a VERY colored preamp-channel strip-with or without tubes..

[earworm]

naw...
i think this issue has already been discussed, but damn,
it takes too long to find the page since there's no search button anymore...

i had a discussion today about preamps and "colored" sound,
a friend of mine wants to get him a "Tube preamp" so it makes the sound of his recordings warmer,

most of the time he records BASSguitar straight into his MOTU828 or trough his mackie mixer, he also records his guitar

he says he finds the sound of his moto to sound a little "cold" and would like to warmen up the sound with "a tube preamp", he asked me : "got any suggestions?"

nope...

all i could say is: i get nice results from my joemeek stuff, but i don't have any tubes in my entire rack space...

his budget is around 600 EURO, thats around $700 i guess,,,or little less

doesn't have to be dual channel or stereo, thats a good thing, heh,

so what kind of preamp or channel strip would you say that REALLY colors the sound? ...makes it warmer....


-------just wanna add this,,,another guy joined the discussion and said: "focusrite has some nice stuff....and they're giving a 40% discount on all focusrite producs at this store..." (no he does not work at that store , nor does he try to promote it....he just thinks he likes focusrite i guess...)

naw,,,i never heard or saw focusrite equipment in real life,
anyone got something to say about it? in general?

thanx Alot,
earworm

[scarboro78]

Funny... I just wrote this in another thread...

"Hey what do you guys think about gettin the 'Focusrite P6 TrakMaster Microphone Preamp, Compressor, and Equalizer' (300 bucks) or the 'Focusrite Platinum Penta Compressor/Limiter Microphone Preamp' (400 bucks).. Instead of paying 350 Bucks for the RNC & DMP3??"

I still wanna know !!!

[Big Kenny]

Safe Sound P1 is a great DI for bass. Limiting, compressing and if you push it, very, dare I say, British. Nah, just nicely nasty

[John Mayes]

UA610 mono.. Used might be close to budget.. from what I hear (never heard this beast myself) it is very colored/thick

Strange thing is I used to have a MOTU828MKII and I thought the pre's in it were pretty colored/darker/thicker sounding, but musical and nice. is this a 828MKII more the older 828 as that may be the difference.

Other than that some suggestions off hand are the Toft ATC-2 colored, slightly fuzzy sounding.. seems like it would be good for rock. Nice E, but not "tube" sounding I don't think.....

TL Audio PA-2 would be well within budget, but it is not dark at all in fact more glassy, balanced, harmonic, but tube sounding.

um... I can't think of much more right now...oh well...

[tdukex]

Joemeek VC1Q ($400-$500 used)--can be clean or colored depending on compression settings.

Sebatron Vmp 1000e ($750 new)--can be clean or colored depending on pads/eq settings.

Haven't heard the Brick, but it may be a good choice.

[Big Kenny]

I have the toft and it is pretty clean. An HHb radius 50 is very nice on bass also. can be pushed to throb