|
|
Post by thehightenor on Feb 10, 2024 13:39:57 GMT -6
Coils are great, but a little out of your budget for two (and you’ll have to factor in more for their separate phantom power supply). I wouldn’t hesitate to grab the Locomotive Audio pres, they’re amazing too! Yeah, Coil CA-70. Pure sonic joy. That NF control turns it into 10 different pre-amps :-) And you can dial it in like a Fender Champ if you so wish! |
|
|
|
Post by chessparov on Feb 10, 2024 13:46:10 GMT -6
I don't know if Locomotive could work on me.
I'm not fully trained.
Chris
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 16,086 
|
Post by ericn on Feb 10, 2024 14:05:27 GMT -6
I don't know if Locomotive could work on me. I'm not fully trained. Chris Locomotive is the perfect name for a Boutique Audio manufacturer, if the worst happens and it blows black smoke, “ It’s a Locamotive, it’s supposed to do that.”😎 |
|
|
|
Post by nick8801 on Feb 10, 2024 14:22:58 GMT -6
I do like my Useful Arts SFP-60 I was gonna mention this one. It’s excellent. |
|
|
|
Post by Ward on Feb 10, 2024 16:56:47 GMT -6
I don't know if Locomotive could work on me. I'm not fully trained. Chris Sensible. You go off the rails quite easily. |
|
|
|
Post by chessparov on Feb 10, 2024 18:22:20 GMT -6
Must be my Loco Motives...
|
|
|
|
Post by drumsound on Feb 10, 2024 18:42:38 GMT -6
I do like my Useful Arts SFP-60 I finally got to try out/sing through this Pre, with Peter at his Booth. It does sound great. The little Hornet, that's a more realistic purchase (here in the Cheap Seats) would be my first Hardware Pre upgrade. Maybe not quite on the level  of it's Big Useful Arts Brother. Or the other worthy suggestions here. But talk about bang for the $300 Buck!  Chris I haven't heard the Hornet, but I also have the Bass DI, which is also great. A Hornet might be good for you, you have that nice tube BN67... I do like my Useful Arts SFP-60 I was gonna mention this one. It’s excellent. It's a wonderful sound. |
|
|
|
Post by ab101 on Feb 10, 2024 18:49:40 GMT -6
Must be my Loco Motives... Helps making great tracks. Personally, I am hoping for a steam powered locomotive pre. |
|
|
|
Post by chessparov on Feb 10, 2024 19:07:43 GMT -6
Fortune Cookie say...
"Locomotive's Pre's may not walk on water".
"But they can run on steam'.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bat Lanyard on Feb 10, 2024 19:43:09 GMT -6
Tree Audio's Branch is a contender. I have the first gen and it's an incredible tool. The DI is excellent as well.
|
|
|
|
Post by ab101 on Feb 10, 2024 19:52:44 GMT -6
Tree Audio's Branch is a contender. I have the first gen and it's an incredible tool. The DI is excellent as well. Thanks for bringing this up. I wonder if the Vac Rac type limiter is included in those? |
|
|
|
Post by Bat Lanyard on Feb 10, 2024 19:55:50 GMT -6
Tree Audio's Branch is a contender. I have the first gen and it's an incredible tool. The DI is excellent as well. Thanks for bringing this up. I wonder if the Vac Rac type limiter is included in those? That's a question I'm not qualified to answer, ha. But Steve from Tree is a super cool guy and could tell you anything you want to know. I would reach out to him if needed. As for my use the limiter/reduction knob is always at around 10:30. I'm sure the Gen2 is a step up but I've never used one. |
|
|
|
Post by paulcheeba on Feb 10, 2024 20:15:45 GMT -6
AML do a great 2 channel Redd 47. That would be in budget.
|
|
|
|
Post by paulcheeba on Feb 10, 2024 20:24:57 GMT -6
Tree Audio's Branch is a contender. I have the first gen and it's an incredible tool. The DI is excellent as well. I have a pair of mk 2’s and they’re great channel strips. I prefer my Coil’s though. I also love my Thermionic Rooster 2 which is brilliant with eq and saturation. Their clean pre’s are good too. Tubetech MP1’s are 2 channels of beautifully balanced sound if you can find one. |
|
|
|
Post by sean on Feb 10, 2024 21:47:06 GMT -6
AML do a great 2 channel Redd 47. That would be in budget. They do? I’ve never seen an AML tube preamp kit or retail |
|
|
|
Post by Bat Lanyard on Feb 10, 2024 23:45:29 GMT -6
Tree Audio's Branch is a contender. I have the first gen and it's an incredible tool. The DI is excellent as well. I have a pair of mk 2’s and they’re great channel strips. I prefer my Coil’s though. I also love my Thermionic Rooster 2 which is brilliant with eq and saturation. Their clean pre’s are good too. Tubetech MP1’s are 2 channels of beautifully balanced sound if you can find one. Super interesting on the Coils. Which ones? |
|
|
|
Post by Ward on Feb 11, 2024 8:55:33 GMT -6
Must be my Loco Motives... As you traverse the audio landscapes? |
|
|
|
Post by paulcheeba on Feb 11, 2024 9:42:29 GMT -6
I have a pair of mk 2’s and they’re great channel strips. I prefer my Coil’s though. I also love my Thermionic Rooster 2 which is brilliant with eq and saturation. Their clean pre’s are good too. Tubetech MP1’s are 2 channels of beautifully balanced sound if you can find one. Super interesting on the Coils. Which ones? I have a rack of 6 with 4 ca70’s and 2 286’s. Plus the old 2 way ca70. I prefer the ca70’s for sure. |
|
|
|
Post by okcrecording on Feb 11, 2024 10:14:39 GMT -6
I may get flack for this, but I have the Solo 610 and love it for certain sounds. It does get wooly or distorted fairly early. I have put a -10db inline pad on the input and that helped clean up the sound for gentler sources, including vocals.
But, I also have a Peavey/AMR VMP-2 which sounds fantastic. Especially when bypassing the output transformers. Nice clean tube sound.
|
|
|
|
Post by Shadowk on Feb 11, 2024 22:21:34 GMT -6
I may get flack for this, but I have the Solo 610 and love it for certain sounds. It does get wooly or distorted fairly early. I have put a -10db inline pad on the input and that helped clean up the sound for gentler sources, including vocals. But, I also have a Peavey/AMR VMP-2 which sounds fantastic. Especially when bypassing the output transformers. Nice clean tube sound. I've had three 6176's that I've bought, sold, bought again. In most cases a decent amp works with most things no fuss, a tube amp however I've always seen as a problem solving tool, take the 610 for example it's a dark(ish) somewhat saturated low transient response amp. For me that worked well with fast response TLM mic's especially with an upper end boost. It created a sense of unity whereas with a lot of amps I think the KM184 is a weird sounding mic but sounds great with a 610 and the U87AI / 6176 combo is a rock vocal classic.
So, in the right context for me it worked well but you can have too much of a good thing. On darker mic's or dynamics, nah was never a fan. I agree, IMO it did sound wooly & muddy plus on a lot of weaker voices it would just get lost in translation no matter how hard you boosted or cut.
I also had a DBX 676, when compared to some others I thought it was a great sounding vacuum tube channel strip but again within it's own limited application. The 676 is saturated and with a U89 or Shure KSM it brings the "magic", with a tube mic however there's way too much harmonic distortion and with brighter mic's despite the EQ built in I never manged to tame the upper end harshness, the saturation from the amp just made it worse. Also the 162SL comp in it isn't an SSL nor an LA-2A with innate high frequency compression or limiting, it's very clean which I think the point of this strip was to jazz things up via the amp then leave it that way. So again, it had its uses but I wouldn't use it with or on everything.
What really ended any talk of toob amps for me is I/O transformer amp designs like the Shelford, technically speaking this methodology is not as accurate or as clean as an IC input to output Xformer (it's more "vintage") but we're talking about the heavy end of toob here so it really doesn't matter. I've yet to see a scenario where this design doesn't work with every mic in every scenario and not including API here I'm on my second dual Xformer amp purchased via IAA.
|
|
|
|
Post by okcrecording on Feb 11, 2024 23:00:00 GMT -6
I may get flack for this, but I have the Solo 610 and love it for certain sounds. It does get wooly or distorted fairly early. I have put a -10db inline pad on the input and that helped clean up the sound for gentler sources, including vocals. But, I also have a Peavey/AMR VMP-2 which sounds fantastic. Especially when bypassing the output transformers. Nice clean tube sound. I've had three 6176's that I've bought, sold, bought again. In most cases a decent amp works with most things no fuss, a tube amp however I've always seen as a problem solving tool, take the 610 for example it's a dark(ish) somewhat saturated low transient response amp. For me that worked well with fast response TLM mic's especially with an upper end boost. It created a sense of unity whereas with a lot of amps I think the KM184 is a weird sounding mic but sounds great with a 610 and the U87AI / 6176 combo is a rock vocal classic.
So, in the right context for me it worked well but you can have too much of a good thing. On darker mic's or dynamics, nah was never a fan. I agree, IMO it did sound wooly & muddy plus on a lot of weaker voices it would just get lost in translation no matter how hard you boosted or cut.
I also had a DBX 676, when compared to some others I thought it was a great sounding vacuum tube channel strip but again within it's own limited application. The 676 is saturated and with a U89 or Shure KSM it brings the "magic", with a tube mic however there's way too much harmonic distortion and with brighter mic's despite the EQ built in I never manged to tame the upper end harshness, the saturation from the amp just made it worse. Also the 162SL comp in it isn't an SSL nor an LA-2A with innate high frequency compression or limiting, it's very clean which I think the point of this strip was to jazz things up via the amp then leave it that way. So again, it had its uses but I wouldn't use it with or on everything.
What really ended any talk of toob amps for me is I/O transformer amp designs like the Shelford, technically speaking this methodology is not as accurate or as clean as an IC input to output Xformer (it's more "vintage") but we're talking about the heavy end of toob here so it really doesn't matter. I've yet to see a scenario where this design doesn't work with every mic in every scenario and not including API here I'm on my second dual Xformer amp purchased via IAA.
Agree completely with your assessment of the 610. Lately I gravitate towards tube mics into transformer balanced solid state preamps for vocals. Unless I'm going for a softer Norah Jones vibe. But I do mostly rock these days. My VMP-2 on overheads with the Beesneez Lulu's have been really nice. |
|
|
|
Post by bricejchandler on Feb 12, 2024 1:08:43 GMT -6
Tree Audio's Branch is a contender. I have the first gen and it's an incredible tool. The DI is excellent as well. Thanks for bringing this up. I wonder if the Vac Rac type limiter is included in those? It's Vac Racish for sure but it doesn't grab the same way. I love the VAC RAC on vocals, particularly female vocals, it just has the right amount of sheen, a little goes a long way. I find the comp on the Branch is more hit or miss. Can't hit it as hard, it's nice when used subtly, the needling not even moving. I like it on bass, clean electric guitar, some vocals. The Brute is actually more vac racish. |
|
|
|
Post by bricejchandler on Feb 12, 2024 1:17:58 GMT -6
I have a pair of mk 2’s and they’re great channel strips. I prefer my Coil’s though. I also love my Thermionic Rooster 2 which is brilliant with eq and saturation. Their clean pre’s are good too. Tubetech MP1’s are 2 channels of beautifully balanced sound if you can find one. Super interesting on the Coils. Which ones? I'm also rocking Coil preamps and used to own The Branch. I really liked the Branch but ultimately it was a little too clinical for me when compared to the Coils, for the music I produce. The Tree is actually one of the more pristine sounding preamps I've used. The Coils round off the transients and High end just a bit for things to sit better for my music, with less compression, eqing and tape "warmerizers". I can send you files comparing the Coils preamps to the Tree if you're interested. |
|
|
|
Post by nick8801 on Feb 12, 2024 5:01:24 GMT -6
Forgot to mention electric and co as well. Awesome old school Ampex style pres.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bat Lanyard on Feb 12, 2024 18:42:06 GMT -6
Super interesting on the Coils. Which ones? I'm also rocking Coil preamps and used to own The Branch. I really liked the Branch but ultimately it was a little too clinical for me when compared to the Coils, for the music I produce. The Tree is actually one of the more pristine sounding preamps I've used. The Coils round off the transients and High end just a bit for things to sit better for my music, with less compression, eqing and tape "warmerizers". I can send you files comparing the Coils preamps to the Tree if you're interested. That's interesting and I appreciate that, man. I've always been interested in the Coils and (haven't talked to him in years, used to play a ton of shows together and were on the same local label) super cool that my old friend Matt Pence is on their Users page. He did the demos on two of the old tapes I'm looking to transfer (another thread) when he was first getting his setup going in Denton in the 90's. Incredible drummer as well. Anyway, sorry to hijack. I've been selling some stuff lately so I'm thinking those funds will go into some Coils. |
|
of it's Big Useful Arts Brother.
