Grace 101 vs. Summit Audio 2BA-221

[PHILANDDON]

For tracking acoustic guitar and voice. Opinions please..........

 

[chessrock]

Yes .

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[PHILANDDON]

Uh, which do you prefer and why.

 

[chessrock]

I much prefer voice. I was never much of a guitar fan.

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[PHILANDDON]

Thanks. I suppose the only thing lamer than me wasting my time asking these questions is you wasting yours by responding with idiotic joke answers to them.

 

[phaqu]

Although Ive never used a Grace, I would say it might be better for vox. My Summit (its not a 2BA-221 though) gets a bit ,.. growly at higher gain. If you have a mic with high output then it might be ok(if you dont have to crank the gain up). I use mine on distorted guitar cabs and bass. It kicks ass on those. Now I have used mine on acoustic gtr and it did fine. But I only had about 35-40 Db of gain set, so.....Anyway.....................get both of them.

 

[BigRay]

Are you going down the list of every preamp in the world and asking opinions? Why dont you just demo something?? The products you have asked about are all over the map, and not really comparable. The best thing is just to try one of them. You arent going to get any satisfactory results by asking about opinions. If you dont like it, sell it and try something else. Peoples tastes are so different that I guarantee nothing will be conclusive.

I will send you some of my stuff to try If you want.

BUT....my 2c ...
You have ribbons right??well, I would personally grab the TRP, and a hamptone(HVTP2) or DAV...you could get all 3 of those for just a little over 2000.The TRP would cover the clean gain for your ribbons, the DAV would add a bit of sparkle to everything, and the hamptone is really euphonic(I cant tell my hamptone apart from my pendulum MDP1) I dont like the grace for anything really. Very thin, and strident. Not a pleasing sound at all. Certainly not that "cozy, warm, antique vibe" you are after..

Just grab something and start making music! Thats the best way to decide!

and dont pay attention to trolls, Phil. Use the ignore button.

 

[boingoman]

and dont pay attention to trolls, Phil. Use the ignore button.

How do you know what he wrote?

 

[PHILANDDON]

Bigray knows I've been obsessing about this for awhile. I'm just trying to get it right since the wife has me on a short financial leash. The buy and sell thing, doesn't work that great for me.....I always lose far more$$ than is healthy. Maybe 'cuz I make sucker deals.

 

[MadMax]

From my experience, the Grace is clean without much character. I can't comment on the Summit.

 

[BigRay]

How do you know what he wrote?

I dont. I have no idea what he wrote. I am going off past patterns and Phil's Response. It isnt too hard to guess either. ..Lets stay on topic though. Dont want this to derail. this is Phil's thread.

 

[Dot]

For tracking acoustic guitar and voice. Opinions please..........

You've given us zero info on what you're recording and what kinds of mics you have. How's the overall sound of the room where you're recording?

 

[Mr. Moon]

From my experience, the Grace is clean without much character. I can't comment on the Summit.

I had one of those Summits...

I really WANTED to like it,

I really TRIED to like it,

...But it never happened. It cost me what, $700.00 or so, but when I used it over the course of a few days, it didn't get better sounding ...it actually got worse. I was primarily using it with a SP T3, beyerdynamic M69, and my ShinyBox 23L ribbon mic. I decided to send it back when I pulled my old SP VTB-1 out of the closet and it kicked anus all over what the Summit could do on the 23L.

Took that $700.00 (or so) and put it towards an ADL600 ...best money I'd spent in a long time!

-mr moon

 

[PHILANDDON]

Recording voice and acoustic guitar.....old time country style......anyway, suffice it to say that I've been convinced by this thread to stay away from that Summit Audio unit. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Ironklad Audio]

only go for the grace if you want a super super super transparent preamp

 

[Dot]

Recording voice and acoustic guitar.....old time country style......anyway, suffice it to say that I've been convinced by this thread to stay away from that Summit Audio unit. Thanks for the replies.

I don't think I'd recommend the 101 for that. The 101 is very glassy, transparent. And if you want any kind of "old time" sound, you're not going to get it from the 101.

I'll give some some recommendations in various price ranges.

Rane MS-1b - about $150. Surprisingly good preamp, especially for acoustic gtr. Has similar characteristics to the John Hardy M-1 - to the point that I've dubbed it a Jr. John Hardy. The MS-1b rolls off around 50Hz - which is fine anyway, since you're not recording bass or kick drum with it. And while it's not quite as full as the M-1, the MS-1b will give you a good 60-70% of the sound of an M-1 on acoustic gtr and vocals. *Add an RNLA in the chain as an option.

FMR RNP - around $475. Good dual, preamp/DI for the money. One of the few mid-level units I recommend. [ the 101 is another one, but not in this case.] The RNP has a slightly vintage sound with a little bit of color. Nice, airy high-end. *Add an RNLA in the chain as an option.

John Hardy M-1 - around $950 - IMO, one of the best preamps for acoustic stringed instruments - especially if you're tracking any kind of music in the neighorhood of bluegrass, folk, Americana, traditional country. If you want a preamp for life, the M-1 is a good investment. *Add an RNLA in the chain as an option.

*The FMR RNLA - around $225 - is a limiter that has some color. Running through any of those preamps into the RNLA will give you more "old time" vintage flavor. You'll also have more options on the amount of gain you use on the preamp - giving more sonic versatility - if you run it into an RNLA.

My 2¢.

 

[tdukex]

I haven't heard it in person, but the clips I've heard of the Speck 5.0 ($700 - $750) have sounded great on both vox and acou guit. The True P-Solo ($600) might me another hi-end option.

 

[BigRay]

True P-Solo ($600) might me another hi-end option.

600 aint high end.

 

[sdelsolray]

600 aint high end.

$600 for one channel could certainly be high end, then again it might not. Whether a piece is "high-end" isn't necessarily dictated by price, but by its performance as well as the subjective opinions of folks whose use it.

 

[SonicAlbert]

$500-600 for one channel is not high end. It's out of the budget category, but not into high end. High end generally starts at about $1,000 per channel. At least in my opinion.

Which is not to say that you can't get some really nice preamps starting in the $500 and up range, you can.