Gear Reviews

Issue #19

NO. 19

Pioneer: SR-202W Reverberation Amplifier

REVIEWED BY Steve Silverstein

Pioneer seems to have designed this unit to add spring reverb to a home stereo. It uses RCA connectors and aesthetically matches Pioneer home stereo components of the era. While it lacks professional connectors or power supply and can introduce noise, especially on quiet signals, it effectively...

NO. 19 Gear Review

TC Works: Spark XL

REVIEWED BY Barry Rudolph
September 15, 2000

Following on the heels of Spark 1.5, Spark XL is a new version for Pro Tools users who would like to use their TDM plug-ins inside of Spark. Spark 1.5 is a stereo, real- time audio editor with mastering processing tools for the MAC. XL adds the TDM FX window that allows up to four Pro Tools TDM...

NO. 19 Gear Review

Midiman: DMP2

REVIEWED BY Rich Hardesty
September 15, 2000

One thread that runs quite regularly through the PC-based recording newsgroups I monitor involves mic preamps. Not, so much pertaining to "which ones sound the best?" but more often- "uh, what do they do and why do I need one?" Desktop recording these days is increasingly made...

NO. 19 Gear Review

Trident: VFM Mixer

REVIEWED BY Steve Pogact
September 15, 2000

When studio recordists think of Trident, they envision the classic English console, a stately oak trimmed board, eleven feet long, suitable for the world's great studios and costing many tens of thousands of dollars. And most of the consoles bearing the triangular Trident logo live up to that...

NO. 19 Gear Review

Epiphone: EZ- Bender Guitar string- bending device

REVIEWED BY Pete Weiss
September 15, 2000

About five years ago I was one of the many folks who "rediscovered" the late Clarence White's super-cool faux- pedal steel guitar techniques with the Byrds and very much wanted to install a Parsons-White "B-Bender" in my old Telecaster. For those in the dark, a B-Bender is...

NO. 19 Gear Review

Royer: R-121 Ribbon Microphone

REVIEWED BY Steve Albini
September 15, 2000

The Royer microphone couldn't have come at a better time. With every electronic company in Christendom exploiting the availability of Chinese condenser mic capsules (and entire microphones) for OEM or rebranding, the market is absolutely flooded with nearly identical condenser mics. Their...

NO. 19 Gear Review

DBX: 386 Dual Vacuum Tube Preamp

REVIEWED BY Rob Lodes
September 15, 2000


More and more the computer is becoming a part of the studio. In many studios it has even replaced the tape machine. Because of this many companies are putting a lot of effort in to creating tools for getting good sound in and out of the computer. This is a challenging job because there are things...

NO. 19 Gear Review

CAD: VSM 1

REVIEWED BY Larry Crane
September 15, 2000

Several years ago I was looking around for a tube mic for my studio. There were very few "non-vintage" offerings out there, and I ended up buying a used Manley Cardiod Reference mic, which I never regretted. Nowadays there's quite a few tube mics on the market and they're...

NO. 19 Gear Review

Roland: VS-880EX digital multitrack

REVIEWED BY Sam Coomes
September 15, 2000

My interest in recording doesn't go much beyond recording myself and or my own band. Consequently, my studio is not intended to be useful to any other customer beside myself. I have been involved in recording in a wide variety of contexts for well over a decade, but come at it strictly from a...