I’ve been experimenting with Aphex 106 and 108 compressors and I posted some remarks about these units a year ago. Since then I’ve added a couple of Aphex 109 tube parametric eqs to the family and I’d like to make a few comments about these as well. When I first got them they seemed decent enough (as long as I didn’t get too extreme) but nothing particularly special was going on. The “tubessence” thing sounded like it was trying to warm up the signal but not quite getting there. It also tended to impart a slightly hollow sound, particularly in the mids and upper mids, although the lower end, up to about 300 Hz, always sounded pretty solid and even added some noticeable juice to my ears. Everything above about 5-6 kHz sounded ok but no real sparkle. I decided that the whole “tubessence” thing must be hype and I only used the mid and upper mid bands to cut at fairly narrow Q settings. At some point I decided to replace the tubes in both units with something a little better and see what might happen. I’ve always liked the slightly dark sound that Mullards gave my Art MPA preamps (without breaking the bank) so I decided to put a couple of 12AX7s into both Aphex 109s. What the hell, they’re not particularly expensive and they certainly weren’t going to degrade the sound any more than the Chinese tubes that were already in there.

What I discovered was that mid boosts now produced considerably more punch, which I found quite useful for waking up guitar and keyboard tracks. I can still hear a bit of that odd hollowness but it’s much less pronounced and actually has some “character” to it. The highs are delivering a bit more sparkle, and although I wouldn’t say they knock my socks off, They’ve proven to be very useful in brightening up vocal tracks of all kinds and getting them to cut through a mix without excessive sibilance - just a little bit more air.

I’d like to know what kind of experience other people have had with these gizmos and although they don’t get much attention here, my experience suggests that they could play a useful role in the small to mid-sized project studio. Mostly I just get a charge out of discovering older gear on the cheap that cuts the mustard - and believe me I’ve got a closet full of stuff that didn’t.

I have one and use it for filtering rather than boosting.

Obviously, it ain't a high end unit and as such it's appropriate to this subforum.

But I'd say it sounds quite decent for the money; less phasey than some.

Having the choice between dual two band or single four band is a cool feature.

Could have done without the Tubessence on this one.

I initially felt the same way about the "Tubessence" circuit until I upgraded the tube. Now it seems to be doing something that sounds fairly useful to my ears and I'm not afraid to give it a bit of boost in the mids and highs when needed (I think this may be the result of the increased headroom of the Mullards). My approach to eq has always been "a little goes a long way" and with that in mind these units are getting some regular use. I realize that this modest defense of tubessence is heterodoxy in some circles but with the tube upgrade I've found that I like having this option in my signal chain.

I gotta admit, it never even occurred to me to try tube rolling in a cheap piece like an Aphex 109. Given my experience with the stock factory tube I'm skeptical that they can be improved dramatically enough to change my opinion of that EQ to a favorable one, but stranger things have happened I suppose. Carry on.

Hate to be a naysayer here but...tried the 109 at one point and concluded that it was the worst sounding EQ I had ever encountered. I'd rather use a $20 Radio Shack EQ.

To each his own I suppose (GS hyperbole notwithstanding). Given what these things cost me and the sound I find I'm squeezing out of them I think I'll defiantly continue my investigations in the spirit of the low end theory. Next up - a Rane DC24.

Here are the vocal tracks from a recent project I worked on. It's a cover version of The Beatles "Nowhere Man" and there are 6 tracks total recorded using an EV RE 320 mic through an ART MPA ll preamp. Each track is slightly compressed (no more than 3-4 dB max) using an Aphex 106 and 108 and then into the Aphex 109 units, which are set to dual channel two band mode (I just acquired a third one for a total of 6 possible channels). I've applied a 4 to 6 dB boost with a 1.5 octave Q somewhere between 6 and 8kHz and a 2-4 dB shelving cut at around 80-120 Hz (depending on the track). I wanted the vocals a little bright for demonstration purposes. No other processing is used except for the obligatory reverb.

http://picosong.com/7ufz/

Anyone have a schematic for Aphex 109, Aphex says they no longer do.

There’s an electric energy with the 109 imo. It adds harmonics and has a mild Tubey compression going on. It definitely has a sound and u won’t have an eq that sounds similar therefore I say it’s a worthy edition. I patched it in on a dirty drum loop in a hard rock track and it suited perfectly. It’s definitely not as clean and crisp as my SSL eq’s but that’s a good thing. I reckon it has kinda a hairy mosfetty type sound. For the money grab one