F-X2B vs. Others

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Author Message redcloud Member Username: redcloud Post Number: 96 Registered: 5-2011 Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2012 - 5:24 pm:    I have been looking for a nice preamp and have been considering the Pope MPP-2 or the PJB P-2 among others. I had not considered Alembic's preamp simply as an oversight. Nevertheless, does the FX-2B still hold its own among the feature laden preamps around. I really like the ability for stereo/mono. I would be connecting to a QSC PLX1804 and had thought I could run each of the preamp's channels thru each of the power amp's channels and then thru 2 different cabs. sonicus Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 2234 Registered: 5-2009 Posted on Wednesday, January 04, 2012 - 6:01 pm:    HI , Yes with the Alembic F-2B you can run discrete stereo or dual channel as some folks prefer to call it and also have a mono channel comprised form both of your channels on the back of the unit as well. I have 2 older F-2B's and LOVE them ! If you need 2 balanced outs to a recording board or a PA you can use 2 Alembic F1X preamps and get awesome results as well . I have done this and was also very pleased. edwin Senior Member Username: edwin Post Number: 1107 Registered: 5-2002 Posted on Saturday, January 07, 2012 - 10:08 am:    I've played with a Pope preamp for a bit while setting up a friend's rig. I thought it didn't have near as much character as a F-2B. It all depends on what sort of tone you are going for. I go between the Alembic and an Eden Navigator. While the Navigator has a ton of features, that doesn't make the Alembic inferior as you don't need a lot of features if you get a great sound with the features you have. I spent a number of years with various pres, including the Yamaha PB1 and a Furman PQ3, thinking I needed a super flexible parametric EQ to get the sound I was looking for. One of the guys at the studio I was working at had an F2B that he wasn't using so I scooped it up for a song and discovered how great a tone it was and quickly didn't miss all of the knobs. redcloud Member Username: redcloud Post Number: 97 Registered: 5-2011 Posted on Saturday, January 07, 2012 - 2:16 pm:    Thanks Sonicus and Edwin. If I didn't contemplate cascading, would the FX-1 be a better choice. I already have a PJB P-1 that does biamping and stereo. benson_murrensun Senior Member Username: benson_murrensun Post Number: 568 Registered: 5-2007 Posted on Monday, January 09, 2012 - 11:41 am:    Ah, the venerable Yamaha PB-1! I still have one, and it still sounds good. jcdlc72 Intermediate Member Username: jcdlc72 Post Number: 134 Registered: 11-2009 Posted on Monday, January 09, 2012 - 4:19 pm:    PB-1 owner here, been enjoying it for some good 20 years... bigredbass Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 1802 Registered: 9-2002 Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012 - 10:50 pm:    While you guys are atting this around, anybody have experience with a Universal LA610 Mk2? The idea of a preamp / channel strip with a dedicated compressor is starting to interest me. Avalon 737? J o e y bigredbass Senior Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 1803 Registered: 9-2002 Posted on Thursday, January 12, 2012 - 10:51 pm:    While you guys are batting this around, anybody have experience with a Universal LA610 Mk2? The idea of a preamp / channel strip with a dedicated compressor is starting to interest me. Avalon 737? J o e y sonicus Senior Member Username: sonicus Post Number: 2269 Registered: 5-2009 Posted on Friday, January 13, 2012 - 1:29 am:    I have used a Teletronix /UA LA-2A in a studio years ago and my teacher had a Fairchild 670 , what a beast that thing was ! In my own bass rig I experimented with a Symetrix CL-100 and a Symetrix 525. Recently I prefer playing live without a compressor ,but my trends are constantly changing. I can write however that I really like this Alembic signal path ; IN-2 to SF-2 to F-2B to a Crest Power Amp edwin Senior Member Username: edwin Post Number: 1112 Registered: 5-2002 Posted on Friday, January 13, 2012 - 8:53 am:    Wow, you can get a year's college tuition for one of the 670s these days. Great compressor! I've gone the Symetrix route years back and was always disappointed. For less expensive options, there are some classic dbx boxes and also the FMR Audio compressors and limiters. I've been using the compressor built in to my Eden Navigator a bit, but I'm thinking of going back to the F2B setup. jzstephan New Username: jzstephan Post Number: 6 Registered: 1-2012 Posted on Friday, January 20, 2012 - 8:12 am:    My favorite Bass front end is the Manley Vox Box. It is a tube preamp followed by a tube compressor and tube EQ and finally a tube limiter. The compressor is based on an LA2A and the EQ is based on the Pultec EQP-1. Great recording chain: just plug into the instrument input on the front. A little bit of compression, a little bit of limiting, and a touch of EQ and its done. Built to 1950's construction standards; it'll be around for your grandchildren!