Looks great (and bet it all sounds great 
)! I’m on a similar journey. I’ve just bought a used Elysia Karacter 500 series, and waiting for it to arrive. How are you finding it? I already have the Xfilter and Xpressor and really like those.
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Anyone using the HRK ST552 tape 500 series? I thought they looked decent from what I’ve read.
Current 500 series - Elysia Xpressor & Xfilter. I really like the 500 series format and getting GAS already… Karacter on the way. 
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Anamod 660s are incredible. I originally got them for the times when my real varimu (thermionic culture Phoenix) is acting up. They have so much mojo to them and really nail the varimu compression character and exude tube and transformer color. Really wish the concept of creating analog computers to recreate vintage gear took off more. I also have the AnaMod ATS1 tape simulator and it blows the plugin tape emulations I’ve tried (uad) out of the water.
The little devil comps are very cool as well but are actually a bit more polite than I thought they would be when I got them. Pretty slow for a diode bridge design, but when they work for a signal they are very classy sounding. Neither are do it all compressors, but if you have clean general purpose compressors they make a fantastic addition.
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You may have seen this video, and sure - youtube soundquality etc - but it does something great to the sound. I have been eying this since ages.
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There’s an Elysia Nvelope 500 for sale/trade area…if I’m allowed to mention it 
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The Phoenix is a mighty sounding compressor, the fact the Anamod holds its weight is impressive, especially when you consider the footprint. I assume you can swap out the valves for different colour. I’ve been told vari mu compression benefits from a fast compressor behind it, is that’s where the Xpressor fits in? I’m considering the Neo version at the moment but unsure if there’s enough sonic difference to warrant the added moolah. Would really love to hear the tape simulator, you’re the 3rd person to tell me how great they are!
There’s also a mint Elysia Xpressor cube on Reverb in the UK for a really good price (if I’m also allowed to mention?)
But why do you let it go, that is the intresting question?
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Can you remove the module from these Qubes?
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Yes, its just a standard module - with a single casing - could also live in a 500 rack.
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Yes, you can take out the module from the Qube and put it in another lunchbox. (I did this with my Xpressor module).
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I got a Cranborne 500R8 within the last year or so and had a lot of fun picking things to fill it up. Here’s what I got currently:
2x Cranborne Camden preamps - I mainly use these for my Melbourne Nina, but these are kind of the “wild card” preamps for anything I want to just quickly load into my recording session too. Super helpful having the 1/4" TRS inputs on the front!
2x dbx 510 subharmonic synthesizers - these add subharmonics to any signal going through them. I honestly don’t use them much since a dab of sub will do you in most cases but it can help if you have a weak kick drum or bass and need to beef it up a bit.
Elysia XFilter 500 - as others have mentioned, it’s like a full rack EQ. I find the sound smooth and transparent and use it in my mixing chain.
2x Cranborne Carnaby 500 - these are the crown jewel in my lunchbox. I highly recommend these!!! It’s a kind of saturating EQ but you can remove the fundamental by going into the negative. These really warm up and transform just about anything you put in them. Great for shaping kicks, but anything you run through them sounds so much better.
If I had to do it all again, I’d probably get those RND 542s instead of the dbx units. I’m a freak for saturation - I have so many things that do it now - the tubedrve caught my eye for sure. Another unit I was on the fence about was the Klanghabitat Cassiopeia MKII.
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I hate to GAS you up but the Cranborne 500R8 allows you to use 500 series as inserts within a DAW. I’m using my modules as audio fx in Ableton Live - it wouldn’t fit in the Output desk though as it’s 4RU (and probably 3x the price of the nice WesAudio you already have haha)
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The karacter is really versatile. I tried a lot of different distortion and saturation hardware this year (including a bunch of guitar pedals of which I kept nothing lol, guess I am not a pedal guy) and the karacter was one of the few that did subtle as well as more extreme distortion equally well. It is really easy to get the sounds I am looking for out of it. The mid/side is a great addition too (although i also have an ssl fusion I use to make whatever I want mid/side with the insert).
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I have a bad case of converter snobbery, but I was actually OK with the cranborne converters. Would be nice to bring everything to my interface with just one ADAT cable for sure (and the 500adat is only a few hundred dollars more than the supercarrrier II was)! But I am happy with my new bittree patchbay too lol. Main reason I didn’t get it was I didn’t have a 4RU chunk free anywhere. Wes audio also makes a nice little 500 series interface I could put in my chassis if I did decide to go that way in the future though.
You can’t gas me up more for that thing. I’ve been gasing for it for a couple years now! 
I bet it’s wonderful. That’s a true hybrid setup right there
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Hey thanks… looking forward to getting my hands on this. As you say, it seems really versatile, especially with the mid side, I also have the Fusion, and have been using the mid side with various bits and pieces
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Recently swapped out the tubes for some NOS Mullard tubes and while not night and day it did make a nice difference. Varimu’s do pair well with a fast compressor. When mastering I usually combo it with an analog limiter. For years I used a RND master bus processor but it belongs to my production partner and he recently moved it to his new space. Now I follow it with the Bettermaker limiter. The auto fast mode on the xpressor does a pretty good job as a peak limiter though
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