To Grace 101 Owners:

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A1A2

A1A2

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I can't find some details of this unit online and I was hoping some of you can answer a few questions for me

1) Is the front silver plate metal or plastic? I remember seeing a used one on eBay before, and it looked plastic. If plastic, does it wear out like most of the toys do? (I'm not trying to insult here)

2) How many inputs/outputs are there totoal (including headphone out and etc) For example, does it have 2 outs for routing purposes?

3) Is the 1/4 input sturdy? I imagine after plugging/unplugging a guitar cable with such a small box can get harmful eventually, especially when it's plugged and the guitar cable is just hanging on to the input jack. I can also see it lose its balance and fall of the table if it was on the edge.

3) What do you track with it most of the time if it's not your only pre?

thanks in advance

Albert
 
I don't own one, but I've used one pretty extensively for about a two-week period last year. Yes, I believe it was all metal. And yes, it was very sturdy. It's a very elegantly (and eloquently) built piece of machinery. Definitely not cheap junk by any stretch. :D I used it on some critical tracks for a client's project. Mostly vocals and accoustic guitar overdubs. Performed rather well, from what I recall. I currently use the Sytek MXP4A as my main mic pres, and there are definitely some similarities. Steve Langer descibes the 101 pretty well. I'd check his review at Mojo Pie. He pretty much nails it.
 
Sorry . . . I forgot . . .

If memory serves, the instrument/DI input was on the front (1/4" ), and I believe there's an XLR input and and XLR output. And there's also a 1/4" output. Be forewarned, though, it uses a wallwart.
 
Solid unit...Acoustic guitar, overheads ect.
as for the wallwart thing..it never mattered to me




Don
 
chessrock said:
Steve Langer descibes the 101 pretty well. I'd check his review at Mojo Pie. He pretty much nails it.
Click to expand...

I was just reading his review this morning, thanks for confirming his opinions, chess. So, The xlr out is seperate from the 1/4, correct? meaning, I can route one out to the mixer for monitoring and another directly to the soundcard.

with your personal taste, what single mic pre would you also consider besides grace? GR?

yeah, wallwart doesn't bother me too much, also.

thx

Al
 
A1A2 said:
The xlr out is seperate from the 1/4, correct? meaning, I can route one out to the mixer for monitoring and another directly to the soundcard.
Click to expand...

Good question. I've never tried it, so sorry I can't say for sure.

with your personal taste, what single mic pre would you also consider besides grace? GR?
Click to expand...


Considering my personal taste, as you put it, I'd probably look for something a little more fun. The Syteks are pretty clean and ho-hum (but in a good way, mind you). :D If I had my choice, I might want another tube pre like the A-Designs or a VMP2 (if I could find one). Maybe a Great River MP1-NV (I've never had a chance to work with one but I'd love to try it out). If I wanted another clean channel and had the funds, I'd probably have to say the John Hardy would top the list. There really does seem to be something about it that's sort of a cut above. Hard to describe, though.
 
A1A2 said:
I was just reading his review this morning, thanks for confirming his opinions, chess. So, The xlr out is seperate from the 1/4, correct? meaning, I can route one out to the mixer for monitoring and another directly to the soundcard.

with your personal taste, what single mic pre would you also consider besides grace? GR?

yeah, wallwart doesn't bother me too much, also.

thx

Al
Click to expand...

Another option might be to bypass the Grace 101 and move on to the Millenia TD-1, which is a project studio enthusiast's dream. http://www.mil-media.com/docs/products/td1.shtml

It's got twin topologies so you can switch between a FET channel and a tube channel.

I think the Great River ME-1NV is a good call as far as a contrasting color to the Grace 101.

Steve
www.mojopie.com
 
I've got the Grace 101's and the Great River..They are very different..Grace is clean the Great River is "thicker" sounding{love the DI}..On the Grace I belive the separate outs are useable{as you asked}I've never had cause to use the 1/4{unbalanced I think} out myself..The Great River is more versitile IMHO..Either way you will not be buying a dog..Good luck




Don
 
ozraves said:
Another option might be to bypass the Grace 101 and move on to the Millenia TD-1, which is a project studio enthusiast's dream. http://www.mil-media.com/docs/products/td1.shtml

It's got twin topologies so you can switch between a FET channel and a tube channel.

I think the Great River ME-1NV is a good call as far as a contrasting color to the Grace 101.

Steve
www.mojopie.com
Click to expand...

Hey, I was just reading the product info, and from the first paragraph, it seems that this is not a preamp, but rather a direct box... But, for a limited time, it comes with the HV-3, which in combo with the TD1 makes a great pre ... just looking at their price list, it seems like the HV-3 is $2000... and the TD1 is like $1300... so, are they giving away over three grand worth of stuff for just under $1500????? That seems too good to be true ??
 
I got teh Grace 101.
A1A2 said:
I can't find some details of this unit online and I was hoping some of you can answer a few questions for me

1) Is the front silver plate metal or plastic? I remember seeing a used one on eBay before, and it looked plastic. If plastic, does it wear out like most of the toys do? (I'm not trying to insult here)

>>I think its plastic

2) How many inputs/outputs are there totoal (including headphone out and etc) For example, does it have 2 outs for routing purposes?

>>Yes XLR out, and 1/4" out I think its unbalanced.

3) Is the 1/4 input sturdy? I imagine after plugging/unplugging a guitar cable with such a small box can get harmful eventually, especially when it's plugged and the guitar cable is just hanging on to the input jack. I can also see it lose its balance and fall of the table if it was on the edge.

>> it seems sturdy enough, though abuse can break anything.

3) What do you track with it most of the time if it's not your only pre?

thanks in advance

Albert
Click to expand...

I use it for getting a clean capture: as in clean / clarity/ focused.
It is definately transparent. Great for bringing out the smoothness of dynamic mics, I love it on a 421, e609, ev408.
I don't personally use it for vox, but it should be usable depending on what type of vox/tunage..YMMV I mainly use it for percussion, acoustic, etc that needs to get through on the mix.
The Di is ........ok for some things, prolly not bass.

Getting the Grace and GR would make a good team. That is my goal, well if my finances would catch up LOL..

Tony
 
Henri Devill said:
On the Grace I belive the separate outs are useable{as you asked}I've never had cause to use the 1/4{unbalanced I think} out myself..The Great River is more versitile IMHO..Either way you will not be buying a dog..Good luck

Don
Click to expand...

So, there are 3 outs in total, 1 xlr, 1 1/4 and a headphone out, correct?

the 1/4 unbalanced out sounds like a fairly good monitoring option.

Al
 
No can outs..
the 1/4 is good for monitoring. I put into a mixer for cue mix.


A1A2 said:
So, there are 3 outs in total, 1 xlr, 1 1/4 and a headphone out, correct?

the 1/4 unbalanced out sounds like a fairly good monitoring option.

Al
Click to expand...
 
SmattyG said:
Hey, I was just reading the product info, and from the first paragraph, it seems that this is not a preamp, but rather a direct box... But, for a limited time, it comes with the HV-3, which in combo with the TD1 makes a great pre ... just looking at their price list, it seems like the HV-3 is $2000... and the TD1 is like $1300... so, are they giving away over three grand worth of stuff for just under $1500????? That seems too good to be true ??
Click to expand...

Well, I've got a TD-1 sitting here. The mic pre is an option on the TD-1. You' don't get a separate HV-3 box but you get the mic pre circuit put in the TD-1 box to add more functionality.

With the mic pre option, it's a mic pre and DI with separate tube and FET circuits. It's got a very nice EQ. It's got a speaker soak and a Reamp.

So far, I've liked it a lot. The DI is the best I've ever used for guitar or bass.

The mic pre is relatively clean in the tube or FET circuit. I need to check out the mic pre part of it some more but it looks like this is a great product.

Steve
www.mojopie.com
 
Re: Re: To Grace 101 Owners:

Tonio said:
I got teh Grace 101.


I use it for getting a clean capture: as in clean / clarity/ focused.
It is definately transparent. Great for bringing out the smoothness of dynamic mics, I love it on a 421, e609, ev408.
I don't personally use it for vox, but it should be usable depending on what type of vox/tunage..YMMV I mainly use it for percussion, acoustic, etc that needs to get through on the mix.
The Di is ........ok for some things, prolly not bass.

Getting the Grace and GR would make a good team. That is my goal, well if my finances would catch up LOL..

Tony
Click to expand...

I agree on the vox thing{I've gotten good results with a AT4060 but it could have been better}..also on heavier elect. guitars its a little too "clean"..They end up being a little too"harsh"IMHO..The DI is good for some synths..like thick string pads that would tend to get a little mushy with something with a little more "color"
The Great River does everything the Grace dosen't do well and vice versa

Don
 
ozraves,

A friend of mine recently purchased the Millennia TD-1 with preamp for bass DI and it had problems that made it virtually unusable. So he took it back and had them get another for him, which had exactly the same issues.

The problem was that there were pops every time he changed a setting on the front panel. Both units did this, and the pops were LOUD. Changing impedance made a pop so loud it would take your head off. Unfortunately, there's no way to mute the output or dial down the output volume, so using the TD-1 in a live setting would mean asking the sound guy at the board to turn you down every time you want to change a setting. Obviously, that is unworkable.

The TD-1 sounded very nice, but the pops made it unusable. My friend's salesman called Millenia about it, and they were aware of the pops but said the popping was "normal". Needless to say, my friend has scratched the TD-1 off his list. He *really loved* the tone but simply couldn't use it because of the pops.

Also, the 1/4" input jack was so tight he had trouble sliding a cable in. Apparently, this is also a design choice. According to Millennia this is to keep the cable from inadvertantly slipping out on stage. A nice concept, but on the unit that I saw, it was virtually impossible to get a monster cable jack in there. I tried and it took a great deal of brute strength to force it in.

I know my bass player friend would be interested to know if you are hearing pops whenever you change any setting on the TD-1. This is not to diss the unit, because it does sound nice and has features for days, but these issues were very real on the unit I heard and another as well. Thanks.
 
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