VC1 – linking different models + any difference in sound?

[sonixmusic]

Dear Ted – or anyone else who might be able to help out with this particular question

I’ve collected various JoeMeek items over the years, and one of my favourites is the VC1 channel, which I use frequently to add some body to pretty much anything going into my A/D converters…

I’d been looking for a second VC1 for quite a while, so I can record sources in stereo, and recently somebody offered me one second-hand. However, my unit is (I think) more recent, with black knobs and lettering, whilst the version I’ve been offered has gold lettering and a slightly different panel layout, with signal path diagrams on the front.

Actually, the same two models can be seen in another forum post:

http://www.tfpro.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=270

So I was wondering:

– Does the stereo-linking feature work between these two different models?

– Is there a great deal of variation in the components used, which would make the two units sound clearly different, or are the changes primarily cosmetic?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Cheers, John

[Ted Fletcher]

Hi John,

There were 3 main types of VC1…. the original ‘brick’, then the 2u rackmount version, then the VC1CS. The 2u rack mount units were basically all the same, aome had the gold lettering but that was cosmetic. There were changes to the enhancer circuits…. some later models had EQ as well, but basically they should all sound the same.

The VC1CS was a later mic amp circuit that sounds ‘cleaner’ than the earlier versions.

The VC1 was never stereo linkable.

[sonixmusic]

Dear Ted,

Many thanks for your reply! Much appreciated That’s cleared it up… I’ll get the ‘Golden Lettering’ VC3 to add to my collection then

I am pretty curious about the RCA connector on the back of the units, I assumed it was meant for linking two VC1s together for stereo processing? Could you enlighten me?

Kind regards,

John

[Ted Fletcher]

Aaahh! Yes, we did include a stereo link connection on one of the VC1 models….. I now recall it! The link was a straightforward connection directly into the sidechain and worked fairly well…. but there was always some image drift; the link did not work well enough to make it a feature on later models. I would not recommend using it unless you have plenty of time to experiment, but if you want to try it, just connect a cable between the connectors on the backs of the VC1s.

Sorry for the misdirection earlier….. It was a long time ago!

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