Budget Preamp Comparison

[Moon Unit]

The only real observation I had that is worth noting ... is that the Presonus Blue Tube samples sound like someone took a big, smelly dump all over your guitar.

.

[red cross]

Another late observation:

Worst by far was the Bluetube. Just awful. Could be useful as a grunge box of some sort though.

The EH was head and shoulders above the rest I thought. Rich and warm, without that smiley curve response of the Art Pro. Sounded weird to me, the Art.

Aphex 207 was ok, a nice rolled off kind of a sound. Not very detailed sounding. The MP20 didn't sound very special, but I preferred it marginally to the Mackie.

Nice work!

[alba359]

Hi 8th note, I know this thread is old, but it's great for reference. Just wanted to thank you for the time you spent in recording these preamps and sharing this with us. Sincere Thanks, Don

[8th_note]

Hi 8th note, I know this thread is old, but it's great for reference. Just wanted to thank you for the time you spent in recording these preamps and sharing this with us. Sincere Thanks, Don

You're welcome! What's really been fascinating to me is how different people will hear different things from the same audio samples and how a pre that sucks for one application can be pretty good for another. The BlueTube, for example, continues to get trashed but it is still my go-to pre for distorted electric guitar. It consistently sounds better than the 12AY7 for this application, at least to my ears in my setup. I agree, however, that for acoustic guitar it ain't what the doctor ordered.

[tony_tomlinson]

Thanks, posts like these are extremely helpful and are what make this board so great.

[ampguy]

have you guys tried the Studio Projects VTB1?

[Harry]

have you guys tried the Studio Projects VTB1?

I have the VTB1...it's pretty cool. I use it when I want that Fuzzbox type of distortion on a vocal track.

[ampguy]

That's odd, mine doesn't do fuzz at all, even cranked all the way on tube, here's a clip with it on clarinet w/ sm57. Did you have to change tubes to get a fuzz vocal sound?

http://www.tedm.com/mp3s/clarinet5.mp3

have you guys tried the Studio Projects VTB1?

I have the VTB1...it's pretty cool. I use it when I want that Fuzzbox type of distortion on a vocal track.

[Harry]

That's odd, mine doesn't do fuzz at all, even cranked all the way on tube, here's a clip with it on clarinet w/ sm57. Did you have to change tubes to get a fuzz vocal sound?

http://www.tedm.com/mp3s/clarinet5.mp3


If you crank the input,turn up the tube drive thing and belt out a vocal it gets a ton of distortion(stock tube)

It's like a vocal stomp box.

[ampguy]

OK, but that would push my meters into the red zone. Is that ok?

That's odd, mine doesn't do fuzz at all, even cranked all the way on tube, here's a clip with it on clarinet w/ sm57. Did you have to change tubes to get a fuzz vocal sound?

http://www.tedm.com/mp3s/clarinet5.mp3


If you crank the input,turn up the tube drive thing and belt out a vocal it gets a ton of distortion(stock tube)

It's like a vocal stomp box.

[Rolsen]

OK, but that would push my meters into the red zone. Is that ok?


Yup. Crank the input, crank the 'tube' drive, and then control your signal from your pre to your deck/tape/DAW, etc, with the 'output' dial on the VTB-1.

[nestle]

I've been lurking on this thread awhile now. Thanks so much for that demo...very nice.
My 2cents-
listening through my Powerbook speakers (which is how most of us listened I suspect) I really thought the EH was way above the rest and if you look at how things digressed into more of a debate on this lil' pre lets just say it was the clear winner. It was just alot more musical to me and had a hard to define depth. I also wonder if I just like brighter sound because those are the pre's I prefered. Runner up was the MPA and the Mackie which made me reappraise my stratagy for my next purchase.
I do own a EH pre and what I do is run it balanced into an older DBX 566 compressor which has a +4/-10 switch on the ins and outs....then -10 to my tascam 38. It sounds great. I do have a step down transformer I found at a yard sale but what is the best option for stepping down these things to unbalanced if I needed more of them?

Also is there a big diffrence in the MPA and the gold one besides the digital option and imp?
I hate that gold look too..yuck reminds me of that cheesy lame looking to pretty, girly Avalon, like some Kenwood HiFi from 1978

[lightandmind]

Just wanted to peak in here so I could bump this wonderful thread back on the board-

[TheStevens]

Also is there a big diffrence in the MPA and the gold one besides the digital option and imp?
I hate that gold look too..yuck reminds me of that cheesy lame looking to pretty, girly Avalon, like some Kenwood HiFi from 1978

The difference (in addition to the two you listed) is a "high-voltage" mode which brings out more detail and doesn't distort as easily.
I know you asked that question months ago, but I figured I'd reply just in case you or anyone else were still wondering.

[FBH]

The audio clips in the OP seem to have been taken down. If 8th note still has them, I would be happy to host them on my web space. I wasn't here when this thread originally occurred, and I'm interested in hearing the clips.