Old School Audio help..atlas?

  • Thread starter Thread starter John Mayes
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John Mayes

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I'm really intersted in the OSA pre's. the reviews I read on your site are very complmentary. I was wondering which of the three flavors do you think would work the best for Vocals, and which the best for Acoustic guitar in your opnion. thanks!
 
John Mayes said:
I'm really intersted in the OSA pre's. the reviews I read on your site are very complmentary. I was wondering which of the three flavors do you think would work the best for Vocals, and which the best for Acoustic guitar in your opnion. thanks!
Click to expand...


Hi John,

It's quite subjective. All three have a lot of headroom, and the same amount of gain (65 db). I think you are thinking in the right direction though for having two distinct flavors, one for vocals, and one for your acoustic. That's going to allow you to get seperation in the mix between the tracks much easier, and keeps the tracks from stepping all over each other. I'm really into coloration and character personally, although if you like very clean sounds the MP1-A is a viable option. Maybe one MP1-C and one MP1-L would be a great combination? It seems to be the most popular choice from the line, although all three are going to be quality. Either way, best of luck to you.

Nathan Eldred
atlasproaudio.com
 
Thanks

I was curious as well..Right now is the best time for me to buy being that my Canadian peso is on the rise...
 
Re: Re: Old School Audio help..atlas?

atlas said:
Hi John,

It's quite subjective. All three have a lot of headroom, and the same amount of gain (65 db). I think you are thinking in the right direction though for having two distinct flavors, one for vocals, and one for your acoustic. That's going to allow you to get seperation in the mix between the tracks much easier, and keeps the tracks from stepping all over each other. I'm really into coloration and character personally, although if you like very clean sounds the MP1-A is a viable option. Maybe one MP1-C and one MP1-L would be a great combination? It seems to be the most popular choice from the line, although all three are going to be quality. Either way, best of luck to you.

Nathan Eldred
atlasproaudio.com
Click to expand...


Yeah I have 8 clean Pre's on my units right now So I'm for sure looking for Coloration. Thanks for the advice. I especially like the ability to purchase one or two modules at a time and slowly build them up..at Unerd $500 a channel for top notch stuff that is dirt cheap. How would you compare the Avalon M5 to these pre's? I know they are probably much differnt animals but entertain me.
 
cool deal. How long is the wait for the OSA power rack? the 11 module one.
 
Just thought I'd butt-in here.
Aren't the OSA pre's supposed to be a knock-off of the API 312's?

I'm not at all knocking your stuff atlas, I lust around on your site all the time, and as soon as the studio construction is complete, I'm going shopping at Atlas, but If I were going to lay down 500 bucks an a mic pre that was a knock-off of the API 312, I'd go here, and get one of these:

http://www.brentaverill.com/api_pre/ (scroll down on the link)
 
Well let me put it like this:

As the Great River XNV is to Neve, is the OSA MP1-X is to API.
 
Michael Jones said:
Just thought I'd butt-in here.
Aren't the OSA pre's supposed to be a knock-off of the API 312's?

I'm not at all knocking your stuff atlas, I lust around on your site all the time, and as soon as the studio construction is complete, I'm going shopping at Atlas, but If I were going to lay down 500 bucks an a mic pre that was a knock-off of the API 312, I'd go here, and get one of these:
Click to expand...

I'm happy to clarify about the OSA line, because I definitely don't want any misinformation or confusion to happen. First off let me say that Brent makes great stuff and I respect him a lot. I own a pair of Brent Averill 312's and a pair of his 1272's, among a lot of other stuff in the rack. The OSA's are not a direct knock off of 312's, as they have differentiated themselves both sonically with the introduction of two additional preamps in addition to their "312" recreation. If you see OSA's that have original 2520 opamps in them, or only have one gain knob, these are very old models and are no longer made. OSA has added an input and output to the preamp for more sonic control, similar to the way a 1073 or Great River NV operates.

The one you are speaking of that sounds similar to the 312 is the MP1-C, which has a Crimson brand input transformer. It's a tiny bit smoother than Brent's 312 also, which can tend to sound a little "hard" to digital, and I find that I often have to couple it with a FATSO to really make it work to my personal tastes...not so with the OSA MP1-C. The OSA's actually have more headroom than Brent's models however. The OSA is not easy to clip the input. The input headroom is at 32db!! The other two preamps in the OSA line are the MP1-A and the MP1-L, which use an Altran and Lundahl transformer respectively, on the input. They sound nothing like a 312. The "A" model is very transparent, with what sounds like a accentuated rise above 8000 cycles. This is the model you hear being used on the Cheryl Crow vocals in the last few years. The "L" model is the most recent addition, and it sounds very unique compared to most anything else I've heard. In a way I hear similarities to some 1073's I've heard, but a cleaner midrange, and it seems to be more extended in the low end. It's my favorite of the 3 on vocals, but interestingly the C sounds quite good for heavier music. Hope that answered your question, good luck!

Nathan Eldred
atlasproaudio.com
 
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Thanks for the information Nathan.
I appreciate it. I feel much more educated about OSA now.

I do like the idea of having an input and output gain control. Is the input gain control "indented" with stops at gain levels, or is it free turning?
(Sorry, I'm not sure what the corect nomenclature for that is.)
 
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