|
Post by Tbone81 on Dec 31, 2017 11:34:48 GMT -6
You can get a 4 channel Sebatron for $1000 on eBay, and they sound killer. Drop in some NOS mullards or GE's, like I did, and it's even better. They're kinda under the radar, and I hope they stay that way. Where you see that? Hunt eBay and be patient, I got mine for $1050.
|
|
|
Post by EmRR on Dec 31, 2017 12:11:43 GMT -6
grab yourself an old Ampex 601 and have it modded (can't remember the company) It can be an incredible tube pre on anything, especially bass. There are SO MANY better ways to go than that, and easily for less. That's another of those things that made sense for a dirty noise machine when they were $50, or free. You're better off building from scratch, or paying someone to do so.
|
|
|
Post by Quint on Dec 31, 2017 13:13:30 GMT -6
Hunt eBay and be patient, I got mine for $1050. I got mine for $900 used, though shipping from Australia kicked it up to about $975 total.
|
|
|
Post by wiz on Dec 31, 2017 17:20:10 GMT -6
V76 or V72's. Gorgeous. LaChap is severely underrated and crazy enough I think it's because of the price. For a Female vocal, the LaChap's are butter. For acoustic guitar, V72/76's, BIG smooth round and just the right pinch of Hi's, love them on acoustics. Also, grab yourself an old Ampex 601 and have it modded (can't remember the company) It can be an incredible tube pre on anything, especially bass. I sit in this camp I love my V72 on acoustic, paired with a KM84 its heaven. I also use it on Bass, DI'd in. Its a bit much paired with my U87 on vocals, gets a bit bright. cheers Wiz
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,962
Member is Online
|
Post by ericn on Dec 31, 2017 19:25:12 GMT -6
Have always loved the Demeter, but the Coil sure looks and from what I have heard is very tempting.
|
|
|
Post by jeromemason on Jan 1, 2018 0:30:36 GMT -6
grab yourself an old Ampex 601 and have it modded (can't remember the company) It can be an incredible tube pre on anything, especially bass. There are SO MANY better ways to go than that, and easily for less. That's another of those things that made sense for a dirty noise machine when they were $50, or free. You're better off building from scratch, or paying someone to do so. Shoot, man I've got one here that sounds incredible. It's been totally modded out and it's nothing like it's original state, (agree with you there, they're dirty originally) but I use it on nearly every vocal I overdub and they always sound massive and smooth. This one also has an impedance switch going down to 50 I believe. You put it on there and give it a little juice, just hold on cat daddy. I took it to a session I got tabbed to engineer a couple of years ago, has a DI on it, used it on bass, I still to this day have that session bassist always bring that up every time I see him. Just makes everything beefy if you run the gain up hot. If you go balanced and keep it low gain, like I said its super smooth and massive sounding. I love that damn thing. I have another one here I need to send off to get done but I can't remember the name of the shop that does it off hand, somewhere in TX I think.
|
|
|
Post by winetree on Jan 1, 2018 0:50:23 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by bluegrassdan on Jan 1, 2018 0:51:19 GMT -6
bluegrassdan , where does your pre fall soundwise amongst some of the more popular goto tube pres out there? I can say that we have an ADL 600, and it always seemed to have a harshness about the top end. Can't put my finger on it. By comparison, my preamp is much better on the noise specs than our ADL by a long shot. There are so many great preamps out there and I'm impressed by Coil, Locomotive, Tree, etc., though I haven't used them. Such great builders with good artistic/musical choices behind their decisions! I set about building a tube preamp that would sound like a finished record. The nice thing about tube pres is their dynamic handling of transients can be far more musical sounding than a fast preamp that you'll end up having to run through a compressor/limiter. It makes for smoother sounding higher frequencies too. Anyway, mine sounds like this. No compression or EQ whatsoever on any tracks.
|
|
|
Post by Johnkenn on Jan 1, 2018 8:50:00 GMT -6
Are those ELECTRIC instruments?? Sounds awesome!
|
|
|
Post by Johnkenn on Jan 1, 2018 8:55:11 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by mikec on Jan 1, 2018 9:01:01 GMT -6
I've been real happy with my Redd47s and Retro Powerstrips. I can't imagine, for my needs, needing anything more in a tube mic pre. Although, I guess you can never have too many flavors of mic pre amps.
|
|
|
Post by Coil Audio on Jan 1, 2018 10:27:42 GMT -6
Check out the Tree Audio channel strip. It sounds incredible without imposing a "toob" stamp over the sounds. LOL
|
|
|
Post by EmRR on Jan 1, 2018 17:47:20 GMT -6
Check out the Tree Audio channel strip. It sounds incredible without imposing a "toob" stamp over the sounds. I really don't know what you mean. As opposed to a "SS" stamp? Or what? The transformers are usually the bigger part of anything, once you get past 1:1 stuff, and even then they can be significant.
|
|
|
Post by stormymondays on Jan 1, 2018 18:04:35 GMT -6
Check out the Tree Audio channel strip. It sounds incredible without imposing a "toob" stamp over the sounds. I really don't know what you mean. As opposed to a "SS" stamp? Or what? The transformers are usually the bigger part of anything, once you get past 1:1 stuff, and even then they can be significant. Some tube gear is very colored, or purposely designed to be very colored, vintage, etc. Tree Audio gear is not. That's what I meant.
|
|
|
Post by drsax on Jan 1, 2018 18:16:14 GMT -6
I really don't know what you mean. As opposed to a "SS" stamp? Or what? The transformers are usually the bigger part of anything, once you get past 1:1 stuff, and even then they can be significant. Some tube gear is very colored, or purposely designed to be very colored, vintage, etc. Tree Audio gear is not. That's what I meant. I’ve heard good things about the Tree Audio line, but I’m definitely looking at colored tube options for mic pres. The Coil CA-70 is looking pretty tempting right now. Also eyeballing some v72’s
|
|
|
Post by EmRR on Jan 1, 2018 18:18:41 GMT -6
I really don't know what you mean. As opposed to a "SS" stamp? Or what? The transformers are usually the bigger part of anything, once you get past 1:1 stuff, and even then they can be significant. Some tube gear is very colored, or purposely designed to be very colored, vintage, etc. Tree Audio gear is not. That's what I meant. Like I said, in many cases it's mainly the transformer color you are hearing over the circuit, if you gotta pick an offender/savior. Not all cases, of course. The thing is being clear about what you want out of tubes, that's different from SS, or any other thing. For example, I could build Hardy M1's out of UTC's or Carnhills, and they aren't gonna sound anything like an M1.
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 2, 2018 1:40:13 GMT -6
It has been a busy tube-mic-pre buying month for me and I've got a Professor Dan's DB Pre, a Fearn VT-24, and a QES Labs SMP-2 on order. That should be a good complement for a shootout of some of these top notch tube preamps.
EDIT: A shootout might be too strong of a term but I'll have some session experience with them in the next couple months and can share my thoughts on the different units. The QES and Fearn are all in the "clean" and sparkle-y musical tube category with the exception of Dan's which I can't classify yet....but from everything I've hear, it sounds like a record!
|
|
|
Post by Coil Audio on Jan 2, 2018 11:58:07 GMT -6
It has been a busy tube-mic-pre buying month for me and I've got a Professor Dan's DB Pre, a Fearn VT-24, and a QES Labs SMP-2 on order. That should be a good complement for a shootout of some of these top notch tube preamps. EDIT: A shootout might be too strong of a term but I'll have some session experience with them in the next couple months and can share my thoughts on the different units. The QES and Fearn are all in the "clean" and sparkle-y musical tube category with the exception of Dan's which I can't classify yet....but from everything I've hear, it sounds like a record! I would Love to see how the CA-70 fares against the VT-24 and SMP-2. If we could get you a demo unit would you post the findings?
|
|
|
Post by indiehouse on Jan 2, 2018 12:08:05 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by Johnkenn on Jan 2, 2018 13:18:24 GMT -6
I think $1599 ish range?
|
|
|
Post by stormymondays on Jan 2, 2018 15:30:56 GMT -6
I set about building a tube preamp that would sound like a finished record. The nice thing about tube pres is their dynamic handling of transients can be far more musical sounding than a fast preamp that you'll end up having to run through a compressor/limiter. It makes for smoother sounding higher frequencies too. Anyway, mine sounds like this. No compression or EQ whatsoever on any tracks. Man, this sounds unbelievable!!! I wish I had the funds (and rackspace!)
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jan 2, 2018 15:51:26 GMT -6
It has been a busy tube-mic-pre buying month for me and I've got a Professor Dan's DB Pre, a Fearn VT-24, and a QES Labs SMP-2 on order. That should be a good complement for a shootout of some of these top notch tube preamps. EDIT: A shootout might be too strong of a term but I'll have some session experience with them in the next couple months and can share my thoughts on the different units. The QES and Fearn are all in the "clean" and sparkle-y musical tube category with the exception of Dan's which I can't classify yet....but from everything I've hear, it sounds like a record! I would Love to see how the CA-70 fares against the VT-24 and SMP-2. If we could get you a demo unit would you post the findings? Absolutely! Keith
|
|
|
Post by wiz on Jan 2, 2018 16:12:19 GMT -6
I set about building a tube preamp that would sound like a finished record. The nice thing about tube pres is their dynamic handling of transients can be far more musical sounding than a fast preamp that you'll end up having to run through a compressor/limiter. It makes for smoother sounding higher frequencies too. Anyway, mine sounds like this. No compression or EQ whatsoever on any tracks. Man, this sounds unbelievable!!! I wish I had the funds (and rackspace!) Agreed, but think of the money you will save on comps and EQs 8) cheers Wiz
|
|
|
Post by Johnkenn on Jan 3, 2018 8:16:07 GMT -6
Man, this sounds unbelievable!!! I wish I had the funds (and rackspace!) Agreed, but think of the money you will save on comps and EQs 8) cheers Wiz Is that how I should sell it to the wife?
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 14,962
Member is Online
|
Post by ericn on Jan 3, 2018 8:48:53 GMT -6
Agreed, but think of the money you will save on comps and EQs 8) cheers Wiz Is that how I should sell it to the wife? Good luck with that!
|
|