Studio Rejig (Again)

I’m not sure the Drawmer is going to wow you but there’s certainly nothing wrong with them. I’ve always liked drawmer gear. Everything I used of them was well built and performed well.

You saying Great River and API makes me think you’d like Hamptone. Not sure how easy they are to get in your part of the world. They do have major distribution. They’re great Pres that often fly under the radar. To my ears they have a clean, articulate sound, with balls. I don’t hear any of the hazy/grainy high end, saturation or low mid weight like in a 1073. But they do have some size and weight. They certainly are not sterile or boring. They remind me a lot of API’s but a little cleaner, and dirtier at the same time (depending how you drive them).

Anyway, they’re worth trying. I’m sure the Buzz sounds great…based on my experience with the DBC I’ve been really intrigued to try their other stuff

Maybe so but I was trying to avoid a full explanation with caveats, reasoning etc. because it would end in an extended version of war & peace.


They certainly did but you cannot buy the Shelford amps by themselves in 500 or rack format. The Newton is pretty much a Portico amp and has a different EQ, if you're going to do it you (or specifically I) want the inductor really. Also it doesn't have a DI like the Shelford.. The 5211 which is a two channel also isn't a Shelford amp plus it's again rather limited (especially for the price), at this point I might as well get a couple of Portico 517's. However a few on this forum put me off the idea (sound quality drop) when I originally sold the Shelfords. The Portico's are what I originally suggested though..


Not a channel strip as in combined because a 500 series with amps, EQ & comps would do the same.


Sort of, for now a decent set of preamps will be sufficient but I would like some EQ's for fixing mic's before tracking (the SSL desk EQ's are okay(ish)). You can actually buy the 551's seperately so that's an option. When it comes to compression I do have a stereo pair of IGS mu's hooked into desk inserts for stereo tracking, mono sources can either go through the Acme or Chandler Opto.


Not being funny here I promise but the first post I made in this thread suggested a few 500 series. There's absolutely no reason why I wouldn't..

It's fine, simply put I want to replace the Shelfords without compromising too much, it's that old chestnut of how can I get similar performance for a fraction of the price?
Although pro audio in general especially after covid has jumped in price which I'm not ignorant of and equipment has also become far more sparse, long gone are the days of borrowing 20 pieces of outboard from the retailer I've spent too much at so I can methodically sort through them. Even if I can get demo equipment we're taking 3 month lead times, some equipment you can't return, some are hard to get parts for if they fail etc.

So my options really are Portico, Chandler, Drawmer, Focusrite (ISA), Neve, API (all the usual stuff). Or I could take a risk of not being able to return items and try Buzz audio, Great River or Shadow Hills, besides API & Neve though I have never used a preamp from any of these companies and TBH even from the limited selection that I did use the Shelford appealed the most. To describe it the Shelford amps are sort of clean, larger than life, modern(ish) yet it does have that slight vintage twist. So I'd err on the side of that, to be blunt I don't have enough information or experience with these to really make a decision and if I did, I wouldn't need to ask here.

Not 500 but have you ever demoed the daking pres? I feel like I’ll never sell mine !

Drawmer has always used chip pre and now uses THAT chip pres in the 197x line. You can get the 1970 2 pres + cut down versions of the 1978 stereo compressor, 1972 just the pres with filters, and 1977 full single channel strip with eq, compressor, and saturator. I'm not sure you'd like THAT based pres but the 1978 is a good compressor. Drawmer has a warm sound but they do not use boutique parts.

The Newton (or new RND strip) is from what I can see is mainly based upon the Portico. Now if that's your thing cool..

So I used to have a Shelford Channel... I loved the pre and low band of the EQ, but didn't love the rest. All the things I used on it on I liked the Avedis MA5 I had/have just as much, if not better. The Heritage EQ JR I also found to be more to my liking than the RND EQ, while doing a similar thing. I thought the RND's top band was harsh and the mid band too narrow, even with the wide Q setting.

So if you have the space in a 500 series rack, those are great alternatives that do a similar thing, IMO. The Heritage EQ can be found at pretty reasonable prices used, too. Great River is also great, but I still prefer the Avedis for that family of pres. The MA5 is to me as you described...modernish with a vintage twist. It has a more open top and less of the low mid build up of a Neve (to my ears).

If you prefer just a 19" channel strip, its hard to go wrong with the API. 550As are such a great tracking EQ and the 527 is a solid compressor with more flexibly and more user friendly, IMO, than the one in the Shelford.

If you’re thinking API have you tried the vp28’s? They really are fantastic. I use them on everything without thinking about it. There are sometimes better Pres for any given specific task, but the vp28’s never disappoint and always work.

Also, for context, I have recorded on a Shelford Console so I’m familiar with the sound.

Personally Shadowk I'd generally avoid Drawmer gear in the studio. I've used their kit live for years, especially drawmer gates and compressors - they're rugged live rig work horses but imho lack the finesse and detail of most pro audio studio kit.

The API preamps (again IMHO) are great for drums and electric guitars - they have a nice lean forward edge - when I think of the API 312 I think of Fleetwood Mac "Rumours"
it's a great sound and would leave you just needing something a bit rounder and with a bit more low mid girth for vocals, BV's etc which could be ....

The Neve 88LB .... bit of an unsung hero imho, less obvious than a 1073 but still big from top to bottom - straight out of the 88RS desk.

I think with an CAPI 312 HD and a Neve 88LB you would have a lot of ground covered!

A FET comp and a tube Comp.

Could all be 500 series - compact - sensible prices - sorted :-)

Not to too shamelessly self promote, but our QPP plus two V2s gets you four channels of mic pre and EQ for half of one of your shelford modules…

And we have on/off switches on the front

It seems Matt's shameless promotion worked .. I'm going to order a couple of 622's when I get paid, seems like a mighty cool 500 channel strip and even including import taxes it works out cheaper than an ex-Demo API 2 channel amp. Sweet & fingers crossed.. Now, onto the next issue.