Higher end preamp decisions

S

Strave

New member
Looking to upgrade my pres with my best being the brick and I'm willing to spend maybe $1500... do you think it'd be worth it to blow it all on the neve portico or better to split up the price of the neve($1500 or so) and go with a joe meek twinQ($700-800) and the sytek 4 channel deal($700-800).

You're going to ask me what I need... I want to take my pres to the next level... if the neve is so beautiful sounding that it's worth using the firepod pres as my cleans, so be it... otherwise I'd rather split it up and have some versatility (some outboard eq and compression is considered more versatility here...). Basically I'm asking... are two channels of portico preamp most certainly better and more likely to contribute to professional results than two channels of meek preamp, eq, compressor, and converters and 4 channels of sweet sytek cleanness.

Thanks.
 
Though I have no experience with either of those, I have learned one lesson. Get the best gear that you can and buildup from there, you are young and have lots of time to build up your studio so buy the gear that you will be happy with years down the road. What are you recording into? You can definitely go without an outboard EQ and probably live without an outboard compressor as long as you have some good software pulgins.

By the way, Im in La Jolla also, I graduated from UCSD a couple years ago. Ive got a pretty good setup at home as well, running protools. If you have any interest in collaborating, sharing techniques etc. Let me know.
 
Sounds good man... I'm leaving for a week tomorrow but I'll be back next friday... I'll shoot you a PM when I get back and we'll meet up. It's always nice to meet someone who speaks this language.
 
If you wanted to save up a little more you could get a Chandler TG2 or TG channel which sounds KILLER especially on guitars, but I am only comparing it the firepod pre's and a DMP3 nothing else high end but it DESTROYS those without even a second thought, and has a very nice, full sounding DI.

You might want to think about a Great River as well. Everyone and their mother talks those things up. You could get that for color and the sytek and still be *kinda* close to your budget and have many awesome sounding pre's for use in many situations.

As far as versatility goes re: the meek, the sounds you're getting with your equipment right now is good, so you might think about spend more money on one thing right now rather than trying to get the all-in-one cheaper solution. The best advice I've gotten on this forum as far as gear purchases was by Richard Monroe when he told me I should probably just save up for a few pieces of really higher end stuff rather than moving sideways by buying low and mid-end gear. I saved up bought a really nice preamp(the Chandler), and good large-diaphragm condenser and never regretted the purchases for a moment. There really is a huge difference and I will never buy cheap stuff again. So if you know you'll get nicer EQ's and Compressors down the line than you might think about saving that money you'd spend on the meek and being $800 closer the distressor, or api EQ or whatever higher end thing you want. If you know you do not ever want to spend more on those things than get the Meek and be happy- I'm sure it sounds really great.
 
Thanks Briefcasemanx.. that's kind of where I was going with the neve... and I guess this is a question directed at the people with extensive preamp experience... but will the neve be so great that in the long run I'll never think of picking up a sytek or twinQ (Or atc-2,etc.) or are these pieces nice enough (especially the sytek) where you will most likely be using it after you pick up a few pieces of higher end stuff. I plan on doing this for a while, and money isn't too big of an issue anymore if the payoff in sound quality is right so is it worth dicking around with the meek and sytek or should I just go straight to a portico, great river 2 channel, or something in that price bracket.

Thanks.
 
The Sytek is a great little unit, but I would go for the money piece. The neve Portico would probably be a good option. So would a Great River or a Chandler. My favorite combo for guitars right now, bar none for the most part, is a Chandler TG2, Royer 121, and a Distressor. The Chandler so far sounds amazing on just about anything (although kick and snare tracks through the Chandler have not been quite as amazing to me as other tracks). It is not a "clean" sound. It can be pretty clean if you keep the input gain a little lower though. Its really a warm smooth "vintage" type tone. I think the Great River captures a better "clean" sound, but the Chandler does something with guitars and bass, and even some vocals that makes mixing much easier. As a combo unit I really like the Toft ATC-2 for the money. The preamp is decent, so is the comp (actually the comp is pretty cool, but behaves very differently than most comps), but the EQ is incredible and with a little EQ it will make you think the preamp is behaving much differently than it does. If you are into big guitar sounds though, I would give the Chandler some serious consideration. I love the Chandler on overheads as well, and many acoustics, and a lot of vocals. The sytek is a piece though that can keep a home in your rack no matter what you buy down the line.
 
I'll second the chandler as well. I like it on overheads, kills on guitar. The other day I was abusing it just to see what it would do. The acoustic blew me away with the gain cranked on it!

Having said that, I'm probably going to pick up a Sytek as well - you can't go wrong with a quality clean versatile pre, and the price makes sense. So IMO, I don't think the Sytek is a sideway's step for you. It's also very affordable. It just won't blow you away because it isn't a character pre like the Chandler, so it doesn't stand apart. But colored pre's aren't always the way to go either.

If you got the bucks though, I think the best compromise between clean/color is still the Great River - you just can't go wrong.
 
Strave said:
should I just go straight to a portico, great river 2 channel, or something in that price bracket.
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Yes.

The old adage "you get what you pay for" is especially true of preamps for some reason.

Two channels of preamps for $1,500 is probably as low as you should go if you are looking for truly outstanding performance. I should point out that the Neve is currently selling for an introductory price, and supposedly they will be going up before too long. There are others in that general price range that are worthy of consideration as well. The Great River pres have already been mentioned, but also add to your list the Millenia HV-3B, and the Grace Designs 201. I own a 201 and have been very happy with it.
 
I went through a similar process and decided on both. Sort of. I considered a two channel Great River, but really needed one more channel at this time. So I went with a single channel of great river (soon to be expanded to include their EQ unit) and the two channel RNP. My application is as a singer/songwriter who is ramping up to record a CD. While most of the disc will likely be multi-tracked, I wanted to option to record myself live (perhaps at some interesting locations). The RNP stereo unit will handle a stereo pair on my guitar (or piano) and the Great River will handle a RODE NTK and be my vocal channel. I am recording through an Edirol FA101 and have those two pre's available if I want to record any ambiance tracks. Good luck on your choices, there really is an embaressment of riches available to todays home recordist (on a specific budget) compared to what I started out with 10 years ago.
 
Thanks all for the good info... I'll be back in a week and check up to see if there are anymore replies but right now it looks like it'll be either a portico or GR (I don't track as much miced electric guitar as most people). Talk to you soon.
 
Strave said:
Thanks all for the good info... I'll be back in a week and check up to see if there are anymore replies but right now it looks like it'll be either a portico or GR (I don't track as much miced electric guitar as most people). Talk to you soon.
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I just checked your gear list on your site, and I think you will be very glad you decided to spend the money. Pretty much everything you have is low to mid-budget gear. You book clients, so I think upgrading your preamps is a very good idea.

The only problem with it will be that once you get a taste for the good stuff you can't go back! :eek:
 
Yeah that's kind of the feeling I was getting. I'm thinking if I upgrade to a neve, get a soundelux u195 and rosetta converters I'd be good for a while... we'll see what happens. And for the guy about the brick... yeah it's the best preamp I've ever used but I haven't used much. Anyways, if anyone has any other opinions Id love to hear them.
 
SonicAlbert said:
Two channels of preamps for $1,500 is probably as low as you should go if you are looking for truly outstanding performance.
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Although $1,500 is generally considered the cut-off, Sebatron, Langevin, Vintech, Universal Audio, and Hamptone all sell dual preamps under $1,500 and all fall into the high-end preamp category IMO.
 
I wouldn't call neve poticro high end either.Both units are probably stuffed full of chips and they call that stuff class A????? :rolleyes Judging from all the photos I've seen the Brick isnot point to point wiring which I find a major disaappointmentt.
Great River gets a lot of use around here.
 
Well, my "I wouldn't call neve portico high end" preamps will be arriving today at 10AM. I will give them a test run and provide some feedback based on actual use vs. wild conjecture. :D
 
Rodger Hartlett said:
I wouldn't call neve poticro high end either.Both units are probably stuffed full of chips and they call that stuff class A????? :rolleyes Judging from all the photos I've seen the Brick isnot point to point wiring which I find a major disaappointmentt.
Great River gets a lot of use around here.
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god help us if a sub-500 dollar tube preamp doesn't have point to point wiring. everyone knows we're all waiting in anticipation for phonic's new line of tube pre's, all with point to point wiring... because that's what equals quality
 
The big question

The big question you're asking has to do with the number of channels you need. Yes, get the pro stuff (read expensive) every time except if you don't have the pres to track drums, or larger ensembles.

I faced the same question and because I could live with mackie on three channels (Only when I'm tracking 8 at a time) I decided to wait and get a better 'gold' channel. If the mackies were ruining the 3 (minor) drum track channels (Bottom of snare, HH, room mic) then I would have gone for the sytek. Hope this helps. Frank
 
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