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SD 633 expander


cmassey

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5 hours ago, cmassey said:

Kortwich VCP-M3...Pinknoise device...any others?

Good or bad comments appreciated...

I bought the three way Kortwich to use with a 633. It was excellent, very low noise and did everything it said on the box.

I bought the six way to use with the Mini Solice and once again it was faultless.

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Indeed that is an option!  Although it is an early 4S so would have to go across the pond for the direct out mod!  Hang up for me is, does it ride all the time with the 633 in a bag, or only when I am stationary and have time to stop and grab it and integrate it into the system?   The Kortwich looks as if it could stay with the 633 fulltime...

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That's exactly the issue for me.  I don't want the bag version to be any bigger or heavier, absolutely.  Attaching addons like this thing (or CL6 or CL8 to 688 or 788) take too much messing around to do on set on the spur of the moment, but hooking up a small mixer to 4-6 would be pretty quick given a dedicated cable set and internal batteries.  Can you use the Kortwich thing w/o it being physically bolted to the mixer? 

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The Kortwich box is a lot smaller than a 4-mic SQN, and you'd have to get a stock SQN modded for direct out, and all the SQNs I see used these days are really beat...  The Pinknoise is maybe less cool looking but has full-size XLR inputs, a multi-core direct out cable with a breakout and seems to be a little cheaper.  Since I sort of see this as an occasional or "what-if"-use kind of thing this is good.  It would be interesting to know how the Pinknoise pres compare with Sound Devices....  I notice there is no mention of input limiters (a la SD), but it will take internal batteries--cool when needing to deploy this thing fast, or temporarily.

 

12 hours ago, Malcolm Davies Amps CAS said:

I bought the three way Kortwich to use with a 633. It was excellent, very low noise and did everything it said on the box.

I bought the six way to use with the Mini Solice and once again it was faultless.

Malcolm--do you know anyone using the Pinknoise box for the 633?  Comparison with Kortwich?

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Weren't the old mono SQNs 3 input?  Then there was a "2S" model that was 2 mic/xlr and 2 line ins (with smaller knobs)?  All good stuff--in the Really Old Days I had a crusty old Hollywood mixer tell me that the SQNs were the only mini mixer quiet enough for feature film sound (in the days of the Shure M67 etc).

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Weren't the old mono SQNs 3 input?

Yes, sort of. The SQN-3 Type M has three microphone inputs but also a line input. One could mix four sources so long as one of them was line level. 

The front panel had only three faders (plus a master control) so actively mixing the line level source would have been tricky; that level was controlled with a small knurled knob on the side, adjacent to the XLR inputs. It would really have been suitable only for a signal that could be set and forgotten or, at least, changed infrequently.

Still, it's a remarkably capable mixer considering both its size and age. I don't know when it was first introduced but I recall it was both available and enjoying a good reputation in 1970 or 1971. Performance is excellent and the build is "without equal." I have one (it's on my desk as I write) that I've not been able to part with in spite of the absence of any need for it. I loan it out from time to time and it never fails. The only downside is the weight; it's three pounds on my postal scale without batteries.

David

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I have a Wendt X2 if I need additional mic inputs on the 633 - two extra channels are enough for me, and the unit is pretty small size wise, and the downside of the poor metering scale is no problem since I use the meters of the 633. A MixPre would also be a great fit, but I got the Wendt for about a third of a used MixPre.

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14 hours ago, Philip Perkins said:

The Kortwich box is a lot smaller than a 4-mic SQN, and you'd have to get a stock SQN modded for direct out, and all the SQNs I see used these days are really beat...  The Pinknoise is maybe less cool looking but has full-size XLR inputs, a multi-core direct out cable with a breakout and seems to be a little cheaper.  Since I sort of see this as an occasional or "what-if"-use kind of thing this is good.  It would be interesting to know how the Pinknoise pres compare with Sound Devices....  I notice there is no mention of input limiters (a la SD), but it will take internal batteries--cool when needing to deploy this thing fast, or temporarily.

 

Malcolm--do you know anyone using the Pinknoise box for the 633?  Comparison with Kortwich?

Phillip, I personally don't know anyone using the 'Pink Noise' one. It wasn't available when I had the 633's. (both of which came from Pink). I'll put the feelers out on the UK groups and find out who uses one. I would suspect that it will be very good as Pinknoise aren't just box sellers. John McCombie was a highly respected recordist before he changed track to selling gear so anything he has a hand in would get my vote of approval.

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Not sure why you'd want to mix preamp manufacturers? Isn't that introducing the potential for lightly "off color" sound even if it's still excellent?
My backup 302 does the trick for this application.

Even one manufacturer can have different sounding preamps. Like SD with their 7 series pres which sound different than the 6 series. Don't know about 302 and 633, but they are quite a few years seperated in terms of development, so they will likely be different
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7 hours ago, Constantin said:


Even one manufacturer can have different sounding preamps. Like SD with their 7 series pres which sound different than the 6 series. Don't know about 302 and 633, but they are quite a few years seperated in terms of development, so they will likely be different

Yes, surely you're right as the preamps from the 302 still sound nicer (to my ears) than the 633's even if not technically better by spec.

4 hours ago, Philip Perkins said:

302/442/552 sound diff from 7xx, 6xx for sure.  Former have trafos, latter not, and that's just the beginning....788 pres are different from 744/22/02 even within 7xx series.

Thanks for the specifics Phillip. I use all the same brand of home stereo speakers too (old Advents). My audiophile teachers probably fostered the "keep it similar" concept.

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Was curious if anyone has experience using a 302 vs mix pre d for this application.

I'm currently using a 302 in front of inputs 3/4 on my 744 - and have been thinking about moving to a mix pre d for a lighter / smaller profile in the bag (although on paper there doesn't seem to be that much of a difference in weight).

Thought I'd see if anyones had first hand experience with these mixers in front of 6xx or 7xx series, and if there are benefits in the mix pre d for a smaller footprint.

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On 13 December 2016 at 7:56 PM, cmassey said:

Indeed that is an option!  Although it is an early 4S so would have to go across the pond for the direct out mod!  Hang up for me is, does it ride all the time with the 633 in a bag, or only when I am stationary and have time to stop and grab it and integrate it into the system?   The Kortwich looks as if it could stay with the 633 fulltime...

In weight alone it's a no brainer. The Kortwich is only a few ounces against the SQN's few pounds.

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