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 | | | | May31Written by:Rip Rowan
Sunday, May 31, 1998 6:00 PM  The Manley VoxBox is Manley Labs' entry into the current vogue: multi-effect voice processors. These devices typically couple a microphone preamp and compressor into a single unit. Other features often include EQ, limiting, de-essing, and A/D conversion.
Voice / multi-processor units are a natural progression of audio's movement to workstation-based recording. They provide a specialized short-path route to get signal from the mic to the media as cleanly and effectively as possible, bypassing the messy preamps. busses and EQs of mixing consoles. Although such units have been around for decades their recent resurgence is almost certainly due to the thrust of the audio industry to supply high-quality tools to the modern small (but very pro) studios.
I received my VoxBox about 10 days ago, and plan on giving it the full review in the July ProRec. However, after just a few days of heavy use, I am so amazed by the quality of this unit that I felt it necessary to give it a sneak preview in this month's issue.
 Manley VoxBox
The VoxBox is a 3-space unit that combines an opto-compressor, a tube mic preamp, a Pultec-style inductance EQ, and a de-esser/limiter. The unit can be used as a mic preamp or a direct input interface. It is unique in that its compressor precedes its mic preamp in the signal path. This configuration is employed because it prevents signals from overloading the mic preamp and allows more usable gain from the preamp. The VoxBox competes with entries from Summit (MPC-100A), Calrec (RQP 3200), Inward Connections (Vac-Rac 4000) and Tube-Tec (MEC-1A). At $4000, the VoxBox is more expensive than these competing units, but it also offers more features - primarily the de-esser / limiter.
Its price sets in in the upper echelon of recording system front-ends. Can anything be worth this much money? $4000 will purchase an excellent pair of Neumanns, a full-loaded audio workstation, a decent new mixing console, or new amplifiers and speakers -- with money left over. How, then, can anyone justify what amounts to a mic preamp the price of a down payment on a Mercedes?
Clearly, the VoxBox is NOT the next logical purchase for the recording enthusiast just getting started with a single ADAT and a few SM-57s. Priorities are, in fact, priorities. However, I can say with absolute certainty that if your priorities include purchasing a first-class system front-end to handle the sounds captured by high-end microphones, nothing - nothing - beats the VoxBox.
1. Compressor: The compressor is a fixed-ratio (3:1) opto-compressor with variable threshold and 5-preset attack and release settings. The settings allow for fast attack / release (suitable for guitar, bass or drums) to medium attack / release (great for vocals) to a slow attack / release that is similar to a gentle engineer riding faders on a console. The compressor is clean, quiet and sounds as good as any I've ever heard. The input control - which is grouped with the mic-pre gain control, actually controls the input fed to the compressor and is not a post-preamp gain pad.
2. Mic Preamp: The VoxBox features the award-winning Manley 40 db microphone tube amp. The mic preamp is post-compressor, which is unusual because typical compressors are too noisy to operate effectively at low input levels like a microphone input. This system is clean and quiet, however, even at full gain and high compression. The only control on the mic preamp is a 5-position Gain switch. The Gain switch controls the negative feedback within the preamp and as such as a unique feature of Manley products. By controlling negative feedback through the system the Gain switch not only changes the amount of gain but also the "drive" applied to the tubes, creating sounds from "very quiet and solid-state-like" to "warm" to "hot" by altering the way the unit responds to transients. This makes the VoxBox suitable for recording all kinds of inputs.
3. EQ: the EQ, in my opinion, is the best part of the system. A three-band extended Pultec has been employed in the EQ section, which allows for bass boost, mid cut, and treble boost. There is no amplification in the EQ: it is fully passive - which causes it to have a very sweet sound adding as little color as possible. In particular is the way this unit responds to transients and sibilants. The bass EQ offers boost from 20 Hz to 1000 Hz, the mid EQ offers cut from 200 Hz to 7 KHz, and the treble Eq offers boost from 1.5 KHz to 20 KHz. The frequency controls are not variable - each has 11 steps which simply click in a different capacitor and inductor. In fact the EQ only has four components in the signal path - a pot, a switch, a cap, and an inductor. Simple really is better and you can clearly hear it in the VoxBox's EQ section.
4. De-Esser / Limiter: The Limiter section is a passive notch filter combined with another optocompressor at a 10:1 ratio. It has 5 frequency settings: 3K, 6K, 9K, 12K, and Limiter. In the limiter setting the notch filter is bypassed enabling broadband limiting. De-essing or limiting is adjusted by means of a threshold control which adjusts the level at which de-essing or limiting begins.
I don't want to let the whole cat out of the bag - because I still have about 2 weeks of testing left with this unit, during which I will be using it to record many kinds of vocals and instruments in several different studios. I will save the rest of the subjective judgments for next month. Let's just say at this point that I am pleased - and surprised - that the unit actually manages to live up to its exclusive price tag. It isn't without shortcoming, either. Stay tuned, I'll give you the full scoop in the July ProRec.
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