I spent the morning with it.
Right off the bat, I'll say that it makes my passive ribbons usable.
Brings them up to a useful level with absolutely no noise.
Also and some of you may know this, the Korg D3200 is a devil to work with when it comes to external preamps.
The Echo Mona however, was very easy and improvements were obvious from the get, go.
Using my favourite ribbon, The Golden Age MK II, it fills the sound out quite nicely. The Joe Meek 3Q is a little thinner in comparison. That really surprised me.
By the end of the morning, I was finding that silkiness that I read so much about. A combination of finding the right balance between the two stages and proper mic placement.
What I thought was a slight improvement over the Korg preamps last night turned into a vast improvement over the course of the morning.
I'm sure it will only get better over time.
You know, I never noticed a change in the tone. Just a fullness and a smoother transition through peaks and valleys.
There is a definite distortion though if you drive it too hard.
I've read a lot about the modifications and although I'm not much into that, I may change my mind after I get used to the preamp.
What pleases me about it now, may annoy me in a month or so and I'm not inclined to let this purchase lay around unused.
?? 2 knobs and 4 buttons ??
Five buttons!