500 series rack build coming together! Who else is on the 500 train?

V

VESmedic

Well-known member
Finally got ( most) of my pieces in for my 500 series rack. Went with all IGS Stuff for now, as well as there power/chassis. I also bought a patchbay, because screw trying to wire everything behind me desk. Anyways, was just curious what everyone else is using in their 500 series rack. Still waiting on a pair of IGS GMl eq clones to show up, REALLY stoked about those!

Little picture:

https://ibb.co/qxgGtWs
 
I’m a recording newb, but I’ve got so far a Neve R6 500 series rack with 2 Camden’s and 1 AMS Neve 1073LB. Obviously plenty of room to add other stuff later. I’ve been playing around with them. The 1073 has the warmth and growl, nice character. The Camden sounds cleaner, more neutral, but punchier and tighter, very clear and with the mojo knob set high on the thick setting can get character more in the direction of the 1073 it seems. They’re also cheap units and seem to be quite versatile

I mostly use this stuff for classical guitar purposes rather than electric, so for that I just use for now 2 condenser mics into the 2 Camden’s. The 1073 and SM57 are obviously great for electric, but not good for classical. I AB’ed at my friends house all his various preamps (he has a lot) and we both found the Camden to be the clear winner for classical, but we also found that his tube mics are way better too. They sounded a lot more 3D, like you’re in the room hearing it, so I will eventually get some tube mics. Not sure if those are good for electric or not

We also liked his Burl pre for electric. Sounded in a similar ballpark to the 1073
 
braintheory said:
I’m a recording newb, but I’ve got so far a Neve R6 500 series rack with 2 Camden’s and 1 AMS Neve 1073LB. Obviously plenty of room to add other stuff later. I’ve been playing around with them. The 1073 has the warmth and growl, nice character. The Camden sounds cleaner, more neutral, but punchier and tighter, very clear and with the mojo knob set high on the thick setting can get character more in the direction of the 1073 it seems. They’re also cheap units and seem to be quite versatile

I mostly use this stuff for classical guitar purposes rather than electric, so for that I just use for now 2 condenser mics into the 2 Camden’s. The 1073 and SM57 are obviously great for electric, but not good for classical. I AB’ed at my friends house all his various preamps (he has a lot) and we both found the Camden to be the clear winner for classical, but we also found that his tube mics are way better too. They sounded a lot more 3D, like you’re in the room hearing it, so I will eventually get some tube mics. Not sure if those are good for electric or not

We also liked his Burl pre for electric. Sounded in a similar ballpark to the 1073
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Sounds killer! I’ve got 2 BAE 1073 preamps, but I’m thinking about getting one or two API style preamps in 500 series format for recording bass etc, we will see. I could understand what you mean about classical, the 1073s may not be right for that for sure.
 
I don't have any 500 gear, but the studio I've worked in for a bunch of punk records has an SSL SiX, a Crane Song Falcon and a bunch of IGS 500 stuff, in addition to all their full size gear. All of the IGS 500 series stuff I've ever used was fantastic.

I'm totally jelly AF, but also excited to hear some of @VESmedic recordings with some really good outboard gear, so I'm torn here.
 
VESmedic said:
Sounds killer! I’ve got 2 BAE 1073 preamps, but I’m thinking about getting one or two API style preamps in 500 series format for recording bass etc, we will see. I could understand what you mean about classical, the 1073s may not be right for that for sure.
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Yeah my friend likes his API for that and percussion instruments, but wasn’t a fan for electric guitar. The Burl might something cool to consider if you want something like the 1073 but a bit different. Kinda like maybe mahogany vs Limba or beef vs venison maybe
 
braintheory said:
Yeah my friend likes his API for that and percussion instruments, but wasn’t a fan for electric guitar. The Burl might something cool to consider if you want something like the 1073 but a bit different. Kinda like maybe mahogany vs Limba or beef vs venison maybe
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Burl might be a good choice too, extremely colored from what I understand, but could be real cool. I am not a fan of API on guitars in the least personally either. They just sound bloated and “unfinished” sounding to me, for lack of a better term.
 
VESmedic said:
Burl might be a good choice too, extremely colored from what I understand, but could be real cool. I am not a fan of API on guitars in the least personally either. They just sound bloated and “unfinished” sounding to me, for lack of a better term.
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Yes, but imo a very pleasant, rich color that sounds good on electric guitar, at least for my friend’s music, which was mostly punk-ish type guitar work and lush clean tones, some fuzz here and there. The Camden and Millenia were most transparent of what he had, but it’s cool that the Camden can be colored a lot with that mojo knob (was a disaster to engage the mojo knob on classical guitar haha, but sounds great on electric imo), really versatile

To my ears the API had a quality on electric that almost sounded digital to me, just like something was off and raspy in a bad way. It was surspringly actually not bad on classical guitar, but not great either, better than the 1073 for that
 
IGS has some great stuff and the prices are fantastic for the quality. I am going to be ordering the S-Type stereo comp in January and am currently deciding on whether or not I will take the leap and try the Lindell peq-501. It is a two slot module though so getting two of those would clog up 4 spaces which are premium in my setup. Those two would still come in cheaper than the IGS pultec style master EQ. I'd go IGS but you can't use them as two seperate mono eq's.

Right now I have a Radial 6 space and a 3 spot 500 series. I've got 2 vintech neve clones, a GAP pre, 2 DBX 560a, and a summing mixer module.

Klark Teknik 1176 clone I just got for a bit of vibe. Yeah they aren't as good as the competitors but they are close, cheap, and STILL better than UAD or other plugins. When it comes to compression, plugins aren't there yet. Whether you care or not is another thing because plugins do sound good and that's all that matters. I just find hardware gets you there quicker.

So yes, I'm into the 500 stuff and will probably be adding another 6 spot radial 500 in the new year. Love the routing on these things.

Oh! and I've got 20 channels of Ramsa pre's which sound really good to my ear too. Can't decide if they lean towards more Neve style or API. Certainly girthy and warm.
 
Kapo_Polenton said:
IGS has some great stuff and the prices are fantastic for the quality. I am going to be ordering the S-Type stereo comp in January and am currently deciding on whether or not I will take the leap and try the Lindell peq-501. It is a two slot module though so getting two of those would clog up 4 spaces which are premium in my setup. Those two would still come in cheaper than the IGS pultec style master EQ. I'd go IGS but you can't use them as two seperate mono eq's.

Right now I have a Radial 6 space and a 3 spot 500 series. I've got 2 vintech neve clones, a GAP pre, 2 DBX 560a, and a summing mixer module.

Klark Teknik 1176 clone I just got for a bit of vibe. Yeah they aren't as good as the competitors but they are close, cheap, and STILL better than UAD or other plugins. When it comes to compression, plugins aren't there yet. Whether you care or not is another thing because plugins do sound good and that's all that matters. I just find hardware gets you there quicker.

So yes, I'm into the 500 stuff and will probably be adding another 6 spot radial 500 in the new year. Love the routing on these things.
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Are you sure you can’t use the rubber bands like mine as two seperate mono tracks? They each have their own in and out on the chassis? This is the stuff that’s still confusing to me haha
 
Check this out if you start to look at EQ's. Now eq has certainly come a long way so you could argue that plugins can definitely do that but on sonic merit alone, I really liked the Kush and the Tonelux here. API does that one thing well but the tonelux (and for the price) is extremely flexible. Hardware, it just takes less fidgeting. Like on my board, I find what works and that's it, no constant agonizing on a tiny move here or there.

 
VESmedic said:
Are you sure you can’t use the rubber bands like mine as two seperate mono tracks? They each have their own in and out on the chassis? This is the stuff that’s still confusing to me haha
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No because the controls are shared.. so yes you could run a mono kick through it at first and find your spot and then run your snare through it and find what you liked and print that to track. But you would not be able to have them going at the same time and making moves that affect them separately.

So yeah, they always find a way to suck you in for more lol.
 
I had very different plans for how this one was supposed to turn out...but when the pandemic hit I was forced to do a ton of online lecturing so this is what we now have. Had some people needing to use live closed captioning software, so I tried to put together something to optimize clarity.

Just picked up a 10 space VPR, so hoping to get back on track. The AML Pultec kits look really good, as do the Maag eq's, and Purple TAV, and Chandler opto compressor and...
 

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Kapo_Polenton said:
No because the controls are shared.. so yes you could run a mono kick through it at first and find your spot and then run your snare through it and find what you liked and print that to track. But you would not be able to have them going at the same time and making moves that affect them separately.

So yeah, they always find a way to suck you in for more lol.
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I gotcha… but I still “could” send a mono kick signal or bass track and eq it etc and then print it right? But how do I route that? If the rubber bands is on let’s say, inputs 1 and 2, do I just route it to one input or both for a mono track?
 
VESmedic said:
I gotcha… but I still “could” send a mono kick signal or bass track and eq it etc and then print it right? But how do I route that? If the rubber bands is on let’s say, inputs 1 and 2, do I just route it to one input or both for a mono track?
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Yes you totally could. What you would do is route let's say your kick on a send to one side in on your rubber bands and then take the output to another track in your daw and record it thus printing it. Then just hide the original track and mute it so you now only get the printed track in your daw and on you go. They always say get a stereo pair when printing because you want to see how two sides or pairs play off one another but hey, we are playing in basements or dive bars, not running pro studios lol. But you are correct, my understanding is that regardless of running it in mono or stereo, the controls will output the settings to either or both channels.

For me it is a bit diff. I use a motu 24o to send my audio out but I don't run it right to the 500 series at the moment. I am sort of figuring out how to route things but for me it is running as an insert on the board. I am trying to get a feel for old school mixing and I want to limit myself to less so I am forced to make decisions on the fly. I do plan to use that IGS S-type for duties on parallel compressions, overheads, and then in mastering position though so that will be a bit of printing there but at least it is multiple tracks (all drums or stereo overheads). That comp is a fantastic deal. Nothing better than a multi use tool!

For mastering you will be set though. The Rubber bands and the S comp? Fuget' about it!
 
I'm in ..... capi vp25, vp26 and vp312 ....when avail I'm going to build a pair of vp28 to.... love them and love the heritage ha73 to
 

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Kapo_Polenton said:
Yes you totally could. What you would do is route let's say your kick on a send to one side in on your rubber bands and then take the output to another track in your daw and record it thus printing it. Then just hide the original track and mute it so you now only get the printed track in your daw and on you go. They always say get a stereo pair when printing because you want to see how two sides or pairs play off one another but hey, we are playing in basements or dive bars, not running pro studios lol. But you are correct, my understanding is that regardless of running it in mono or stereo, the controls will output the settings to either or both channels.

For me it is a bit diff. I use a motu 24o to send my audio out but I don't run it right to the 500 series at the moment. I am sort of figuring out how to route things but for me it is running as an insert on the board. I am trying to get a feel for old school mixing and I want to limit myself to less so I am forced to make decisions on the fly. I do plan to use that IGS S-type for duties on parallel compressions, overheads, and then in mastering position though so that will be a bit of printing there but at least it is multiple tracks (all drums or stereo overheads). That comp is a fantastic deal. Nothing better than a multi use tool!

For mastering you will be set though. The Rubber bands and the S comp? Fuget' about it!
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Super stoked! Thanks brotha, I appreciate it!
 
I might be deaf because I love the API 500 series on heavy rock guitars. Fast, punchy, articulate. I plug in a 1073 and yeah, I love the big, fat wall but I find the fast, punchy, and articulate missing.
 
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And some more .... I love the pbr8 500 rack z the patch bay and mults are so awesome to have, saved me space on my main patchbay....
 

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Chubtone said:
I might be deaf because I love the API 500's on heavy rock guitars. Fast, punchy, articulate. I plug in a 1073 and yeah, I love the big, fat wall but I find the fat, punchy, articulate missing.
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Not deaf at all, just different strokes. I just know I’m not a fan of that pushed bloated midrange thing it does on guitars. Again, That’s just my opinion and what I hear personally. I absolutely them on toms, snare ( sometimes) and bass for sure though. Kick is almost always neve flavored for me though because again, a big thick fat kick kinda goes down the neve road of tones etc. not that API can’t do that for sure, just a preference. I like API style EQ on guitars at times as well. Sometimes the high end in that 5-7k range on an API eq is exactly what I’m looking for and nothing else does it. I’ll also say until recently I would reach for an API EQ long before a neve style eq. Neve is far too broad usually for my tastes, but I do like the trick of setting the low pass around 8-10k and boosting with a neve style shelf above that range, at 12 or 16k.
 
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