Second hand cheap Rack gear

Axe_meister

So I've got a little home studio which is PC based with a 2in 2 out interface.
However I do have a 12U and a 4U rack sitting empty,
Which I like to fill with gear (more for looks really), bit was also thinking of upgrading my interface to a 4 or more in and out system.
So what old but good rack gear would you recommend that goes for peanuts so and so use both external gear as well as plugins, thinking mic preamps, compressors, EQs and lots of flashing lights 

octatonic

Frankly the good stuff costs money.
The pain in the ass factor is usually outweighed when you take into account round trip latency.

For instance, I have a DBX 266XL compressor.
It is a £100 unit and I had a spare stereo pair on my inserts so I chucked it in.
I've never used it as an insert- it mostly fills a blank space in the rack and means I don't have 4 XLRs dragging on the ground.
At some point I'll replace it with something that sounds better- probably a Fatso Jr.

The spendy stuff (Crane Song STC8, SSL Gbus Compressor, Distressor) gets used all the time.

The problem with many cheaper processors is that they can sound worse than many of the better plugins, which is why you are seeing loads of people move to ITB.
Personally I'd stick to things that don't exist as plugins.

That said, if you want the DBX then make me an offer.

Other cheap things to consider that you can't get in plugin form:

Lexicon Vortex
Focusrite Compounder

Musicwolf

Unless you are spending serious money I don't see any benefit to using outboard gear.

icu81b4

I too have a DBX 266 XL Stereo compressor/Gate which is surplus to requirements - Yours for £45 plus postage 

Stuckfast

I'd look for old live sound and broadcast gear. No-one is using analogue rack gear in those spheres any more so you can pick up things like compressors and EQs for peanuts. Look for brands like Midas, Klark Teknik, Ashly, Soundcraft, ARX, LA Audio, maybe Calrec or Audix or Glensound if you're lucky. They won't be full of character but they'll be well built and easy to use.

Winny_Pooh

Dont waste money on shite, get one of these:

https://www.thomann.de/gb/klark_teknik_76_kt.htm

https://m.thomann.de/gb/golden_age_project_premier_pre_73.htm?o=75&search=1597340090

spark240

A couple of rack power supplies with nice lights, a few cheap patch bays and you look good ;-)

octatonic

icu81b4 said:

I too have a DBX 266 XL Stereo compressor/Gate which is surplus to requirements - Yours for £45 plus postage 

Oi!

Caffeine_Vampire

A strange post but you're welcome to make an offer on the ART SGX I have listed.

Keefy

spark240 said:

A couple of rack power supplies with nice lights, a few cheap patch bays and you look good ;-)

I use the following pieces of rack equipment just about every day:
1. Behringer patch bay (unbalanced) - has lasted me 20 years so far.
2. Behringer rack mixer - just ordered a new one as I’ve worn out some of the mute switches on the one I bought 12 years ago.
3. DIY spring reverb built into an old Behringer 1U case.

I have had other fx units but sold them as they rarely got used. I also keep an eye on the classifieds here for interesting outboard kit but as a rule anything worth having is pretty spendy.

Axe_meister

Would and older dedicated but non-high end mic pre-amp be better than the average Roland or focusrite interface?

Winny_Pooh

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/188460/fs-gap-pre-73-dlx-studio-preamp#latest

digitalkettle

I haven’t listed them yet but I have an FMR RNP & RNC (plus rack mount kit) for sale.

Stuckfast

Axe_meister said:

Would and older dedicated but non-high end mic pre-amp be better than the average Roland or focusrite interface?

It depends what you mean by better.

There are basically two reasons for using an external preamp instead of the one in your interface:

(1) Better specs -- eg lower noise, wider gain range, lower THD, etc. You won't achieve this with an older low-end pre.

(2) Character -- the ability to saturate transformers or valves and get a bit of colour into the sound. Possible with cheap valve preamps (the ART rackmount one is not bad) or with something like the Golden Age Pre 73 mentioned above. Whether cheap gear will give you the right sort of character is another matter...

Axe_meister

Was really looking for bargain basement, more to make the home studio look the part, if anything good comes out, that You can actually use all the better

icu81b4

octatonic said:

icu81b4 said:

I too have a DBX 266 XL Stereo compressor/Gate which is surplus to requirements - Yours for £45 plus postage 

Oi!

Oops .... Sorry but it's been gathering dust for ages.

jmf1928

Old delays, analog or digital. Ensoniq dp/4, old rocktron stuff come to mind. Sometimes vintage TC stuff is quite reasonable