Binson Preamp Plugin Modelling!

[Garystrat]

There appears to be a new development that may be of interest to those who are using a plugin echo or pedal in front of a DAW setup and feel they are not getting that tonal character for The Shadows sound. I have posted before as to my views as to what the Strymon Volante brings to the table in resect of the analogue JFET designed preamp, now it seems PSP Audio Ware have similar opinion as to how much difference this can make as the have released a dedicated plugin purely modelling the Binson Preamp:

https://www.pspaudioware.com/products/psp-binamp

The video is based on the usual material which doesn’t really give a good idea as to how effective it may be for enhancing echo emulations and I really don’t have any motivation to try it with setting up a plugin echo, but there is a free trial and an introductory price if anyone thinks it’s worth giving it a try?

In any case, the fact that they were prepared to produce a plugin of this nature indicates that there has been some serious thought about this!

[Garystrat]

Apologies, the above link got accidentally duplicated by cut and paste, now corrected!

[hiffclall]

Thanks, this looks interesting. I'll take a look.

I actually use pulsar echorec https://pulsar.audio/echorec/ they claim this also models the sound of the input section....

I've never owned a real echorec so not sure if it's accurate

[Garystrat]

Hi Matthew,

There is a very distinctive character to both the Meazzi/Binson vintage tube echoes that has been attributed to the preamp, Hank himself clearly recognised this when he endorsed the TVS 3 (you may need to scroll down to see this):

https://www.tvsspecialtyproducts.com/index.html#hank

At the present time I haven't found a plugin or all digital pedal that can replicate the subtle character this provides and I always felt there was something missing, whist many dedicated pedal and plugins are capable of generating some really good echoes that sound pretty authentic, it seems to be those that at least combines the analogue element with digital that gives the nuance of “That Sound”.

This YT video should give you some idea of what I’m trying to get at, these are actual Binson NOS original parts built into an updated unit by Marcello, if you have the budget they sound wonderful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzudv-rtYmY

Regards

Gary

[hiffclall]

Hi Gary. To be honest I've yet to find a plugin of any type that sounds quite as good as hardware but for my work, with the constant changes / revisions etc , I'm happy if I can get as near as poss with a plugin. Instant recall is a life saver for me