First Acoustic Test With T-Rex Replicator. 

Guitar - Taylor 714 

T-Rex Replicator - Head 2 - 
Master Volume - 2 o'clock 
Chorus - Off 
Saturation - 9 o'clock 
Delay Level - 5 o'clock - Maximum 
Feedback - 2 o'clock 
Delay Time - 11 o'clock



First Acoustic Test With T-Rex Replicator. Guitar - Taylor 714

Rupert Neve - Taylor K4 Preamp & Eq Test

Played with a Taylor 714 Expression system 
So far I like this and look forward to using it more for tone shaping the Taylors.

Rupert Neve - Taylor K4 Preamp & Eq Test

I couldn't wait to try out my new Dizengoff D4 Preamp so I'm just playing the first things that come into my head with a AT4021 off axis at the 12th fret ( i prefer this placement as it removes a lot of boomyness from acoustics ) Played on a Furch 12 string acoustic with a touch of room verb added.

Please forgive my picking style I'm not a 12 string player :) 

Dizengoff D4 Preamp  First Play Through.

Aston Microphones - Spirit - First Recording 

Aston Microphones - Origin - First Recording 

This is a shoot out of 3 of the most popular reflection filters on the market.

The recordings are of clips from 3 well known songs recorded though a Unison Neve 1073 completely flat with no pre or post processing.

In order to make things as fair as possible this was recorded in the centre of a large hall with the stand kept in the same place for each take and the reflection filter was replaced for each take.

This was recorded using the Aston Origin cardioid condenser microphone that is becoming one of my go to mics for many sources.

The first pass on the track is the source track with NO reflection filter present and as you will hear it is a very live sounding room.

The reflection filters used were the SE Reflexion Filter PRO, Kaotica Eyeball and The Aston Halo. 

The SE Reflexion Filter PRO 
This did a good job on cutting down on reflections however priced at £150 anyone in the market would still need to consider dropping a large amount of change on the SE own brand stand to mount it, as on a regular microphone stand it is unstable and could fall over. 
Rather than purchasing the SE official stand I mounted the reflection filter to the top of a PA speaker stand so that it could take the weight.

With that said it does a reasonable job however it’s very cumbersome and heavy especially if location recording was your plan.

The Kaotica Eyeball 
It makes the vocals instantly sound boxy and muddy. It’s priced at around £160 for what seems like a foam ball wth a hole cut out of it and a very poor quality pop filter that inserts on the front. 
It is a cool looking design that I don’t personally feel is practical for the application however with this said the Eyeball may provide some use if used for voice over on say a desktop stand where space is limited.

The Aston Halo 
This was fantastic ! 
It’s light-weight and easy to mount straight onto any microphone stand with no fear of it falling over. 

It’s a very unusual design, but what it does it does extremely well and unlike the SE style of reflexion filter it also provides cover on the top and bottom.

Listening back through the audio The Aston Halo is the clear winner here.
Some of the natural reverb from the room can still be heard tailing off at the end of each phrase but i’d expect this in a room of that size, hence the test being done there . 

What is worth noting is that the Aston Halo is much larger and offers more coverage. It is giving by far a more focused sound and better isolation than any other I have tested.

It is priced slightly higher around £199 but id say its worth it for the instant difference in quality and just how easy it is to setup or move on location.

The Aston Halo is the best choice, not only for location where room acoustics might be far from ideal, but also in treated studios and I won’t hesitate to reach for the Aston Halo for any future vocal recordings regardless of where I may be.

Massive thank you Allan Scott for doing vocals for me. 




Sanctuary Studio-Testing

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