presonus vxp

drdrew

New member
hi guys...i'm liking the looks of this presonus vxp(?) vocal strip..the one with the compressor...de-esser...etc.

but i'm a little concerned about warmth from this unit..does anyone know if the pre is tube?

or if not, has anyone played with this and can give feedback about it?

i thinky i likey.

(buck, if you read this, how's the akai treating you? Why don't you email me and we can gab about it.. drewkari@earthlink.net )
 
I use it all the time... with an NT2/'58/'57..... excellent - it has a tube emulator mode which works *VERY* well... the compressor is quite neutral-sounding... haven't used the EQ section much... the gating's solid and there's *plenty* of gain available if needed...

I love it!

Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound
 
thanks for the input!

the other player is the joe meek vc3...i've heard good things about it as well..any further thoughts?
 
I haven't heard or played with it, from what I hear, it has a distinctive coloration which may or may not be what you want... I think the PreSonus is more transparent...

Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound
 
drew...
I'll hit ya with an e-mail tomorrow on the akai.
As far as mic pre's go, I just picked up a Mindprint Envoice with the optional 24 bit Di-Mod (s/pdif in and out).
This is one sweet little unit. ;)
Tube warmth *and* 24 bit capabilities! Superior sound quality at a reasonable price. Check out thier website and marvel at all the goodies the Envoice has.....

http://www.mindprint.com
 
went to the mindprint website...the en-voice looks like a good unit...i really do want the onboard compressor so i can "free up" another akai internal effect...i like the digital interface as well....the presonus vxp has this as an option too...and it says it has some pre-set vocal compression curves for those of us (me) who are still learning...which also looks promising. but i couldn't find an en-voice dealer online...do you mind if i ask what the price was?

and if you have any further thoughts on the comparison of these two babies...

as always, thanks.
 
First of all, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to e-mail you like I said I would... I've been dog-tired (read: lazy) the past 2 days.
Anyway, the main difference between the VXP and the Envoice is that the Envoice has both tube warmth AND 24-bit digital capabilities. While you can get close to that sound with units like the Presonus VXP and the Focusrite Voicemaster, nothing sounds like *real* tube warmth.... especially if you keep the unit on for a long time and put it to work. It's common to switch tube preamps "on" several hours before a recording session, just to get it nice and hot. It makes for some really sweet tones. ;)
As far as price goes, I paid $420 for the Envoice and $80 for the 24-bit Di-Mod upgrade. Add tax and $20 for shipping (both were out of stock at the time).
But remember, I bought a shitload of gear from the guy who gave me this deal, (and spent lots of $$$) so he did me a big favor and discounted everything to the bare bones. If you find a place that has one in your area, and you like it enough to buy one, I'd be happy to hook you up with this guy and see if he can get you close to the deal he gave to me.
But please, PLEASE listen to as many preamps as you can before you buy! The VXP is a fine unit, as is the Focusrite Voicemaster, and the Joe Meek VC1Q. All of these units have the built-in compressor that you want, and the Focusrite also has the de-esser. Your decision should also ride on the type of mic(s) you plan to use with your preamp.
I have an AKG C3000, which is a fairly transparent, large condenser mic. Using a non-tube, transparent preamp like the Voicemaster wouldn't benefit my vocal tracks as much as a tube preamp would. But if I had a Neumann U87, the Voicemaster would be nice match.
I bought the Envoice for it's all-around versatility at a reasonable price. I plan on buying a few more condenser mics in the near future, and I wanted a preamp that would work well with an array of mics, and also with my acoustic and bass guitars.
I'm not sure if I can be that much help locating an Envoice in your area, though.... where do you live?
 
i live in a beautiful part of the world...on a private, clear water lake, in central missouri. unfortunately, that puts me a couple of hours away from any real music stores...i guess closest would be st. louis, where there's a guitar satan and a mars right across the street from one another...so it's kinda hard to go out and listen to stuff...that's why i'm usually so full of questions!

right now i'm only running an SM58. i will listen to mics before i buy another. but i'd like to get something sooner to liven up that 58.

i will probably end up with the akgc-3000b, the at 4033, or the rode nt-2....or maybe the sure ksm32...
 
Buck62,

I agree with you on tubes sounding warm - but that's not always what you want or need for a given application... a nice warm-sounding tube pre on a heavy-metal vocalist ain't gonna cut it... while on jazz or blues... ya know! :)

Just wanted to point out too that if the FocusRite unit you mentioned is the one I'm thinking about, it is a notch or 2 below the quality of the VXP - the VXP has the same guts as the MP20, only it's single channel with the on-board processing.

It's real tough to beat the high-end FocusRite gear, but they realize that the project market is strong, so they've put out a low-end too... I tried a wack of them when I was selecting preamps and found the VXP is very transparent (assuming that's what someone is looking for!) compared to many others. ON the other hand, if one is *looking* for coloration.... that's another story altogether!

:)


Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound

[Edited by bvaleria on 09-27-2000 at 06:06]
 
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