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Post by notneeson on Apr 5, 2020 14:00:04 GMT -6
I ended up tracking down another TNC AMCP-84. Waiting for it to arrive. I'm gonna send both to Revive Audio when I can put the cash together. It's full circuit modification. This includes, noise reduction in the circuit, swapping of the transistors for low noise and higher gain and bandwidth, audio cap modifications, power supply modification, Transformer shielding, Switch position removal for the models affected by the position on those not originally in the design and number of other things. They will also swap the Chinese transformers for real Carnhills. This should give me the extra pair of Neves I'm looking for and a very usable pair of 1084 style EQs. I'll let everyone know when I do it. Maybe do a quick preamp shootout. I'll take the chinese line in transformers if you don't want 'em! Kinda digging them inserted on gtrs. The TNC boxes hold up extremely well line in, it’s kind of amazing. I wonder if Revive puts tantalum caps in? It has been suggested that’s a big part of the sound.
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Post by plinker on Apr 5, 2020 16:08:22 GMT -6
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Post by Vincent R. on Apr 6, 2020 14:51:20 GMT -6
No one talks about them much around here, but what does everyone think of the Chameleon Labs 7602 or the new 7603? I know they have a stock version and the X-Mod which includes Carnhills.
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Post by thirdeye on Apr 6, 2020 20:52:50 GMT -6
No one talks about them much around here, but what does everyone think of the Chameleon Labs 7602 or the new 7603? I know they have a stock version and the X-Mod which includes Carnhills. For our studio's "N" style preamps and to compare for this thread, we have Vintech X73i's, a Vintech Dual 72, 16 channels of Seventh Circle N72s, original V1 Chameleon Labs 7602s, and a Chameleon Labs 7622. The 7602 is a nice preamp. The EQ very usable in my opinion. I find I do prefer the X73s and N72s over the CLabs though. The CLabs is a little 2D and not as hefty compared to the others. We'll usually use the 7602s for outside/sub kick and bottom snare where the EQ really helps. I've never used the 7602 for a main vocal preamp.
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Post by Vincent R. on Apr 13, 2020 15:08:09 GMT -6
Johnkenn, I came across this shootout on the purple site that you posted years ago. Which Neve and BAE units were these? How do you think the Stam 1073 you have compares to them?
I found this really interesting as I really liked both of them for different reasons.
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Post by Tbone81 on Apr 13, 2020 16:46:29 GMT -6
No one talks about them much around here, but what does everyone think of the Chameleon Labs 7602 or the new 7603? I know they have a stock version and the X-Mod which includes Carnhills. I had the CL 7602 mkii Xmod, so it came with the factory carnhill upgrades. I thought it was a fine sounding preamp, but when I got my aml ez1073's it was a "wow" moment. The aml's sound so much better imho. However, the EQ on the 7602 was great. Like really great. I liked it better than the aml eq. Also the DI was pretty good too. I'd really like to hear the new CL 560 eq's. if they sound like the old 7602 eq that they're based on I'd love to have a whole 500 rack of them.
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Post by bricejchandler on Apr 14, 2020 1:03:02 GMT -6
No one talks about them much around here, but what does everyone think of the Chameleon Labs 7602 or the new 7603? I know they have a stock version and the X-Mod which includes Carnhills. I had the CL 7602 mkii Xmod, so it came with the factory carnhill upgrades. I thought it was a fine sounding preamp, but when I got my aml ez1073's it was a "wow" moment. The aml's sound so much better imho. However, the EQ on the 7602 was great. Like really great. I liked it better than the aml eq. Also the DI was pretty good too. I'd really like to hear the new CL 560 eq's. if they sound like the old 7602 eq that they're based on I'd love to have a whole 500 rack of them. Yeah I don't find the AML eq to be it's strong point. While I like the AML preamp better than the BAE, I do find the BAE eq to be quite a bit better in most cases.
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Post by yotonic on Apr 19, 2020 19:33:05 GMT -6
Johnkenn, I came across this shootout on the purple site that you posted years ago. Which Neve and BAE units were these? How do you think the Stam 1073 you have compares to them?
I found this really interesting as I really liked both of them for different reasons.
If I remember correctly he did the Beatles track with a Wunder Parfour or Peq1 also and it was my favorite.
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Post by geofft on Sept 12, 2020 9:37:42 GMT -6
I believe Geoff was with Neve in the halcyon days and has taken that knowledge and furthered it in the Aurora gear. I have no first hand knowledge but whenever I've seen him post it seems well considered with obvious Knowledege. Cheers, Ross (quarantinned for at least a month in my native New Zealand)
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Post by geofft on Sept 12, 2020 9:51:55 GMT -6
Hi I just discovered this forum. I worked at Neve from October 1971 to Dec 1985 as head of the electrical drawing office, sales engineer, and special orders manager. I came to the USA in 1996 and, with Alan Dickson, created Phoenix Audio and designed the GTQ2. We had the circuit boards made in tbe UK but quality was so bad we split from that company and added dba Aurora Audio to our business name. I designed a broad range of products, the GTC2 compressor, GTQC channel strip, GTP8 8 channel pre, GT4-8 8 channel 4 band EQ, plus assorted small mixers and the Sidecar 10 into 2 console. In 2016 Alan Dickson died after a long battle with cancer. We moved from the Grandmaster building to the current works in North Hollywood. The Grandmaster building was sold for $9.1 million and all the studio equipment for $250K. I've always considered that my GTQ2 sounds better than a 1073, vintage or otherwise because of the different circuitry. I packaged most of that circuitry into the GT500 mic pre. I believe Geoff was with Neve in the halcyon days and has taken that knowledge and furthered it in the Aurora gear. I have no first hand knowledge but whenever I've seen him post it seems well considered with obvious Knowledege. Cheers, Ross (quarantinned for at least a month in my native New Zealand)
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Post by robertg on Sept 12, 2020 10:46:59 GMT -6
I had the Aurora for awhile. I love it on instruments for the most part but it does saturate very easily and trying to get a clean vocal out of it was always difficult. A saturated vocal to cut in a rock track was easy. Your mileage might vary but I guess not by much.
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Post by stratboy on Sept 12, 2020 20:21:11 GMT -6
Hi I just discovered this forum. I worked at Neve from October 1971 to Dec 1985 as head of the electrical drawing office, sales engineer, and special orders manager. I came to the USA in 1996 and, with Alan Dickson, created Phoenix Audio and designed the GTQ2. We had the circuit boards made in tbe UK but quality was so bad we split from that company and added dba Aurora Audio to our business name. I designed a broad range of products, the GTC2 compressor, GTQC channel strip, GTP8 8 channel pre, GT4-8 8 channel 4 band EQ, plus assorted small mixers and the Sidecar 10 into 2 console. In 2016 Alan Dickson died after a long battle with cancer. We moved from the Grandmaster building to the current works in North Hollywood. The Grandmaster building was sold for $9.1 million and all the studio equipment for $250K. I've always considered that my GTQ2 sounds better than a 1073, vintage or otherwise because of the different circuitry. I packaged most of that circuitry into the GT500 mic pre. I believe Geoff was with Neve in the halcyon days and has taken that knowledge and furthered it in the Aurora gear. I have no first hand knowledge but whenever I've seen him post it seems well considered with obvious Knowledege. Cheers, Ross (quarantinned for at least a month in my native New Zealand) Welcome to Realgear, Geofft! I’m glad to have you here, with your knowledge and perspective.
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suicity
Junior Member
Posts: 52
Member is Online
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Post by suicity on Sept 13, 2020 23:49:26 GMT -6
GeoffT, your website has been down for so long, I thought you’d gone out of business. Will it be up anytime soon again?
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Post by geofft on Sept 14, 2020 15:10:25 GMT -6
I had the Aurora for awhile. I love it on instruments for the most part but it does saturate very easily and trying to get a clean vocal out of it was always difficult. A saturated vocal to cut in a rock track was easy. Your mileage might vary but I guess not by much. If it saturated that easily, you can't have had the output potentiometer set at maximum.... this applies to any preamp, not just the GTQ2 and I mention it in the manual EG . The level pot has an audio taper and is –20dB at half rotation. I would recommend using the level pot between ¾ and full rotation and never below ½ rotation unless part of a deliberate fade. There has to be a reason for saturating easily as it's not in the design.
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Post by geofft on Sept 14, 2020 15:15:14 GMT -6
GeoffT, your website has been down for so long, I thought you’d gone out of business. Will it be up anytime soon again? It's been down because it showed a number of products we no longer make and none of the new products we make. I had asked for the site to be updated with this information but they would have charged a crazy amount of $$$ to do this task. I was in the process of creating a new site on a new host when the prior host deleted everything including my emails. The was a PIA but all three emails are back up and I am designing the site myself.... this while I'm busy with products but will be a speedy as I can manage.
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Post by Ward on Sept 16, 2020 6:10:04 GMT -6
Welcome geofft - discussion of your work comes up from time to time, so it's nice to have you around.
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Post by robertg on Sept 18, 2020 9:31:46 GMT -6
I had the Aurora for awhile. I love it on instruments for the most part but it does saturate very easily and trying to get a clean vocal out of it was always difficult. A saturated vocal to cut in a rock track was easy. Your mileage might vary but I guess not by much. If it saturated that easily, you can't have had the output potentiometer set at maximum.... this applies to any preamp, not just the GTQ2 and I mention it in the manual EG . The level pot has an audio taper and is –20dB at half rotation. I would recommend using the level pot between ¾ and full rotation and never below ½ rotation unless part of a deliberate fade. There has to be a reason for saturating easily as it's not in the design. Thanks for responding Geoff. I always put the level pot between 3/4 and full rotation. I called you and we discussed this. You didn't push to have the unit checked out and I assumed it was functioning properly and that was just how it was designed and sounded by intent. Perhaps my bad for not pushing you to check it out but curious to hear if anyone else has opposite experience. I know it's not any of my other gear after swapping out preamps. Honestly love this pre in every other situation but one. Just my 2 cents.
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Post by ChaseUTB on Sept 23, 2020 6:45:39 GMT -6
Love the GTQ2. Posting this to learn more about the unit ( no manual )
The GTQ2 I have used a lot does saturate easily after a certain point but in a beautiful way esp on vocals.
I could be wrong but the GTQ2 output knob does not trim the input stage. The output Knob attenuates a separate gain stage.
The GTQ2 input knob is marked -80 to +10.
From -80 to -40 w/ output knob @ Max ( 5 o clock, No attenuation) everything is usually pretty clean on a U87 Ai into PT or HW comp. Occasional saturation on loudest peaks.
Anything after -35/ -30 to +10 I have to attenuate the output knob to not clip the GTQ2 output or AD converter input. Attenuating the output doesn’t change the saturation driven input, just turns down the overall level of the saturated signal.
Does this sound like a proper working Gain staged GTQ2?
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Post by matt@IAA on Sept 23, 2020 7:38:18 GMT -6
Well, the switch is controlling the gain so the absolute output level is going to be relative to the input level from the mic. There's going to be rising THD with level in the amplifier, and once that distortion is in the signal the attenuator just raises and lowers the absolute level of the distorted signal. The maximum headroom / cleanest signal is going to be for the attenuator to be wide open, with the sensitivity / gain switch adjusted to hit your desired output based on the mic level.
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