Fun mic pres?

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 9:41 am

I was just eading about the Helios 69 reissue thing...

I have been really digging the Sage Electronics SE-1 class A pre lately. Totally my go to for kick and snare these days bar none. Insanely good with transient detail.

Anybody found anything cool lately? what have you been digging?

soundguy · Post by **soundguy** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:04 am

transformers are wrong in the helios.

big suprise.

dave

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:06 am

My meager contribution is the Altec 1589b...cheap, funky, and massively colored.

joelpatterson · Post by **joelpatterson** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:07 am

I just today ordered a Grace 101, a hugely significant purchase. Hundreds of dollars.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:07 am

soundguy wrote:transformers are wrong in the helios.

big suprise.

dave

What was it, and what did they toss in there on the reissue?

That is lame.

eeldip · Post by **eeldip** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:51 am

the bellari mp105 is fun. you know.. its $40.

i've totally abused the inside as well. actually its somewhat hi fi at this point. but i've only got 30-40db of usable gain now.

Red Rockets Glare · Post by **Red Rockets Glare** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:55 am

joelpatterson wrote:I just today ordered a Grace 101, a hugely significant purchase. Hundreds of dollars.

one of the cleanest and best sonding mic amps I've ever heard. Good Job!

blunderfonics · Post by **blunderfonics** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 12:09 pm

After borrowing a friends Berlant Concertone Custom Recorder preamp for a session, I grabbed one off ebay. It's the preamp section from a '50's reel to reel recorder. For lack of better words it has sort of a soft/squishy kind of sound. I like it on vocals where a little drive and color is called for.

Unfortunately mine didn't come with the input and output transformers and is still a little sick. Mine has a a lot of noise and goes into an almost tremelo-like oscillation when the gains are dimed but I needed a winter project.

Skipwave · Post by **Skipwave** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 12:12 pm

mjau wrote:My meager contribution is the Altec 1589b...cheap, funky, and massively colored.

I've been figuring out how to mod the 1588B input module for higher gain and cleaner performance. Should be cool. No reason these *have* to be messy.

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 12:16 pm

Skipwave wrote:
mjau wrote:My meager contribution is the Altec 1589b...cheap, funky, and massively colored.
I've been figuring out how to mod the 1588B input module for higher gain and cleaner performance. Should be cool. No reason these *have* to be messy.

Awesome...you'll have to let us know what you find out. If I could get this thing to be a little less noisy, I'd buy more of 'em.

Skipwave · Post by **Skipwave** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 12:19 pm

eeldip wrote:the bellari mp105 is fun. you know.. its $40.

i've totally abused the inside as well. actually its somewhat hi fi at this point. but i've only got 30-40db of usable gain now.

Mine too. I'm waiting for Matt to send me his latest innovation. Something about FET and Darlington arrangement. Sounds like fun.

This box even sounds good after only the basic upgrades of tube and ICs. Maybe I should say "useful" instead of good.

eeldip · Post by **eeldip** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 12:30 pm

Skipwave wrote:
eeldip wrote:the bellari mp105 is fun. you know.. its $40.
i've totally abused the inside as well. actually its somewhat hi fi at this point. but i've only got 30-40db of usable gain now.
Mine too. I'm waiting for Matt to send me his latest innovation. Something about FET and Darlington arrangement. Sounds like fun.
This box even sounds good after only the basic upgrades of tube and ICs. Maybe I should say "useful" instead of good.

mine is a collaboration with matt as well. i put in some clarostat fancy pots, but i picked 100K ones to lower the resistance in the circuit.. and uh.. well matt redesigned a few things that made it actually work.

the input opamp chip now does nothing but buffer. which is why i lost all that gain. but its become a nice bright pre (didnt expect that would happen) esp after totally replacing all the resistors and caps in the audio circuit.

i also followed matts advice in put better diodes in the voltage multiplier circuit. if you havent done that.. its pretty easy and i think it makes a quick upgrade to the power portion of the circuit.

alright. gotta buy another and see what matt has in store again. i mean.. you know.. at $100 a channel including all the upgrades why not?

Meriphew · Post by **Meriphew** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 1:33 pm

I'm really excited about the new Chandler germanium pres (supposedly somewhat reminiscent of the Neve 1057's) that are coming out soon.

joel hamilton · Post by **joel hamilton** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 1:37 pm

Meriphew wrote:I'm really excited about the new Chandler germanium pres (supposedly somewhat reminiscent of the Neve 1057's) that are coming out soon.

me too.

I love the neve germanium stuff.

Coco · Post by **Coco** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 1:51 pm

I just ordered one of the Chandler Germanium pres but I dont think they will be shipping for a while. Something tells me December or January. Anyway, the distortion knob looks like it could be fun with electric guitars.

Message Board

Fun mic pres?

Fun mic pres?

Who is online