Avelon M5 vs. Great river vs. John Hardy?

[Frankm666]

Any thoughts on these three. Impressions, applications, sonic differences. Looking for my gold channel. Own RNP and Joe Meek VC1Q. The rest are mackie pres.

Thanks for any help,
Frank

[mrbowes]

what type of music do you play? what instruments will you be primarily recording? what mics do you own?

all of the pre-amps you mentioned are very high quality. most likely, you could just pick one of them at random and be totally set.

what's your AD conversion like? monitors? effects?

edit: check out some clips of these units at http://www.thelisteningsessions.com

[ROblows]

The Great River is only good for country music.






























(just kidding - someone seriously posted that on another BBS)

[Rick Shepherd]

I find those Listening Sessions to be mostly worthless. So much of the sound quality has also to do with the room, instruments, type of music, settings on the controls, mics, distances from mics, etc. They don't have any samples using the Avalon pres or Peluso mics, which they said they were going to do quite a while back on other forums. All of these are good choices, so pick one and try it out.

I bought an Avalon AD2022, amazing accuracy, no coloration. I am sure now that at least a dozen other choices would have probably suited me, but I had to get it out of my system.

[Frankm666]

I read that the John Hardy pres are only good for baroque classical music.

Seriously, I record my band- roots music. Country, blues, electric blues, old rock and roll. HR824s, CAD VSM, have large live room with wood floors. Any describable sonic differences in these microphones.

[XLR]

I have a GR MP2H and love it. I've also used an Avalon pre at another studio and was very impressed, but it wasn't the M5 - it was a 737sp tube pre but I'll compare them anyway... The GR and the 737 were at opposite ends of the sound spectrum but man, both sounded great in their own way. The GR is ultra real-sounding, with rich lows and sparkling highs and clarity everywhere. The Avalon gave an extra lush quality to the sound but had great clarity at the same time.

I've had my GR for several yrs and if I had it to do over, I'd buy it again.

Tim

[tdukex]

The nice thing about the Hardy M1 is you can buy another channel in the future for $650.

[VSpaceBoy]

Originally Posted by Rick Shepherd

I find those Listening Sessions to be mostly worthless. So much of the sound quality has also to do with the room, instruments, type of music, settings on the controls, mics, distances from mics, etc.

Yea but if you don't change anything in the setup BUT the pre (or whatever) than isn't is a valid test? Same room, same mics etc.? At least thats what the site looks like to me.

[Dot]

Frank, for "country, blues, electric blues, old rock and roll" the Great River NV will do an overall better job for you. It's the perfect pre for that. You'll also get more sonic versatility out of it than you will the Avalon or Hardy. The Avalon has sort of a clean sparkly sound that's great for pop and r&b. The neutral Hardy is a great pre for close-miking acoustic instruments.

I reviewed the ME-1NV... http://www.studioreviews.com/me-1nv.htm

[Frankm666]

Thanks for the help. I'll go with the great river.