Lead vocal compression.

Tomorrow, I am giving a shot at using the Great River 501 into my CL-1b and then trying the RCA BA-25 following the other 501 comp. I am gonna split the signal and try to gain match and see what I get.

R

Hey svart, do you use any plugs or are you all outboard? For the most part, my outboard isn't something that I can get with an ITB plug. Are the hardware 76's and 2a's significantly better than the plugs these days? I use that combo often ITB, but have avoided buying the hardware thus far.

I'm mostly OTB but I'll use some SSL DSP plugs for various things and a few plugs for effects.  Mostly my ITB adventures are routing of sub mixes/stems for headphones and bussing things like quad guitars and things like that, sometimes super surgical EQ that you simply can't do with outboard EQ.  General shaping, compression and mixing is all OTB.

The plugs I use the most are the L1, Christortion, SSL EQ/Delay.  Sometimes I'll use triggered white noise or sine for supplementing things like under-snare or kick.

I had a number of LA2A/1176 plugs over the years until I built up my hardware options.  While I can't say I've used any super expensive plugs, the cheaper/free ones don't really sound much like the real thing.  They might have the general idea of how the hardware sounds, but there is just something about the hardware that I like.  It sounds more.. uh.. real.  Nuances and all that.

Like for the 1176, the hardware just has more spank and with how the transformers can be pushed with how the circuit sounds adds a lot I think.  The plugs tend to get the general flavor of the meat but without the herbs and spices I guess you could say.

I'm certain some folks don't really care enough to buy the real thing as the differences are mainly small details in the overall scheme of things.  I guess it would come down to whether or not the extra price is worth the investment.  Then again, I built both of these so I saved significantly over the retail prices.

Hey - I'd love to have a TC Phoenix...but it's twice the cost of the Sta...

That's why the Twin/apollo was so appealing to me...to be able to use the 1176's on the way in - or whatever...I thought I could do it with the Twin, but the routing and the expandability was just too limited and I just felt like the bigger one's price didn't justify the ends.

Dang jcoutu1 putting the sell on

All RGO members get 87% off though, right?

Warm is the Rev D 1176.  You really can't go wrong with a Rev D clone.  Not quite the hairy sound of the Rev A. but still has all the attack and pump.

From what I've seen on the internet and from pictures on the inside of the warm, it looks like a solid contender.  There really isn't much going on inside of an 1176, and cost cutting isn't hard to do on it.  It seems that Warm does this by using a single PCB for everything and using punched metalwork instead of a bunch of assembled pieces, etc.  A cheapened chassis is not going to affect your audio, neither is a single PCB.  The different years of real 1176 have around a dozen different transistor models used in various places, each with only a minor difference in sound, so I wouldn't worry too much about the components used in the Warm either.  

Honestly, if I didn't have most of the electrical components to build another 3-4x 1176 for around 300$ I'd just buy the warm 1176.

I think a lot of guys around Nashville will have three or four tracks of the vocal...One uncompressed, one 1176, one opto, etc...then blend to taste...I'm too lazy

I'm trying to sell my Thermionic Phoenix to by 99 Alesis 3630s so that I'll have 100! I'll chain them all in series!

I use a Drip LA2A

lately I have been tying the WA76 into the Drip and liking it.

I have also been know to use Waves Vocal Rider sometimes, its pretty cool, very transparent.

I also in the past would do a ton of hand drawn automation.

whatever works.

I like singing through the LA2A though 8)

cheers

Wiz