pre amps revisited

[foreverain4]

foreverain4, your address is shown as Fort Wayne, so you should be able to just go over to the Sweetwater show room and try out a pile of preamps. Just leave your credit cards at home!

i have purchased stuff from sweetwater. they dont carry any millennia media product. i also see they dont carry mindprint either. i guess i dont want to limit my search to just what one retailer carries. i will probably go there to check out an avalon..

 

[chris-from-ky]

the purpose of this preamp would be more for criticle acoutic type recording. would be used for drum overheads, vocals, acoustic guitar, any type of acoustic instrument really. perhaps even electric guitar. not really going for really heavy stuff. i seen the mindprint DTC mentioned above. anyone have any real life expirience with it?

Pendulum has a dual channel mic pre that I've read is quite nice. I asked Fletcher about it once and if I recall correctly, his was a glowing recommendation. (As glowing as Fletcher gets when discussing pre's. You know he's the type of person who promotes having an arsenal of different but, good pres's and when the quality is on the level of the pendulum, he hasn't ever really put one over another - that I've read.) If I had that kind of money and only wanted two pre's, I'd go for the great river MP2-NV or the Pendulum.

 

[foreverain4]

If I had that kind of money and only wanted two pre's, I'd go for the great river MP2-NV or the Pendulum.

who said anything about having that kind of money? lol

 

[Soundmind??]

I have a Mindprint DTC as well as 2 Avalon 737sp. I'm very pleased with both of them. I have a warranty issue with Avalon. Bought it in July and they tell me the 1 year warranty runs out in February, quite a short year. They base the term on the manufacture date, not the purchase date (first for me). Haven't had any trouble with them, but for such high priced gear, you'd think they would stand behind their product. I read so many glowing reviews about their service and quality...I just hope the quality part is true.

Anyhow, they are both very quiet and have excellent EQ and compressors. Avalon can really be warm and sexy with tweaking the controls the right way. I've used them both on accoustic guitar, flute, bass, vocals, etc and they both do quite well. The DTC gives you two matched channels for the price of one Avalon. With $3000, you should be able to get two avalons or one DTC and one Avalon. Either way I think you will be pleased. If you go with Avalon, be sure to order them as a matched pair (serial #s will be sequential). If you talk with Avalon, ask them what the deal is with their warranty policy.

Good luck with your purchase.

 

[Soundmind??]

Forgot to mention, the Mindprint DTC has a pretty good A/D converter option. I've actually ran the Avalons to the line in on the DTC just to use its converter.

 

[Richard Monroe]

I use an Avalon AD2022, and if you want accurate and clean, it rocks. For clean with just a hint of very cool color,I like Pendulum MDP-1. The Avalon produces beaucoup clean gain, and the Pendulum sounds good. You can't go wrong in that price range with either one of those pres. I really don't like Avalon's 737 all that much. For tubes, I prefer the Pendulum. I've never gotten to use Manley, Great River, D.W. Fearn, or John Hardy (but I'll be willing to fully check out yours anytime). At that price point, none of them suck, I bet. They are all just like Christian Dior dresses. Oh, what shall I wear for the Grammys? Though I'm not as fond of the 737 as some, I do like Avalon's solid state stuff, AD2022, M-5, and U-5. The AD2022 is a good starting place if you only get one killer preamp, because it is so clean, so unforgiving. It's the only real high end pre I own, but I'm hoping to add the Pendulum soon, to have a good tube preamp. The Pendulum doesn't produce that much gain, I think 40-something db, and trim may add a little more.I'm not sure it would do well with ribbon mics. You can crank the AD2022 to +62db, add +2db more with trim, have no audible noise floor, and 32db of headroom with the needles pegged! What's not to love? You have to be stupid to clip the damn thing. It is also an absolutely *kickass* bass DI (two of them). One thing I'm sure of. Any channel as good as what you are talking about is worth getting two of. You speak of acoustic guitar- stereo good. Don't even look at one channel preamps for that application. Stereo good.-Richie