Drawmer and Dbx gate questions. Which to buy?

Re: Drawmer and Dbx gate questions. Which to buy?

Ok, I'm convinced the drawmer 201 is the way to go. But whats up with the 1/4 inputs and the xlr? did they come out at the same time or is the xlr a newer model?
 
Re: Drawmer and Dbx gate questions. Which to buy?

Hi Alan, I have owned most and used all mentioned except the BSS DPR504 (I have no opinion on that unit). Listening in the studio solo channel through a $10k pair of Westlake monitors the Aphex 612 or 622 would be my first choice. For live sound the Aphex units or the Drawmer 201 would be worthy of your new APB console. All the others spoken of are toys sonically in my opinion. The Drawmer is the darling of live sound, easy to use, rider friendly, sounds good, actually works, etc etc. The Aphex units are serious precision tools with the VCA operating in class A if I am not mistaken. They were not as popular for live sound because of the $1000+ price tag for 2 channels when new. They are the most sonically transparent analog gates I have ever used and are actually a downward expander which means you can back the ratio down and not just be on or off. I bought a couple more 612's for $125 a piece on eBay a year or two ago. If you decide on one of the older Aphex units you might need to replace the capacitors for a good measure and you are good to go for another 10-15 years. I have not had to on mine yet but I am just saying. By the way if you tire of the APB send it to me or Kemper and we will dump our British boards. :)
 
Re: Drawmer and Dbx gate questions. Which to buy?

Eric Cagle said:
Hi Alan, I have owned most and used all mentioned except the BSS DPR504 (I have no opinion on that unit). Listening in the studio solo channel through a $10k pair of Westlake monitors the Aphex 612 or 622 would be my first choice. For live sound the Aphex units or the Drawmer 201 would be worthy of your new APB console. All the others spoken of are toys sonically in my opinion. The Drawmer is the darling of live sound, easy to use, rider friendly, sounds good, actually works, etc etc. The Aphex units are serious precision tools with the VCA operating in class A if I am not mistaken. They were not as popular for live sound because of the $1000+ price tag for 2 channels when new. They are the most sonically transparent analog gates I have ever used and are actually a downward expander which means you can back the ratio down and not just be on or off. I bought a couple more 612's for $125 a piece on eBay a year or two ago. If you decide on one of the older Aphex units you might need to replace the capacitors for a good measure and you are good to go for another 10-15 years. I have not had to on mine yet but I am just saying. By the way if you tire of the APB send it to me or Kemper and we will dump our British boards. :)
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Eric,

As far as replacing caps, I don't trust myself in there. I'm a electric lineman and used to working with 115kv and wire the size of a base ball bat. This little stuff, not so good at. So where would I send it to have done? What caps go bad? whats the cost of repairs usually?

Thanks
 
Re: Drawmer and Dbx gate questions. Which to buy?

Alan Sledzieski said:
Eric,

As far as replacing caps, I don't trust myself in there. I'm a electric lineman and used to working with 115kv and wire the size of a base ball bat. This little stuff, not so good at. So where would I send it to have done? What caps go bad? whats the cost of repairs usually?

Thanks
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Alan,
I have always replaced them myself, or had one of my tech friends do it, so I am not sure of the cost in NY for the job. The parts themselves are only a few dollars and an hour or so of shop time should do it. Any good electronics or pro audio repair shop can do the job. You might not ever have a problem (especially with an Aphex since most come from studios) but if you do it will most likely be a cap that has leaked and drifted from spec. I still have lots of ancient analog gear in my racks and have not had to do any repairs in the last 10+ years. I always use a 1500 watt uninterruptible power supply at FOH for the board and racks, which might be a little overkill, but I believe that good clean stable power is one of the reasons all of my gear always works all of the time. I guess the whole point is really that the high end Drawmer and Aphex units are so affordable in the used market right now why not get them. Even at some point if they needed repairing it would still be worth it. For everyone else (and my other rig) there is digital.
 
Re: Drawmer and Dbx gate questions. Which to buy?

Eric Cagle said:
Alan,
I have always replaced them myself, or had one of my tech friends do it, so I am not sure of the cost in NY for the job. The parts themselves are only a few dollars and an hour or so of shop time should do it. Any good electronics or pro audio repair shop can do the job. You might not ever have a problem (especially with an Aphex since most come from studios) but if you do it will most likely be a cap that has leaked and drifted from spec. I still have lots of ancient analog gear in my racks and have not had to do any repairs in the last 10+ years. I always use a 1500 watt uninterruptible power supply at FOH for the board and racks, which might be a little overkill, but I believe that good clean stable power is one of the reasons all of my gear always works all of the time. I guess the whole point is really that the high end Drawmer and Aphex units are so affordable in the used market right now why not get them. Even at some point if they needed repairing it would still be worth it. For everyone else (and my other rig) there is digital.
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Eric,

How I do, just bought 2 622's for $280

APHEX LOGIC ASSISTED EXPANDER GATE 622 **WHITNEY HOUSTON** (330660423097)
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Paid on Dec-30-11		Price: $125.00, Qty: 1$125.00
Estimated delivery: January 10 - January 17, 2012Standard Shipping$15.00
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APHEX LOGIC ASSISTED EXPANDER GATE 622 **WHITNEY HOUSTON** (330660424694)
iconSuccess_16x16.gif
Paid on Dec-30-11		Price: $125.00, Qty: 1$125.00
Estimated delivery: January 10 - January 17, 2012Standard Shipping$15.00
s.gif

Subtotal:$250.00
Shipping & handling:$30.00
charityIcon_16x16.gif
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Donation:
$1.00
Total:$281.00
 
Re: Drawmer and Dbx gate questions. Which to buy?

Alan Sledzieski said:
LOL. I could of got 2 201's at 185 each shipped, but was leary over the sellers rating. Theres some other 201's but they want top dollar for 21 year old gates. I wonder what a 201 costed in 1990?
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I am not sure of the cost new in the 1990's of the 201. The current perceived market on the Drawmer is because there is still a good bit of new analog live sound going on, especially in the low and mid market. Most everyone in live sound knows what a Drawmer gate is and likes it. There is almost no new analog studio business happening where most of the Aphex units found a home. They are fabulous but the other studio issue is that the noise gate is one of the devices that digital can do better and cheeper and automated and recallable with a plug in. I have never heard of anyone using a noise gate to add "color" to a mix. I still enjoy mixing analog live even though I have digital options. If I am on a analog board I use analog inserts. On the other hand I don't even enjoy thinking about doing a studio mix analog.

Enjoy your 622s. It is kind of cool that they have some history with Whitney Houston! I will tell you a story about my first 612 and this was back when you could buy them new. I had just put it in the rack and decided to play with it and see what it would do. I ran a full mono track of a popular song through it and managed to isolate the snare drum attack with the key filters. I watched the LEDs and manipulated the depth and ratio until it was only triggering on the snare. I then soloed the channel and set the hold and release times until I had a pretty good snare sound. Thinking that was pretty cool I loaded it up with a little gated reverb and mixed it back in with the track for a "Big Hair Big Snare Power Ballad" verson of the song. Its not that this was really something anyone would ever want to do with an Aphex expander/gate but it gave me an idea of the capability of the unit. Like I said it is a serious precision tool!
 
Re: Drawmer and Dbx gate questions. Which to buy?

Kemper Watson said:
I'm off by a hundred...
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No Kidding, I've been looking at so much used gear I have them all written down so I can remember what the hell I'm looking at, LOl. I checked each channel out, everything seems fine. 1 channel I had to pop the caps off 2 knobs and align them properly. Other then that good to go. Gota spend some time replacing the 1/4 ends on the insert snake to xlr today.
I like the bss also, I like the gain before compression starts metering. I'm putting the drawmer dl 401's on drums, and I'll use the bss on vocals.
 
Re: Drawmer and Dbx gate questions. Which to buy?

As far as analog live sound gates and compressors go, you're pretty much as good as it can get.
 
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