I went to SamAsh yesterday and wandered into their Soundroom. I was just browsing and mentioned to the FullSail grad salesman that I was kind of interseted in preamps but didn't want to spend stupid money.
He then asked me to check out the Universal 610, so I put on the hedaphones and listened to my own voice thru a Rode NT-1 ( I think). It sounded Hi Fi and creamy, and adjusting the compressor just sounded "right", that is; smooth compression with no squashing or pumping.
Then I listened to the minimalist Millennia HV3C. It was a very simple unit. It had gain switches and a fixed notch LPF that works in the upper freq's. This one sounded more Hi Fi than the 610 and I could really hear the subtle differences the LPF made. I'd call this one super HiFi and clean.
Next was the SSL channel strip. I don't remember the model number, but it had compression and EQ. With comp & EQ out it had no character like the previous two. And in the short time I played with it, the comp & EQ didn't add anything exceptional. Overall, it sounded no better than a Mackie Pre.
Last, I listened to a Presonus Eureka and my immediate impression after listening to the others was "NO!" It just sounded cheap.
Bottom line is if I were buying, I'd like to have BOTH the UA 610 and the Millennia HV3C. And if I had to pick one of those, I'd probably go with the UA 610 because I do mostly rock music and it sounds like it'd serve well on clean vox and I could probably squash some electric guitars and drums with it.
Now, I've always been skeptical when it comes to pre's, but this is the first time I did a side by side comparison. I just wonder if my impressions would have been the same if I had listened to them in a different order? I didn't buy anything either.
He then asked me to check out the Universal 610, so I put on the hedaphones and listened to my own voice thru a Rode NT-1 ( I think). It sounded Hi Fi and creamy, and adjusting the compressor just sounded "right", that is; smooth compression with no squashing or pumping.
Then I listened to the minimalist Millennia HV3C. It was a very simple unit. It had gain switches and a fixed notch LPF that works in the upper freq's. This one sounded more Hi Fi than the 610 and I could really hear the subtle differences the LPF made. I'd call this one super HiFi and clean.
Next was the SSL channel strip. I don't remember the model number, but it had compression and EQ. With comp & EQ out it had no character like the previous two. And in the short time I played with it, the comp & EQ didn't add anything exceptional. Overall, it sounded no better than a Mackie Pre.
Last, I listened to a Presonus Eureka and my immediate impression after listening to the others was "NO!" It just sounded cheap.
Bottom line is if I were buying, I'd like to have BOTH the UA 610 and the Millennia HV3C. And if I had to pick one of those, I'd probably go with the UA 610 because I do mostly rock music and it sounds like it'd serve well on clean vox and I could probably squash some electric guitars and drums with it.
Now, I've always been skeptical when it comes to pre's, but this is the first time I did a side by side comparison. I just wonder if my impressions would have been the same if I had listened to them in a different order? I didn't buy anything either.
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