I was wondering if the overall tone of the Vintech 609CA is similar to other Vintech units like the X73i, or if its a different sound. My Vintech X73i's tone is great on vox because its so forward sounding, but its not something I would want over the master... BAE or Heritage's darker take on the "Neve" tone would better fit me for that. Anyone have experience with this unit?

Thanks for the help.

- Sighborg

bump

I have the Vintech 609CA and the X81.

Love both units. Though comparing a mic pre vs. a compressor...I don't quite understand. I do not find the compressor forward sounding. Inspired by the Neve 33609. Comparing the 609CA to the 33609, I cannot comment, as to not having 33609 experience. I have talked of this before on GS, as have Nathan Eldred. Nothing but nice things to say about it.

I agree its tough to compare a pre to a comp. Its a cool sounding comp though, its not really a 33609 but it reacts in a similar fashion and does sound good. Ideally you could try one out and see if its what you are looking for

I wouldn't call the compressor forward at all. It's not dark either though. If anything it's balanced. It's smoother and more colored than an original 33609 to my ears. The 33609 sounds a bit cleaner and brighter (10khz ish) than the 609CA. The overall coloration is similar to the preamps, rich mids etc. I wouldn't use the 609CA on all two bus applications, sometimes I'd want a punchier SSL style or a variation on the VCA theme like a Foote P3S. For any kind of blues, jazz, alternative/indie rock, folk I think it's a winner.

For harder hitting electronic music, fast metal, you might want a harder hitting peak type compressor by itself or in combo with the 609CA (compression off or subtle leveling utilized). But I'd be ok with just running the audio through the 609CA just for it's color, especially if you don't have tape or a bunch of other colored outboard gear in tracking and mix. Think of it in the same category as a Vari Mu; sometimes it doesn't work, sometimes it's magic. Sometimes you want the color of the circuit, but want a different style of compression.

A lot of the new music I'm hearing these days is too clean for my tastes (and I think for a lot of people's tastes based on how much searching people are doing for a 'magick box'). I don't think it's just an ITB vs OTB issue, I think it's choice of tools and methods and people are being too conservative with committing to their choices and aren't utilizing and combining enough different gear to make things sound great. 30-40 years ago a single track of audio would get passed through so much circuitry by the time it made it to the master tape.

My point is, this piece is one of those pieces that can help the tone come alive, and other than classical music, I could say would be a good stamp all over an entire album in combination with other pieces of great gear. It just happens to be less of a one/two trick pony in terms of how flexible the compression and limiter are than some other more colored classic pieces are (La-2a, 2254, TG-1, even the 1176 which isn't as much of a workhorse as it's portrayed to be IMHO <-- all of which I love BTW but often get put in series with a complementary compressor to pick up the slack in functionality but not the tone).

Thanks for the responses.

I have been at a point of getting rid of hw I feel I can come very close with some plugs and some eqing. My drums and bass channels will always be parralleled through a 609. It is very smooth so when I feed them to it and back in, I get the harsher attach of digital with the smoothness of the 609. I have tired to figure out a work around, but it never works. It's one of the few HW pieces I am hanging on to. When I mix, if I want more volume I move the fader, if I need more weights I turn up the aux on the channel which feeds the 609.