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REDDI Tube DI Mega Thread . Potential megathread that is.

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#681
Jim C said:
Didn't realize that the Pultec'sm were such a East Coast thing; I worked in 3 different 24 track studios in the DC area (obviously not a major market) that ALL had Pultec's!

My assumtion is that they might have been close when new but all the tube units I had access to were older. If you've ever popped the top on those guys, it would not be a big surprise that those old componenets drifted a fair amount with age. Even used in stereo, EQ'ing by ear got plenty close for anything other than mastering a 2-track mix.

I don't recall the transistor units being as far off (as one might expect).

Did you guys go for increased frequency response or improvements in noise levels or transient response when designing your units, or, was the design goal to keep it close to the original specs with modern components?
Click to expand...

No, Pultecs were not just the East Coast Jim.
They were East, West, National/Worldwide.

I guess what happened here in LA (TRENDY of course) :ninja:
was a guy named George Massenberg:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Oct04/articles/rocketscience.htm

Little bit of History.

I have had the pleasure to be friends with George for a number of years now and George came onto the scene about early 80s with his new EQ which was anything BUT a Pultec and he captured the ears of many Engineers so a Hero one day (Pultec) and a bum the next???? Can't say for sure.
Remember everyone was using Tape at the time and to have a neutral sounding parametric surgical EQ was the hip/cool/rage??
Now that's MY take on it but I was so far removed from that end of things being a player NOT an Audio Engineer.
Anyway, Pultecs have and will always be a benchmark that eludes many a manufacturer.
Even Langs are way cool too!

But to get back to your question on OUR EM-PEQ.
First just take a quick look at SIZE! :D
The EM-PEQ is for the 500 Series and how on earth would one expect to fit a tube unit into that small real-estate.
Believe me we rented a number of old Pultecs and each and every time we opened one I was always amazed at the parts that were used back then and how LARGE they were compared to today's units.
I couldn't imagine what it would cost to produce the switches alone today!!!!
There is a basic board layout and we had to transform that into a small card. We also had to have Cinemag custom wind the Inductors and output transformers for us.
So bottom line is we went more off the scope and waves to match those of the Pultecs.
And THAT was a trip in itself cause each Pultec gave us different signals so you had to take the average and work from there.
The sound was a matter of what happened after it was completed.
With new parts and new technology ours sounded different in a way where it was tighter on the bottom end and a bit more Highs on the top.
All in all it was more HiFi sounding and THAT translated to a more consistent sound from one unit to the next.
Hope this helped?
Peter
 
#682
Virgil said:
Peter, here is a short story that I am sure you hear often. My band was preparing to shoot a video this past week. I got to the shoot early. I hooked my REDDI and started running scales to warm up. What I did not know was that the engineers were in another room setting the levels. After a few minutes my band mates showed up and we were getting ready to do a sound check. The owner of my agency called me to the side. He said that he was with the sound engineers in another room and they were raving about my tone. They had recorded 7 bands before mine, but none of the other basses sounded like mine. They wanted to know what I had done. I told them that I wasn't using the house DI, I was using my own. I said see that red box sitting on the floor, that's my DI, it's made by REDDI. They said by Who? :-). They said we have to get one of those. By the way, the engineers work for NFL Films. They all shook my hand at the end of the night, and told me how much a pleasure it was listening to me. The REDDI is really something special.
Click to expand...

Virgil!

PLEASE.............thank you so much BUT I think what the Engineers were hearing was your talent. :bassist:

It's NOT the brush.....it's the Painter.

Hope all is well,
Peter
 
#683
I have read the accomplishments regarding Mr. Massenberg and the story is amazing.
We were much more about using different band equipment or microphones than using parametrics, mainly because the most sophisticated tools I was exposed to was a Urei Little Dipper! No complaints though with Neve 1081 or MCI console EQ's.

Did some mastering at Sterling in NY back then and thought the blend of new esoteric vs. old gear to be a great blend.
Jack Skinner's fav monitor rig was some audiophile tube amp or a Revox SS unit and the monitors were Canton home units (3-way with a 12 as I remember); every once in a while we'd do short spin with the big Urei Time Aligns which were the rage for awhile. He'd use whatever you wanted but I was more interested in what HE liked as I was smart enough to know I was dumb kid working with pros. The mastering EQ's were some hand made custom units; don't think they even had a name plate.

Didn't mean to infer that a tube could ever be installed in that much real estate but rather if the EQ performance was Pultec based with modern components, or, a complete redesign using the original basic EQ points and filter balistics.

Sounds like you went the former rather than the latter: well done.s
 
#686
Awesome, Virgil! I work with a lot of different soundmen, and they have all flipped over the REDDI, too.

Here's my rig from this weekend. Not exactly the route of API boxes ;) but at least I have a REDDI:

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#688
JimmyM said:
Awesome, Virgil! I work with a lot of different soundmen, and they have all flipped over the REDDI, too.

Here's my rig from this weekend. Not exactly the route of API boxes ;) but at least I have a REDDI:
Click to expand...

I gotta ask: why's the head under the cabs?

If this has already been discussed, sorry; I miss a lot because TBing on an iPhone isn't conducive to scrolling back a lot. Or at least, not without wanting to toss the phone...
 
#692
Great....now I'm going to be completely distracted all afternoon! I won't be able to put it through its paces at a gig until my band starts back up in June, but at least my singer is more than willing to have me stop over to run it through our PA. Should be a fun time!
 

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#693
Awesome, Jed! June will be here soon enough, bro!

And you guys are exactly right about my oddball Ampeg stack...gets the cabs closer to the head, and will topple over if you put the head on top. The head weighs more than the two cabs combined.
 
#696
Nice! Yours must be an older one, bro. I notice that on yours, the logo is embossed onto the REDDI rather than the separate plate they have now. I wonder if in 20 years time we'll see embossed REDDI's having more collector's value ;)
 
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