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Gear / Technical Help => Battery Boxes, Preamps, Mixers, ADCs, and Processors => Topic started by: waltmon on June 21, 2012, 02:29:12 PM
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Just curious if anyone has any experience with these.
Thanks.
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Yes...just recently I started using mine again. It's an ENG box....not ready made for rock n' roll. Initially I had a tough time getting a good recordings out of it....I did get a few but shelved it. I found it easy to clip the input side. Easily solved by padding....the box has a-10 and -20 pad for each channel....for very loud stuff....I have to pad further with in-line pads. The metering starts out at -9....so you know you're in the ballpark with one LED per channel lit up. The LED's can be adjusted for brightness....they are freakin' bright blue w/ a red clip bulb. Outputs are XLR with a line/mic choice, or a mini plug mic out. Six AA alkalines go forever w/ 48v phantom. A nifty feature, if you you're going XLR line out...is the 400HZ reference tone you can send to your recorder. It gives a 0dB reference to help you get dialed in. Fader knobs are very touchy....nudge them slightly. Ergonomics are pretty good. I run it out of a Lowe Rezo 190...the height is perfect. The box is built like a tank..very solid. Has all the ENG goodies....rolloff/phones out/slate mic/batt check/limiter/tape mix switch/pan/etc......
It sounds transparent...ymmv, but that's the feel I get. No color.
The X2, as far I as I know, is no longer in production....but the manual is still available on Wendt's site if you search around. I would suggest downloading and reading through it. Ebay has a few of these for $399...that price is pretty static...I haven't seen much fluctuation over the last few years.
FWIW I run it as my second rig X2>M10.
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I use a wendt x4 which has the same pres i think. Quiet and transparent, transformerless , with good ergonomics.
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I had an X2 for a while. Like Olive said, these are intended for news cameras, somewhere you need 50db of gain, not loud concert stuff. It sounded good. The biggest issue I had was the touchy gain knobs. Just trying to turn the knobs the tiniest bit... oops, that's too much.
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I really love mine, but my only concern is about the limiter, it is very very hard!
Saludos!
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I really love mine, but my only concern is about the limiter, it is very very hard!
Saludos!
I never engage it.
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I have an X2 that me and some friends use all the time, and we really love the clean, clean sound we get with both the AT4051's, the MK4/41>CMC6, and the ADK TL's. I keep the -20db pad switch turned on all the time and the box still has an unbelievable amount of clean gain. My solution is to ignore the meters on the Wendt, for the most part, and set my R-09HR gain fairly low (I read somewhere that "unity gain" on the R-09HR is 35) and then dial gain in with the gain knobs on the Wendt by looking at the meters on the R-09HR. I've never hit the limiter that I can recall because gain knobs on the Wendt are usually set to somewhere around 9:00 o'clock-ish and I'm usually getting a nice strong signal to the deck at that level. Other folks around here have tried the Wendt and didn't like it as much as I do, but I think it's comparable to a V3, just without the digi-output. I run mine on a DVD battery and easily get 7-8 hours of run time with phantom power on.
I've uploaded some shows to etree but I'm not sure those torrents are still kicking...
Try this one of Steve Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers from RockyGrass 2011:
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=547555
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These run on reverse polarity power like the edirols, right?
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These run on reverse polarity power like the edirols, right?
Center pin is negative, if that is what you mean.
Also, beeco is a brilliant dude for running AT4051>Wendt X2 8)
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These run on reverse polarity power like the edirols, right?
Center pin is negative, if that is what you mean.
Also, beeco is a brilliant dude for running AT4051>Wendt X2 8)
Thanks!
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These run on reverse polarity power like the edirols, right?
Center pin is negative, if that is what you mean.
Also, beeco is a brilliant dude for running AT4051>Wendt X2 8)
I don't know about "brilliant" but I sure am happy with my recordings! :)
And yes, not only is the Wendt X2 powered with reverse polarity like the Edirols, but the Adapta-plug tip is the same as the one used for an R-44, so the 9v DVD power cables for the Wendt and the R-44 are interchangeable. That interchangeability happened to save our butts at least once lately when we had a pre-show brain fart packing the taping gear.
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Anybody ever use one of these with a set of AKG480's? If so what was the results.
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Anybody ever use one of these with a set of AKG480's? If so what was the results.
Haven't run 480's (maybe a pair of 460's once) but my feeling is that this pre is very sonically transparent and that you'd get great results with almost any set of quality mics.
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beeco got any LMA links with the mk4/mk41>wendt?
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Are you guys running XLR out (line) > mini TRS (1/8") m10/r09? How quiet is the gain at max?
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Are you guys running XLR out (line) > mini TRS (1/8") m10/r09? How quiet is the gain at max?
I run X2 MIC out (1/8") mini to MIC in min (hi sens) on M10 for a small package. ~4.5 gain on M10 let's me know that -9 on the X2 = -9 on the M10. I run the faders on the X2 in the 9-12 o'clock position for most situations. A bit higher for quiet stuff.
I've never run it near max gain, so I can't say. I pad the inputs as well.
YMMV
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Are you guys running XLR out (line) > mini TRS (1/8") m10/r09? How quiet is the gain at max?
I run X2 MIC out (1/8") mini to MIC in min (hi sens) on M10 for a small package. ~4.5 gain on M10 let's me know that -9 on the X2 = -9 on the M10. I run the faders on the X2 in the 9-12 o'clock position for most situations. A bit higher for quiet stuff.
I've never run it near max gain, so I can't say. I pad the inputs as well.
YMMV
I run a Darktrain cable that takes my XLR line out to mini TRS which feeds the line in on my R-09HR. I've never turned the gain to "max" because there is so much gain available that I'd blow the levels on my recorder. I'll give it a try with headphones, though, and let you know what I hear. I've never noticed any hiss or self-noise from the Wendt on any recordings. It's very quiet. You can call us crazy, but down here in Albuquerque we shelved a V3 when we started running the Wendt. We still pull out the V3 for its digi-out capability once in a while.
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beeco got any LMA links with the mk4/mk41>wendt?
Dang, Bean, I was afraid someone was gonna ask me that. I've figured out the etree torrent upload work flow but never sat myself down and figured out how to upload to LMA. I'll find a recording we did with the Schoeps and the Wendt and seed it, or use it to get the LMA upload process nailed down. I know I've got some RockyGrass recordings from a couple of years ago that were MK4>X2>R-09HR. I'd love to get one of those uploaded and see what you think.
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i located this recording on LMA with MK4s and the Wendt x2... http://archive.org/details/nrps2011-12-28.mk4.flac16f
New Riders of the Purple Sage
2011-12-28
Tupelo Music Hall
Londonderry, NH
Source: Schoeps MK4/KC5/CMC4 > Wendt X2 > Korg MR1
Setup: cards, DINa, back row, 4'ROC
xfer: MR1 > audacity > cdwav > flac
taped/transferred by: Joe Bouchard (SmokinJoe)
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and this one with KM140s and the Wendt x2... http://archive.org/details/dirtfoot2009-06-06.km140.flac16
Dirtfoot
06-06-2009
Wakarusa - Chompdown
Mulberry Mountain, AR
Source: KM140's(NOS) -> Wendt X2 -> MR1(DFF 2.8224MHz @ 1-bit)
Lineage: MR1 -> HDD -> Audiogate(Dither/Resample [16/44.1]) -> CDWave(Tracking) -> Flac(8)
Taped and Transferred By: B.J. Larsen