Joemeek VC3Q Mic Preamp/Compressor/EQ

very easy to use, very tweakable, very green. an essential part of my small setup.

i'm just recording myself singing and playing acoustic guitar, sometimes live and sometimes overdubbed. i love the sound of cranked up preamps to get loads of breath and air and this unit gives me that. can also just stick a mic in the room and record live takes quite nicely using this pre-amp. i also use it for mastering too.
eq seems quite powerful and easy to get too trebly

i have gigged with it, sometimes i put my vocal mic through it and sometimes plug my acoustic into it depending on what pa i'm using.
completely trust it as long as the input and output is set properly

never dealt with them,

playing 10 years with loud bands
last few years have started playing solo acoustic shows. prefer the loud bands but on my own i don't have to be relying on anyone else....or taking shit from the drummer.

as this unit came with a mic it was a perfect all in one problem solver for my home set-up. but i'm about to get a new mic- one more suited to vocals, and am looking forward to trying it throughthe joe meek machine. i like green, and its green.
for the price its unbeatable, i know you can pick them up dirt cheap now. lots of people who have heard my stuff have gone out to get themselves one of these green thingies.

the preset suggestions are pretty good, though you'll need to mess about with input/output levels on both the unit and your soundcard/recording equipments to get a good level.

when i first got it it had the wrong power supply (the shop's fault) it sounded a bit noisy. got myself a good power supply and my vocal recordings have really come to life, with a warmth and depth i've only heard in studios with 2" tape previously. a few years ago i was using a joe meek channel without the eq (can't remember the model) with a yamaha 01v desk and can honestly say there is a dramatic improvement. i'm putting this straight into a terratec dmx6fire and the 2nd output is really useful for creating a headphone mix with fx.

it's been fine so far, but the power supply i'm using isn't the official one and it does state that using a different one could damage the unit. dare say i'd risk it though.

as it was 2nd hand it came with no guarantee. i tried e-mailing them to find out where i could get a power supply, but i don't think i sent it to the right department. decided to chance it with the power supply i have.

i've only used it for female vox so far, but i'll use it for guitar and bass at some point. my singer has a great voice, but she's not too loud, and this has really helped her voice cut through a busy mix (garbage/curve type of music, usually with plenty of vocal overdubs)

First of all, mine is the new MQ3, but same animal as the VC3Q. Ease of use is good. Being a home recording artist cliche', I am not a gearhead or musical engineer (although I am an architect). What I'm sure would not even phase an MET major takes me a second listen to catch, but compression is easy enough to dial in. EQ section is a no brainer and VERY effective in my humble studio setup. Back panel is pretty straightforward.

Excellent! I read up extensively on these and others, but did not get a chance to hear one before purchase. Compared to other brands I did hear, Joe Meek is magic. It has become my best friend in recording. I run my DM Pro kit through it to the board and WHOA!! What a difference this little box makes. My bass is active electronics and sounds decent already, so the difference is not as noticeable although it is there. Wasn't as impressive as the drums. Vocals, WOW!! My forte is guitar, and I am very sensitive about adding processing to my vintage analog rig signal, so I haven't explored this in depth yet. A little Joe Meek does the sound up right, though. This little box rocks, and the price is great. BTW, I got mine in a kit/case with the Joe Meek JM47 mic, and they sound great together! My humble studio setup is...TASCAM 488, Alesis MidiVerb IV, Joe Meek MQ3, Joe Meek JM47 & Shure SM58 mics, Rocktron Hush, TASCAM CD-RW700.

So far, no troubles. Seems sturdy and nothing weird has ever happened when it is turned on. By design, it seems very durable.

I dealt with PMI Group(US distributor), from whom I purchased it direct(NAMM show demo). They were very friendly and responsive.

Straight forward rock with a bluesy influence could describe my writing style. Again, this little green box adds so much to my recordings, although I am not a big production studio. I love to write and produce my own songs. I like to think I do a bit more than just recording tracks on a scratch demo, as I take time and effort to arrange and produce what I record. In that aspect, the Joe Meek is perfect for my situation. In general, no matter your application, this box is going to do some very noticeable good stuff for your music.

i found the joe meek vc3q very easy to use indeed,didnt even need to take a look at the manual at all its so simple.

the sound quality is great i havent found any problems with the unit at all,i use a akg 3000b mic with it and the vocals are very crisp and clear.

i have found no problems with reliability

For anyone with minimal recording experience, the controls on the VC3Q should be self explainatory though the lettering is very hard to read.
You have to memorize the locations of the knobs. You must be very critical when adjusting your compression ratio as your signal will become very muddy (as with many compressors) if you use too much compression.

I bought this unit as a "cheap way out" to get a thick vocal sound. Although this is possible, I wouldn't recommend it for any recordings you intend to use to further your musical career. As I've mentioned, the more compression you use, the muddier it sounds. I have yet to achieve a vocal sound that I am thoroughly happy with. I've found that trying to clear up the squashed muddy signal with the EQ section helped a little, but was a give and take situation. It did clean things up a little, but added some undesireable frequencies.
I had read that this unit was good for tracking bass guitar too. In that instance it does a good job, but not a great one. The compressor and the high band EQ sections are key here. The tones you can get are basically limited to the rock/punk/metal genres (best when using a pick).
The most important thing to keep in mind as far as sound quality is that it is a hard knee compressor and does not have a soft knee option.

As far as I can tell it is a sturdy unit. All metal chasis and the knobs seem to be stable and have a good feel as far as resistance when turnig goes. No troubles yet.

N/A

I basically play rock / alternative / metal, but am into listening, writing, and recording anything (yes, I'm a guitarist, what did you expect?)
I've been playing 19 years. I started making my own 4 track recordings in 1986 and have recently graduated to a G4 / MOTU recording system.
If this unit was stolen I would beat the crap out of whoever stole it and buy something else that sounds better.
I like that it was inexpensive, I don't like that it doesn't sound that great, my favorite feature is that it's small (in this instance smaller is better)
I tried using my Pre Sonus Blue Tube preamp and Alesis 3630 compressor
instead of the VC3Q and was much happier with the out come. The signal was much clearer and warmer (because of the tube pre of course)
Though I've been playing gigs and making my own recordings for years, I'm a newcomer to the "real" recording world. My opinon on the VC3Q should be taken with a grain of salt. I do feel however that my ears are pretty good and I am indeed very serious about music. If I had the dough I'd have a rack full of Avalon, Drawmer, Neve, etc.

i am very new to recording. i just have a home studio in an over-sized closet in my apartment. I'd been using a clarion 4-track with now EQ and got this thing to juice up my input sound with along with some EQ and compressor. whatever i put into this little box sounded great immediately--that's before any tweaking of knobs!

but even once you begin tweaking its simple. the box has three sections:
the input gain, the compressor, then the EQ. the latter two sections have on/off switches. the compressor has attack and release, the eq has low freq, mid freq., and high freq., the last knob is the volume out. i'd say the only difficulty was understanding the way the compressor controls affect the sound.
Ted Fletcher, the designer and owner of the Joe Meek line wrote the manual which was perfect for an amateur like me. It gives a rundown of the different functions, an explanation of the Joe Meek approach to compression, the philosophy behind the Joe Meek vintage sound, and a quick lesson in how pre-amplification works, compression, and EQ and how it affects the final product. then some suggested settings. which still start with and then tweak.
i am an avid 60's music fan as well as a fan of Joe Meek's (the producer) work. so i tended to agree with everything that Ted Fletcher said about recorded music. For a kid that knows what he likes but not exactly how to reproduce it, Fletcher's little booklet was perfect. And it was little, i was done reading it in about 10-15 minutes.

oh, along the back of the unit is an XLR mic line in, a phantom power switch, a standard line in, a mix/insert for an effects loop (i use a fostex analog reverb box), and two outs
as a side note: one of those outs goes to a 4-channel mixer so i can monitor my sound. Fletcher suggested this as a solution to problems of digital delay when recording on a PC. digital delay was literally the only obstacle to me using the 8 track FREE version of PRO TOOLS i'd had on my machine for over 6 months. I now have completely abandoned my 4-track and have gone digital with a real warm full sound going into my PC

only CON: In Fletcher's booklet he talked about the "expert use of compression and its relationship to input gain". as if there were certain levels of aural perfection a real master of the knobs could achieve. i think i sometimes spend too much time on those knobs trying to attain this ultimate sound he hinted at.

the thing is not noisy. it is not tube. tubes can be very noisy. i almost bought a presonus blue tube until i read reviews of the noise of tubes. all the Joe Meek equipment uses optical circuitry which Fletcher claims is the real reason for the warmth of recordings of the past. i am not going to get into that debate but i will say that the VC3Q sounds great.
the compression on bass makes my bass sound like Carol Kaye when i turn the mid up, with it down it sounds like Chris Hillman on the beginning of 8 Miles High.
and an acoustic guitar with compression and the Meekrophone (see coming review) never sounded so good. i now can't enjoy playing guitar without setting up the mic, and pre and putting on my headphones.
electric guitar: of course it sounds awesome. the other day i discovered an incredible fuzzy distortion like Let it Be beatles and Harrison on all must pass. i also love to use it in combination with my Fender Bandmaster tube direct into the PC. with this set-up yesterday i got a juicy clean sound like some recent stereolab songs (w/the amp vibrato all the way up)
by the way: i've learned that heavy compression especially Meek-style brings down all the background noise when the instrument plays. so when i plug in my 70's Crumar organ through my tube amp, analog reverb, and morley phaser, and turn it up so its almost peaking the soundcard, i build up an incredible swell of pure noise, but as soon as i play the first chord it disappears. when i'm done playing almost 2 seconds later that heavy rain shower returns. this is a major part of what all compressors do but, from what i understand, Meek compressors win all the awards because the attempt to approximate the function of the human ear. when all is quiet you can hear everything. when a loud sound strikes your ear turns down the input volume. the longer the sound continues, the longer it takes for your ears to turn up their input volume to high sensitivity once the sound has ceased.

it seems to be sturdy. but i am really careful with it nonetheless. it just has an AC power adaptor which i don't like, i wish it had a regular power cord. it also has no power switch, that bothers me too.
i also would like the ins and outs to be in the front.
also its a half-rack size which makes me worry it could just get pulled off the shelf if cord was yanked. but this is also nice because i bought the Meekrophone (review coming soon) it came with a hard case and a special place for the pre amp to fit.

i'm going to give it a little lower rating not becase it is unreliable but because of no power switch, the i/o placement, and because it seems susceptible to being smashed

haven't dealt with the company. not sure how it would be cuz they're in the UK and it seems like a small basement operation

as you can see, the price i paid was real cheap and it was probably the #1 or #2 reason i got it. it just checked and the price has gone up $40. the list price is around $300-$380. if you were going to pay at the upper level i would suggest the VC3Q's big brother--the VC5. Joe Meek said anyone should be very happy with the VC3Q and that you should only get the brother if it is affordable for you--they are very similiar with the brother having a slightly more prefessional, studio sound. it also is a full rack system and probably even has a power switch! (my only complaints about the VC3Q)
i must say i am completely satisfied with this item, so much so that i felt compelled to write a review. I also wanted to clear the air that whatever was wrong the Enhancer feature of the older, VC3 has been completely improved upon by the three band "Meequalizer" the other complaint i read about the predecessor was that it peaked too soon, also not a problem with this new model.

i love this thing. it has propelled me into the digital world, a world which i had very apprehensive about joining. the reason is that it is made to allow you to take advantage of all the great possibilities recording software has to offer while still creating warm classic sounds--with virtually none of the hiss or hum.