Aphex 109

Incredibly easy, turn a few knobs.
No manual included with mine but I never felt the need for one.

I use this either alone or in the side chain of my Behringer T1952. I have used it to boost the audio from VHS tapes to DVD transfer. I find it adds no noise to the chain what so ever and warms up the signal.

Solidly built, I would rely on it.

Never had to deal with them...

I have a number of processors and this one has been an excellent addition to my setup.
I have been playing drums for about 25 years and dabbling in the home studio medium for about 5 years.
If it were lost or stolen I would replace it.

Very easy to use.

Three years old and I'm starting to get some crackle on the pots. The tube sounds warm, and I think that circuit was well designed.

Power jack, as mentioned above is fragile. Had to resolder it myself.

I like the sound of this unit, it's a good pre. Distortion is interesting, I kind of like it. The tube is easy to replace. However, they did cheap out on the board, as it's only 2 layers and they run jumper wires all over this thing... looks like a proto if you open the box. Ugggly!

After 4 years the bypass switch failed, and two of the freq pots crackle. I'm thinking about putting some new ones in.

Would like to experiment with a solid state bypass on the tube... anyone know how to do it? gigaber(at)hotmail.com

Well, the 109 is an analog stereo parametric EQ, this kind of things are seldom difficult to use !

However, there isn't any "link" switch, and it's a real problem when trying to adjust both channels at the same time. What's more, no explicite gain or frequency numerical indications, except for the middle and extreme values - so you'll have to look real close to be sure your knobs are in the same position for each channel.

Ah, and the unit doesn't switch off... and there isn't any level meter, not even lights...

Also, this stereo unit can be switched to a mono mode, then using the four bands on a single channel. This is interesting.

This unit is almost quiet - I mean it is much quieter than, say, a MindPrint EnVoice unit. But less quiet than a JoeMeek unit. Noise can appear quicklly when cutting high frequencies, but the noise is almost nice, very smooth and finally adding a texture that is sometimes useful.

When used in linear behaviour - meaning when feeding it with reasonable levels, it sounds exactly as the Focusrite D2 plug-in for ProTools TDM. The only difference is that it may be a little smoother when applying negative gains.

When used near the overload levels, it can become very interesting. More shiny, more dense. I usually use it in this mode.

When used in plain overload level... well, it's written "tubessence" on it, but forget any tube like harmonic distortion. The distortion sounds very, very bad.

And the switches make quite some noise... the knobs are quiet, though.

On the overall, it is quite interesting to add a little something to the sound when used in mild overload. For the price, it isn't possible to complain.

The construction is not good.

The power supply plug seems very fragile, the knobs are not firm at all.

It seems that the manufacturer's goal was to offer an interesting sound at the lowest price possible, and that he had to cut the construction cost drastically.

Forget it on a gig, I believe.

Well, anyway I have it since 6 months and it still works...

Never dealt with the company.

On the overall, despite all the problems, I like this unit.

Such a nice sounding EQ for 450 Euros... I would consider to buy it again if I lose this unit for any reason.

But a "link" switch would be really appreciated... and maybe something to visualize the signal level...