There was a time that the only way you could get a mic preamp was to plug a microphone into a massive console in a recording studio. This, as you can imagine, left a lot of people out of the recording playground. Later, someone decided there needed to be a mic preamp that engineers could use without needing a console. Either that, or engineers wanted to able to have several ‘flavors’ of preamp at their disposal. Even later still, recording and mixing moved into the computer and people just wanted clean preamps that could get their signal into the computer.
With the movement to mixing in the box, people began searching for a way to emulate the warmth and character that classic microphone preamps were known for. Suddenly, people realized they were missing the depth and presence of hardware units. The music industry began making magic boxes that would give studios and home engineers alike the warmth and depth of a classic console without breaking the bank and without taking up precious real estate. Additionally, these magic boxes would include basic EQ and a compressor. Welcome to the world of the channel strip! I’ve used several channels strips, but never really had access to a boutique recording channel until now.
Enter the Tegeler Vari Tube Recording Channel
Tegeler Audio Manufaktur, the brainchild of Michael Krusch, is a small company based in Berlin. They specialize in boutique audio gear that not only looks good, but sound great. I just had the pleasure of trying out one of their newest piece of gear…the Vari Tube Recording Channel; a 3U, 19” rack mount channel strip that includes a tube preamp, passive EQ, and not one but two compressor sections. Let’s take a look and see what’s what.
Opening the VTRC was like opening a crate sent by the indomitable Dr. Jones. It literally was a wooden crate with the Tageler logo burned into the wood on the crate lid. It was very exciting opening this bad boy. Tegeler sets the VTRC for the power requirements of your region, so it was basically ready to go when it arrived. It did, however, come with a European lead, so you may have to supply your own IEC cable that fits your outlets. Additionally, the crate contained the manual.
[NOTE: It has to be said that the “manual” is only a very short introduction to what each knob and switch does. Tegeler have assumed that, if you’ve purchased the VTRC, you already know a thing or two about preamps, EQ’s and compressor operation.]
The VTRC itself comes nicely protected in foam. No, not Styrofoam as many companies are prone to use. Teleger packaged the VTRC in the kind of foam you would see sold by Auralex or another similar company. Very posh, indeed! Let’s take a look and see what the unit itself is made of.
The Preamp
The front panel is laid out from left to right with the preamp section, the low boost EQ section, the mid cut EQ section, the high boost section, and finally the compressor section. The preamp section of the Vari Tube allows you to go from a clean, detailed sound to a fat, tube-driven vintage sound. It features a tube input-stage and a gain control. Both knobs are very chunky and feel good in your hands. They both feature stepped control, allowing easily repeatable settings or matching should you need a stereo pair of these units. A combo-jack input can be found just below the input and gain knobs. And, finally, a switch resides beside the combo jack allowing you to switch from microphone to the line input.
The EQ Section
The EQ section of the VTRC is passive and is very similar in function and layout to a Pultec. The first knob in this section is a low frequency selector that ranges from 80Hz to 1kHz. Just below that is the boost knob.
Next is the mid frequency cut selector. It ranges from 200Hz to 7kHz and features a cut knob just below it that is labeled from 10 to 0. If you’ve never used a Pultec, this might initially be confusing to you. Just remember that this section cuts mid frequencies. And since the frequencies overlap the low boost frequencies, you can get that lovely resonant peak that works miracles on kick drums and bass guitars (the Pultec kick trick).
We now come to the final section, the high boost selection. The range on this one is from 1.5kHz all the way up to 24kHz (in case you want to make dogs in your neighborhood howl) and this section also has a boost knob.
Below the EQ knobs is a selection of switches. First is the standard +48V phantom power switch. Next is a Low Cut switch that offers 80Hz and 160Hz cuts for cutting unnecessary rumble. It works as expected. I’m embarrassed to admit that it took me a couple of seconds to figure out what the next switch was. When I originally glanced at it, I only noticed a ‘0’ under the switch. (This is one of the hazards of playing with a new toy when it’s way past your normal bedtime!) I looked again and noticed the ‘180’ label, which instantly told me this was a phase switch. Duh!
The next two switches were unexpected, but very welcome, features of the VTRC’s EQ section. As I said earlier, I have very little experience with boutique channel strips, so didn’t know about these. The first switch is simply a Bypass for the EQ section. I would never have thought of that on my own, but it makes perfect sense. When you start eqing, it’s very easy to forget where you started and this simple switch allows you to disengage the EQ, so you can hear how far you’ve gone. I expect this in a plug-in EQ, but was pleasantly surprised by it here. Silly me!
The final switch in the EQ section is an order selector. It allows you to put the EQ before the compressor or the compressor before the EQ. Again, a really cool feature that surprised me on a hardware unit, but made perfect sense.
The Compressor Section
The Compressor Section of the VTRC is unique and interesting. It features only two knobs and three switches. The knobs are: Compression (the amount of compression applied) and Output (the makeup gain). The switches are: Varitube, Opto and Speed.
The Varitube and Opto switches either turn on or bypass the compressors in the VTRC and the Speed gives you the option of a fast attack or a slow attack. You can also set it to Auto. I’ll get into the compressor a little more in a minute.
The VTRC also has the ability to work as a de-esser. The signal in the VTRC goes through the EQ regardless of whether it’s active or bypassed. So, when bypassed, you can use the EQ as a frequency-dependent control for the compressor side-chain. It’s pretty easy to use.
To the right of the compressor section is a large soft-yellow VU meter. It works well and actually has several functions, which are dependent of the final switch to its immediate right. The Meter switch determines the function of the meter and allows selection between:
- Preamp (shows how much signal is coming in to the preamp)
- EQ (shows the volume effect of EQ changes)
- Compress (shows how much gain reduction is happening in the compressors)
- Output (how much program volume is going out of the unit)
This thing really does feel well built. In fact it’s built like a tank. I never got the feeling that any of the switches or knobs was in danger of breaking. I would use this strip confidently and would expect it to last for years. The only thing I wonder about is the pretty blue front panel. It feels as though a vinyl sticker was put on the front that features the graphics and labels. I may be wrong, but I’m thinking that, over time in a warm rack, this might start to peel and leave you with no labels at all. On the positive side of that thought: if it did ever peel off, a new one could surely be applied to replace the old one. Again, I may be way off on this and it might never be an issue.
In Use
The preamp in this channel strip is warm and smooth sounding. I have a mic or two that are typically brittle-sounding in every interface I’ve ever used. I know that’s a shortcoming of the mics. Run through the VTRC preamp, these mics sounded like completely different (and much higher quality microphones than they actually are. Overdriving the preamp add some beautiful harmonic distortion that sounds so pleasing to the ear that I suddenly thought I was using one of my more boutique mics. I’m seriously taken with the sound of the preamp. The one place where the warmth of the preamp was a little too much was when paired with a tube mic. It may be obvious to most, but when you combine a tube preamp and a tube microphone, the resulting sound can be very dark. This works in some applications, but typically may be too dark for most people’s tastes. It should be mentioned that there was plenty of gain on the preamp and my SM7 and ribbon both sounded great through the VTRC.
The EQ section is passive and sounds very nice as well. As mentioned before each section overlaps the others, so you can dial in some nice resonance by getting the bands setup very close to each other and boosting one section while cutting in the next. This can add some very nice character that works very well on basses and kicks (in the low/mid sections) and on vocals and guitars and such (in the high/mid sections. These EQs allows for some pretty extreme settings without sounding harsh. Heavy boosting still sounds sweet and musical. Tegeler have done really well here.
The compression in this bad boy is smooth, but can be very aggressive and in your face. It sounds like more than one compressor because it actually is. The VTRC features an Opto compressor that gives you an open sound. This is the smoothness I spoke of. In addition to the Opto compressor, there’s also what Tegeler calls their Vari-Tube (Vari-µ) compressor. Here, the “amplification of the control tube is directly influenced….through the opto compressor.” This extra compressor allows for incredible presence without sacrificing its warmth.
The single set of controls adjusts both compressors. You can use one or the other or both at the same time. All I can say is that the effect it has on the input signal is beautiful. It creates a dense, controlled sound. Use this and you can be pretty much be assured of finding space in your mix for your signal….even in a busy mix.
I had the opportunity to record a stellar bass player, an electric/acoustic guitarist, a pair of incredible vocalists and lots of percussion, noises and voiceovers with this channel strip. I even recorded some passages from my 1969 Farfisa Compact Combo organ with excellent results. To my ears, the VTRC works best on basses, acoustic guitars and vocals. With that said, it sounded warm and satisfying even on very tinny-sounding instruments. Did I mention that it sounds great on harmonica, too? It also did a fantastic job on drum loops and certain percussion sounds giving them a nice rounded sound and punchy bottom end.
The Verdict
Tegeler have opened my eyes. The VTRC gave new life to my brittle-sounding cheap mics and a new level of depth and presence to all my others. I was very surprised by how quiet this channel strip is. I’ve heard people complain about how noise some channel strips are, but I never felt (or heard) anything obtrusive when using it. It did what it did and did it very well. The VTRC imparts a beautiful character all its own. Although it shares certain features with some of its more famous peers, it doesn’t try to be them. The build and craftsmanship of the VTRC reminds me what we I about German engineering. They have a reputation for solid quality…and Tegeler continues that legacy. I am very pleased with my results in using the Tegeler Vari Tube Recording Channel and want one of my own because this thing is, quite simply, badass! Now let’s see if my financial advisor (my wife) will let me get one!
Vari Tube Recording Channel
Tegeler Audio Manufaktur
Price 1899,00€
For more info click here.
Article by Matthew Mann
Pro Tools Users Blog 