UA Apollo vs LA610 Pre

B

BigEZ

The Devil Has Blue Eyes
Hi All,

I currently own a UA710 and am considering upgrading to an LA610 Special Edition (not the mkii) or their new Apollo product. The LA610 SE for that classic amazing sound with LA2A comp and EQ. The Apollo for versatility and unlimited expansion. Below are the features of the Special Edition LA610...

Universal Audio LA610 Special Edition's features

Hand-picked audiophile components and custom cosmetics
only available in this Limited Edition run of 500 units worldwide
American-made NOS (New Old Stock) Vintage Tube Array & Cinemag® Transformer
Mic Pre/DI with Gain and Level Controls, EQ, and Authentic Teletronix LA-2A-Style T4 Opto Compressor
UA Build Quality and Heritage, each unit signed by Bill Putnam Jr.
Certificate of Authenticity, Hand-Assembled, Tested and Quality-Assured in the USA

I'm interested in your thoughts on both options in any way. I'd love to hear it from the gear heads as opposed to sales people. However, my main question is can you have the Apollo and not have another mic pre to get that amazing sound? The reason I ask is that I did not see any plug-in bundles on the UA site specifically to emulate some of the best mic pres present and past.

Thanks,
 
Foiled again.

Ok, in the hopes of receiving further responses on this question...does anyone know if I would still need a mic pre with UAs new Apollo product? I'm not really sure of the workings in a mic pre, I just know that my 710 makes my vocals sound sweet...I have no idea how it does that. Further, I don't see any plugins that can be purchased for the Apollo to emulate classic mic pre's. So again my question...will I need a good mic pre in addition to purchasing the Apollo? If so I think I will go with the LA610 SE.

Thanks,
 
wow, all these posts and nothing about what the OP is asking about... not even vaguely related. hmmmm.

well it seems to me (having not heard the apollo yet myself but researching it extensively for the past week) that the 610 will have incredible mojo and that mid-bass/lower-mids emphasis and HF de-emphasis and specific identifiably NOT-flat NOT-neutral sound, just from it's mic pre. the 610 is NOt flat in any way shape or form. great sounding in some people's opinions, but definitely not neutral. the apollo though I think is designed to be pretty much neutral, but also of course very high quality.

I would say that the apollo will not have a 610 sound AT ALL probably. I wish it did, but I really doubt that it will. That would be just a little too limiting of a design for most people I think.

But I coudl be wrong.... the thing is, the 610 gets it's sound from it's transformers and analog design, none of which are used in the apollo which is a completely different design as far as I understand it.

Personally, I want both :-)
 
Hey Don,

Thanks for your in depth response...it is greatly appreciated. I also would love to have both but can't afford both :(

UA's response is that the Apollo will not sound like the 610 which I figured. But the downside is that there are no plug-ins to emulate the 610 either.

I've found a brand new 610 Signature Edition with the NOS tubes and Cinemag transformers for $1999. It looks like I'll be going with that.

I like to use NY compression on some of my tracks. Do you think this unit will be sufficient if I were to send to and return from it? Or would the 6176 be a better option as the pre and the comp are entirely separate?

Again, your response was much appreciated.
 
sorry, I come on here so rarely... my apologies. hope you made the decision or still can...

610 is just the 610 pre, right? and 6176 is 1176 with 610 pre? if I'm right about that then it depends on your needs. 6176 is cool. 1176 is a versatile and amazing (and very very fast attack) compressor. very cool choice. for "NY" compression, well you need a comp. the 610, if I recall correctly, is just a preamp, mojo inducing though it may be :-)
 
oh by the way, preliminary reports of the apollo are that it sounds absolutely stellar but may have some bugs in the release software (which I'm sure will be fixed, if they truly are bugs and not user error). and of coruse since the apollo runs UA plugins without latency, an 1176 comp plug could be used with this along with a nice channel strip plugin to get more warmth. conversion is apparently really great sounding.
 
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