These audio examples (described below) accompany the review of the Thermionic Culture Fat Bustard II LE which appears in SOS February 2013.
Acoustic Drums
This example shows how elegantly the Fat Bustard II can mix and blend audio signals. Step by step the various "mastering" facilities come into play. With increased Attitude settings, the sounds gets more round and dense, and the RMS level increases due to the soft clipping of the triode stage. EQ and Stereo Spread finally make this a very polished sounding drum recording.
01 DAW sum (Logic Pro 9)
02 Attitude 2
03 Attitude 4
04 Attitude 6
05 Attitude 6, Bass Lift 2 dB, Top Lift 3 dB
06 Attitude 6, Bass Lift 2 dB, Top Lift 3 dB, Stereo Spread 6
Electronic Drums
Due to the higher average level of this drum loop, the Attitude circuit is driven even faster into saturation, even at lower settings. A "Pultec-ish" EQ curve employing both Bass Lift and Cut simultaneously yields a voluminous low end without too much build-up in the lower midrange.
01 Original
02 Attitude 4
03 Attitude 6
04 Attitude 4, Bass Cut 4, Bass Lift +6 dB
Mix
In this example, a pretty rough sounding mix shows how well the Fat Bustard II can round out the agressive source material while retaining all the punch and the pressure of the original mix. In fact, the Attitude circuit makes the sound even more aggressive, but in a pleasant way. Stereo Spread helps to open up the sound even further, while the Bass to centre function comes in handy taming the bass drum.
01 Original
02 Attitude 4
03 Attitude 6, Bass Lift 2 dB
04 Attitude 6, Bass Lift 2 dB, Stereo Spread 6, Bass to centre 200 Hz