ADDAC System 714 Vintage Clip and 712 Vintage Pre review

ADDAC System 714 Vintage Clip and 712 Vintage Pre: What is it?

Often times modular, especially Eurorack can sound pristine, clean and clinical, due in part to the number of digital elements in a patch. ADDAC’s aptly named Vintage Clip returns things to a dirty, warmer place. The 6hp module is typically solid, clearly labelled and at 40mm deep should be friendly to all but the shallowest skiff.

The 714 is a two-channel distortion unit, which is simple in form but creates some lush, warm and harmonically complex tones. Both channels are identical and normalled. A bypass switch sits above the primary gain control, below which is another toggle, this time for selecting one of the two modes of operation. One is bipolar, which generates odd and even harmonics, while the other is unipolar clipping, adding just odd. 

Similarly to the 714,  the 712, or Vintage Preamp, is a 6hp, 40mm deep module with the expected build quality and neat design that ADDAC is known for.

This time, rather than being a clipping device, ADDAC has gone down the amplifier route and once again, there are two identical channels. Each has a bypass switch above two knobs. One each for input and output gain stages. 

This handy setup, compared to a single gain control, allows you to be quite extreme with the input gain while retaining control over the output levels. On top of that, there is a face plate accessible trim pot for setting the maximum gain.

ADDAC System 714 Vintage Clip and 712 Vintage Pre: Performance and verdict

ADDAC System 714 Vintage Clip

At the bottom of the unit are smaller knobs for output volume, as well as the patch points. There are also status LEDs to indicate when clipping is occurring.

In a musical setting, this means that the 714 has two flavours of distortion on offer. Both sound warm, rich and full and, as this is a two-channel module, some interesting interplays can be found. 

There’s also a low-pass filter sitting at a preset -3dB at 3.3kHz. There are no controls for this but it adds to the vintage tone, reminiscent of popular synths of years gone by. It’s a warm organic sound and not fizzy like some digital distortions can be and it’s easy to dial in to taste.

MusicRadar verdict: A lovely module. Anybody who’s interested in a vintage-sounding distortion, should definitely add this to their shortlist.

ADDAC System 712 Vintage Pre

Tones vary from slight saturation through to pretty full-on fuzz but, like those displayed by the 714, they are warm and vintage-sounding rather than fizzy and harsh. This is down to the ’70s architecture, again found on some rather classic gear. ADDAC has clearly got a lot of love for vintage tones and rather than using DSP to try to replicate them, has gone down a fairly authentic route with this (and the 714), as it sounds genuinely vintage, even when pushed hard.

As a bonus, the 712 can lift line level signals to Eurorack levels, which is pretty handy when combining outboard synths or guitars but can be pushed, so it adds the grunt and saturation, rather than being capped by a level increase. And for existing Eurorack-level input (the inputs are normalled here too) you can push even harder still, inducing some pretty wild distortion.

MusicRadar verdict: Love vintage tones, saturation and distortion? Then either the 712 or the 714 could well be just the ticket.

ADDAC System 714 Vintage Clip and 712 Vintage Pre: Hands-on demos

DANIELE

ADDAC System 714 Vintage Clip and 712 Vintage Pre: Specifications

• ADDAC System 714 Vintage Clip: Bipolar or unipolar, Normaled inputs, Status LED for clipping.
• ADDAC System 712 Vintage Pre: Two channels, Bypass switches per channel, Input and output gainstages.
• CONTACT: ADDAC System