Joemeek ThreeQ

Howdy studio rats

Day before yesterday I got a new piece I've been eying up for some time, the Joemeek ThreeQ. This unit is pretty much a stand-alone version of a single channel strip of a console. Meaning that you've got a preamp, optical compressor, and parametric EQ. All your initial processing needs in a half-rack space.
One of my clients gave me an unexpected bonus so I thought I'd treat myself to a little fun. I read some reviews and most of the reviewers that I respect gave it great marks while the 'no namers' said it sounded weird.
So I pulled it out of the box and looked it over. It's got a cool green metal casing with nice metal knobs and looks really sharp. Finger tested the buttons and was disappointed that they felt cheap and plastic with shaky springs. I can easily see one of these going bad with a lot of use (the buttons are for mic/line selection, compressor active, EQ active, phantom power, and +4/-10). Another pet peeve is that it didn't come with those little rubber feet that you attach to most gear that sits on a desktop. So it slides around if I'm not careful. Bummer.
But anyway...Gave the manual a quick check before hooking it up as the 8th input of my Digi 002R and took note that the compressor is set to a ratio of 5:1. Had to pull the plug on a MIDI keyboard I liked to keep hooked up because the Meek comes with the dreaded wall wart. Another bummer, but at least one I'm used to.
To be honest with you, I haven't even used this on a project yet. I've only done the initial tests to see what it sounds like and how it works. The test I put together for this one involved taking two Nady SCM900 large diaphragm condensers (I've never heard two mics sound so much alike, including some matched pairs) and running one through my default audio chain of the ART TubeMP, this vintage graphic EQ (I have no idea who made it, I got it at a garage sale), the Behringer Autocom Pro MDX1400 compressor, into PTLE, and the other through the ThreeQ into ProTools. I then got the levels as close to equal as I possibly could and bypassed the compressor and EQ in both chains to test out just the preamps against each other. I know, I know, one's a tube and one is solid state like comparing apples and apple pie, but what I'm trying to determine is if my new default will be the ThreeQ or if I'll stick with what I got. This first test was important because I had heard that the Meek had a noisy noise floor. Whoever I read that from was wrong. I heard no problems at all even at a high gain. So, I had the mics right next to each other and the preamps set pretty equal and gave it a speaking/singing test to hear the difference. There wasn't much. Besides the warmth acheived by overdriving the MP at a high volume, they were very clean and clear with little coloration.
Next test, the EQ. The Meek has fixed high and low frequencies (12kHz and 80Hz, respectively) so I gave a little boost at 80 and did the same on my graphic EQ. I'll be honest with you by saying I'm not really great at comparing EQs so suffice to say they both sounded 'fine' to me. No really noticeable phase shifting problems or anything. Just an increase in the low end, as expected.
Now on to the compressors. I dialed in an equal threshold, attack, and release, and set the Autocom to 5:1. It was tough to get them to have nearly the same gain reduction but when I got it close, I went for it. Listening to playback I was shocked at how hard the Meek hits. Behringer stuff always gets a bad rap, and I'll admit that I have my issues with this compressor, but the Autocom was so much smoother than the Meek. The ThreeQ just hammered the sound and held it. Like it's a hard knee or something. Not that it's unusable, you just have to know going into it that when the compressor kicks in, you ain't goin nowhere.
So that's it, that's my test. I'm sure I'll have more things to say about it as I get used to it in action, but I'm glad to have it in my arsenal. Used as simply a preamp, it holds it's own just fine and doesn't have a wacky signature sound (as I read elsewhere), and adding the compression can tame even the wildest vocalist. Looking beyond the little things I don't like about it (why the hell do companies keep insisting upon putting phantom power switches on the back of units? ahhhh!), I'm pretty pleased with this unit.
And my patience paid off in that I was able to pick this bad boy up for a mere $229. Almost half the price it was originally released at.
I'm expecting to receive a new mic at the end of the month, the Rode NT2-A, so keep an eye out for that review.

I'm listening to The Band The Last Waltz. Everything a concert movie/recording should be.

Rock on

Ben
www.javboyrecords.com


Update (12-13-08):

I just got a comment asking if I had any updates on this (thank Anonymous!)...
I do.
I've now been using this unit for a couple of years and I find that my initial review is close to my overall experience, though not spot on by any means.
This is definitely NOT my go-to preamp.
It behaves quite differently than the other single unit preamps I've got (mostly all tube stuff) so I usually end up using this unit when I want a different flavor. It's pretty straight forward on the preamp side of things and I've used the EQ to great effect, mostly on voices that normally sound too muddy. I shelf the lows and give the high end some lift to clear it up.
Probably the biggest surprise to me about this unit is that I don't use the compressor. Ever really.
It just hits too hard for my taste. Its fixed ratio of 5:1 without any kind of soft knee or gradual reduction is just too much for me. One second you're rolling along fine, then you cross that threshold and you're squashed to hell. I'm sure some people like this sound and are adept at making it work for them, but I prefer to keep my compression to multiple stages of light reduction to get that smooth sound.
If you've got other preamps and are looking to add something new, this is a nice unit.
If you're looking to save some bucks by getting your pre, comp, and EQ in one box as your only channel...keep looking.

Rock on.

Ben