preamps, meek v. meek. and other preamps. questions?

[pandatone]

i never thought i would post one of these.. "help me find a preamp" threads. but i've had some time off and scowering the web. so lets do this.

my budget is about.. 600$.. give or take.

my eyes first landed on the meek oneQ.. i wanna hear that "iron" switch.
and i love my some meek opto compression. my question is. i already have a meek VC3.. is there a reason to have both? (i don't need tons of pre's).. theres something in my little VC3 that i like.. can't tell you what.. probably that compressor. wish it had more gain though.

then my eyes landed on the TLAudio 5050 strip.. rumor was, it was basicly a HHB radius 40.. witch are way cheaper. so i headed over to thelisteningsessions.com
witch had both units.. the TLA sounded better to me. just a little bit..
the HHB def sounded duller.

and then i eyed up a trident s20.. they have reasonable used prices. witch is sorta the part that freaks me out. and of coarse. its not a strip.. just 2 preamps. but i couldn't find any comparison recording of this guy either.

if i can't decided.. i might pick up one of the little EH tube guys.


so, anyone want to share some thoughts? my budget isn't changing. and no, i don't want a presous m20 or whatever its called. or a styk.. thinger..
and i'm to busy any more to DIY, otherwise i woudl make a JML baby animal.

i record lots and lots of quiet sounds. no big amps are going to blasting into it.
i use a BLA modded MOTU 828 mkII interface. im not a recording studio. just doing my own thing.

thanks for your help

panda

[nlmd311]

Have you considered the SM Pro PR8E? You can pick one up new for about $100 if you search hard enough and Black Lion Audio are back to doing the mods. So figure $100 or so for the PR8E + the $365 for the BLA modification and a few bucks for shipping and you are at or under $500 and have 8 channels of what seems to be a really cool preamp AND have $100 still in your budget for whatever else you may need (new cables for all the new channels you will have, a new mic, a stand or two or 5...)
I've been dying to get one done and have it done. Then by the time I got the money together, they stopped doing the mod by request of SM Pro. I've spent the money on a new guitar and just found out that they are back to doing the mod. I've not messed with one personally but just seems like it couldn't hurt to get one to test out and, if for whatever reason I didn't like it, I could sell it and probably not lose anything.

Just a thought.

Here's a link to the page on the Black Lion Audio website: http://www.blacklionaudio.com/sm_pro_8_mki_mod.html

Here's a link to some samples they have: http://www.blacklionaudio.com/audio.html

-Darrill

[pandatone]

just don't need 8 pre's for anything.
specially 8 pres of the same flavor. would rather get one of thoe EH tube pres.
(if it came to that)

panda

[nlmd311]

I completely understand that. That is probably what has also kept me from plunging in and just charging it. I have more than enough mic pre's right now just seemed like the modified PR8E was a great deal on a really solid sounding amp for a total price of less than many single channels available.

The EH 12AY7 is definitely a cool pre. I've got one and use it regularly on a variety of sources.

I've also gained interest in the Symetrix dual channel a lot of people around here seem to like (sx202 I'm pretty sure), but the consensus on that seems to be that the special-ness of it comes out through modification and while it seems pretty simple, if you don't have the time to put into modding it yourself it might not be what you are looking for. I think those have been selling for between $100 and $150 consistently over the last few months.

-Darrill

[linus]

just don't need 8 pre's for anything.
specially 8 pres of the same flavor. would rather get one of thoe EH tube pres.
(if it came to that)

panda

So only use two of the channels. Later when you need more channels you be like, "Oh shit! That's right I already HAVE more channels!"

Or you could just buy the EH thingies.

Sounds like you don't want multiple channels of the same flavor so pass on the other Meek box.

You could get a pair of PM1000 strips and have someone else rack them for you for your price range.

[pandatone]

yeah, don't need 2 meeks. my one thought was to sell off the vc3. and get the oneQ.. and maybe a EH. (witch sorta sounds like a good idea)

don't have the time to do any of my own mods. or feeling like waiting for someone to custom it up.. once again. i would just get a JLM baby animal then.

no thoughts on the TLAudio strip..? (the sound samples i heard sounded pretty good. its up in the running... )

or the trident s20?

panda

[kojdogg]

i'm pretty happy with a couple of strips i got after reading the review of them in da mag-- the chameleon labs 7602-- chinese neve 1073 clone with a nice 70+db pre and a bitchin' eq (but no compressor), and the safe sound p1-- nice clean 70db pre with a very useful compressor (clean again), expander and limiter.
i just got a meek vc brick, which i'm digging as well, though i understand they're a little hard to find. very colored and with a limited feature version of the sc2 compressor
the only one that cost me more than $600 was the 7602
________
Toyota p transmission history

[linus]

.double post.

[LeedyGuy]

I'm sort of in the same boat. I have a Sytek and I was considering a PR8 modded, but 12 of the same type of thing seems excessive.

12AY7 seems to be pretty nice to some people. I think I'm going to be looking for something with a little color. The Sytek BB channels are colored, but still clean compared to the non BB's which are super clean.

[pandatone]

i got a zoom H4 instead. (yes, no relation to a nice preamp)
looking at maybe just getting a meek sc2 i can patch into an insert on my board or 828.. witch are both fine enough pres if you ask me.
that was fun though yeah? mmm.. gear..

panda