What preamps are y'all liking these days?

[numberthirty]

Without trying to sound like too much of a grumpy uncle...

Elsewhere, a bit of a discussion came up about direct boxes. A couple of the folks have done quite a bit of live sound.

What it came down to was a touring band showed up the the REDDI Tube DI, and it really was not a "Night..."/"Day..." difference versus just everyday "Nuts..."/"Bolts..." direct box options.

While I guess I do get the "Boy, This Stuff Would Just About Record Itself If I Only Had..." angle?

I, personally, would always suggest second guessing anything you are thinking.

As far as "How Many?.."

Really take a minute, and level with yourself about just how many more you would truly need for eight out of ten things you will actually be doing regularly.

As for "What?..."

If at all possible, try renting some of the things you believe will be "Head..."/"Shoulders..." above more modest options. Really take some time, and see if they really make enough of a difference to actually warrant what you would be paying for them.

While I don't want to just be one huge bummer, I do tend to feel like the microphone preamp gets you about the least "Bang..." for the dollars involved. If it was going to be lots of acoustic instruments, I might try something like a Cloudlifter with two of the preamps you mentioned owning and see if that made much of a difference. Lord knows a Cloudlifter is gonna cost a lot less than preamps. Particularly if you can pick one up used.

Never mind software option that are out there. If you are not actually recording to some sort of a physical device, those software options could get you a good bit of what you want for nowhere near the same cash.

[digitaldrummer]

This thread is going to finally get me off my ass to build my two Lola kits. (Although maybe should be Coppers?)

I have only used my JFET Hamptone, not the tube version, but I LOVE it. Some friends of mine are recording their fourth or fifth record. My Hamptone will have been the stick-it-on-the-most-important-thing pre on every song.

a Lola has always been interesting to me, but I still haven't bought one yet... but I do have 3 copper's, a bronze and a gold and they are all great on a lot of sources. And all slots are full at the moment...

[drumsound]

If you can either make an offer, or go a little over you $2K limit there is a Great River MP4 on Reverb. https://reverb.com/item/73012975-great- ... re-awesome

That's the original GR, not the 'Neveish' model they currently sell. I have the 2 channel version and it sounds great on everything I've ever put through it. I tracked guitars all day yesterday with it and I love every sound I got out of 3 different amps with 3 different mics bouncing around different positions.

[alexevansohio]

Without trying to sound like too much of a grumpy uncle...

Elsewhere, a bit of a discussion came up about direct boxes. A couple of the folks have done quite a bit of live sound.

What it came down to was a touring band showed up the the REDDI Tube DI, and it really was not a "Night..."/"Day..." difference versus just everyday "Nuts..."/"Bolts..." direct box options.

While I guess I do get the "Boy, This Stuff Would Just About Record Itself If I Only Had..." angle?

I, personally, would always suggest second guessing anything you are thinking.

As far as "How Many?.."

Really take a minute, and level with yourself about just how many more you would truly need for eight out of ten things you will actually be doing regularly.

As for "What?..."

If at all possible, try renting some of the things you believe will be "Head..."/"Shoulders..." above more modest options. Really take some time, and see if they really make enough of a difference to actually warrant what you would be paying for them.

While I don't want to just be one huge bummer, I do tend to feel like the microphone preamp gets you about the least "Bang..." for the dollars involved. If it was going to be lots of acoustic instruments, I might try something like a Cloudlifter with two of the preamps you mentioned owning and see if that made much of a difference. Lord knows a Cloudlifter is gonna cost a lot less than preamps. Particularly if you can pick one up used.

Never mind software option that are out there. If you are not actually recording to some sort of a physical device, those software options could get you a good bit of what you want for nowhere near the same cash.

I always appreciate a grumpy uncle post! Honestly, this is exactly why it's taken me a long time to come around to buying additional preamps—when I first started recording, I fell into the internet forum hype machine of thinking I needed a $1000 preamp to record a $100 mic into a $100 interface. Many blunders later, I moved in the opposite direction, sold most of my gear, and prioritized getting good instruments and good mics. While there's always room for improvement, I'm feeling pretty good about those other areas. I have a '60s Ludwig drum kit, a few nice older Fender and Gretsch electrics, some cool amps, a couple fancy handmade acoustics, and a mic cabinet loaded with cool stuff. All of that has made a way bigger difference than fancier preamps ever did. Having better talent in front of those microphones obviously makes an even bigger difference—still working on that one.

But all that said, I'd like to be able to record a few more channels simultaneously for the times when I do get record drums or small ensembles. I have 8 channels of preamps (4 built in on the interface + two stereo external pres), which is totally fine for many things, and 4 line inputs leftover. I've gotten away with 8 channels for a long time and that's totally fine, but there are times when I wish I had another few channels available, and I'm fortunate to have the conversion available to support that already.

With my current preamps, I have found different designs to be helpful—trying to use old ribbon mics on a finger-picked acoustic part is a pretty impossible proposition with the RME preamps that get noisy at high gain levels, but it sounds great with the RPQ2. Given that I record a fair amount of acoustic guitar and other quiet sources, often with ribbon mics, the RPQ2 was a solid purchase—noticeably clearer sounding than the Cloudlifters (or, in my case, Cathedral Pipes Durhams—a close equivalent) I was using previously with the RME preamps. In a busy mix, it might not make a huge difference, but for a sparse singer-songwriter track, it is pretty noticeable. Same deal with the Earlybird—it has a nice EQ built in, multiple filtering and impedance options, and quite a bit of fairly clean gain on tap, nice stepped controls for easy stereo matching—really useful for all kinds of stuff.

So, all that said, what I'm really looking for here is utility—not seventeen different minute differences in transformers or opamps, but a few additional channels of preamps that are flexible, high gain, low noise, and reliable to get out of the way. Having owned a couple of the Sytek four-channel pres in the past, I know it would do the job admirably for ~$900 used, but I wanted to see if there are other options to consider, particularly options that offer additional features (stepped controls, built-in DIs, filters, EQs, and so on) that might come in handy compared to the fairly bare-bones Sytek. If not, I'd happily get a Sytek and pocket the rest of the cash or spend it on compressors, EQs, and other things that can do more overt signal-mangling.

Good thoughts here—thanks for sharing!

[winky dinglehoffer]

My sort of dark horse get-out-of-the-way preamp is the Event EMP-1. They're a bit hard to find these days but are typically under $100. They used security screws on them, so I finally bought a set of security bits to peek inside (plus one of mine had a busted IEC power plug that needed replacing). It's based around the SSM2017 IC, is kind of over-engineered by the looks of things. A really solid, good sounding preamp. No "mojo," just good. Its shortcomings are no Di & no pad, but those can be overcome. I like having something I can put wherever when I'm recording, & tuck in the closet when I'm done--might not be for everybody, but it works for me.

[permanent hearing damage]

my fave right now might be my Stam tube 1073s

still enjoying my Sebatron vmp4000e - they are killer for the price and really fun.

[permanent hearing damage]

I should add, I did a shootout not so long ago on distorted guitar with a bunch of my different pres (chandler, capi, hairball, jlm, etc) and I was shocked by how damn close all my pres sounded. I was debating selling my UA 2018 - was testing it against the Audioscape V108 and decided to toss in some more for the hell of it. The CAPI VP26 was so damn close. Promptly sold that 2108. I think anything half decent will do a fine job -mics are such a larger piece of the sound.

[alexevansohio]

I should add, I did a shootout not so long ago on distorted guitar with a bunch of my different pres (chandler, capi, hairball, jlm, etc) and I was shocked by how damn close all my pres sounded. I was debating selling my UA 2018 - was testing it against the Audioscape V108 and decided to toss in some more for the hell of it. The CAPI VP26 was so damn close. Promptly sold that 2108. I think anything half decent will do a fine job -mics are such a larger piece of the sound.

Yeah, this lines up fairly closely with my experience as well. Of course different circuits distort differently, so if you’re going for saturation, then that could make a difference, but with a bunch of pres set up just for clean gain, it’s tough to differentiate—even more so in a mix.

It’s funny you bring up the VP-26. I used to own a pair of them a few years ago and bought them primarily because of the TapeOp review that compares them directly to APIs used at Sony Classical. The way many people talk about APIs, one would think they couldn’t possibly be used for classical recording, but my impression of the VP-26 (and of the APIs I’ve used in studios in the past) was that unless you’re purposely driving them to get that saturation going, they do sound clean and clear. Perhaps ABing them directly with super clean high end transformerless pres would reveal more deficiencies, but in practice, they sounded great. I only sold them to buy mics (the fate of almost every preamp I’ve ever owned, lol).

In practice, I think any of the preamps mentioned here would work fine for me. I like the idea of something that can do a bit of saturation and color when it needs to given that the only other pre I have that can do a bit of that is the Earlybird. Something with a DI would be cool too. I’m still on the fence about buying into the 500-series system (feels like a lot more option-paralysis and comparison shopping to fill up a rack, haha), so the original Hamptone half-rack units are looking pretty appealing. I had a chance to chat with Scott on the phone briefly yesterday, and I really like his design philosophy. Seems hard to go wrong with any of his products.

[digitaldrummer]

I picked up a Focusrite ISA 2 (2 channel) recently and since I bought it used I got a good deal on it ($550 out the door...). It's really nice. It's got 80dB of gain, so it's fantastic for ribbons or low output dynamics. it can be really clean but its not wimpy sounding and with all the different impedance settings, Lundahl transformers, input and output levels, and HPF built-in, I find it really versatile (and I think this preamp gets overlooked a lot because it's not one of the cool, newer boutique names). TBH I'm still scratching the surface on what this guy can do. I only wish it had a digital out option.
btw, I just saw that you can get a refurb directly from Focusrite for $799 (which is 200 less than new, but used is still better if you can find one)

[vvv]

I have the ISA1 and love it, but it is a bit costly

a sleeper is the Eureka, which also gives you adjustable impedance and a decent compressor - I've seen 'em under US$300 on the Ebog

I use various pre's on guitar amps, but my go-tos are the ISA 1 and a UA110 (SS version of the 610)

another cool cheaper one might could be The Brick - I've seen 'em at US$400, and there's a cheaper DI version ...

[winky dinglehoffer]

McCurdy ever time.

Totally off topic, but is there any chance you could point me to documentation for the McCurdy AT241 line amp? I have a couple sitting in the basement, and your mention of McCurdy made me want to do something with them.

[alleywaykid]

Hi, I have two Sony SRA2 preamps shipping their way toward me, and just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on if it'll be easy or necessary to add a switch to disable the tape bias circuit I suspect they may have since they were designed to feed signal to tape decks like the Sony 262D built without onboard electronics?
I might utilize the bias circuit if they do have one to try making a DIY Binson Echorec type tape delay as a fun project someday so I don't want to entirely snip it out.

Hope this isn't too off topic, I could post in another (new?) thread instead..
Thanks,
Nic

[Papanate]

My sort of dark horse get-out-of-the-way preamp is the Event EMP-1. They're a bit hard to find these days but are typically under $100. They used security screws on them, so I finally bought a set of security bits to peek inside (plus one of mine had a busted IEC power plug that needed replacing). It's based around the SSM2017 IC, is kind of over-engineered by the looks of things. A really solid, good sounding preamp. No "mojo," just good. Its shortcomings are no Di & no pad, but those can be overcome. I like having something I can put wherever when I'm recording, & tuck in the closet when I'm done--might not be for everybody, but it works for me.

I agree with this idea - a PreAmp can color alright - but really for most things just a straight Wire works fine - the preamps on the Interface.

[drumsound]

I often use my console pres for everything, save for vocals. But I've actually used my Great River MP2 a bunch lately on guitars and it's sounding great. It's one of the old white faced model that Dan Kenedy said became too expensive to continue producing. There is a 2 channel and a 4 channel on Reverb right now if anyone is interested.

I cut most vocals through the Useful Arts SFP60, and it does what I want most of the time. I did some guitar with it recently and had mostly good results, save for one track that I probably should have gone with the GR, so it was off to 'aggressive EQ land in the mix on that part.

[alexevansohio]

Well, it’s been a minute, so I figured I’d come back and give an update—it’s always a bummer coming across old threads where the OP never posts what they ended up with.

I came very, very close to buying an Iron Age Audio QPP, and there’s still a good chance I’ll end buying some Hamptone stuff—when I talked to Scott, he was in the midst of getting some new products off the ground, so we’re going to revisit that conversation in a few months once they’re out.

Along the way, a friend of a friend was selling a spectacularly cool pair of germanium channel strips from a 1968 Hungarian broadcast console—72db of gain, big transformers, inductor three-band EQ with HPF and LPF, and a full fader on the output. They’re built like tanks with switches for every control. I simply couldn’t pass them up, especially for the price. So, that was another two channels in the rack.

Then, someone was selling off a rack mount pair of JLM Dual99V pres on Reverb for super cheap (~$500). These are basically Jensen Dual Servo-based designs. Tons of gain, transformers, DIs on both channels—very nice. I only got these in the rack a few days ago, so I’m still getting used to them, but they certainly beat the pants off anything else I’ve used in that price range.

So, I’ve ended up with another four channels of preamps, just as I was hoping for. I’m not sure that this is the endgame setup for me—I’d really prefer to have more than two channels of something. So there’s a possibility I’ll end up with a Great River MP-4 or even an 8-pack of Grace, Millennia, or D.A.V. down the line. But for now, I’m pretty happy and can easily track drums or a small ensemble with these channels.

The next purchase is likely to be a compressor. I have a Buzz Audio DBC-20–a really fantastic sounding stereo diode bridge comp, but it’d be cool to have another option or two in hardware rather than plugins. Anyone have any recommendations?