Grace M101 vs Focusrite ISA One?

[dickiefunk]

Hi,

Does anyone on here have any experience with both of these pres?

Could anyone describe the tone of both of these pres and which has the least amount of hiss?

[Gregg Juke]

Hi,

I can't speak on the Focusrite, as we don't have that model. But re: the Grace Design M101; great, clean, good gain, low-noise pre (pretty much non-existant under normal circumstances, but you've got to be careful when pushing it for a ribbon mike, for instance; that's the closest I've heard anything sound like "hiss" from the Grace).

GJ

[Nick Sevilla]

Santo y Blue Demon VS Dracula y el Hombre Lobo.
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The Song. Nothing else really matters.

[vvv]

I have the ISA1 and love it, especially on electric guitar but it's also good on acoustic and vocals. I have never noticed any noise from it; the ambient noise in my suburban house is higher than the unit's, even with (Chinese) ribbons.

Like they say on Belmont, tranny power!
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vlayman; THD; blog; TFP

[Gregg Juke]

Gamara and Godzilla Vs. Ultraman and any random rubber monster!

GJ

[Dot]

Hey dickie, what preamps are you currently using?
_________________
Dan Richards
Pro Studio Reviews
Pencil Mic Shootout

[dickiefunk]

[dickiefunk]

I've decided to stick with my Liquid Channel and ISA One for a while as I find these preamps to sound great with a good choice mic on so many sources. I like the fact that they are very versatile and cover a wide range of tones.

I'm not a big studio tracking bands but record a lot of vocals and upright or electric bass. On odd occasions I record acoustic or electric guitar.

At most I am stacking 5-6 tracks and both the Liquid Channel and ISA One have no problems with this.
I've got a reasonable selection of mics :-

Neumann TLM102, Audio Technica AT4040, SE Electronics 2200Tube, Oktava MK319 modded and KEL HM2d.

These mics also cover a lot of ground sonically and I think I just need to spend more time getting to know my gear better and get the most out of it!

I am going to put the money towards some Mixcubes to help with my mixing and translation better.
I think I am much more likely to improve the sonic quality of the music I produce with a decent pair of reference monitors than a different preamp!! Whilst I can hear a difference between lots of different preamps, I already have some very good ones and the difference between some of the more esoteric preamps is subtle when only recording a small number of tracks.

Thankyou for bearing with me and my quest for the perfect preamp. I am going to hopefully put this to rest (or at least for a long time)!

[crandallwarren]

Hi all,

I actually own both of these pres and use them as my front end for music and broadcast stuff. They're both nice pres, although very different. In a good way, though. They tend to compliment each-other nicely.

I use them side by side for broadcast stuff a lot. Ultimately, the Grace is definitely the quieter of the two. However, the ISA is by no means "noisey". But I find that when driving an SM7 or something, the ISA starts to get that characteristic hiss towards the end of the gain range, while the Grace doesn't.

Tonally, the grace is definitely on the more detailed, brighter side. While the ISA is little beefier. I find that I love the grace on dynamics and ribbons- and I mean LOVE. With condensers its very sparkly. Which can be great, if that's what you're going for. However, if I'm using a large Tube Mic on a vocal, I tend to go with the ISA to let the transformers thicken it up just a bit.

I have the optional converter card for the ISA, which is pretty bitching. It sees the mic pre as channel 1 and the DI as channel 2. But, you can switch the DI input to line level impedance, which allows me to run the Grace straight into the second channel of A2D.

So my verdict would be... if this is going to be a main part of your rig (i.e. your only mic pre), I would grab a used ISA One Digital on ebay for $600. You can get the mic preamp, the separate DI, a monitor control, and two channels of nice A2D.

On the other hand, if you're just adding more pres to a good setup- the Grace fucking rules. And I really really want a second one as soon as I can swing it.
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"Look dude, everyone auditions on Glockenspiel."

[Dot]

Ah, dickie, you got a Liquid Channel. Good one. I think in cases like yours - where someone is working in a production room and mostly recording single tracks, the Liquid Channel is a great choice. Stick with that, and don't look back. : )

I know you've been looking around for pres for quite a while. Good to see you got into something higher quality.

Would love to hear how some of your music's been going. You guys have a lot of talent. Cheers...
_________________
Dan Richards
Pro Studio Reviews
Pencil Mic Shootout

[dickiefunk]

Hi Dan,

Thanks for the reply and the kind words! Yes the Liquid Channel is a great channel strip and is extremely flexible. I've barely scratched the surface of it at the moment but have been very pleased with the results so far.
You can check out some of the bits I've been involved in on my website and I've just finished a Christmas Big Band track for the charity CLIC ( Cancer Leukemia in Children) which will be available to buy in the next few days.

Rich