a quick preamp poll

V

vanguard

New member
there have been a lot of people asking about pre's. with all of the dialog, it's hard to see a quick overview of what people are using and what they like. and we all know that reading published reviews is kinda pointless.

I'd like to see a quick list of everyone's preamp arsenal in order (favorite down to least favorite). along with a short (I'm thinking like 5 words or less) of what you like or don't like. This will be a cool quick overview, and give me an idea of how many people are using what and how they like it.

I just moved from Atlanta to Florida, got a job at an upstart studio in desperate need of an upgrade (he has 1 dbx preamp... haha).

I'll start the poll by listing the stuff we had at our studio in atlanta.

remember how we're doing this... favorite down to least favorite.

Joe Meeks VC1 - Dark, warm, gritty, colorful
avalon AD2022 - clean, bright, slick, at times too slick
neve (can't remember model) - warm, good character
m-audio dmp3 - value!
ARTmini preamp thing (can't remember model) - simple, warm, cheap.
dbx 386 - serves its purpose. not great.
 
Davisound TB-10. Tons of CLEAN gain.

JoeMeek VC6Q. Wish I had two of these.

Mackie 1402VLZ. Harsh compared to the Meek and the Davisound, especially when pushed.
 
I still have a couple of empty spaces in the rack, but for now:

ART Pro MPA: flexible, I like it
Presonus Digimax LT: clean, maybe a little bright, lots of channels pretty cheap.
ART Dual MP: bought just as a DI. Still undecided. I like on a Telecaster; bass & Les Paul I just don't know. Ask again later.

I still need two channels of real nice solid state. Thinking, thinking, thinking. Maybe a Presonus MP20. Maybe even a Grace. It'll be a few months before I can swing it.
 
Sebatron vmp2000--it's a chameleon, versatile, colorful, makes everything sound good
Joemeek VC1Q--great little vox box
M-Audio DMP3--I'll keep it even after I get a John Hardy (or maybe a Davisound)
 
Avalon AD2022- all the clean gain you can stand. Too slick? not.
Joemeek twinQcs-great vox box, good on overheads, nice colored compressor.
Focusrite pres in Digi002- 4 more than adequate pres for auxiliary uses, additional drum tracks, etc.
DMP-3- Good portable pre for micro remote setup, talkback mics, and a good portable backup
DBX386- rarely used now except for slide guitar, where I actually use the tewb drive with good effect. Actually very clean with a hot mic, but tewb drive is nassty. Figure about 32db of good clean gain. Good with NTK.-Richie
 
Audix 35102 (4) Vintage. Think... API pre meets Neve EQ. -80bd of gain; you could mike a gnats fart.

API 312 (6) Tight. Punchy. Fast. Wanna really hear your mic's? Hook 'em up to an API 312!

Mellinia Media HV3B So clean and true its scary! (OK, I don't own the MM, but I've used it in my own studio)

ART PRO MPA Nice rich tones. Don't over drive the "tube character" or you'll end up with "bumble bees in tin foil."

Yamaha O1V Clean, but kind of bland. Think... hospital food.

dbx 286A Does its job. nothing overly exciting about it
 
Pendulum Audio MDP-1A ...Euphonic, stunning and as near perfect as can be

John Hardy M-2 ...Clean and sensual

Pendulum Audio SPS-1 ...Versitle, full and pleasing sound

Rane DMS 22 ...Decent, clean. They don't get used much.

Soundcraft M4 Mixer ...Don't use the pres, just the mixing features for monitoring. Pres are fairly good though.

Digidesign Digi001 ...Crummy
 
Basics

M-Audio DMP3 - I use it whenever I can and it has never let me down.

Presonus Blue Tube - Cranky; swapped out the tube, better, but still a love / hate thing going on. I don't click with it.

Mackie CFX12 stage mixer - way better than no mixer but not much headroom. It's like a dump truck; when you need it there's nothing like it. When you don't it's hard to park. Add the DMP3 and the headroom thing becomes a different story. The thing is built like a tank.

Wannawishlist:

1. Toft dual channel preamp / comp / eq for a gold channel or two.
2. Round out collection of DMP3s until I can afford higher end stuff.
3. Bigger, better stage mixer; nosing around at Yamaha.
 
Vintech 1272 - awesome preamp for elec. guitar, bass, drums, vocals - Fat!
RNP/RNC - good on clean elec. guitar, OK on acoustic, good on vocals...
Aphex 107 - I think this pre hold it's own and sounds quite different from stock when you dial the tubessence circuit out using the VR104 and VR204 pots.
 
I really like my Symetrix sx202 pre's....
BUT, (and I know I'm gonna hear about this....) the built in pre's in the Behringer mixer that I use for monitoring/routing sound good on bass after an active DI box... <flame suit now on...> :cool:
 
toft atc-2- easily my favorite..... clean pre, usable and accurate comp and sweet eq
focurite vmp- lots of bells and whistles, pretty clean, easy to use.........downside is chinese pots
radius hhb 50..very (dare i say it ) british....tubes and very nice compression
good gain staging= stays clean for a long time and then slowly pushes the mids and crunches right at the end.......glad i have it
 
hokay...

Langevin DVC - my only piece of new equipment like ever. I love it coz it sounds good and doesn't have a g'zillion knobs. and it looks real cool AND adds that oh so essential splash of red to my rack.

homemade 2 channel tube pre - I MADE IT MYSELF. It uses 6072a tubes on the mic channels, which have switchable phantom power, and I switch the output tube around... 7581s or 12ax7s etc. It has more gain than the Langevin and sounds good but different.

8 channels Allen and Heath CMC 16 pres - these sound good too.

8 channels Mackie 1202 - don't sound reaL great compared to the above
 
That would be like asking me which of my children I liked better... and that answer would be [as this answer is] "depends on the day"
 
At some point I want to upgrade my Mic Pre gear, but for now hwat I have works

Presonus MP20 - Very Transparent
Focusright Voicemaster - Clean, plenty of processing options
Behringer V2000 - A low cost (and surpisingly good Focuright cloan)
(2) Art Tube MP - Low cost, easy to use, slight coloration
 
Universal Audio 2610 - Warm, Versatile, tons of gain, great channel strip

Neve 9098 Pre - Dark, Punchy, great on vox, gtrs, snare and kick.

Focusrite Red 1 Quad Mic Pre - Clean, Clean, Clean.

Focusrite Octopre - Clean, Nice limiting/comp on each channel, Great deal and sound for the price.

Mackie 24/8buss - Clean, but only used in emergency situations,,lol lol.
 
I think it would cool if you all named you're children Dark, Punchy, Brite, Warm, Clean, Nice, Transparent, Colored, and Brittle...
 
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