Black Lion Upgrade Worth it?

[Relic]

Im really thinkin about trying to do this , but to make that kind of investment I want to hear from people who have actually done this or heard one.
My sweetwater rep says he knows people who have done this to their 002 and 003 and they said it made a diff as far as making it sound clearer but that they wouldnt do it again.
That makes me think that maybe it isnt worth it.

Anyone know?

 

[thedreampolice]

Get new near field monitors before you do this. Oh and you deal with Luke at SW right? He is a hardcore Pro tools, 003 user so I would agree with him on that. Of course Luke and I have been known to have crazy raging debates. On another interesting note he went to college in my home town and I swear to god he delivered me a pizza once....

 

[dacalion]

I think it's 7th Angel that swears on these but don't quote me. I've heard one and it sounded awesome on a 002. Definitely high end gear. Worth it? Well thats the catch. If everything else on your system is high end as well, I'd say yes, if not, then NO!

I say that for obvious reasons, putting a brand new Ferrari engine in a Kia will make it faster but the rest of the car won't be able to handle it. *(no hate if any of you drive a Kia, just don't put a 1000hp V-12 in it.) and (NO Relic, I'm not saying your system is a Kia. Maybe your music is but def. not your system ~

EDIT: Another thing to consider (which is a problem that I have) is most of my music is sample based, the music that I heard on it was 100% composed, so if you do mostly sampled based music you're basically at the mercy of the quality of your samples. I'm having a real hard time cleaning up my samples.

 

[UNORTHODOX]

I think the consensus over at gearslutz was Its worth the price for a 002, 003 it isnt worth the $$

 

[Step Soprano]

Yes!!!

wait... do you have an 003 or an 002? Actually, I'd probably sell either one for a Neve 1073

 

[Relic]

I have an 003.

Okay if gearslutz says nay then Im gonna hold off on this upgrade and just get PT9 and rock with it.

 

[thedreampolice]

oh yea, because people on gearslutz are really informed. WORST, MOST IGNORANT FORUM EVER!

But in this I do think your money is better spent elsewhere.

 

[Relic]

Your saying that Nathan Weiner is one of the worst illinformed people ever????

 

[thedreampolice]

There are a few exceptions, but most people on there ugh

 

[Formant024]

You're talking about replacing parts like opamps, converters, something which is always useful (look at modified emu 1212M cards aswell for cheaper examples). You should understand that the value of such a modification is as good compared to the new converters out there, which ofc, always evolves into better ones.

It would be logical indeed to consider it a good deal to upgrade a 002R, price wise (also warranty, though BLA is a proper mod company). A 003R modded pricetag makes me look at SSL alphalink instead, better converters atm and more i/o. But if you're dedicated to digidesign then modding your 003R could be worth the money (if you make money out of it aswell).

Regarding the minor difference in sound; it takes more than just nearfields and converters to find out how well such mods are aside from increasing the SNR. A bedroomtechie might hear less difference compared to the same unit used by an engineer at a proper studio.

 

[Formant024]

EDIT: Another thing to consider (which is a problem that I have) is most of my music is sample based, the music that I heard on it was 100% composed, so if you do mostly sampled based music you're basically at the mercy of the quality of your samples. I'm having a real hard time cleaning up my samples.

^^^
thats not entirely true, its your lack of skills ofc

You should have more headroom and a different response to how transcients are dealt with, ergo, make it louder without distorting your signal. Your true on the car part, the more discrete certain parts of cirquitry are designed, the more it becomes sensible to modify that gear with better part to compliment it. Like you wouldnt fit in hign end audio opamps, caps etc in your Bahringer gear. Just like some people are not content with Rode mics which are really good for modding since the cirquitry design and compenents are awesome.

 

[dacalion]

I wasn't referring to making it louder or distorting, none of my tracks have that problem. My issue with using samples is with "hiss". I've tried some of the "so called" better programs like Waves C1 comp-gate and iZotope R1 but have yet found the results I was looking for...(removing the hiss often lead to removing or cutting down other WANTED freqs.) Nevertheless, my response was based on my opinion and you've made it obvious that you prefer facts, I can't prove what I heard so just overlook anything that I post.

 

[Formant024]

I wasn't referring to making it louder or distorting, none of my tracks have that problem. My issue with using samples is with "hiss". I've tried some of the "so called" better programs like Waves C1 comp-gate and iZotope R1 but have yet found the results I was looking for...(removing the hiss often lead to removing or cutting down other WANTED freqs.) Nevertheless, my response was based on my opinion and you've made it obvious that you prefer facts, I can't prove what I heard so just overlook anything that I post.

lol, it was a joke haha damn so serious.


On the real though, comp gate would only amplify the hissing more. The proper technique ( even though not flawless but proper enough )is to sample/analyse the noise in a daw/wave editor. You select a part of the sample where there is no music which becomes a reference for removing it with a noise remover found on most daws and/or wave editors. In a way it inverts the analysed part and blends it with the sample, clearing it out of the sample (along with a bit of which is in the same freq range).

 

[UNORTHODOX]

oh yea, because people on gearslutz are really informed. WORST, MOST IGNORANT FORUM EVER!

But in this I do think your money is better spent elsewhere.

This response shocked me! I took about 60% of posts as good convo, good knowledge, etc 40% eh. You make it sound like complete crap hahaha

 

[UNORTHODOX]

It would be logical indeed to consider it a good deal to upgrade a 002R, price wise (also warranty, though BLA is a proper mod company). A 003R modded pricetag makes me look at SSL alphalink instead, better converters atm and more i/o. But if you're dedicated to digidesign then modding your 003R could be worth the money (if you make money out of it aswell).

This was a big reason, the price range puts you close to having better hardware in general

 

[thedreampolice]

Honestly, its pretty bad over there. Allot of people that think they know something and only a few who actually do.

 

[UNORTHODOX]

Well, in all fairness, I hvent been there in a few years. I'd soak up the good stuff back in 2006-7. It may have very well become a cess pool. Fade did speak about the general decline in forums.

 

[Sucio]

I don't know what the big deal is....

Just get an mbox2 mini...shit is awesome!

 

[Relic]

I don't know what the big deal is....

Just get an mbox2 mini...shit is awesome!

That would be a major downgrade lol.
Not shitting on mboxes at all though.

 

[thedreampolice]

Honestly Relic, it would be a downgrade for you in terms of I/O but the sound quality of the brand new Mbox's is actually better than the 003.