THE CULTURE VULTURE Dual Channel Valve enhancer; THE CULTURE VULTURE SUPER 15 Dual Channel Valve Distortion; THE EARLYBIRD 2.2 2 Channel mic, pre amp with eq; THE EARLYBIRD 4 4 Channel mic. Pre amp; THE FAT BUSTARD II 12 Channel Summing mixer; THE KITE Stereo Equaliser with Attitude; THE PHOENIX Mastering Plus; THE PHOENIX HG15 High Gain Valve Compressor. Jul 11, 2014  Russ takes and look and listen to the latest addition to the Universal Audio UAD stable the British favourite Thermionic Culture Vulture. He gives it a run on bass, guitar and vocals and shows the.

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The Universal Audio Thermionic Culture Vulture Plug-In. The Universal Audio Culture Vulture plug-in for UAD-2 and Apollo is an input-to-output painstaking circuit model of this all-tube behemoth. The plug-in is modeled on the stock Culture Vulture, with every switch, knob, dial, and the.

Photo: Mark Ewing

With high-resolution digital mixers, processors and recorders now standard fare, our recordings can sometimes seem too clean and sterile. As a result, there is quite a demand for devices and plug-ins which add a little distortion or warmth to a recording. Many A-D converters incorporate some sort of overload protection that emulates the saturation of analogue tape, and there are numerous plug-ins which simulate the nonlinearities of magnetic tape or valve equipment.

However, if you really want the subtle nuances of valve distortion, why not use a valve processor? This approach has its followers too, and there are plenty of preamps and other processors that incorporate valves to lend the familiar tube characteristics to the sound — although there are some where the valve is little more than a marketing ploy!

Thermionic Culture, a specialist British manufacturer of valve-based audio equipment, can trace its pedigree back to the 1950s, when the company's founder, Vic Keary, built his first studio. He went on to build several more, including Maximum Sound and Chalk Farm, and the all-valve Chiswick Reach. Other key names in the company are the chief designer Jon Bailes, who has a wealth of experience from the electronics industry, and Nick Terry, a highly regarded recording engineer.

Multi-valve Design

This 2U rackmount unit is claimed to be 'the first and only valve unit dedicated to producing the best harmonic distortion money can buy.' This seems a fair description — it is certainly a versatile design, with each channel employing an EF86 on the input, a 6AS6 to provide the controllable distortion, and a 5963 (ECC82 or 12AU7 equivalent) to handle the output. The 'distortion' valve's configuration, bias and drive can all be adjusted to provide three different distortion modes, enabling second and/or third harmonic distortion, and with an amount variable from about 0.2 percent to 150 percent.

The Culture Vulture exudes vintage charm in its styling and controls, as well as its construction. This machine is hand built in the traditional way, with full-size components strung between tag-strips in the lower section, and the valves, big reservoir capacitors and mains transformer mounted in the top section under a perforated lid. On the review model (serial number VU0050), nothing was quite square or straight, and although the front panel was well finished, everything else looked very homemade, including the labelling of the rear connectors. For many, these imperfections will add to the charm of the unit, but for those who don't like such things, they'll have to stick it in a rack so they can't see them!

This is a dual channel line-level unit, with identical facilities on each channel, and it can easily be used for processing a stereo mix, although you obviously need to take care to match all the controls in each channel. The centre of the unit is dominated by a pair of large moving-coil meters calibrated in milliamps to show the current flowing in the main 6AS6 valve in each channel. Between these two meters are a mains power switch and a large green lamp. Below, a pair of bypass switches enable the effect of each channel's processing to be auditioned independently, connecting the input directly to the output and bypassing all of the electronics.

The two sets of channel controls are arranged in a mirror-image configuration, which I found slightly confusing. A pair of traditional chicken-head Bakelite rotary controls adjust the Drive (input level) and Bias, the latter setting the current flowing through the main 'distortion' valve. Both knobs are calibrated from one to 11, and the Drive control can reduce the input signal all the way down to complete silence.

Distortion Modes

A three-position rotary switch reconfigures the operating mode of the distortion valve. The 'T' position provides a triode configuration, which generates mainly even-order harmonics. The P1 position gives a pentode configuration which creates odd-order harmonics. The third option, marked P2, provides an alternative pentode configuration which provides far more drastic distortion effects, especially when used with high bias settings. A toggle switch labelled Overdrive increases both the Drive gain and Bias range, for a more pronounced effect.

Another small three-position rotary switch selects a low-pass filter, with Off, 4kHz or 7kHz settings. The filter slope is a second-order, 12dB/octave design. A matching rotary control knob adjusts the output level of the channel, again calibrated from one to 11 with unity gain between the seven and eight positions, although this doesn't seem to reduce the output all the way to silence — just very quiet!

The rear panel carries four quarter-inch sockets, providing unbalanced inputs and outputs, plus the IEC mains inlet and a fuse holder. The front panel also has a pair of quarter-inch sockets which take priority over the rear-panel sockets, enabling easy connection with instruments. However, the handbook for the unit suggests the input impedance is just 30kΩ for both the front and rear sockets, which is rather low in the context of an instrument DI input.

The specifications suggest a maximum output level of +17dBV (about +19dBu), and a noise floor better than 75dB below the maximum output level (ie. around -56dBu). Clearly, it pays to drive this unit fairly hard to maximise the signal-to-noise ratio. The frequency response is given as ±1.5dB between 50Hz and 15kHz (at a low-distortion setting).

Using The Culture Vulture

As you might expect, it really comes down to using your ears to decide on the type of effect and the amount of distortion that is required. However, the current meter does provide some useful information about the status of the circuitry. As the Bias control is advanced, the amount of current flowing through the 6AS6 valve falls, along with the output level. A 'normal' setting would provide between 0.2mA and 0.4mA, which produces a very subtle effect in the triode configuration, not dissimilar to saturated analogue tape. It does seem odd that the meter falls as the Bias control is increased, but such is the nature of the control and the parameter being displayed. If the Drive control is advanced a long way, the amount of current can be seen to be modulated by the audio signal itself, adding to the nonlinearity of the whole process.

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The majority of the Culture Vulture's circuitry is housed in the lower section of the rack unit, while the main reservoir capacitors, the valves, and the mains transformer all protrude, as you can see here with the external perforated cover removed.Photo: Mark EwingDecreasing the Bias control to set the current to about 0.6mA provides a more obvious 'warm' kind of distortion, adding a nice but restrained 'thickness' to the source. Increasing the Bias control to give less than about 0.1mA 'starves' the valve and gives a rather lean and much quieter sound, with a more 'uneven' distortion, being most pronounced on signal peaks. This starvation effect becomes very obvious indeed when Overdrive is selected, especially if the Bias is pretty high, as only signal peaks manage to break through the circuitry at all!

All of the controls except the output control seem to interact with each other to create a wide variety of different characteristics. The Drive and Bias are by far the most critical controls, and small changes to either can have quite a pronounced affect on the sound. Obviously, selecting the different configurations also changes the character of the distortion dramatically, and engaging the Overdrive switch really unleashes the chain saws from hell! The two filter settings of 4kHz and 7kHz are very helpful in turning the mad fizzy settings into something rather more musical.

I also found that the tonal quality of the source sound changed quite a lot as I adjusted the various parameters. In addition to the harmonic generation, the overall spectral balance of the sound varied, becoming thinner with higher Bias settings, and seeming to lose some of the high end with lower Bias settings. Because of all these complex interactions, I found it difficult to predict precisely how moving one control would change the sound — it became much more a process of trial and error. However, fine-tuning the controls to optimise the type and character of distortion was always interesting, and the results were always worth the effort.

I found I generally used the triode mode for thickening and warming individual sounds or even complete mixes, while the first pentode mode seemed more appropriate for guitars, organs, electric pianos and some special vocal effects requiring a much harder, more aggressive kind of distortion. The P1 mode was also distinctly noisier than the triode mode, although in normal use I don't think the background noise and hum would present a problem. The second pentode mode seemed to combine the best of both worlds, sounding particularly rich. However, strange things happen as the Bias is adjusted, there being a kind of null point of extremely horrid, almost clipping distortion as you get to about 0.5mA — above or below that point the sound is fine, with a proportionate distortion character. Strangely, the P2 mode was also the quietest of all.

Down & Dirty!

The Culture Vulture is a very unusual machine, which is going to be something of an acquired taste to many and a fashion accessory to some. However, there will certainly be those who absolutely swear by it and use it on everything. This is certainly a very musical tool which can be used to 'dirty things up a little', adding a little character and warmth to digital recordings, or to create much more overt distortion effects spanning the tasteful to the completely manic!

Unfortunately, the machine is not particularly logical to operate, most Drive and Bias settings being found more through serendipity than science. I also found the mirror-image control layout of the second channel really frustrating when processing a stereo mix because I was always finding myself grabbing the wrong controls, but maybe more familiarity would help to overcome this particular foible. Although some users will find the Culture Vulture too unpredictable to set up, and maybe even too quirky for their squeaky-clean digital world, there is no denying that this unit makes an impressive job of providing a very flexible range of distortion effects, covering the whole gamut from almost imperceptible warmth through to seriously vicious overdriven distortion, and everything in between. Definitely one to add to your auditioning list.

Pros

• All-valve circuitry.
• Amazingly versatile distortion characteristics.
• Dual-channel flexibility.

Cons

• Somewhat unpredictable operation.
• 'Homemade' construction quality.
• Mirror image controls for the second channel.
• Unbalanced I/O.
• Noisier than modern solid-state equipment.

Summary

Thermionic Culture Vulture Vst Crack Video

An unusual dual-channel all-valve processor, the very raison d'être of which is to add distortion to your audio. A quintet of controls allows a huge range of effects, from an extremely subtle warmth to mad chain saws from hell! The perfect antidote to sterile digital recordings.

information

£992.88 including VAT.

Unity Audio +44 (0)1440 785843.

When it comes to valve distortion, few want it more than guitarists— and few know more about it than Thermionic Culture..

It seems only yesterday that UK-based company Thermionic Culture came to my attention with their 'Culture Vulture' valve processor, but they've been around since 1998. Almost a decade and a half later, the company have developed an enviable line of valve-based processors, the names of which have all been inspired by our feathered friends: how time flies!

At the time of writing, Thermionic Culture were on the cusp of celebrating their 1000th sale of the original Vulture — although, with various special editions, the total number of sales is closer to 1750. That's an impressive feat for a processor of this price, and something that's testament to the affection so many engineers feel for the design. The Vulture is all about distortion, and while some things have changed over the years — notably, desigers Vic Keary and Jon Bailes claim a 15dB decrease in the noise floor since the original SOS review by Hugh Robjohns — it's the same basic design: a two-channel, valve distortion processor, based around a 6AS6/5725 distortion stage, with line inputs on the rear, which cut out when plugging into the direct inputs on the front panel.

What was unique about the Vulture when launched was the degree of control it gave you over the nature of the distortion, with selectable distortion types, and a 'Bias' control enabling you to vary the current flowing through the distortion valve. There are also two outputs per channel: a line-level one, and a 'low' one, intended to feed into guitar amps. All of which brings me on to the subject of this review, the Solo Vulture.

Flying Solo

Lifting the lid of the case reveals neat construction and circuitry.

As the name implies, the Solo Vulture is, in essence, a mono version of the Culture Vulture — and it is, indeed, based around similar valve stages — but that description paints a less than complete picture. The preamp stage uses a 12AX7, compared with the original's EF86, to provide two stages of gain, the reasons for which will become apparent. The output valve is a 5965 type, compared with the original's 5963. The reason for this is to provide greater gain and a higher output.

While the Solo Vulture offers all the features you'd expect from the Vulture, it has also taken some of the shiny marvels from the special edition (perhaps they should have called this one the Magpie?), and incorporates some features that will be of particular interest to electric guitar and bass players, who together should form a significant part of the market for a mono distortion channel such as this.

The shiny black front panel is printed with a two-tone legend, the white lettering dedicated to the 'clean' functions — the stepped input gain, the DI input, a footswitch input, on-off toggle switch, and half of the clean/dirty switch, which is, again, a toggle type. The orange printing describes the functions dedicated to the art of distortion. These include controls that will be familiar to anyone who's used a valve amp or pedal, and some that won't be, and many of them run from a spineless '1' all the way up to a presumably Spinal Tap-inspired '11' setting. The non-detented 'drive' control does exactly what you'd expect, as does the stepped Presence control, which offers two settings for a broad presence boost (the third being 'off'). Another switched rotary control governs a low-pass filter that rolls the top end off the dirty channel (with settings of 'out' and 15, 9 and 4 kHz available).

That's all pretty standard stuff, though, and the controls responsible for the more interesting aspects of this device are the Mid-Lift, Distortion Type and Bias controls. The Mid-Lift, which has been carried over from the Vulture Anniversary Edition, is a narrow, mid-frequency boost. Like the low-pass filter, it's switchable, this time with centre-frequency options of 0.5, 0.63, 0.85, 1.1 and 1.6 kHz, as well as Off. By changing the centre frequency of any boost, you change how your amp reacts to the signal. The brief, but helpful and user-friendly, manual suggests setting the Mid-Lift frequency to the key of the song you're playing, as well as suggesting suitable settings elsewhere on the Solo Vulture to use with this feature.

The Distortion Type switch presents the user with four different options compared to the original Vulture's three, with the legend describing the settings as 'T', 'P', 'SQ1' and 'SQ2' As on the Vulture, the 'T' position provides a triode configuration, which generates mainly even-order (ie. smooth-sounding) harmonics, and the single 'P' option (there were two on the original) puts the device into a pentode configuration, generating mainly odd-order harmonics, for a more aggressive sound. SQ denotes 'squash' options, which are intended for anyone wanting more filth and a bit of compression/saturation.

The Bias control, with its adjacent mA meter, was for me the most interesting feature of the Solo Vulture, and the one that makes this device really stand out from the crowd of distortion processors. Basically, it enables you to starve the distortion valve of current or to over-feed it, the practical outcome of which is that the user has a very interesting tone control: in keeping with the feeding terminology, when you starve the valve the sound gets thinner, and as you feed it more, it becomes increasingly rounded. When you get into over-feeding territory, though, the sound really starts to break up, as if the device is faulty — it's not, but my point is that there's more control here than anyone should need, so all tastes should be catered for.

The clean channel is a new feature, too, providing an active stage between the input and output (the original Vulture had a hard bypass). This is, of course, for the benefit of guitarists and bassists, who can then balance the clean and dirty output levels so that they both present the same sort of level to the amp.

Test Flight

The rear panel sports two different level outputs, and a switchable power supply capable of operating at 110V or 240V.

To get a feel for the Solo Vulture, I played both guitar and bass directly through it via the front-panel DI, feeding the 'Lo' output into my Fender Blues Deville's power-amp stage, and later tried feeding it directly into my DAW at line level, monitoring the dry distorted sound without any power amp or speaker colouring the resulting sound. I then used it as an insert processor for a few alternative sources with my DAW.

The first thing to say is that the unit oozes quality. It feels nice, solid and well built, and the case is well enough ventilated that it didn't get unduly warm during my tests. The front panel is neatly painted in a glossy black, and it's cleanly laid out, with plenty of space between the controls, all of which I found very intuitive in use. The sound is everything I've come to expect from Thermionic Culture's high-quality valve gear, with everything from thin and brittle, through warm and rounded to woolly fuzz on offer, and being able to switch between the clean and dirty channels with a footswitch, as if this were a guitar amp, was great. Once I'd found a setting I liked, it was easy to balance the clean and dirty levels, though I should note that there's no level-matching between the different distortion settings, and that you'd therefore be left with a certain amount of juggling to do to match the clean and dirty channel output levels if you were to switch between distortion settings mid-performance — between songs at a gig, for example. I can understand why this is the case, but it would be nice to see the output levels better matched, somehow. While I'm on the subject of output levels, it's worth noting that this thing seems to kick out a hell of a loud signal at times, whichever output is being used! Feeding my RME Fireface 800's line level inputs (with no gain provided by the Fireface), I was doing all the level tweaking in the 1-2 region of the dirty channel for some settings, to avoid overloading the interface's inputs, and I found this a little fiddly — although, in the event, perfectly doable. It's hard to be too critical about this aspect of the Solo Vulture, though, as the levels are inherently related to the settings you choose: there are much quieter settings available, particularly when you bring the Bias control into play, for which you'll want to turn the output levels up much further.

For both guitar and bass, this is a beautiful, rich-sounding distortion processor, but the applications stretch far beyond that. I routed various sounds through it to see what I could come up with: amongst other things, it was great for overdriven rock vocal effects, for smacking a bit of attitude into a humdrum mono drum loop, for lending a bit more grit to snare drums, and for fattening up soft-synth patches, lending the sound a real and desirable analogue flavour.

Conclusion

In short, then, I'm a fan, although I probably wouldn't quite class the Solo Vulture as 'perfect' for me. As well as the level-matching issues I discussed earlier, I'd love to see the option to high-pass filter the signal running through the distorted channel, and the ability to blend between the clean and dirty channels, as this would make the Vulture much more versatile on sources such as bass, drums and vocals, allowing you to keep more of the energy of the low frequencies intact. 'Combi' input sockets on the rear might also have made integration into some setups easier without pushing up the cost significantly. But while such features do appear on my wish-list, they aren't major criticisms, by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, this is a stunningly good distortion processor, and definitely a worthwhile refinement of a piece of gear that already deserves to be called a classic. The price isn't in stomp-box territory, so it a will be a serious purchase for the non-professional guitarist or bassist — but given the quality of design and execution, and if you think of this as a combination of tube preamp, tube distortion processor and EQ, it's actually very fairly priced. For the non-guitarists out there, it's got just as good a chance of making it into the studio rack as it has a guitar-amp rig, and the price will probably seem keener in comparison with similar-quality studio outboard. Recommended.

Alternatives

The character of a distortion processor comes down very much to personal taste, which makes it really difficult to recommend specific alternatives, and there are few that offer so much control, or which have been designed so specifically with both the studio engineer and guitar/bassist in mind. Driving any tube or transformer-laden preamp or processor into distortion is one alternative, perhaps combining that tactic with a little pre-distortion compression, but the tonal results will vary immensely in character. For outboard gear that's dedicated to the art of distortion, the other Vulture processors are worth consideration, as is the Looptrotter Monster — and perhaps a few of the better guitar-preamp pedals will get you into similar territory, albeit without the same degree of functionality and versatility.

Pros

• Reassuring build quality.
• All-analogue signal path, including switching.
• Intuitive in operation, but with a helpful manual, should you come unstuck.
• Applications both in the studio and a bassist's/guitarist's live rig.

Cons

• Output levels vary significantly between distortion types.
• A few extra features could benefit a lot of users.

Thermionic Culture Vulture Vst Crack 1

Summary

One of the best distortion processors on the market is now available as a mono device, with extra bells and whistles to make it well suited to guitar and bass processing — but without compromising its suitability for use on other sources. You could think of this as the first half of an excellent guitar amp, or as a great piece of studio outboard.

Thermionic Culture Vulture Vst Crack Download

information

Thermionic Culture +44 (0)1279 414770.

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Independent Audio +1 207 773 2424.