New gear!

[Michael Jones]

I just picked up another pair of API 312's!!
These are awesome pres!!

Two more and I've got my six-pack for the drum kit.

[dizzlano]

So freakin jealous, can i come over and play? LOL

Congrats those are great toys, especially when you've got the full box

-dano

[Velvet Elvis]

Michael,

Ummm... send them up to Iowa... I will store them for you as you finish off your place.

Plus, you know how harsh winters can be in Texas... I'd hate for you to damage them in the cold ;P

Velvet Elvis

[Michael Jones]

Umm... OK Velvet Elvis. Send me your mailing address!
I'll ummm... be sure and get right on that.

Seriously though, If anyone here hasn't used these pre's you should look into them.
Once you have the powered rack these babies are like $500 a pop for a single channel of one of the best sounding pres around.

So, you're looking at about $2500 - $2600 for 4 channels; but you can build those 4 channels over time as funds become available.
You wont be sorry if you do.

[Velvet Elvis]

Michael,

Do you have a picture of them? Are they pretty bare bones (phase, gain, etc) or do they have minimal eq as well?

I'd store your Boston up here too, except my parents own a 7-foot Steinway grand that was purchased (long story) from the New York World's Fair... and it sounds purty dern nice Just wish they'd let me take it to MY house.

Velvet Elvis

[Michael Jones]

They look like this:


Only mine say "Made from vintage API 312 card" or something like that...?

The magic of these seems to be the marriage of the 2520 OpAmp and the Jensen transformers.

I'll take a picture of them, and some other things I have in my rack later tonight.

[Velvet Elvis]

Micheal,

That would be cool if you took a few pictures.

How do they sound on acoustic etc?

Is that a 1/4 input at the top? balanced? or is that an insert?

Velvet Elvis

[TexRoadkill]

Michael have you tried any of the OSA or API pres or just the Averill's?

[Henri Devill]

Nice!I'm waiting for a OSA lunchbox myself..




Don

[Michael Jones]

Tex - The Averill's ARE API's. Brent just recaps them, and puts his face-plate on them. You have a choice (well, you USED to have a choice) between the original richenbacher tranny's or an upgraded jensen tranny.
I actually have 2 of each. The difference is very subtle. The richenbachers seem to have a ... I dunno how to explain it.. a tighter response on attack.

I've never tried the OSA's. Supposedly they're really good. It just seems that they don't hold their resale value quite as well.

At any rate, here's my mic-pre rack (what I'll show you of it anyway )

[Michael Jones]

Another shot:

[Michael Jones]

What you see on the top there is a pair of Audix 35102's

VERY Neve-ish! In fact, Audix (the console manufacturer, not the mic maker) was formed by ex-neve employees.

Those 35102's are sleepers guys! 80db of the CLEANEST gain you have ever heard! Plus, you have the parametric eq to really help shape your sound.
I'll be honest, it took me a while to learn how to get the most out of the 35102's, but once I did.... well, I aint trading them for nothing!

[Michael Jones]

Oh yeah.
Almost forgot about the 550b down there in the bottom rack.
Very musical, incredibly surgical.
I need another one though to really fool around with 'em.

Future additions?
I've got my eye on a Chandler.

[Michael Jones]

OK, wtf?
Here's the rest of my mic-pre arsenal:

This is of course the ART PRO MPA Dual Microphone Preamplifer.
Yeah. Its a toob pre.
You can get a really nice sound from this unit as long as you don't drive the tubes too hard.
If you've ever heard my song December's Mist' it was done using the Pro MPA and a pair of TLM 103's.

I also used it on vocals for a client tracking a song called "Wake Up in a Dream"
The vocals were done using a TLM 103 thru the PRO MPA.
He had some kind of modeling amp, and was dead set about going DI with it. I COULD NOT talk him into miking the amp!
So we went DI into the 35102's. And he HAD to do everything "live". So there's some bleed into the vocals from his strumming.
It came out OK, but it could have been better if he would have listened.

[Michael Jones]

This one almost NEVER sees any use anymore.
Its a DBX 286A

Its an OK little unit. It works, I suppose. Does what its supposed to. It just seems kind of.... hmmmm.... lifeless?