Trident-Neotek --upgrade from ghost??

[Ron Florentine]

I currently own a 32 channel Soundcraft Ghost with mute automation and
was considering a jump to a used mid level console such as a Trident
65,24,75, 70 series or a series 2/3 neotek.....Mic Pres are not that
important since I have lots of outboard pres but EQ is............How
does the EQ section stack up against a ghost EQ section.....is it a
substatial step up or am I splitting hairs......my budjet is under 10
K so a trident 80 is out of the question...

Thanks Ron

[Stephen Anderson]

Having installed the very first Neotek IIIC in the Los Angeles area, in
1984, I feel I can speak with some authority.

THe Neotek consoles were pretty sophisticated, sounded really nice, had
decent mic pres, lovely sounding EQ, and should be avoided at all costs.

They used custom pot/switch assemblies in the EQ, with dual concentric
pots with built in switches, which was very economical for surface real
estate. But they didn't hold up well. Although made by CTS, a reputable
American manufacturer, they started showing sever intermittents within a
few years. By this time, Neotek had stopped supporting them, and was
focused on building Elites & Elans.

This was very disappointing, as I was still trying to support this, as
well as other Neotek consoles.

As a further note, I was working for a well known artist in '86, who was
so taken with the ELite that he ordered 2 of them, one for home,
another for his remote truck. When the first arrived, we set it up with
his 3M 32 track digital recorder, and ran tests. We found that crosstalk
on adjacent multitrack buses (odd if panned left, even if panned right)
was totally unacceptable when used with the digital tape machine and its
lower noise floor. When we contacted Neotek, they said, basically, tough.

The order for the 2nd console was canceled, the already delivered first
console was crated back up, an SSL was purchased, and life went on.

The Trident 65/75 series is very generic, and easily supported. The
fixed freq. Hi & Low can easily be modified with the addition of a 3 way
toggle switch to support 3 frequencies.

The 70 series is a little 80, well built, sounds good, easy to work on,
IMHO very desirable.

If you're not a maintenance masochist, avoid the Neoteks.



Just one person's opinion.

Ron Florentine wrote:
> I currently own a 32 channel Soundcraft Ghost with mute automation and
> was considering a jump to a used mid level console such as a Trident
> 65,24,75, 70 series or a series 2/3 neotek.....Mic Pres are not that
> important since I have lots of outboard pres but EQ is............How
> does the EQ section stack up against a ghost EQ section.....is it a
> substatial step up or am I splitting hairs......my budjet is under 10
> K so a trident 80 is out of the question...
>
> Thanks Ron

--
Stephen Anderson

>~At the end of the day, it's all about
the music

[Stephen Anderson]

Having installed the very first Neotek IIIC in the Los Angeles area, in
1984, I feel I can speak with some authority.

THe Neotek consoles were pretty sophisticated, sounded really nice, had
decent mic pres, lovely sounding EQ, and should be avoided at all costs.

They used custom pot/switch assemblies in the EQ, with dual concentric
pots with built in switches, which was very economical for surface real
estate. But they didn't hold up well. Although made by CTS, a reputable
American manufacturer, they started showing sever intermittents within a
few years. By this time, Neotek had stopped supporting them, and was
focused on building Elites & Elans.

This was very disappointing, as I was still trying to support this, as
well as other Neotek consoles.

As a further note, I was working for a well known artist in '86, who was
so taken with the ELite that he ordered 2 of them, one for home,
another for his remote truck. When the first arrived, we set it up with
his 3M 32 track digital recorder, and ran tests. We found that crosstalk
on adjacent multitrack buses (odd if panned left, even if panned right)
was totally unacceptable when used with the digital tape machine and its
lower noise floor. When we contacted Neotek, they said, basically, tough.

The order for the 2nd console was canceled, the already delivered first
console was crated back up, an SSL was purchased, and life went on.

The Trident 65/75 series is very generic, and easily supported. The
fixed freq. Hi & Low can easily be modified with the addition of a 3 way
toggle switch to support 3 frequencies.

The 70 series is a little 80, well built, sounds good, easy to work on,
IMHO very desirable.

If you're not a maintenance masochist, avoid the Neoteks.



Just one person's opinion.

Ron Florentine wrote:
> I currently own a 32 channel Soundcraft Ghost with mute automation and
> was considering a jump to a used mid level console such as a Trident
> 65,24,75, 70 series or a series 2/3 neotek.....Mic Pres are not that
> important since I have lots of outboard pres but EQ is............How
> does the EQ section stack up against a ghost EQ section.....is it a
> substatial step up or am I splitting hairs......my budjet is under 10
> K so a trident 80 is out of the question...
>
> Thanks Ron

--
Stephen Anderson

>~At the end of the day, it's all about
the music

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> I currently own a 32 channel Soundcraft Ghost with mute automation and
> was considering a jump to a used mid level console such as a Trident
> 65,24,75, 70 series or a series 2/3 neotek.....

For what it's worth, a friend got a Ghost on trial, primarily for
mixing in "Studio B" and didn't care for it all that much. It went
back, and was replaced by a Trident 65 that they liked a lot better.
There wasn't really anything wrong with the Ghost, mixes just didn't
sound as good as they expected.

--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[Mike Rivers]

In article > writes:

> I currently own a 32 channel Soundcraft Ghost with mute automation and
> was considering a jump to a used mid level console such as a Trident
> 65,24,75, 70 series or a series 2/3 neotek.....

For what it's worth, a friend got a Ghost on trial, primarily for
mixing in "Studio B" and didn't care for it all that much. It went
back, and was replaced by a Trident 65 that they liked a lot better.
There wasn't really anything wrong with the Ghost, mixes just didn't
sound as good as they expected.

--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

[Handywired]

>If you're not a maintenance masochist, avoid the Neoteks.

OK. A counterpoint. I have been using an early Series IIIf (the hardwired
one) hard for at least 5 years now. After fixing a dozen or so cold solder
joints, replacing some bad op-amps (standard stuff there), and upgrading the
fader buffer circuit to modern Neotek specs to allow me to use P&G's, the
board has been EXTREMELY reliable. I did all that in the first year. I bet I
haven't pulled a module in 18 months.

The line amps and EQ sound great. The summing bus sounds good if you don't hit
it too hard. If hit hard it gets a nice density for some kinds of work. The
board is difficult to get any kind of harshness out of. It wants to be sweet
and musical, and in my case, reliable.

FWIW!

-jeff

[Handywired]

>If you're not a maintenance masochist, avoid the Neoteks.

OK. A counterpoint. I have been using an early Series IIIf (the hardwired
one) hard for at least 5 years now. After fixing a dozen or so cold solder
joints, replacing some bad op-amps (standard stuff there), and upgrading the
fader buffer circuit to modern Neotek specs to allow me to use P&G's, the
board has been EXTREMELY reliable. I did all that in the first year. I bet I
haven't pulled a module in 18 months.

The line amps and EQ sound great. The summing bus sounds good if you don't hit
it too hard. If hit hard it gets a nice density for some kinds of work. The
board is difficult to get any kind of harshness out of. It wants to be sweet
and musical, and in my case, reliable.

FWIW!

-jeff