The Best Budget 500 Series modules for Home Recording
Affordable 500-series modules for your home studio.
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When it comes to music production, we’ve become so exclusively reliant on software that it becomes difficult to know where to start in the analogue domain. Let’s take a look at some of the best budget 500 series modules that can become essential tools in your setup.
The 500 series format does not have the high voltage capacity of 19-inch rack gear, which puts a ceiling on the headroom and dynamic range you can achieve with these units. However, 500 series modules still provide a compact and comparably affordable solution for recording and mixing.
In this Article:
Choosing the Best Budget 500 Series Modules
If you’re just starting out with 500 series gear, it’s important to plan your setup according to your workflow and give yourself enough room to upgrade, as you may want to swap out or acquire additional modules in the future.
Selecting the right 500-series chassis is essential, as you might require D-SUB or digital outputs, and there is a wide range of casings available.
The Best Budget 500 Series Modules: dbx 560A
In the 1990s, you couldn’t go into a professional studio without finding at least two of the dbx 160A compressors in the outboard racks. The 560A brings this versatile processor to the 500-series format.
All the important features remain, including selectable OverEasy and Hard Knee settings and inverse-compression ratio modes. Overall, the 560A offers great value for home recording, and it’s useful for live sound applications too.
The Best Budget 500 Series Modules: Fredenstein Artistic Compressor Plus
If you need to level vocals, bass, or guitars on the way in, the Artistic Compressor Plus is a great value solution. It’s an 1176-style FET compressor with gain-reduction metering and an adjustable sidechain filter that also has an external mode.
The mix knob lets you control the degree of processed signal you want, and these modules are also stereo linkable which makes them even more versatile. Easily one of the best-value compressor modules in this price range.
- More from Fredenstein
The Best Budget 500 Series Modules: Behringer 73
The Behringer 73 is an affordable recreation of the famous Neve 1073, built for the 500 series format. Using specially-designed Midas transformers, the 73 captures the magic of the original with the familiar red rotary switch for precise gain adjustment. Like the original, the design of the 73 module uses discrete Class A circuitry, and you can fine-tune the gain with the trim control.
This 73 module can be used for recording in your home studio, or it can add versatility to your toolbox as a live engineer. With its XLR combo input on the front panel, the 73 also functions as a DI box; all you need to do is select the input with the FR I/P button and choose between high or low impedance accordingly.
Overall, the 73 offers exceptional value for money, allowing you to capture the experience of recording with a legendary mic preamp for a more-than-reasonable price. Rather than expecting the 73 to outdo the original, it’s better to see it as a competitive option in its own price bracket. Get it at Thomann.*
The Best Budget 500 Series Modules: SSL SiX Channel
Our pick of the bunch is the SSL SiX Channel, a complete 500-series channel strip modeled on the SiX range of desktop mixers. You get a mic pre, EQ, compressor, and DI, all in one very well-priced module.
Both the preamp and compressor have LED metering, and the two EQ bands are switchable, providing shelf or bell functionality. Although it might be limited compared to high-end channel strips, the SiX Channel still gives you an excellent front end for the price.
- More from SSL
The Best Budget 500 Series Modules: Lindell Audio 7X-500
The Lindell Audio 7X-500 module is inspired by the legendary 1176 FET compressor/limiter, making its key functions accessible in the 500-series format. For straightforward operation, the attack and release controls have 3-position switches for fast, medium, or slow time settings. This allows you to quickly match the compressor’s behaviour with your source sound.
The 7X-500 is equipped with the bare essentials to capture the functionality you would expect when you reach for an 1176-style compressor. To keep things simple, you can choose between three ratio settings, including 4:1, 12:1, and 1000:1, aka the legendary “all-buttons-in” mode loved by so many engineers and producers.
In addition, the 7X-500 has a sidechain high-pass filter (100 Hz or 300 Hz), so you can remove the low end from the detector circuit and prevent the compressor from reacting to it. Overall, the 7X-500, is a worthwhile option for the price, and the wet/dry mix control is a useful addition for added flexibility. Get it at Thomann.*
The Best Budget 500 Series Modules: SPL TDx
With the endless transient processor plug-ins available, maybe it’s time to get some analogue hardware for shaping your drums, percussion, and acoustic guitars. The TDx front panel gives you attack, sustain, output attenuation, and mix controls.
This means you can add an aggressive bite to the sound without processing the entire signal. Overall, an excellent mixing tool to add to your 500-series rack for music production.
- More from SPL
The Best Budget 500 Series Modules: Cranborne Audio Camden 500
The Camden 500 is a versatile preamp module with over 68 dB of gain on tap and two distinctive saturation circuits for sweetening vocals, guitars, and drums.
In addition, the Cranborne 500 has a DI input conveniently placed on the front panel, and an 80 Hz high-pass filter. Getting a vintage sound on a budget is often a myth sold by many manufacturers, so it’s rare to find gear of this nature.
- More from Cranborne Audio
The Best Budget 500 Series Modules: Trident Audio 80B EQ
Trident Audio has a prestigious legacy in the recording industry going back to the late 1970s, when the company introduced the 80 Series consoles. The 80B Series continued on this path in the early 1980s, with a more economical design without compromising on the classic Trident sound. As smaller studios were on the rise at this time, the 80B fitted in perfectly.
Today, Trident Audio Developments has taken the design of the channel strip from this legendary line of consoles and made its key functions available in a range of 500-series modules, like the 80B EQ. This versatile 4-band EQ is perfect for tracking and mixing, with two parametric midrange bands, high and low shelving filters, and a high-pass filter at 50 Hz.
Another key feature of this EQ is its proportional Q, which means that the bands get narrower and more precise as you increase the boost or cut. This is one of the factors that gives classic EQs like this their desirable musical character, and makes them sought after by engineers and producers even years later. Get it at Thomann.*
More about the Best Budget 500 Series Modules:
- Thomann’s Guide to 500-series Modules
- All about 500-series
- Everything vintage
- Outboard gear for beginners
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One response to “The Best Budget 500 Series modules for Home Recording”
I spent nearly $7000 on these Series 500 modules to try and get that special sound.. but was bitterly disappointed.
Perhaps user error but I couldn’t get them to make a sound? 😐
Are defective units common?