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Reviews For: Joe Meek ThreeQ channel strip

Category: Audio Accessories for Transmitter & Receiver

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Review Summary For : Joe Meek ThreeQ channel strip
Reviews: 1MSRP: 299
Description:
Mic pre with phantom power, optical compressor, three band EQ with parametric midrange. Powered by a wall wart, half rack space wide. Has XLR and TRS inputs, will take line level inputs and has two outputs as well as an effects 'insert' point.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.joemeek.com/threeq.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0014
KC2RGW Rating: 2008-07-08
So far so good, nice preamp Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Initial impression at this point.

Quality is solid, nice overall fit and finish. Nice pots and a very neat metallic racing green finish.

Wall wart power decouples the unit nicely. So far no RF issues running about 700W on 75m/40m/20m/2m.

Mic pre is punchy and what I would call "British" in that it is heavy in midrange emphasis. Just what I wanted for radio use. The EQ is fixed at 80Hz, parametric mid from 300-8k or so, and fixed at 12kHz. This is a bit limiting, but the quality of the pre makes it easy to get a very nice punchy and relatively flat response.

Being able to reduce the 300-400Hz range with most mics is pretty important for SSB audio anyway so it works out well.

If you want the FM DJ super bass sound, this isn't the one for you, you will want more channels of parametric EQ. The Q is pretty wide on the 80Hz so you can go to a +2-3db and start to warm up around 120Hz or so nice and mildly.

If you go to hyper boost the bottom with the 80Hz, you will be muddy. For a nice controlled and punchy "AM news man sound" this will do quite nicely.

The optical compressor has a leveling amplifier sort of feel. You can clip the tops gently or work your way into full compression. This comp lets you do anything from smooth and transparent vocal compression to extreme pumping effects. I'm very happy with this compressor, particularly for the price range, it's rather remarkable.

As with any compressor, take the time to play with the input level, threshold, attack and release. The interplay of all of these settings is key to the sound you want to derive.

The noise floor is very low for a piece of gear in this range too. The Audix OM-2 that I use it with has a very low output so a +30 on a pre-amp is where it needs to be to sound full. This mic pre does that nice and quietly without introducing hiss that many other solutions do in this price range.

My only nit picks would be, I'd love a second sweepable EQ range and a downward expander. Of course if I wanted to spend for a Symmetrix I'd have that ;-).

So far I give it a thumbs up.