just for the record, I owned one for a couple years, the people who complain about it I think aren't giving the whole picture here, or maybe didn't use it how I did or run any thorough comparisons as I did on different sources etc.
preamp: it's VERY clean, but not pristine, it has a bit of it's own tone which I actually liked on some things. very slightly scooped sound. good for bgs etc, good for pop type lead vocals.
compressor: I entirely disagree with the negative points, it's an opto compressor and a very good one at that. outstanding for giving a bit of a vintage vibe to vocals, I used it extensively for that purpose alone and I actually miss it now (I own several nice comps (1176 etc) and use some nice optos whenever I get to work in another studio, my comparison knowledge is decent at least although of course just individual opinion). I found it quite good on bass, fast for an opto, and really quite stunning on lead vocals when used appropriately (in other words it was never my only compressor in the chain, I used it like an la2a with expected good results (similar compression, faster, no tube distortions or freq response changes that the la2a has so I added that elsewhere if/when desired obviously).
eq: I suppose it might work, never cared personally, it wasn't needed for me (I can't remember the last time I've tracked with eq, and when I patched in the device for mixing I had better plugin eqs).
headphone monitoring etc is probably very good, I never needed it in my studio.
Some great things were recorded with that device while I owned it. Finally decided that too much gear is just a waste of space in my studio so it was a piece that got sold off to help buy my children clothes LoL.
I do still miss the compressor, and I knew that preamp so well that I could use it whenever I wanted a particular, clean, slightly scooped sound. it worked wonders with bass guitar that preamp, nice response for it imho.
cheers,
Don
