Summit Audio bought out...

[Bassflute]

http://www.summitaudio.com/reviews/blue_summit_faq.pdf

Wow. Hope they do well with it, and it's not a 'Gibson-style' takeover. LOVE that company and all their products.

Cheers,
Cameron

[Calaverasgrande]

that blows. I used to have a lot of respect for Blue mics, but they have been working as hard as they can to dilute their brand over the last 5 years. How many mics over $500 do they have? How many under $200?
I certainly hope this just means that I can get a free blue mic with the next 2ba221 I buy.
I hope it doesn't mean they start tampering with the upper tier Summit stuff.

[chadds]

Maybe it doesn't blow. Some parent companies leave their acquisitions alone. Perhaps the deal allows more funds for Summit to innovate!

[Calaverasgrande]

mmmmm. Blue has been in a weird downward spiral. They used to make excessively expensive awesome mics. Like the Mouse.
Now they make webcams, usb mics, all kinds of stuff that I am sure is very profitable, but is not very pro.
To me this is like Alesis buying UA.

[JxBass]

Originally Posted by chadds

Maybe it doesn't blow. Some parent companies leave their acquisitions alone. Perhaps the deal allows more funds for Summit to innovate!

+1. Kaman Music's ownership of Genz Benz is a good example, GB continues to flourish.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by JxBass

+1. Kaman Music's ownership of Genz Benz is a good example, GB continues to flourish.

i was going to say that...not only does kaman own gb but fmic also owns kaman now, and as far as i can see, they've all been left to their own devices. besides, i don't consider it diluting the brand to offer comp mics and webcams and stuff as long as the good stuff is still good.

[Calaverasgrande]

lets just say I've seen it before. Once a company starts offering entry level stuff, the whole line takes on aspects of the cheap gear.
For instance, notice who doesnt offer an entry level line....Mesa.
Brands like Presonus OTOH. They used to only offer top flight gear. The original Digimax and the ACP88? Now the majority of their stuff is entry level.

It seems to me that when companies get interestd in market "diversification" their ability to put out top notch gear is compromised.
Summits current "project studio" mic pre is the 2BA221. It costs about $600 for one channel, which strains the limits of "cheap". But that one mic pre is a swiss army knife. It sounds excellent and is built very very well. Actual metal switches, not spring loaded pieces of plastic. Tube/solidstate in a way that makes you like the solidstate aspect of it. I'm going to go buy another one before they get Gibsoned.

[JimmyM]

had to bring up gibson, didn't you? ok, you got me there.

[Plstrns]

Yeah, and companies like Peavey who started life as entry level can produce the US Cirrus that's IMHO worth 3X it's asking price.

Gibson should stick with mandolins and guitars, bass ain't there bag IMO.

[Bassflute]

Originally Posted by Calaverasgrande

lets just say I've seen it before. Once a company starts offering entry level stuff, the whole line takes on aspects of the cheap gear.
For instance, notice who doesnt offer an entry level line....Mesa.
Brands like Presonus OTOH. They used to only offer top flight gear. The original Digimax and the ACP88? Now the majority of their stuff is entry level.

It seems to me that when companies get interestd in market "diversification" their ability to put out top notch gear is compromised.
Summits current "project studio" mic pre is the 2BA221. It costs about $600 for one channel, which strains the limits of "cheap". But that one mic pre is a swiss army knife. It sounds excellent and is built very very well. Actual metal switches, not spring loaded pieces of plastic. Tube/solidstate in a way that makes you like the solidstate aspect of it. I'm going to go buy another one before they get Gibsoned.

Originally Posted by JimmyM

had to bring up gibson, didn't you? ok, you got me there.

Originally Posted by Plstrns

Yeah, and companies like Peavey who started life as entry level can produce the US Cirrus that's IMHO worth 3X it's asking price.

Gibson should stick with mandolins and guitars, bass ain't there bag IMO.

they done NOTHING but bad stuff for the bass playing world, and me personally...would LOVE to see them go under, and perhaps be bought up by some musicians who care about music, rather than the evil, ruthless corporate entity they now are. Right down there with US Music Corp in my mind...actually, worse.

And I certainly hope for nothing but good things for Summit...

Cheers,
Cameron

[JimmyM]

wow, calm down, cameron picture yourself on the beach sipping a nice cool glass of water while birds fly by and dive for fish. and they don't even poop on you!

i like the eb series of basses. and t-birds are a classic with those who don't mind the neck dive. otoh, every couple of decades, someone owns gibson who seems intent on running them into the ground with crap quality. heard more than a few stories about green necks on recent ones. that's unacceptable.

but still, take it easy!

[Calaverasgrande]

I'm more referring to what Gibson was for Tobias. How many years did it take them to go from handcrafted excellence to Korean CNC just as good as any other Samick bass?
There is a whole list of other companies that made great or innovative products. Getting bought by Gibson was the death knell.
OTOH I actually like most Gibson basses I've ever played. They all have a lot of character. If not the greatest action or clear as a bell tone.

[hrgiger]

Originally Posted by JxBass

+1. Kaman Music's ownership of Genz Benz is a good example, GB continues to flourish.

GB's handling of Tube Works on the other hand... "Greed is Good..."

Originally Posted by Plstrns

Yeah, and companies like Peavey who started life as entry level can produce the US Cirrus that's IMHO worth 3X it's asking price.

PV's handling of Crest and TE is pretty honorable as well IMHO

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by hrgiger

GB's handling of Tube Works on the other hand... "Greed is Good..."

even though i liked some tube works stuff and still own a 410t, tube works was pretty dead in the water by that time. the products weren't really selling, and only that one tube pre pedal that everyone likes whose name just escaped me was getting any real play. i don't think there was much of a choice.

[bassie12]

Tube Driver

[JimmyM]

thx

[tombowlus]

Originally Posted by hrgiger

PV's handling of Crest and TE is pretty honorable as well IMHO

Beat me to it.

[scotch]

Originally Posted by Calaverasgrande

mmmmm. Blue has been in a weird downward spiral. They used to make excessively expensive awesome mics. Like the Mouse.
Now they make webcams, usb mics, all kinds of stuff that I am sure is very profitable, but is not very pro.
To me this is like Alesis buying UA.

I see what you're saying- but does Blue offering budget mic's automatically mean that their flagship studio mic's suddenly suck?

Seems that they are reacting intelligently towards the mi industry. USB/podcasting is a big part of online entertainment, why not cash in?

I just used a Woodpecker on an acoustic guitar track (well, I was playing, so technically I guess the engineer was using it) - it sounded amazing! I regularly see Blue Bottles and various ball mic's on drums and utility instruments. They seem to be great products!

[Aram]

Originally Posted by Calaverasgrande

Summits current "project studio" mic pre is the 2BA221. It costs about $600 for one channel, which strains the limits of "cheap". But that one mic pre is a swiss army knife. It sounds excellent and is built very very well. Actual metal switches, not spring loaded pieces of plastic. Tube/solidstate in a way that makes you like the solidstate aspect of it. I'm going to go buy another one before they get Gibsoned.

Is it possible/practical to use something like this live? Say right into a power amp, and then the DI into the board? Anyone have any experience with that, I've been thinking mic-pre + light power amp instead of bass head lately...

[Calaverasgrande]

Originally Posted by Aram

Is it possible/practical to use something like this live? Say right into a power amp, and then the DI into the board? Anyone have any experience with that, I've been thinking mic-pre + light power amp instead of bass head lately...

yes, there are other models that summit makes that are better tailored to that. I would also shoot for something that has a more full featured DI input. The 2BA221 doesn't have any eq on the DI input, or impedance variability. The highpass doesnt affect the DI either. It does sound fantastic on bass though. It has a combination of frequency extension in the upper and lower ranges combined with some midrange bite from the tube section.
about 75% of my synths and 90% of my basses are recorded through that.
The UA 610 is an all tube mic pre with DI that is a littel better choice for straight up DI. I am sure others can pitch in.

RE Tubeworks.
Owned a Tubedriver. I tried tube rolling etc. I could never get it to sound any good. Dirty secret, all of those Tubeworks boxes are at BEST 50% tube. There are fets and opamps all up in there. Mine had the solidstate section epoxied a la early Musicman and API stuff. As if anyone would reverse engineer that tone!

This also makes me wonder, whither go Groove Tubes? Anyone bought any GT gear since the Fender buyout?