For the last few days I constantly checked the prices for the Big Six and it’s going down here in Germany. At Thomann the price startet at 3000€ and today it has reached a new lowest point at 2690€. What could be the reason for this development??
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Prices are the same in the US.
Thomann will sell and ship to the US, with VAT and shipping the price is less than the 3K stateside vendors are selling and as of 2/3/22 they are in stock and can arrive to the US by 2/7 according to the website.
Interesting.
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What are y’all thinking in terms of the power supply / DC offset / balanced cable issues? I have the latter problem with my SSL SiX so not a huge deal, but I kind of want to hold out if people think there is a quick rev2 coming. Has anyone heard back from SSL?
The TL;DR from above is the shipped supply can be noisy but can be replaced with a much quieter one for about $50 in the States.
The DC issue seems to be on the USB going into the DAW. It can be removed easily with a DC Utility or HPF, but sucks for input metering in Ableton. SSL has responded that this will be addressed in a firmware update.
I wouldn’t doubt that the balanced/unbalanced thing has something to do with the “advanced servo DC coupling techniques” mentioned in the manual, but can’t say with any real certainty.
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Thank you - this is super helpful info. The DC issue being addressed in a firmware update is promising for sure 
! Seems like the benefits outweigh the current issues!
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Great summary from mas_akala.
I have not heard back from SSL about their final analysis of the current power supply/unbalanced cables issues, but when I do I will post an update.
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Will be waiting for final official resolvement from SSL side on these issues to make a decision. Besides would love to hear / see more information about people doing proper hybrid setups of Software and Hardware instruments / effects and how it performs?
About these power supply issues. Would using the B6 PSU with a power conditioner work?
No, it is the power supply itself that is noisy. Plugged into the wall or into a power conditioner made no difference for me. Neither did having it on its own isolated filter bank or plugged in with everything else.
Quick update: I got an email from SSL this morning saying they wanted me to ship my mixer back to them for examination and they would then ship me a replacement. So I guess I am going to be without a mixer for a bit, don’t know what I am going to do with no mixer for a week or two 
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Decided to go ahead and order one from Vintage King. Will report back to see if I have the same issues.
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Hi HBIII did they say what they would like to examine? My understanding is that most “Fidus” power supplies have the same issues, and the desks are OK. Surely they can just open up one of the boxes they have and test for themselves? Or just ask for the PSU back? Or send the replacement first? Shipping a new product risks having issues, but, you try to prepare your support team to deal with it, and communicate, and make your early adopters happy, otherwise, things don’t sell. You make this kind of mistake on your first product…
I held on to my VLZ4 1642 just in case… not sure what would be more of a let down though. 
I use the hybrid features a lot to:
– use software instruments (I usually leave the screen off even, and just play)
– use software send effects, also works great with the iPad (e.g. the eventide ones)
– use a software guitar amp emulator (Nembrini), which sounds as good as my real amp but with less heat and noise
– record all the tracks during jams, to fix things up later.
For all the above, it’s very practical, routing is at the touch of a button, and it sounds very good. I have a real Access Virus and the bit-perfect emulator (DSP56300), and maybe it sounds sightly better with the B6 DACs.
To do “insert” effects, I end up using two channels though…
Besides the PSU and DC offset, there is also one jack input that needs a bit of fiddling before it connects:
TLDR: an amazing device, but some QA issues.
No, they didn’t say. But as always I will post any updates. I already labeled all the cables, unplugged everything, and shipped it out. No easy feat sending back a mixer… If SSL is reading this I’ll take a UC1 for my troubles ;-P.
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Apart from some balanced/unbalanced trial and error sessions to please the picky audio I/Os no problems at all here – with the original PSU.
Currently I’ve connected one mono and two stereo hardware synths – plus a reverb and a delay via the Cue sends and the External returns.
I use one stereo channel as USB DAW Master Out so I can send audio from the computer to Bus B for external sampling.
My only complaints so far:
-
The two External Ins are just simple stereo returns with no additional routings. This means in my case that I can’t record the hardware effect signals from the External Ins in the DAW if I want to (without connecting the effect outs to stereo input channels).
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There’s no dedicated MUTE switch in the channels. Yes, you can set the Bus B switch to MUTE, but even then the Cue sends are still active, so you’ll here Reverb/Delay of a “muted” channel. My workaround to entirely mute channels is to switch their input to USB, but this switch is at the very top of the channel, so that’s not very comfortable.
All in all these are minor complaints. Very happy with the Big Six in general.
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I had the noise issue with the PSU and SSL is sending a new one. They were quick to reply also.
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Apart from Bus B - I’m not using that currently in my set up - that’s how I have mine set up, I hear you in the external effect/returns as I’m also finding it annoying that I can’t record the effected signal directly into the DAW , love the mixer just wish it was a bit more routings for the external inputs.
So to confirm the external ins are not touted to the usb audio interface :(?
There is a simple workaround. You can route EXT IN 1 / 2 signals to the internal STEREO CUE 1 resp. CUE 2 bus and send CUE 1 resp. CUE 2 OUT to USB OUT 9/10 resp. USB OUT 11/12.