hamptone vs sebatron

[creature.of.habit]

i should've explained that earlier...ribbons and dynamics don't really work for my voice, although it's not the only application where i'll use the pres. i need the punch/lift of a condenser for most things.

You should try the Heil PR40. It's the best of both worlds - low end of a LDD, a high freq response closer to a condenser. You can also try the PR30 or the upcoming PR35 if the PR40 is still too bright. Have you tried the SM7 or the RE20? (Pssst.... Mark Eitzel used an RE20 for his vocals in Mercury).

Sibiliance? Have you tried the pencil trick?

hey Kaya,

i never tried any dynamics besides a 57 and a 441 on my voice. the 57 was ok, the 441 was kind of busted. i tried my modded ribbon as well, but it's a no go. i like how it smooths things out, but it lacks the high. freq. lift i need.

but absolutely no worries though...my mics are covered. i loved the one i had to sell. sold it for some money, that was the only reason. i'm having a similar one made with a vintage transformer as we speak. i know that mic works for me, no worries there. everything was great about it, just right balance and no hint of sibilance. i just need to find the right high end pre for it.

[centurymantra]

I notice that noone has talked much about the Sebatron. I very nearly bought a Hamptone JFET awhile back (and am still thinking about it), but since I never did get around to this, I can't offer a comparison for you. That being said, I think the Sebatron is a brilliant preamp. Very versatile in that it can go from colored to clean depending on the pad settings and the EQ is very nice - very usuable. The 'air' setting with ribbon mics can do wonders, and the lo shelf on the pre is quite nice and very handy. Reading between the lines on this discussion, I really it think it sounds like the Seb could be what you are looking for. It is a bit of a "character" preamp, but it's versatility gives a wide range of sound and think it's closer to being an all-purpose pre than a lot of the pres in the Character camp would be. The DI inputs are also very nice.

thanks Bryan...good to know! can you confirm the 60dbs? i read about someone noticing something silly like 80dbs off of theirs, after having it serviced. i emailed sebatron about this and the guy didn't even address it so..i suppose this is not a mod, per se..

i'm wondering if it can handle a ribbon with an acoustic guitar..say, finger picked? can the sebatron pull this off? or is it a situation where you'll have your gain maxed out and it'll still be lacking...?

thanks!

The Sebatron has a decent amount of gain though I suspect it's not 80dbs. If you have the pad unengaged at the 0db setting, you can crank it up pretty good, although it will start to get a bit noisy at the top of the dial, and this does sometimes lead me to use other pres. That being said, I like the Seb a ton on acoustic instruments and have had, on many occasions, good results doing this - including finger picked guitar with a Beyer M160. I remember getting a particularly nice banjo sound with an R84 and the Sebatron. There is also the trick of daisy chaining channels - say one padded at -25db chained together with one at maximum character of 0db; mix and match to taste. Sebatron even discusses this in the manual. Noise and gain staging are a bit of tricky dance when doing this, but it can be very cool sounding. I will say that I probably do more often turn to my cleaner Davisound pres when recording acoustic instruments, but do love using the Sebatron for this purpose as well. I would actually consider the Sebatron to be in the 'secret weapon' category for acoustic guitars. They also rock on drum overheads in a major fashion.
Like I said, it's in the Character camp, but I think it is a good character and has a versatility that gives it a wide range of sound. I sold my two channel (when I purchased a four channel version) to a pretty high profile modern jazz trombone player and he made a point of raving about how it helped givehim the best sound he'd gotten out of his trombone in his home studio.

[creature.of.habit]

I notice that noone has talked much about the Sebatron. I very nearly bought a Hamptone JFET awhile back (and am still thinking about it), but since I never did get around to this, I can't offer a comparison for you. That being said, I think the Sebatron is a brilliant preamp. Very versatile in that it can go from colored to clean depending on the pad settings and the EQ is very nice - very usuable. The 'air' setting with ribbon mics can do wonders, and the lo shelf on the pre is quite nice and very handy. Reading between the lines on this discussion, I really it think it sounds like the Seb could be what you are looking for. It is a bit of a "character" preamp, but it's versatility gives a wide range of sound and think it's closer to being an all-purpose pre than a lot of the pres in the Character camp would be. The DI inputs are also very nice.

thanks Bryan...good to know! can you confirm the 60dbs? i read about someone noticing something silly like 80dbs off of theirs, after having it serviced. i emailed sebatron about this and the guy didn't even address it so..i suppose this is not a mod, per se..

i'm wondering if it can handle a ribbon with an acoustic guitar..say, finger picked? can the sebatron pull this off? or is it a situation where you'll have your gain maxed out and it'll still be lacking...?

thanks!

The Sebatron has a decent amount of gain though I suspect it's not 80dbs. If you have the pad unengaged at the 0db setting, you can crank it up pretty good, although it will start to get a bit noisy at the top of the dial, and this does sometimes lead me to use other pres. That being said, I like the Seb a ton on acoustic instruments and have had, on many occasions, good results doing this - including finger picked guitar with a Beyer M160. I remember getting a particularly nice banjo sound with an R84 and the Sebatron. There is also the trick of daisy chaining channels - say one padded at -25db chained together with one at maximum character of 0db; mix and match to taste. Sebatron even discusses this in the manual. Noise and gain staging are a bit of tricky dance when doing this, but it can be very cool sounding. I will say that I probably do more often turn to my cleaner Davisound pres when recording acoustic instruments, but do love using the Sebatron for this purpose as well. I would actually consider the Sebatron to be in the 'secret weapon' category for acoustic guitars. They also rock on drum overheads in a major fashion.
Like I said, it's in the Character camp, but I think it is a good character and has a versatility that gives it a wide range of sound. I sold my two channel (when I purchased a four channel version) to a pretty high profile modern jazz trombone player and he made a point of raving about how it helped givehim the best sound he'd gotten out of his trombone in his home studio.

thanks for the hindsight Bryan..

any chance i can hear some of those acoustic tracks?

[centurymantra]

I notice that noone has talked much about the Sebatron. I very nearly bought a Hamptone JFET awhile back (and am still thinking about it), but since I never did get around to this, I can't offer a comparison for you. That being said, I think the Sebatron is a brilliant preamp. Very versatile in that it can go from colored to clean depending on the pad settings and the EQ is very nice - very usuable. The 'air' setting with ribbon mics can do wonders, and the lo shelf on the pre is quite nice and very handy. Reading between the lines on this discussion, I really it think it sounds like the Seb could be what you are looking for. It is a bit of a "character" preamp, but it's versatility gives a wide range of sound and think it's closer to being an all-purpose pre than a lot of the pres in the Character camp would be. The DI inputs are also very nice.

thanks Bryan...good to know! can you confirm the 60dbs? i read about someone noticing something silly like 80dbs off of theirs, after having it serviced. i emailed sebatron about this and the guy didn't even address it so..i suppose this is not a mod, per se..

i'm wondering if it can handle a ribbon with an acoustic guitar..say, finger picked? can the sebatron pull this off? or is it a situation where you'll have your gain maxed out and it'll still be lacking...?

thanks!

The Sebatron has a decent amount of gain though I suspect it's not 80dbs. If you have the pad unengaged at the 0db setting, you can crank it up pretty good, although it will start to get a bit noisy at the top of the dial, and this does sometimes lead me to use other pres. That being said, I like the Seb a ton on acoustic instruments and have had, on many occasions, good results doing this - including finger picked guitar with a Beyer M160. I remember getting a particularly nice banjo sound with an R84 and the Sebatron. There is also the trick of daisy chaining channels - say one padded at -25db chained together with one at maximum character of 0db; mix and match to taste. Sebatron even discusses this in the manual. Noise and gain staging are a bit of tricky dance when doing this, but it can be very cool sounding. I will say that I probably do more often turn to my cleaner Davisound pres when recording acoustic instruments, but do love using the Sebatron for this purpose as well. I would actually consider the Sebatron to be in the 'secret weapon' category for acoustic guitars. They also rock on drum overheads in a major fashion.
Like I said, it's in the Character camp, but I think it is a good character and has a versatility that gives it a wide range of sound. I sold my two channel (when I purchased a four channel version) to a pretty high profile modern jazz trombone player and he made a point of raving about how it helped givehim the best sound he'd gotten out of his trombone in his home studio.

thanks for the hindsight Bryan..

any chance i can hear some of those acoustic tracks?

You know...I think I have an MP3 up on my site of a tune where the vocal/guitar performance was recorded with an M160 through the Sebatron. I'll take a look and post a link if I do.

[creature.of.habit]

You know...I think I have an MP3 up on my site of a tune where the vocal/guitar performance was recorded with an M160 through the Sebatron. I'll take a look and post a link if I do.

that would be great, thanks!