MKII as our primary ADDA, it's no big deal  Cheers man and thanks so much! Happy another V-COMP has found it's forever home!!! XOXOXO  |
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Post by Johnkenn on Mar 3, 2020 20:19:14 GMT -6
Hey Audioscape, how about the opposite question ... Is there anything to worry about leaving it on too long? Loving my vcomp!! I have a new digital patch bay (xbay) coming this week and I'm going to be able to mult vocals to track many diff combos. wooot Hey there shakermaker !! ;-) Great question! The answer is two-fold, yes and no. Obviously, just like a tube amp - leaving the V-COMP on for extended periods of time WILL lessen the life-span of your tubes, but that's a no-brainer for most folks. Simply goes with the territory and falls within the category of maintenance Other than that - nah, nothing serious to worry about that immediately comes to mind. It may be wise to use discretion as to WHEN you will be leaving the V-COMP on for extended periods of time if only to prolong tube life but all-in-all, I wouldn't worry too much about it. No more than leaving a tube amp on for extended periods of time! WOOHOO on the xbay my man! We recently acquired a Flock Audio PATCH and it's SOOOO NICEEE!!! As drbill knows - we DESPISE patchbays (lol) so this is a refreshing bit of kit to have! Still love running all of our analog gear as HW Inserts within PT, Cubase or Logic but we can now basically do the same thing, yet limit trips of audio through ADDA (which again, isn't a big deal in our opinions... never made a big enough sonic impact for us to take notice). With an Apogee Symphony MKII as our primary ADDA, it's no big deal Cheers man and thanks so much! Happy another V-COMP has found it's forever home!!! XOXOXO Here’s a question I haven’t thought of. Since I own the bad ass 6386 version, what happens in 2046 when there aren’t any 6386s available? Does it require a 6386? |
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Post by matt@IAA on Mar 3, 2020 21:45:40 GMT -6
There are new production 6386s aren’t there? JJs?
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Post by Chad on Mar 3, 2020 21:48:24 GMT -6
There are new production 6386s aren’t there? JJs? Yes, and in my experience (with my Retro Sta Level), the JJ remakes sound great. |
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Post by Johnkenn on Mar 3, 2020 22:34:35 GMT -6
Yeah. Duh. I’ve got one sitting on my desk lol
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Post by audioscape on Mar 4, 2020 19:10:22 GMT -6
Yeah. Duh. I’ve got one sitting on my desk lol Hahaha, all good man! Actually, that's a great question... To be clear, EVERY V-COMP we've ever sold has been a "6386 Edition". Most use the EXCELLENT JJ 6386, some are fitted with a NOS 6386 - all dependent upon availability and which one we can get our hands on at any given time. Sonically, in the V-COMP, they are essentially interchangeable with the JJ being more consistent. Don't even want to ADMIT how many "NOS/NIB 6386" tubes we've purchased that arrived noisy and unusable.... either option is NOT cheap, but totally worth it. We had experimented with an adaptor board fitted with two 6BA6's which then plugged into the 6386 tube socket as a means to sell a "Standard Edition". None of these ever saw the light of day. Sonics weren't close enough to the single 6386, noise specs weren't great and to be totally honest, they were a NIGHTMARE to match / find a matching pair. We ordered about 40 or 50 NOS 6BA6's and ended up with a SMALL amount of tube pairs that were actually usable. ARGH. So to all wondering - NEVER FEAR!! JJ's recreation 6386 is GREAT. Sad part is, the NOS 6386 market WILL dry up - it may take a while, but it's inevitable which is why we decided to give the JJ's a run for their money EARLY on in the development of the V-COMP. Unless there are a handful of folks around the world that have an utter F*CKLOAD of 6386 tubes stocked up and haven't discovered the internet yet.  |
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Post by wiz on Mar 4, 2020 19:26:01 GMT -6
I have used the JJ 6386 in my Drip STA level... worked great
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Post by indiehouse on Mar 4, 2020 21:25:01 GMT -6
Yeah. Duh. I’ve got one sitting on my desk lol Hahaha, all good man! Actually, that's a great question... To be clear, EVERY V-COMP we've ever sold has been a "6386 Edition". Most use the EXCELLENT JJ 6386, some are fitted with a NOS 6386 - all dependent upon availability and which one we can get our hands on at any given time. Sonically, in the V-COMP, they are essentially interchangeable with the JJ being more consistent. Don't even want to ADMIT how many "NOS/NIB 6386" tubes we've purchased that arrived noisy and unusable.... either option is NOT cheap, but totally worth it. We had experimented with an adaptor board fitted with two 6BA6's which then plugged into the 6386 tube socket as a means to sell a "Standard Edition". None of these ever saw the light of day. Sonics weren't close enough to the single 6386, noise specs weren't great and to be totally honest, they were a NIGHTMARE to match / find a matching pair. We ordered about 40 or 50 NOS 6BA6's and ended up with a SMALL amount of tube pairs that were actually usable. ARGH. So to all wondering - NEVER FEAR!! JJ's recreation 6386 is GREAT. Sad part is, the NOS 6386 market WILL dry up - it may take a while, but it's inevitable which is why we decided to give the JJ's a run for their money EARLY on in the development of the V-COMP. Unless there are a handful of folks around the world that have an utter F*CKLOAD of 6386 tubes stocked up and haven't discovered the internet yet. That’s funny you mentioned the difficulty you had with the 6BA6. Isn’t stam using 16 of those per channel in their 670? |
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Post by audioscape on Mar 4, 2020 23:50:38 GMT -6
Hahaha, all good man! Actually, that's a great question... To be clear, EVERY V-COMP we've ever sold has been a "6386 Edition". Most use the EXCELLENT JJ 6386, some are fitted with a NOS 6386 - all dependent upon availability and which one we can get our hands on at any given time. Sonically, in the V-COMP, they are essentially interchangeable with the JJ being more consistent. Don't even want to ADMIT how many "NOS/NIB 6386" tubes we've purchased that arrived noisy and unusable.... either option is NOT cheap, but totally worth it. We had experimented with an adaptor board fitted with two 6BA6's which then plugged into the 6386 tube socket as a means to sell a "Standard Edition". None of these ever saw the light of day. Sonics weren't close enough to the single 6386, noise specs weren't great and to be totally honest, they were a NIGHTMARE to match / find a matching pair. We ordered about 40 or 50 NOS 6BA6's and ended up with a SMALL amount of tube pairs that were actually usable. ARGH. So to all wondering - NEVER FEAR!! JJ's recreation 6386 is GREAT. Sad part is, the NOS 6386 market WILL dry up - it may take a while, but it's inevitable which is why we decided to give the JJ's a run for their money EARLY on in the development of the V-COMP. Unless there are a handful of folks around the world that have an utter F*CKLOAD of 6386 tubes stocked up and haven't discovered the internet yet. That’s funny you mentioned the difficulty you had with the 6BA6. Isn’t stam using 16 of those per channel in their 670? Indeed I believe you are correct. I can't IMAGINE the time it takes to match all those things up... The 670, whether you do it how we're doing it and use all 20 tubes, 14 transformers, totally OG style or go the "hybrid" route and technically cut the tube count down to just a handful (not counting the 6BA6 pairs which is necessary), change the sidechain circuitry, power supply, etc... EITHER WAY it's a hell of a lot of work to build these things. Thankfully, it's a testament to the 670 and just how AMAZING the circuit itself is... you can change so much and it'll still be a really cool compressor! ;-) |
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Post by Johnkenn on Mar 5, 2020 19:21:08 GMT -6
I went through several pairs of 6BJ6’s with the Retro.
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