Digitech VTP-1 impressions.

[formerlyfzfile]

I traded my Focusrite Penta for a Digitech VTP-1 Friday.
I was looking for a 2 channel pre and figured the EQ would be a bonus and the digital outs a big plus.

I wasnt very attached to the sound of the Penta pre and did not find the compressor all that usefull.

The VTP-1 SUCKS!!!!!
I prolly shoulda done some more research first.

It IS very clean IF you dont use any of the PRE gain which drives the toob.
BUT it does not have very much POST gain.
Enough for an SM57 but has to be supplimented with PRE gain for my MD1B's.

The PRE gain sound fine until you get to about 3.
From 3 to 5 it gets mildly fuzzy but too much for and acoustic micing for a clean sound and it is totally useless beyond 5 unless your looking for that "telphone voice" distortion.
USELESS shitty crappy spitty fuzz bullshit junk sound!!!!!

AND....AND.....AND!!!! when you overload a lot of pre's you get noticable distortion...... a hiss or buzz or fuzzz.
Not the VTP-1....... when overloaded it make a POP!!! like when you go beyond 0dB in software .... or when you have a buffer under run.
Not build up to it ..... just POP ...... all hunky dorey then WHAMM!!POP!!!.

And you will never guess.
This POS has precious little head room.

On to sucktion 2.

The EQ is not very musical at all and kind of harsh.
The bass roll of swith does basically nothing.
You have to manually dial down the low end for a roll off.
Maybe it was designed that way but then .... why put a roll off switch if you already have a low boost/cut knob??

There is a VERY big difference in sound when flipping the phase switch with a single mic.
I've never heard a phase switch make this kind of drastic difference.
It was all most as if the phase switch was the bass roll off switch in reverse or something.
I actually got more gain with the phase switch flipped and this occured in both channels.

The pre just lacks any kind of real character.... and I dont mean color..... it just is flat and blahh sounding.
I would almost take the pre's in my old Berri 602.

I cant tell you how utterly disappointed in this I was.

I a/b'd to my TAscam M30 baord and the M30 is better in sound, clean-ness (for all intensive purposes), and EQ.

I mean I tried it on my acoustic, elcectric amp, keys direct and my voice and it just toatally underwhelmed in every way.

So back it went today and instead I used it to get that monitor upgrade I've been putting off.

A pair of Event 20/20 passives and a power amp.... whoo hooo.
They, in contrast to the pre, sound very very good.

Just thought I'd share that and prehaps warn anyone to try it out extesively before buying a VTP-1 and that I wholeheartedly would NOT recomend this pre.

Live and learn.

-mike

[Henri Devill]

I have one of those pres also...Your spot on with what I've found with it..



Don

[Henri Devill]

Oh yea..If you go to -10 recorder it has enough headroom..its more usable then..But others have gotten them to work..just not me or it appears you..LOL




Don