@Cav Emp did you ever get gear from Sweetwater?
They do have a store card that you can finance larger purchases over 2 years, at 0% I might add.
Not that you want more plastic.. just a thought in case you're not sure buying used..

I tend to think musicians/prodcuers mostly take care of their stuff, especially if they paid a pretty penny for it,
and know they will someday let it go... don't know if GS has any purchase protection such as ebay might tho...

as always.. Caveat Emptor my friend..

 

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 19, 2016

You'd be better off saving up your cash for a while and maybe getting a Dangerous 2-Bus+ or a mastering compressor. Or get a UAD rig for the same money, with the extra bonus of being able to buy more plugs for it down the line. While a compressor plug isn't going to sound like the real thing (though the UADs sound awful close), it's still going to do the work or a compressor.

 

Yeah I've bought from them. Not a huge fan. They charge not a penny under suggested retail price and justify it with making a big deal about their tech support, but all I got from their support was unsolicited surveys/calls and the one or two times I wrote to them I was ignored. I'm a B&H/Musiciansfriend guy now.

As a rule I don't go into debt over gear/plugins. I already spend too much. If I allow myself to finance stuff it'll end in bankruptcy

but yeah, in my experience people take care of their gear. I don't have a lot of hangups about buying used stuff. My Push 1 was used. worked and looked perfect.

 

My first thought was this sounds like a great tool to have in the studio or on stage as an effect. It is versatile and no "one trick pony" as it has many shades of niceness about it to help beef up a signal or even to decimate it. I watched more than a few of the videos and it confirmed to me in my mind that it certainly would be a cool thing to have around. However, the whole hype about it sounding like Lennon plugging directly in to the board at Abby Road made me scratch my head. It sounds nothing to me like that at all. It is way more gravely and breaks up rather badly when pushed hard, more so than anything that I ever heard coming out of there. Also, it doesn't sound Neve-like to me either like all the hype and people pushing that line, and when I looked and saw that they use Lundahl transformers I then realized why my ears were confused. Yes, old Focusrite boards were were full of them, but when Rupert Neve began creating Neve gear he used Marinair, Carnhill and St. Ives which I believe is now all owned by Carnhill. There are not so subtle differences of which I believe am hearing. None of this makes any real difference though. It sounds pretty sweet to me as long as it isn't pushed hard. Voices get LARGE, basses become defined when dialed in correctly and as a mono drum room smasher it sounded decent. But to get to your question about using it on the mix buss, my first instinct would be not to unless all you for is dirty rock or heavy stuff. Every time, and let me tell you, I watched and listened to at least ten or 12 videos because I wanted to be as informed about the Color Box as I could be because I personally never had the opportunity to use one and don't know anyone who has, there was something about it that wasn't smooth and silky. I am feeling that there is nothing delicate about it if used in the capacity that you wish it to be, more of an all in, black or white type of thing. As an effect, this thing rocks. With your 4-710 you can and will decide how much color you would like to paint with, more when heating up those tubes, or less when going for a cleaner sound. With the Color Box you are seemingly only committed to down and dirty, at least to my ears. What I did want to tell you before I forget yet again, is a fellow in Chile who makes great stuff at insanely inexpensive price points. People rave about the quality. He makes a 2buss compressor that suppisedly amazing. The problem is that he has been likened to a horrible businessman and has irritated a bunch of people because of tardy orders and a few other little things. He seems like a good dude though. If your country and Chile have a good relationship there might not be duty on top of shipping costs which would be a bonus. This is his place: http://stamaudio.com/page/home-12/ I hope that I helped more than hindered your sonic journey.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to be thorough about this topic. You are really helping me for sure, but I bet that you are also clearing it up for a lot of people here. Time to take a break from this wild goose chase. Quality stuff costs money. It's the way it's always been and it's something that not even Chinese manufacturing can dispute. I know for sure that the next big dent in my economy is not going to be a preamp, audio interface, mics, or speakers. I know I'll go for a top notch two-bus compressor. First, I'll have to pay off my 4-710d, so it's going to be a while. Once again, thank you very much.

True. I really thought I could skip using plugins on the two-bus with a budget mindset. Now I get to accept that a top quality plugins is the budget version of high class hardware, with the upside of flexibility. I wasn't going to invest in more UAD plugins, but I guess I'll shoot for a UAD Shadow Hills mastering compressor at the end-of-year sale if the discount gets juicy.

Once again, thank you all for your replies.