Tubes upon Tubes upon Tubes upon Solid State?

[devonjdawson]

Hello all! Thanks in advance for your advice––this is my first post on here, so I apologize if I'm posting in the wrong spot.

I have been home-recording music for several years, but on fairly inferior gear (the nicest outboard thing I own is an ART Pro Channel). Recently, I've decided to consolidate my studio and go as mobile as I possibly can. I'll be running an Apogee Duet 2 and would love to have both channels be professional-sounding in terms of signal processing. Thus, I've come to one of the following choices:

• A-Designs Pacifica w/ a high end tube compressor on each channel.
• Universal Audio LA 2610 w/ a high end tube compressor on each channel.
• Something else entirely?

What do you guys think would be the best route to go (am I off-base with any of these options)? I love the warmth of tube driven pres, but is there a such thing as too much tube if I went tube preamp into tube compressor, etc.?

Thank you!

 

[moresound]

You may want to save the compression for after - during the mixing - not during the recording.

 

[devonjdawson]

That's a good tip! I'm using stock Logic plug-ins and I do use compression when mixing, but I also sometimes use the Optical Compressor that's built into the Art Pro Channel I have. I find it helps smooth out electric guitars and vocals a bit, and then I use another compressor plug-in to sort of fine tune when I'm doing the final mix. Is this a mistake? Am I over compressing things?

Essentially, I really love tube-driven warmth when it comes to audio, and while it might be an 'ignorance is bliss thing', I have no complaints with my current ART. Yet I've read such glowing reviews of the A-Designs Pacifica that I'm starting to wonder if that thing, with say a Universal Audio stereo compressor might be sound heaven. I'm also running a Rode valve mic. Would that be too much tube? What do you think?

Thanks for the quick response! I really, really appreciate it. People seem very informed and friendly on this forum, so I'm excited I gave it a shot by asking.

 

[Massive Master]

I'm not trying to side-track the whole "tube" thing (again), but you might take note that nearly every preamp out there known for its 'warmth' is a solid-state unit. Neve, Langevin, Crane Song, Great River, API, John Hardy (I could go on for quite some time), Prism, etc., usually due to their choice of transformers in the unit (which is where most tube preamps get their warmth from also).

Not saying there aren't plenty of fine tube preamps out there -- But if you're looking for "warmth" you very well might not need tubes for it (although tubes will certainly add to the ambient heat in the space, so literal warmth is only a switch or two away).