Bus comp shootout: Waves SSL vs. Prime 4000E SSL bus clone

[Severu]

Cheers guys!

I'm currently mixing our album and I did a test today with one of the tracks to see which Bus comp I'm going to use for the final mixes. I bought a Prime 4000E (SSL Bus clone) a few months ago and didn't have any material to put it to use on (mixing a lot of electronic and folk stuff and Waves worked just fine on those).
But now for the good stuff I wanted to compare the Waves SSL bus comp that I've been mixing into to the outboard Prime.

The result was pretty obvious to myself and our engineer.
I'll post a few sound clips so you can hear how it's working (blind shootouts are kinda cool, but I wanted to keep this one straightforward):

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4522401/waves ssl.aif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4522401/prime ssl.aif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4522401/ssl bus a-b test swap.aif
In the last clip I changed the mixes on each bar back and forth.

Settings were the same on both comps.

Tell me what you think.

 

[Lucas D'Angelo]

My ears are washed from a 12hours mixing day, but it seems that the prime 4000E give much more attack to the sound ! The transients are much clearer, it's almost like if the attack setting was different than on the waves ssl

 

[barricade]

Prime sounds more "organic" less muffled... so yes... sounds better to my ears!

 

[Severu]

Yeah, the Prime obviously sounds more open and organic and I'll use it on every mix instead of plugins from now on. Also love the feel of the buttons and everything, really cool piece of equipment!

 

[Trevoire520]

To be honest the Waves one still sounds good, the Prime version seems to add some excitement though and just generally sounds more "pro"

So it bloody well should for 10,000 Euro's though!

 

[Taurean]

For any shootout, you really do need a dry file included in order to compare actual changes.

 

[Lasse Lammert]

To be honest the Waves one still sounds good, the Prime version seems to add some excitement though and just generally sounds more "pro"

So it bloody well should for 10,000 Euro's though!

10000?
I have some PRIME comps, and they're really affordable...I don't think the comp sells for much more than 1500...and it's defiitely worth that, I'm loving my PRIME 1176 to death!

 

[crillemannen]

10000?
I have some PRIME comps, and they're really affordable...I don't think the comp sells for much more than 1500...and it's defiitely worth that, I'm loving my PRIME 1176 to death!

+1

Love my 1176a!!!

 

[Trevoire520]

http://www.prime-analog.com/PRIME-4000E-Solid-State-Stereo-Mixbus-Compressor

9,999.00 €

¯\(°_o)/¯

 

[Severu]

I just checked their website too, the 10.000 euros one is a new one, it's the 4K model, mine is 4000E

EDIT: Checked the site again, maybe the price is like 999,- euros, I'm sure there's a mistake on the website somehow...

The Waves plugin isn't bad by any means. I've tried The Glue, it delivers too. The Prime is just better and more alive, if you will.

I haven't included the unprocessed file since I mix into the buss compressor and the mix usually sounds weird without any compression on, so yeah... Next time I'll also include the raw file.

I'm seriously looking at the 1176's they have. How do they sound, Lasse? More old school or the new LN's?
I'm loving my Bus Comp. Can't mix without it on nowadays. Nice to see some of the top guys here use the Prime stuff, too, hehe...

 

[Lasse Lammert]

I just checked their website too, the 10.000 euros one is a new one, it's the 4K model, mine is 4000E

EDIT: Checked the site again, maybe the price is like 999,- euros, I'm sure there's a mistake on the website somehow...

The Waves plugin isn't bad by any means. I've tried The Glue, it delivers too. The Prime is just better and more alive, if you will.

I haven't included the unprocessed file since I mix into the buss compressor and the mix usually sounds weird without any compression on, so yeah... Next time I'll also include the raw file.

I'm seriously looking at the 1176's they have. How do they sound, Lasse? More old school or the new LN's?
I'm loving my Bus Comp. Can't mix without it on nowadays. Nice to see some of the top guys here use the Prime stuff, too, hehe...

yeah, I'm sure it's not 10.000€, must be a mistake, I've contacted Mika about it, will let you know asap
The Prime 1176 I have is based on the RevF, you have different options for the input transformers though, I'll send mine to PRIME this week to have it upgraded to a Lundahl tranny.

you can here the PRIME 1176 here:

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/equipment/728036-one-more-time-1176-plugin-vs-hardware.html

 

[jipchen]

I think its just a placeholder so noone buys the current version because he will present a new one on the 20th this month. The price before was 750€ btw so it's a steal really. Def gonna get the new mixbus from him.
The dual 1176 (he calls it 2276) is somewhere around 1500€

 

[Lasse Lammert]

just got reply from him.
The price IS just a placeholder, the real price will be MUCH lower and will be revealed when the unit is released

 

[Severu]

Cool, I'm pretty sure my next investment will be a 2176 (the stereo 1176 that Mika is building). top quality and it's got killer looks, too!

Strange placeholder price tho...

 

[arv_foh]

Yeah I was severely confused when I saw the price. I was thinking for 10,000€ it sure as hell better sound amazing compared to the plugin lol

 

[Lasse Lammert]

it's 629€ !!!!

http://www.facebook.com/primeanalog

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

it's 629€ !!!!

http://www.facebook.com/primeanalog

Just saw this. Fuck, at last I got rid of my mixbus comp GAS, and then he does this...

 

[JoergieN]

Haha, waves sounded the best to me

 

[arv_foh]

it's 629€ !!!!

http://www.facebook.com/primeanalog

do they ship to the US? do want

 

[Trevoire520]

Jeezo that is cheap! DO WANT!