I basically love my Langevin DVC, great preamp. But the limiter is the touchiest dang thing and I thought I would beg for advice.

I've never gotten to the point where I can dial in the limiter and and know that it will be just perfect. I love the sound I get if I play with it and watch it like a hawk. But dang it's hard to dial in for different mics and different vocalists.

A couple of problems: First the VU meters react completely differently when the limiter is in or bypassed (this is even when the meter is on "output"). I'm ready to put gaffer tape over them. Second, when the limiter is on it seems to have a big effect on tone even when the reduction and gain are all the way down. I'm sure this is dependent on the mic, the vocalist, and the input setting, but I have not figured this out. Third thing: all of the control are highly nonlinear. They all have a hot spot where all the action is.

Last week my alt country group was working on some new songs and we recorded them as scratch tracks. I'm playing bass - so I'm twisting the knobs, hitting F12 and playing until the song is done. (We didn't even monitor the recordings -just played through the PA.) I thought I'd throw the limiter on with very little reduction - specifically because I would not be monitoring. Gawd what a mess. Cramped, squashed sound. I'd post clips, but Catherine would kill me. (She was under attack by the Blacksburg pollen monster, and this just made things worse.) After a couple of songs I gave up and turned the limiter off and listened to the beautiful DVC sound. I'll keep the preamp even if I never switch the limiter out of bypass again, but when I have it dialed in right the limiter is great.

So I'm begging for advice - other than flipping the bypass switch or giving up playing bass.