H
Harvey Gerst
New member
OK, today I got a chance to get into the studio and try out the VTB-1. It's kinda cute, in a butt-ugly kind of way, but this is a pretty damn nice unit sonically, and that's the bottom line. I tried it on the following mics:
Audix TR-40
Beyer M201
Shure SM-57
MXL 603S
Beyer M260 with the DX ribbon mod.
MXL 1006
RCA 44BX
RCA 77DX
Coles 4038
First of all, the VTB1 is quiet, very quiet. No preamp noise problems with any of the mics, even at very high gains. And I didn't hear anything that made me go, "What the hell is that?" - which is a very good sign. Each of the mics sounded very good, or at least as good as I remember them thru my other preamps.
It didn't have the high end detail of the RNP, but the RNP is very unusual in that area, like nothing I've ever heard before. But the VTB1 is no slouch either; the high end detail is there, and it doesn't add coloration.
I tried each of the mics, and switched the input impedence back and forth, without regards to which was "correct" for the mic. In some cases, the difference was minimal, while in other cases, the difference in level AND tone was huge. The low impedence setting definitely did the best job for all the ribbon mics, and the sound of the RCA 77DX in particular was spectacular thru the VTB1 (and it was disappointing thru the new RNP).
All in all, the preamp worked far better than I expected, and everything did exactly what it was supposed to do, as far as the basic preamp went. All of these tests were performed in SS mode, with the "tube feature" bypassed.
I approached the "starved plate" tube function as a basic gimmick, and I didn't want to listen to it till after I had determined that the VTB1 was a decent straight preamp. After I decided that this was a pretty good unit, I turned up the tube function while I spoke into the mic.
As I approach about the 12 o'clock point, the damn thing did start sounding warmer, with a thickening in the lower midrange. You could hear it start to kick in about 9 o'clock and it just kept getting fatter till I reached about 3 oclock on the knob. After that, it started to get really ugly really fast, but I was amazed it worked at all. It's actually a very useful feature.
The 70 Hz roll off switch sounded like it actually starts a bit higher than 70 Hz, but it worked well. I didn't like the idea of the impedance switch on the back panel, but having the choice of impedance loading is a really worthwhile feature, regardless of where the switch is located. In most cases, the right position is pretty obvious, but in some cases, it functioned very nicely as another color choice.
I still haven't tried the DI function, but even if that feature sucked, this thing is gonna have a home here, even if all it ever does is drive my RCA 77DX. It may not be an RNP, but for a lot of homerecording people, it just may be a PNP at a Really Nice Price.
Audix TR-40
Beyer M201
Shure SM-57
MXL 603S
Beyer M260 with the DX ribbon mod.
MXL 1006
RCA 44BX
RCA 77DX
Coles 4038
First of all, the VTB1 is quiet, very quiet. No preamp noise problems with any of the mics, even at very high gains. And I didn't hear anything that made me go, "What the hell is that?" - which is a very good sign. Each of the mics sounded very good, or at least as good as I remember them thru my other preamps.
It didn't have the high end detail of the RNP, but the RNP is very unusual in that area, like nothing I've ever heard before. But the VTB1 is no slouch either; the high end detail is there, and it doesn't add coloration.
I tried each of the mics, and switched the input impedence back and forth, without regards to which was "correct" for the mic. In some cases, the difference was minimal, while in other cases, the difference in level AND tone was huge. The low impedence setting definitely did the best job for all the ribbon mics, and the sound of the RCA 77DX in particular was spectacular thru the VTB1 (and it was disappointing thru the new RNP).
All in all, the preamp worked far better than I expected, and everything did exactly what it was supposed to do, as far as the basic preamp went. All of these tests were performed in SS mode, with the "tube feature" bypassed.
I approached the "starved plate" tube function as a basic gimmick, and I didn't want to listen to it till after I had determined that the VTB1 was a decent straight preamp. After I decided that this was a pretty good unit, I turned up the tube function while I spoke into the mic.
As I approach about the 12 o'clock point, the damn thing did start sounding warmer, with a thickening in the lower midrange. You could hear it start to kick in about 9 o'clock and it just kept getting fatter till I reached about 3 oclock on the knob. After that, it started to get really ugly really fast, but I was amazed it worked at all. It's actually a very useful feature.
The 70 Hz roll off switch sounded like it actually starts a bit higher than 70 Hz, but it worked well. I didn't like the idea of the impedance switch on the back panel, but having the choice of impedance loading is a really worthwhile feature, regardless of where the switch is located. In most cases, the right position is pretty obvious, but in some cases, it functioned very nicely as another color choice.
I still haven't tried the DI function, but even if that feature sucked, this thing is gonna have a home here, even if all it ever does is drive my RCA 77DX. It may not be an RNP, but for a lot of homerecording people, it just may be a PNP at a Really Nice Price.
