Australian Embassy: New Product Alert.

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2002 9:29 pm

Ah folks, a long long time ago when I was endeavouring to do what I could in my own humble way to help RO continue to be a "kick-arse" forum I was the Moderator of the now apparently defunct Failight Forum.
I used to like the personal touch up here, so I'm totally impressed to find that unilateral decisions are made without adequate consultation...ah well, that's one way to succeed I guess.

Anyway, back in those misty times of long ago I started an Australian Embassy post on the Fairlight Forum. This was because of several postings, flames, and attitudes up here re. not looking at anything that was not built in The Northern America's, Northern Europe or Japan.

Failight itself suffers from this problem. A DAW that puts so many DAW's to shame, yet market resistance - at the small studio level - fear of going for a great sound rather than the same sliced bread your neighbour is using, people believing that the Vari-Mu Compressor and manufacturers like Avalon originated in the States and not Australia. etc. etc. means that people tend not to do what they should - namely plonk their ears in front of it and make a serious, INFORMED, comparison.

So...don't believe me? Try me. I'll post links.

At the moment I have another Australian product sitting on my desk. It's called a 196 Vacuum Tube Mic preamp and it's made by Dave Peach of Peach Audio.

Now because of the above statements, most of you folk will never ever try these things. And even IF you did come acrosss them you'd head for those local (but quality) deli items without even stopping for a taste.

Shame really. These are designed by Dave. Made by Dave. Shipped by Dave. And it;s Dave you talk to on the phone.

I've had them for a week to demo. I was going to buy 2 and a mainframe power unit (also designed and built by Dave). I'm now going to buy 8. Which means financially I'm in deep shit. One sad result is that I won't be able to buy the Avalon and Manley stuff I wanted to get. But these are worth it. No EQ. No compressor. Just a tube mic pre. I've spent the last four days totally re-arranging my studio - I realised because these are so fuckin' cool I was going to have to arrange my studio around them - not the other way round. Ever come across a product that does that to you?
It's a great feeling.
Peach Audio. Not often I can feel sad and consider you people to be victims of gear deprivation...but with my own studio now being based on Peach and Telefunken mic pre's and the Fairlight Dream Series...it's cool...you just go about your business. Any Australians still around on RO...seriously..grab some of Dave's stuff before this motly bunch figure it out, re-locate Dave to the States and sell us back our own gear at US $ prices.....

Kind regards

Stedel.
Cool

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2002 1:21 pm

Stedel
I'm in France and I often buy things from the US so it wouldn't make much difference if I bought from Australia so please tell us where we can have more information about those preamps (internet,phone number,review)
Thanks

Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2002 12:34 pm

Hi Volodia.

Dave is currently working on his PDF's - should be out soon. You can contact Dave at:
peachaudio@bigpond.com

The only review so far has been in Australian Mag
"AudioTechnology" - but they don't have a website!!! I'll give a couple of quotes for you from the review:

"If you're one of those people out there still looking for superb design, hand made excellence and brilliant sound quality in your audio equipment AND you're prepared to pay for it, the Peach 196 Vacuum Tube series of modular micpreamps are rare gems indeed. These high voltahe mic pres are among the best money can buy and you would struggle to find a better product anywhere on earth.

In the short time I've had the Peach tube preamps I've recorded mainly vocals and guitars, and the mic pre I've predominantly compared it to has been a Neve 1073 module. For many the 1073 is one of the most highly regarded vintage modules money can buy. although not everyone agrees with the hype that surrounds them. Nevertheless the 1073 was used as a benchmark in my comparitive test and with a blindfold on their differences were very subtle. The Peach pre-amps were slightly ahead in a photo-finish, getting the nod from the judges for being a touch more transparent, a little more revealing of detail and slightly more defined in the bottom end. The valves gave the Peach preamps extraordinary resolutiom and smoothness beyond the scope of any solid-state unit.

The collective experience of those already using this Peach box seems to indicate that not only is it superb on vocals and guitars but it gives depth and resolution to just about everything it's applied to. I've spoken to many people to develop a kind of collective opinion, both to confirm my gut instinct and to understand what their strengths and weaknesses are and what their role is likely to be. What I've gleaned is that there seems to be unanimous praise for the preamps and no weaknesses of any significance. Either everybody's been brainwashed by the glow of the meters or it's simply the real deal. Certainly the argument usually goes that no-one bad mouths a product they've just spent thousands of dollars purchasing, but never have I found so many people so willing to tell of their recording tales. people are into this box, there's no doubt about that." ANDY STEWART.

The review was a two page review - and although the above may read like the normal hype you see in mags., as you can see there was a cautious. almost disbelief, about how good these things are.

I rang up a couple of people to talk to them about these units. TurtleRock Mastering Studio's in Sydney told me the only problem I'd have is IF they broke down (unlikely), because they're hand made by Dave, if he dies, I won't be able to find anybody as good as Dave to fix them. Dave has kindly told me he will do his best not to die, and modestly said that his stuff would be pretty easy to fix anyway.

As I said, Dave's working on getting some PDF's out
but you can contact him at the above email address.In the meantime I'll send you some stuff over in the next couple of days - photo's, specs etc. and a copy of the review.

These things are seriously cool!

Kind regards
Stedel

Cool

Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2002 4:39 am

Hi Stedel,
Thanks very much for your reply.I already have 1073 and the description of the DP preamp is mouth watering (is talking about sound like dancing about architecture?).I'm not scared about the fact it could break down cause I have a great tech at hand (he doesn't fear any equipment).I'll send an e-mail to Dave Peach and inquire.

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2002 9:38 am

Dave sent me all the information and it sure looks cool .Thanks again Stedel for spreading the good word .It would be cool actually if everyone talked about not so wellknown but great stuff.It would maybe deserve a thread on the producers/engineer forum.

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2002 2:11 pm

Hi Volodia.
Glad you got in contact with Dave. Dave is like Stephen Paul and others (such as Brauner mics) who build to quality not accountants - but this approach pays off in the end - and you'll get gear that will last you through decades.

I humbly recommend that you try and get your hands on Dave's stuff. What I said above is true... the 196's and a couple of Telefunken is what my front end is being based on. And your comment about new gear is apt...and the lack of knowledge about Australian contributions and expertise in Audio is something I obviously have a bit of a bee in my....
erm..bonnet about (although I don't wear headgear myself). Although I live in Australia I'm not Australian myself so it's not all patriotic flag waving I'm doing here.
Kind regards Cool

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