Guitar Gear Forum

I'm thinking getting a good mic preamp is my next logical step at improving my home studio, mainly for heavy guitars and drums.

I'm looking at the API 312 A2D, any other suggestions? Great River? UA 610 is generally said to be woolly/dark, and I want punchy and bright, so that's out. No 500 series, a lunchbox is way too much for now.

FocusRite makes a solid multi channel preamp called the OctoPre. 8 channel high quality preamp. About $600 new. enough channels to do a whole drum kit

ART makes a 2 channel tube pre for around $1k

Neither of those are $1k per channel.

I mean preamps in the range of Neve 1073LB, API 512C etc. (I'm starting to think getting a 500 series and a 2 preamp slot rack unit for it would be the way to go).

ohhh, gotcha. i thought you meant 1k max budget lol

this bitch looks like the Rolls-Royce of friggin preamps. Anything with a 2Hz-100KHz frequency response is pretty damned good quality.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/1024Pre/

also, it gets pretty high accolades on gearslutz and those guys are like TGP of studio gear

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-p ... lease.html

Hmm, it's described as "clear as a bell, no coloration whatsoever" which isn't really what I'm looking for. I want it to add a bit of color and character to the sound. I already have good clean pres in the MR816.

Thanks for the suggestions though!

Now I'm wondering about the A-Designs EM series, someone on gearslutz described them as like an API 512 but better. And they're cheaper to boot.

A buddy of mine runs a studio, and Im always amazed at how fucking good the shit he sends me sounds. I mean like, holy fucking shit good. He uses a great river and an avalon.

Heres the avalon: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ ... 7Aod6CoAJg

And this is his great river:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MP2NV/

Here's an old drumjam he had me upload for him using the MP2NV.

Yeah I was considering the Great River ME-1NV as well. Seems like a great pre.

From what I've gathered the Avalon stuff is on the "no color transparent" camp as well.

you sure a lunchbox is out , you can just score 1 pre for now , there are many good ones to be had . if you want an API that's easy but used you can score those or Brent Averill or "classic" in the end it will also be a nice mobile rig , I'm still building on mine

Well a lunchbox is definitely out, but I found a 1U rack power supply for two 500 series modules (A-Designs 500HR) so now the Neve 1073LB and the A-Designs EM Red are pretty high up on the list.

Check out this bad boy - http://www.slateproaudio.com/products/fox/

Mmmm, that is pretty yummy. Seems to be getting good reviews too, and the multiple-flavors-in-one is pretty tempting. Gah, it's just almost twice the amount I wanted to spend, I don't really need more than one channel right now, for guitar-bass-vocals.

I've recorded in a studio in Germany that uses this.. http://spl.info/index.php?id=133&L=1
on most single tracking needs.. The quality is ace and the sound is great, of course..

Having owned the UA 610 for a number of years now, i disagree with your assumption of it being dark.. Last thing i would think of it as.. There is enough features and options that can allow recordings to be brighter, ora little warmer, but i wouldn't say it's inherently dark and "woolly"

Have you compared it side by side to other pres of the same price category?

Remember that when speaking of mic pres woolly/dark means something a lot more subtle than when speaking of amps for example. Like: "this neve style pre is dark and tubby" means it has 1dB less 10kHz than the "bright" pre.

Yeah, I've a/b it quite a bit.. Initially, i thought it was too bright inn comparison! But when i had a multi track guitars Mic' d with the 610 in a mix and compared to other Mic pres, it sounded the clearest and most present, so i went with it.. Definitely, one of my favorite purchases I've made..

Interesting, now I'll definitely have to consider it as well. What tube(s) are you running in it?

Shame the Fox is out of your price range - that thing is seriously amazing. This would definitely be my next recommendation - http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/X73i/. Vintech stuff is top-notch, a little more than the $1000 but you get a Neve-style EQ thrown in there too.. can't argue with that!

API 3124+

Four channels of awesomeness - great for drums and guitar,.....AND, less than a $1000 a channel.

That Vintech looks pretty nice! If I go the API route I'll most likely go with a luchbox and a 512C so I can diversify. Maybe a Shadow Hills GAMA or a Neve 1073LB. Or the Great River 500NV. Too many choises.

nakedzen wrote:That Vintech looks pretty nice!

Since recommending it I actually went and bought a Vintech 273, but since the dealer was out of stock for the time being he sent me an X73i on loan to use in the meantime. I can confirm that it is absolutely killer

nakedzen wrote:That Vintech looks pretty nice! If I go the API route I'll most likely go with a luchbox and a 512C so I can diversify. Maybe a Shadow Hills GAMA or a Neve 1073LB. Or the Great River 500NV. Too many choises.

This is why you should just suck it up and get the lunchbox. I have a couple of API 512Cs. I love them.

Mesa4x12er wrote:

nakedzen wrote:That Vintech looks pretty nice! If I go the API route I'll most likely go with a luchbox and a 512C so I can diversify. Maybe a Shadow Hills GAMA or a Neve 1073LB. Or the Great River 500NV. Too many choises.

This is why you should just suck it up and get the lunchbox. I have a couple of API 512Cs. I love them.

Yeah that's what I'm actually going for right now, a Tonelux V4 and a 512C.