Aphex Systems 1788 User Manual

Aphex 1788 Remote Controlled Mic Pre-Amp

(Editor’s Note: This may be the
toughest review I have ever
had a part in. Because, to be
very plain spoken, l have never
used a single piece of gear that
made this much difference in the
overall sound of a system, and
it will be hard to write about it
without sounding like an Aphex
shill. So please understand
going in that Aphex did not
write the review or influence
it. They got the same fact
check opportunity as any other
company, but noth ing else. We
even returned the gear in just
72 hours-far less time than
we usually take. No money or
gear changed hands, and at
this point, Aphex is not even an
FOH advertiser. Now that that
is out of the way...)

If someone says the word
“Aphex,” your first response will
likely be,”Aural Exciter,”right?
Yes, that piece is the thing most
of us associate with the Sun
Valley, Calif. company, but if
there is a shred of justice out
there in the big wide world, that
exchange will soon go like this:
“Aphex?””I788.”

Marvin Caesar, Aphex presi dent,
has been bending ears for a
while now about the effects of
long mic lines and splitters on a
system in terms of both loading
and degradation of sound quali ty.
He has been an evangelist for
the idea of mic-pre’s that live as
close to the source as possible
to overcome the problem. (BTW,
that is the same approach the
Yamaha PM1 D, the DiGiCo

D5

and the digitally controlled
Showconsole use, given the fact
that the pre’s are separate from
the control surface anyway.)
Like many of you, we listened
with interest until we realized
that what he was proposing
meant not using the beloved
pre’s in our favorite consoles,
which is

the point at which most

for the MON (Aux) output.
The optional digital module
con sists of a 15-pin D-Sub for
the AES, a TDIF D-sub and a
Toslink for the ADAT, and two
BNCs for word clock in and
out.The con trol connectors
are MIDI In,Thru and Out, RS­232, RS-422 In and RS-422
Link Out.While these control

“He was impressed enough with

the sonic difference that he is

considering buying 24 channels of

1788s instead of a new console. “

of our eyes glaze over and we
start thinking of possible reasons
he could be wrong. Well, he’s
right.

The Gear

The Aphex 1788 is a
pretty neat piece of gear. In
two rack spaces, you get eight
channels of mic pre’s complete
with a splitter. Stock, the units
provide separate analog outs for
FOH and MON, and the optional
digital out provides simultane ous
digital streams in TDIF, AES/EBU
and ADAT LightPipe formats.
Note that all three digi tal outs
are active at the same time.
Recording resolution can be as
high as 96 kHz in the AES/EBU
stream and 48 kHZ with the
others.

The crowded back panel has a
mic input XLR and FOH (Main)
output XLR for each channel, and
a 25-pin D-sub (Tascam format

connec tions are computer-type
RS422 and 232 connectors,
Aphex pro vides a cool little
serial/XLR adapter that
allows you to run the RS-422
remote signal over a couple
of unused snake chan nels.
Control of multiple units is
made by daisy-chaining via
the RS-422 from unit to unit.
Aphex provided a hardware
remote for this review, but
as setup time on our gig was
limited, we opted not to use
it. I had the advantage of a
short tutorial at Aphex prior to
the gig, and Paul would have
been approaching the system
cold. So we decided that I
would control the units from
MON, rather than having Paul
control them from FOH. (Aphex
says that when many units
are linked together via serial
control, the system can be
sluggish. Aphex has developed
a new control system that uses

LAN technolo

The speed of con trolling 16

)

gy over CAT5.

units is the same as controlling
one of the old units The totally
new software is PC and MAC
compatible.)

It is all solid and well built.
The only complaint would be
the aforementioned crowding on
the back panel-pulling a single
XLR connector after everything
was plugged in was a bit of a
challenge for those of us with
stubby fingers.

From left to right on
the front panel are eight
LED ladders for monitoring
headroom, with a numbered
push-button under each for
activating con trol of that
channel. Surrounding the
meters are indicators for Input
Gain (switchable to FOH and
MON output levels), mute,
phantom power,-26 dB pad,
70 Hz LoCut, polarity reverse
and the limiter (one of the
unit’s coolest and most useful
features). Next to the channel
buttons is a switch that allows
you to choose multiple channels
to control at the same time.
(Note that when adjusting
gain on multiple chan nels,
the changes are relative. In
other words if there was a
6dB difference in the channels
to begin with, that difference
will remain as gain is raised
or low ered.) Surrounding the
single gain knob are switches
to choose between gain stages
(input and output for both FOH
and MON) and the switches for
the options mentioned earlier

(phantom power, etc.) Next is
the control section, which
switches between local control
and remote via MIDI, a laptop
or the optional remote unit.

The Digital section lets you
choose internal or external
word clock and digital output
sampling rate.You get a built­in headphone amp with a
volume control a button for
switch ing between channels,
and fi nal ly, you get controls
for the built in test tones (one
at -20dBfs and another at
OdBfs)-a lifesaver for set-up
and troubleshooting. Holding
both test tone buttons down
along with Channel 7 selector
button turns the Gain knob to
turn into an Adjust con trol for
dialing in the brightness of the
LEDs from merely visible to
truly retina-burning (very nice
for outdoor gigs).

The Gig

The ideal set-up method
is to completely bypass the
mic pre’s on your console-a
sticky subject to be sure. Mics
go from the 1788 and split to
FOH and MON, where they
enter the console-ideally-via
the line inputs. Input gain
is set on the 1788. Here is
where the limiter comes into
play. Aphex has fi gured out
a way to put the limiter

front

of the mic pre, which
allows you to run your inputs
signifi cantly hotter than you
might otherwise, especially
if you are using the digital
outs for recording. No more
running your inputs at 1OdB
down to avoid digital clip ping
on loud transients.The
patented limiter lets you get a
big, full signal without having
to worry about overload.

Another feature that sets
the 1788 apart from other
remote systems is that there
are no
glitches, pops or zipper noise
as the gain is adjusted.
Adjusting the gain is as easy
and painless as turning the
gain pot on your traditional
preamp.
Like I said, that is the ideal
set-up method. For our gig
withthe 1788s, we were

in

unable, in the heat
of battle, to bypass
the console pre’s.
The Allen &
Heath GL4 we
were using at
FOH uses 1/4
inch ins for its
line inputs, and
we didn’t have
24
XLR-to-1/4-inch
adapters. (Given
our results, it is
hard to believe
that had we
actu ally gone
line-in, it might
have sounded
even better.)
The monitor
console was
a road-worn
Soundcraft Series
800B, and for

recording the gig we used an
Alesis HD24, running from the
1788’s LightPipe out directly
into the recorder. We ran into
a small problem when we
could not get one of the 1788s
(we were using three units)
to send data to the recorder.
After spending some time
trying to fi gure out why and
confi rming that the other two
units were sending good signal
to the recorder, we opted to
record from two units only
with everything except vocals
and keys, which could be
over dubbed later.

I was at MON and Paul was
at FOH as the band hit the
stage. In very short order, Paul
came
over to me at monitor world
to tell me how amazing his
system sounded. After I
was sure all the mixes were
together and the
band was happy, I stepped
out to Front of House and
was noth ing short of stunned.
I have mixed on this system
before, and Paul has put
together a very nice sounding
rig. It may not be shiny and
new, but it is very well tuned
(courtesy of Showco’s Howard
Page) and well maintained,
and generally sounds very
good. But with the addition
of the 1788s, it sounded like
a totally different and much
better system. Open and clear,
with the kind of air the kind of

air that we all strive for and

mostly fail to achieve.

Drums-especially the
snare and cymbals-punched
through the mix without being
strident. Acoustic guitars lost
that piezo

“

quack” and came
through with the richness you
would expect using a good
condenser mic in a studio.The
fi ddle (it was a coun try band)
was a revelation for Paul, who
mixes this band regu larly and
says that the instru ment’s
built-in pickup often “sounds
like crap.” Again, it sounded
like it was being recorded
with a good mic. Vocals were
particularly good. The band’s
four singers all used stan dard
issue Shure SM58s-a good
mic that we all use all the
time, but hardly the latest
and great est thing out there.
I have become something of
a con denser slut in the past
couple of years and now own
six condens er mics (fi ve AKG
C900s and one Audix VX10).
Paul said he thought the
1788 made the 58s sound
like Neumann U47s. I don’t
know if I’ll go that far, but
they sounded better than my
C900s (which I like a lot) and
at least as good as the VX10.
So how impressed were we?
I called Marvin at Aphex on
Monday after the gig and told
him he was offi cially on my
“shitlist, as I am now spoiled

for life and there is no way my
budget has a rack of 1788s
in it. Paul, on the other hand,
who does this for a living, is
getting ready to upgrade to
a more “rider-able” house
console and move the Allen
& Heath to monitor duties.
He was impressed enough
with the sonic difference that
he is considering buying 24
channels of 1788s instead of
a new con sole. We were, in
short, totally blown away.

What it is: Eight-channel
remote controlled mic pre
Who it’s for:
System owners
with high sonic
requirements and
deep pockets
Pros: Stunning sound.
Relatively easy to use.
Makes recording gigs a
snap

Cons: Very expensive
How much: SRP $4,995 per

eight channels plus $995 for
the A/D and $1495 for the
hardware remote, PC software
free

Aphex Systems
11068 Randall Street
Sun Valley, CA 91652
ph: 818-767-2929
fax: [phone]
www.aphex.com