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Ive been using the Manley Vari Mu for a short time now,and am amazed of the tonal quality.
It was well worth the money spent.
Im almost there Kurt!
Thanks for the help John.
Im sure Ill have a dozen or so more questions on the unit at a later dategotta do my homework first,before I ask away 8-)

Comments

anonymous Sun, 09/04/2005 - 21:08

Disper wrote: Anyone compared this to a groove tubes glory comp? I it is a variable mu unit too...

Thanks..
Dave

i cant say I have,but Im sure someone will respond to this one.
I must have researched for a month solid as to which comp I was going to dive into,had polls going in all kinds of audio forums,asked several great enginneers here at R.O.------the winner was the Manley---------------I do however;plan to hopefully pick up a CraneSong by next yr.
Ive heard good things form the "brick"preamp from groove tubes,but Ive never heard about the glory comp.

anonymous Mon, 09/05/2005 - 11:39

Disper wrote: Well i'm sure the Manley is killer... what a score..
I use the fairchild on my uad-1 card, i put it on the output bus, but a real mu unit .. wow!!
Grats...
D

Thanks-------Ill really be happier once Ive learned exactly how to use it-----there really isnt much to it----but like anything else,it takes some time----what I should of done is,just borrowed 10g from the bank,bought a tube tech-Manley,millinium,cranesong,alan smart, etc....that would of been great!!! :lol: :lol:

alexaudio Thu, 09/08/2005 - 21:18

Just to comment - I think the Manley is a fine unit, but one should look at the intended usage. I sold our Manley about 18 months ago and picked up a Millennia Media Twin-Com instead. Much more suited for acoustic instrumentation and mastering than the Manley. Manley is a good piece of other genres such as rock, grunge, etc. Just thought I would add that. Personally, I am not a fan of the product, as it greatly colors the sound, but then again, I am a purest for acoustic music recording and my resume reflects that.

anonymous Thu, 09/08/2005 - 21:41

alexaudio wrote: Just to comment - I think the Manley is a fine unit, but one should look at the intended usage. I sold our Manley about 18 months ago and picked up a Millennia Media Twin-Com instead. Much more suited for acoustic instrumentation and mastering than the Manley. Manley is a good piece of other genres such as rock, grunge, etc. Just thought I would add that. Personally, I am not a fan of the product, as it greatly colors the sound, but then again, I am a purest for acoustic music recording and my resume reflects that.

I considered the "deep coloration" of the Manley before I purchased it,and was fare warned about the characteristics of the unit,I play some rock--not grung(thats a fact),Im happy with the unit,and hopefully by this time next yr,I plan on adding a Cranesong.
This is my 1st high end unit,and at the present time,am enjoying the shit out of it :wink:

anonymous Thu, 09/08/2005 - 21:47

Massive Mastering wrote: Oh, but it's such a nice color... 8)

True, though - Not the piece for everything, but when it's in the pocket, it almost seems that nothing else will do.

Roger that John!
Id love to get my hands on a Crane,but the Manleys the tool for now.
Im in the process of ridding myself of gear that Ive out grown,to move on to bigger and better things.

Good job on the Cranesong adventure John :wink:

Albert Mon, 09/12/2005 - 08:21

alexaudio wrote: Just to comment - I think the Manley is a fine unit, but one should look at the intended usage. I sold our Manley about 18 months ago...

I had a similar experience with the Manley. I bought it and even had the T-bar mod put in, but it just didn't do it for me on any level for my music so I sold it. A quality piece of gear, well built and sounds excellent, but not the answer for everyone by any stretch. The T-bar mod improves the unit greatly in my opinion.

Albert Wed, 09/14/2005 - 07:53

Basically, the tubes in the early production Vari-Mu's became rare and Manley had to replace them with different tubes. However, many people felt the original units sounded better. So Manley came up with a tube replacement called the t-bar mod to get the unit ot sound more like the original.

You can read about the T-bar mod on the Manley web site, teh various serial numbers, etc.

I found the t-bar mod to make the Vari-Mu sound a lot better to my ears, and it also smoothed out the response a great deal. The stock model has a certain squishiness that you can hear happening around 6db or so of compression, but with the t-bar mod the compression is smooth the whole range. I found the tone to be much more appealing as well.

Those were my reactions to the t-bar mod, I did feel it improved the unit. But still, for me it just wasn't the right thing to have in my rack. It's a great unit though and for many people it will be a wonderful thing to have.