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Author Topic: Sontecs...  (Read 265804 times)

Ged Leitch

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Sontecs...
« on: January 29, 2006, 09:21:29 PM »

Anyone know any good sites on the good ol net that feature the Sontec equaliser range?
All I found with google was an interview in SOS with an ME from Sterling raving about them, but they dont seem to feature on the web much?
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bblackwood

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Re: Where are those Sontecs?
« Reply #1 on: January 29, 2006, 09:47:45 PM »

What do you need to know about them? As an owner, I've had to learn quite a bit about them...
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Brad Blackwood
euphonic masters

Ged Leitch

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Re: Where are those Sontecs?
« Reply #2 on: January 29, 2006, 10:03:33 PM »

bblackwood wrote on Mon, 30 January 2006 02:47

What do you need to know about them? As an owner, I've had to learn quite a bit about them...


Ah, a sontec owner!(envy Mad )
Basically was interested in some specs etc, thought they'd be a pdf or something available on a site, but alas no...
  I got to admit Brad, from the only photo i've seen they sure look like a piece of fine art!
  Reading the sterling ME interview, it's obvious the sontecs sound the business! due to the sheer volume of chart hits they've been used on.
  Just curious about these EQ's, as seems like everyone is raving about manley massive passive, Weiss etc.

Dont even mention the price... Mad
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Adam Dempsey

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Re: Where are those Sontecs?
« Reply #3 on: January 29, 2006, 10:07:41 PM »

Not having used a Sontec and having wanted to read up on them anyway, Google 'Sontec Mastering':

"ITI, Sontec, and the History of Parametric EQ"
by Will Shanks (with thanks to Bob L, Ron Kramer and Don Grossinger)
http://www.uaudio.com/webzine/2004/december/content/content4 .html

(the pic I assume from Bob's suite, given the plants in background..?)


and I knew they were still mentioned at Gateway:

http://www.gatewaymastering.com/masttech.asp

and a great trip back to 1993 with a Mix interview with Bob:
http://www.transparentcable.com/products/reviews/full_review s/ref_philipde_mix.html




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Adam Dempsey
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Ged Leitch

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Re: Where are those Sontecs?
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2006, 10:10:20 PM »

Adam Dempsey wrote on Mon, 30 January 2006 03:07

Not having used a Sontec and having wanted to read up on them anyway, Google 'Sontec Mastering':

"ITI, Sontec, and the History of Parametric EQ"
by Will Shanks (with thanks to Bob L, Ron Kramer and Don Grossinger)
 http://www.uaudio.com/webzine/2004/december/content/content4 .html

(the pic I assume from Bob's suite, given the plants in background..?)


and I knew they were still mentioned at Gateway:

http://www.gatewaymastering.com/masttech.asp

and a great trip back to 1993 with a Mix interview with Bob:
 http://www.transparentcable.com/products/reviews/full_review s/ref_philipde_mix.html







Excellent!!!
cheers Adam, many thanks.
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bblackwood

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Re: Where are those Sontecs?
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2006, 10:23:13 PM »

Ged Leitch wrote on Sun, 29 January 2006 21:03

Ah, a sontec owner!(envy Mad )

I have two, actually, and love them more than any other piece.

Quote:

Basically was interested in some specs etc, thought they'd be a pdf or something available on a site, but alas no...

See below for a pic of the original 'drop sheet'...

index.php/fa/2282/0/

Quote:

I got to admit Brad, from the only photo i've seen they sure look like a piece of fine art!

Yah, they do look kewl (imo).

Quote:

Dont even mention the price...  

Hey, I bought my last one used for $7k and it's basically mint. But unless you have some spare opamps (good luck finding them), I can't recommend buying one.

But man they sound good!


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Brad Blackwood
euphonic masters

bblackwood

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Re: Where are those Sontecs?
« Reply #6 on: January 29, 2006, 10:27:50 PM »

This is a crappy picture a buddy took shortly after I got the new Sontec, if it helps:

index.php/fa/2284/0/
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Brad Blackwood
euphonic masters

Ged Leitch

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Re: Where are those Sontecs?
« Reply #7 on: January 29, 2006, 10:52:47 PM »

AAAArgh...your killing me here Laughing

many thanks for the pics Brad,
think i'll hang em on my wall and dream about them!
cheers.
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TotalSonic

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Re: Where are those Sontecs?
« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2006, 10:56:03 PM »

bblackwood wrote on Mon, 30 January 2006 03:23


Quote:

Dont even mention the price...  

Hey, I bought my last one used for $7k and it's basically mint. But unless you have some spare opamps (good luck finding them), I can't recommend buying one.



Yeah - a tech here in NYC I use told me that he has a shelf full of them - all currently non-functioning - and all in need of opamps.  

edit: Just talked to the tech and apparently these are compressors and not eq's that he has - and apparently they need a heckuva lot more fixed on them than just op amps.  He actually described the eq's as "easy to fix."

Best regards,
Steve Berson

Noah Mintz

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Re: Where are those Sontecs?
« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2006, 11:05:41 PM »

I replaced all my amp cards with the Steve Firlotte one's. They don't sound exactly the same but my Sontec still sounds like hot butter EQ. I still have a slight oscillation at 60hz at -80db in the 2nd Channel but it's of no consequence since I use it in M/S.

I'm in love with my Sontec. I feel very privileged to have one.
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bblackwood

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Re: Where are those Sontecs?
« Reply #10 on: January 29, 2006, 11:11:10 PM »

TotalSonic wrote on Sun, 29 January 2006 21:56

bblackwood wrote on Mon, 30 January 2006 03:23

But unless you have some spare opamps (good luck finding them), I can't recommend buying one.



Yeah - a tech here in NYC I use told me that he has a shelf full of them - all currently non-functioning - and all in need of opamps.  

There are several guys making replacement opamps: Steve Firlotte, Chris Muth (iirc), and Steve Haselton. Perhaps more. None of them, as far as I'm aware, sound exactly like the original HS1000 (which I love and use). Hopefully it will be a long time before I find out what the replacement opamps sound like in mine...
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Brad Blackwood
euphonic masters

Bob Boyd

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Re: Where are those Sontecs?
« Reply #11 on: January 29, 2006, 11:27:48 PM »

I would love to hear a Sontec sometime.  Has anybody ever compared it to a Maselec MEA-2?  I sprung for one last summer and I love it.

I don't expect they are the same - just curious.
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David Glasser

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Re: Where are those Sontecs?
« Reply #12 on: January 30, 2006, 12:06:00 AM »

Bob Boyd wrote on Sun, 29 January 2006 21:27

I would love to hear a Sontec sometime.  Has anybody ever compared it to a Maselec MEA-2?  I sprung for one last summer and I love it.

I don't expect they are the same - just curious.


I used to have a Sontec 432 which I bought new. Sounded great. Started having repeated problems with it and burned up a couple op-amps. Burgess repaired it fairly quickly (!) but I was leery of it f**king up again so I sent it to my partner Charlie at our (original) studio in Virginia since he's nearer to the Sontec office. Naturally it's been trouble-free since then, but in the meantime I replaced it with a MEA-2. They do sound different - the MEA-2 is probably more neutral sounding but I've never found anything that I couldn't do equally well with either EQ. The Maselec is built much better than the Sontec and is way more reliable (and cheaper).

Sontec made a disc-cutting version with program and preview signal paths - this would be ideal to use in a surround setup for the front & rear L/R channels. I wish Maselec would offer a similar unit.
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David Glasser
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dcollins

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Re: Where are those Sontecs?
« Reply #13 on: January 30, 2006, 12:14:00 AM »

bblackwood wrote on Sun, 29 January 2006 20:11


There are several guys making replacement opamps: Steve Firlotte, Chris Muth (iirc), and Steve Haselton. Perhaps more. None of them, as far as I'm aware, sound exactly like the original HS1000 (which I love and use.


Everyone that has seen the schema of the "reverse engineered" HS-1000 had to have their eyebrows professionally lowered.

Must be a whole is greater than the sum of the parts thing...  They do sound good, and I would be interested to hear a fair comparison between it and the Maselec.

DC

Viitalahde

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Re: Where are those Sontecs?
« Reply #14 on: January 30, 2006, 02:38:02 AM »

Since Brad has a real one and I have something that was inspired by  the MEP-250A (this one uses Forssell JFET amps):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v240/virtalahde/Sontec_front.jpg

..It'd be pretty damn interesting to do a sound comparison! Say, the same kind of a treatment to show off the charasteristics. A deep low mid cut and a huge presence boost?
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Jaakko Viitalähde
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