Exactly.... It doesn't seem to make sense to un-vintage a vintage design. Isn't it being like a vintage unit the whole point of re-issuing a vintage device???
@steppbrooEFT Yeah, i guess the idea might be that their potential customers like the idea of vintage gear but don't really want vintage gear. Certainly stranger things going on in the world with people's thinking these days so it's possible I suppose. If I want say vintage single coil guitar pickups I realize that there may be buzz or if I want to buy a vintage inspired ribbon mic I expect that it isn't going to have great high frequency response unless I boost it considerably with eq but that's my thinking. Don't try to sell me noiseless guitar pickups and tell me they are vintage 1950s pickups.
Hi, its a good and valid question. So, when we made our first and closest reproductions of the A-series UTC parts, what we were seeinig was some odd 'shelving' eq responses, of only a dB or so, it was subtle... barely audible but very visible on a sweep measurement. Its the sort of thing that would have definitely generated A LOT more inquiries and concerns for those who noticed it (visually, and yes, people will do that, haha) than if it 'did not' have that response... so we really had no choice, I felt, but to correct for that. There was actually a tiny bit of EQ happening in both directions, we were seeing a bit of LF loss due to capacitative coupling between the 2 sides of the transformer, and a little bit of HF loss due to the metallurgy of the laminations (we suspect)... We essentially made changes to extend and flatten out the FR in both directions. I don't believe those issues contributed a lot to the 'tone' of the original part; I think the tone has more to do with harmonic content and its very high headroom/input tolerances, etc. Bear in mind, the original part we modeled was used in, among other things, phono playback, and never designed to be a direct box transformer (because such things didn't really exist yet)... so you're talking about something that a whole lot of EQ (RIAA curve) was already being applied to somewhere else... Likely they were correcting with EQ to some degree initially... and since we didn't have a built in EQ/tone control, we needed to correct on the transformer. After all, I want people to be able to still capture reference-quality direct tracks that are as un-manipulated as possible. So, I view the UTC part as our initial 'muse' and what we took from that was the general construction technique, the oversize/overkill approach, and the high headroom design; but what we landed on was more modern in terms of performance... best of both worlds, perhaps. If someone does desire the exact original part with all of its eccentricities, my friends over at Audioscape make a limited run of boxes using NOS original UTC parts, and I have no problem recommending them for those who want that extra bit of vintage artifacts/flavor. They do great work. For us, since we were making this in quantity and our goal was to make a reference flat direct box, we could not go that route. -Chad
Durable housing is true, but will the transformer as a heavy component stay in place if it falls from a shelf? Will the sockets be safe and easy to replace when somebody kicks the jacks on a stage? I would prefer separated sockets or at least two or three separated boards inside.
The Vintage Direct is built to last. If you'd like to see some shots of the internals to evaluate the build quality, check out the brochure! avantone-cms.s3.amazonaws.com/8d26e0f5-b250-4836-bd18-581d26338b16/United-VintageDirect-Brochure.pdf
Hi, the transformer is secured by an internal bracket, essentially a U-clamp, that holds the transformer to the PCB. It will withstand a fall, we actually tested for this. -Chad
No demo?
Very cool, but what if I actually want the vintage non-linear frequency response...
Exactly.... It doesn't seem to make sense to un-vintage a vintage design.
Isn't it being like a vintage unit the whole point of re-issuing a vintage device???
I'm guessing it sounded a bit far off from the source signal that building it the way it was is a big risk...for sales.
@steppbrooEFT Yeah, i guess the idea might be that their potential customers like the idea of vintage gear but don't really want vintage gear.
Certainly stranger things going on in the world with people's thinking these days so it's possible I suppose.
If I want say vintage single coil guitar pickups I realize that there may be buzz or if I want to buy a vintage inspired ribbon mic I expect that it isn't going to have great high frequency response unless I boost it considerably with eq but that's my thinking.
Don't try to sell me noiseless guitar pickups and tell me they are vintage 1950s pickups.
Hi, its a good and valid question. So, when we made our first and closest reproductions of the A-series UTC parts, what we were seeinig was some odd 'shelving' eq responses, of only a dB or so, it was subtle... barely audible but very visible on a sweep measurement. Its the sort of thing that would have definitely generated A LOT more inquiries and concerns for those who noticed it (visually, and yes, people will do that, haha) than if it 'did not' have that response... so we really had no choice, I felt, but to correct for that. There was actually a tiny bit of EQ happening in both directions, we were seeing a bit of LF loss due to capacitative coupling between the 2 sides of the transformer, and a little bit of HF loss due to the metallurgy of the laminations (we suspect)... We essentially made changes to extend and flatten out the FR in both directions. I don't believe those issues contributed a lot to the 'tone' of the original part; I think the tone has more to do with harmonic content and its very high headroom/input tolerances, etc. Bear in mind, the original part we modeled was used in, among other things, phono playback, and never designed to be a direct box transformer (because such things didn't really exist yet)... so you're talking about something that a whole lot of EQ (RIAA curve) was already being applied to somewhere else... Likely they were correcting with EQ to some degree initially... and since we didn't have a built in EQ/tone control, we needed to correct on the transformer. After all, I want people to be able to still capture reference-quality direct tracks that are as un-manipulated as possible. So, I view the UTC part as our initial 'muse' and what we took from that was the general construction technique, the oversize/overkill approach, and the high headroom design; but what we landed on was more modern in terms of performance... best of both worlds, perhaps.
If someone does desire the exact original part with all of its eccentricities, my friends over at Audioscape make a limited run of boxes using NOS original UTC parts, and I have no problem recommending them for those who want that extra bit of vintage artifacts/flavor. They do great work. For us, since we were making this in quantity and our goal was to make a reference flat direct box, we could not go that route.
-Chad
Durable housing is true, but will the transformer as a heavy component stay in place if it falls from a shelf? Will the sockets be safe and easy to replace when somebody kicks the jacks on a stage? I would prefer separated sockets or at least two or three separated boards inside.
The Vintage Direct is built to last. If you'd like to see some shots of the internals to evaluate the build quality, check out the brochure!
avantone-cms.s3.amazonaws.com/8d26e0f5-b250-4836-bd18-581d26338b16/United-VintageDirect-Brochure.pdf
Hi, the transformer is secured by an internal bracket, essentially a U-clamp, that holds the transformer to the PCB. It will withstand a fall, we actually tested for this. -Chad
No hpf? :(
Being unable to see his arms makes me wonder why his hands are right in front of his face…
had a jacket on... was very cold in there that day. haha