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[trock]

I am curious

i don't want to ask which one is better? but i kind of am. Consider this to go with an 512 pre and an RNC. to be a front chain for vocal/acoustic guitar

anyway, is 800 bucks for one of these a good deal if it is in perfect shape??

also which of these 3 is worth the most ?

I know thw 550B is around 1100 and a 550A is about 1650 new??

the big questions is, what is the difference between a 550A and a 550??

thanks

[natpub]

http://gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?t=21622&page= 2&pp=30&highlight=api+550a

[trock]

i guess i did not knwo this

got this from the API tech i talked to

P.S. All of these eq's are unbalanced, so if you put a balanced signal into them your level will be about 6 dB low.

and got this from him, great service!

Regarding your 550, there is little difference between the 550 and the 550A. Circuitry-wise, they are the virtually the same, sonically they are the same. The only big difference is in the hi and low frequency selectors. The 550 has two less frequencies on these two bands than the 550A. The 550A was just the rirst revision of that original 550 so there really is not much difference. The 550B, however, is a whole different animal. It has 4 bands instead of three, plus it includes peak and shelf toggle switches. The 550B does not include the hi-pass/lo-pass switches. You can visit our website to see the 550A and 550B to see the differences between them and yours. As for service, you can call us any time and we can give you a Return Authorization number so we can fix your unit. Shop time is $110 an hour, plus parts cost.

[Eric Rudd]

Original 550a's have been known to be tinkered with also. Be sure to look at the insides before purchase to determine if everything is "stock."

Eric

[Bryson]

Watch out for the 550A-1 (says it on the back, but says 550A the face plate). It's definitely usable, but has a different circuit and sound than the original 550A (has one 2520 opamp vs. two in the orig). They (should) go for much less money too.

[J.J. Blair]

The 550B is not discrete, like the 550A1, no?

[Bryson]

The 'A' is discrete, the 'A-1' was served with chips.

[Fletcher]

I saw JJ's post over the weekend... and I was pretty sure that the 550b was indeed fully discrete... but I figured "what the hell" and waited until I got into the office on Monday to open one up... so I opened one up, and saw a pair of 2520 op-amps staring me in the face... [the 550A-1 had 1x 2520 and 1x 5534 IC chip].

[thestudio]

I believe the 550B has a different approach of switching in comparison to the 550A and the 2520 is not the same as the old 2520. Just like all new products cut as much cost out of R&D and manufacturing and sell for the highest price possible.  

[Fletcher]

Uhhhh, no.

All new manufacture doesn't cut costs, and I haven't found the new 2520's to sound significantly different than the old 2520's... not that they don't sound different, but not enough to radically change the character of the sound of the units... what will have more of an influence on the character of the sound will be shit like 20-30 year old capacitors in the audio path... that will have a profound effect on the character difference between new and old API stuff... more so than the current vs. "vintage" (old) 2520's [at least in my experience... YMMV]

[trock]

SON OF A BITCH!

Well to end this saga I found out the 550 i got had Avedis Opamps installed at Brent Averill, no problem since they are brand new and the guy told me this (i just wasn;t smart enough to really know what that meant, i thought Brent Averill had just done a check up or something)

Anyway i then asked the guy to send me the original API Opamps and he said he would, he told me they still worked fine but he liked the Avedis ones better IHO and so he sent them too me.

so 12 days have gone by and i thinnk , hmmmm i haven;t seen them, so i email him and he said, according to the UPS tracking they arrived on the 16th and were signed for by someone at your work (this is where i ship stuff sicne i am always here)

anyway i check, find the person and ask them and they say yeah i signed and set it on the pile of boxes in your office.

yep that PILE, the ones that got taken out to the trash later that day

so i have managed to throw away 2 2520 API OPamps for my vintage 550.

what a F'ing DAY!

[Coco]

  Start diggin. I took some garbage out, had my car keys in one hand, and my room mates car keys in the other (I had to move her car for the guy doing the roof on the house). Tossed the garbage in, went to move her car and realized I did not have her keys anymore. Shit! backtracked to the dumpster and after about 15 minutes of digging through the shitiest garbage ever (imagine 3 weeks worth of rotting garbage because of a city strike) I found the keys. Not that this compensates for the loss of your op amps, but it might make you feel better to laugh at my stupidity.