Thanks for all the comments - especially the mention about the exciter. I think I will hold on to what I have at the moment and try out the Waves Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter. The great thing is that Waves seem to be having a rolling reduction programme so if it's  what I want, I can wait for it coming round again (I'm another canny Scot looking for a bargain!)

Have to say that iZotope did a wonderful thing with Ozone7 advanced.
Checkout these three new and free videos from Groove3
https://www.groove3.com/i...m_campaign=GN-15-11-06

Download the Ozone 7 Demo - see what it can do for you. I started on Ozone 6 after using Sony Soundforge (with included Izotope plugins) for many years, but since Ozone, well... it's just not gonna be the same ever again :O)

Heads up! Today is the last day ( Nov 11th) to upgrade on  Ozone 7 Advanced if you're already an Ozone user and get a sale price. I thinks it's at around 250 clams for me...and darned it's tempting.  I know a sale will come around again...black Friday isn't far away, but still.... can't beat that price compared to the old price.

I've learned a lot hanging around here.  Spent a lot too:)
 
My first attempt to 'master' was with T-RackS Classic.  I think it was $79 on sale.  Those were the first third party plugins I bought.  Had I been more experienced I may have been able to get the sound and quality I was after, but after discussing it here and elsewhere on the web, I decided to go for Ozone 5.  Bam!  For a novice, the presets alone were fantastic.
 
Now, I've watched videos of Bobby Owsinski using T-RackS and I have no doubt a professional can get professional results, but Ozone was what I needed at the time.
 
Having said that, I've migrated away from Ozone 5 towards a plugin mastering chain that includes bus compressors, mastering eq's and maximizers from the usual vendors.  In part because it's fun to experiment and acquire new toys, and because I was having trouble getting the low-end right in Ozone.  My latest project using that chain is in the Song Forum.
 
Uh, having said that, the deal to get Ozone 6/7 Adv was just too tempting.  And with Ozone 7 Adv standalone, it's basically IK's functionality except that you can use other vst's in the mastering chain too.  I guess with IK adding plugins to their suite all the time like that Master EQ and the Stealth Limiter, perhaps it's just a matter of preference with neither being 'better' than the other?
 
 

Plus with O7 you can insert any number of third-party plugins right into Ozone and save your entire mastering chain as an Ozone preset.
 
At least, this is what I've been told - I haven't installed O7 yet, still waiting for a serial.

bitflipper
Plus with O7 you can insert any number of third-party plugins right into Ozone and save your entire mastering chain as an Ozone preset.
 
At least, this is what I've been told - I haven't installed O7 yet, still waiting for a serial.

Indeed you can...

bitflipper
Plus with O7 you can insert any number of third-party plugins right into Ozone and save your entire mastering chain as an Ozone preset.
 
At least, this is what I've been told - I haven't installed O7 yet, still waiting for a serial.

Bit, if you bought the Production Suite the O7A Serial # should be in your account...
If it's not I'd send a flurry of emails to support and say...hey...WTF???

I have emailed iZotope Support, so I'm confident they'll help me sort it out. I think I can live without the vintage tape module for a while.

Well...I just need to stop coming here. It gets me into trouble every time. There's just too many carrots all dangling around. Dag Burnit Clarry! 
 
I knew I could do the same thing without Ozone 7 Advanced basically, but a few things tipped the scale. Dave's mention of the ability to demo different audio codecs is a great idea, especially if you can adjust it while the codec plays. Stand alone is another great plus. The ability to add other plug-ins is pure genius. 
It appears that Ozone 7 Advanced gives you a handful of other plug-ins to put into individual channels. I'm not sure if I'll use those or not, but I certainly might. I guess insight isn't included without buying it extra?