Picked up a H2 Audio (Helios) 0011 Pair and PS

Didn't you buy a CA-70s for vocals?

Score!

I think so. Thought it was dark.

Actually a J-45…custom shop 59 with ceramic bridge…I sold the Authentic to a friend. It was a beast. He said I can buy it back when I come to my senses. lol. I loved it - sounded better than the 45 - but the nut width on the Gibson is a little smaller, so I was reaching for that all the time. Plus, I wasn’t writing or playing out much or any at all, and we used it to pay for a dead AC. And shockingly in 2023, an heirloom Martin D-28 Authentic with Madagascar Rosewood (arrrgghhh) doesn’t even pay 60% of a new AC.

A good J45 is a beautiful thing. Been hunting for one for a year maybe more. Anyhow this chain sounds like a winner. And yes I listened to the end. I may have to bust that out at Folkways up here in a couple days. They currently have three 30s LOOs in stock. Oof.

Cheers,
Geoff

That's super cool, John. Two of my favorite things, Helios and Ben Folds. I've been spinning his latest in my car for the last week or so. So I'm assuming that I'm hearing your pres all over it.

I read a post by you a while back where you really raved about it and so I thought maybe you’d bought one.

I know you sometimes mention your voice is quite strident in the high mids (I have a very similar issue as a tenor) and so that’s why I bought a CA-70s.

The BAE 1073D is too edgy on me, all solid state pre’s have this issue for my vocals, if I use a tube pre (and tube comp) the transfer characteristics of the tube just politely soften the top end.

The negative feedback can (as you noted) darken the the CA-70 which is a works perfectly for my bright tenor voice and allows me to use a 47 and still get that reedy mid foward tone a 47 has - kinda like a heat shield

Will you use the H2 on your vocals or do you currently favour a different pre-amp for that task?

Yeah - ultimately thought it was kind’ve like other solutions when trying to take the edge off my vocal…no pre can cover up for spikiness in the capsule of the mic. So turn it here and it’s not enough, a little bit more and it’s far too much. Problem wasn’t the pre…more so the mic at the time. I’m sure it would sound great.
I
’m finding I like “straight wire” sounding vocals. A little euphonic on bottom and no signs of hair on top. I haven’t really found a tube pre that does that…and I guess really wasn’t the point of a tube pre anyway. Maybe describing pres as having “more headroom” is the wrong way to define it. But I’m thinking of it like a guitar amp with a master volume. At what number does the input gain start to introduce audible distortion on peaks? Or when does saturation start becoming audible? Also, consistency in the frequency spectrum regardless of dynamics. Does the bottom end stay the same when pushed? Does the top pinch? Maybe this is more the function of the mic, but some pres can get small when pushed.

Considering this is all basically for vocals/hand perc/acoustic instruments and 2 bus…so I want big punchy and clean in all those situations. I’m rarely driving these Pres into distortion. If I was recording electric guitar or drums or keys, that would be more of a thing. So, I’m going for “it’s in the room with me but sounds like the most amazing version of it I’ve ever heard.” There’s something about these that sounds like it gives dimension to me. And it could be the detail in the top end.

As for strident vocals, I’m starting to find a lot of that is resonance. When I go in and add a few instances of Deres (or any notch EQ), things get dramatically better. But maybe some Pres are more susceptible to HF resonances…IDK.
Yes - I’ll use these on everything.

Not so sure. One of the Pres hadn’t even been taken out of the package…and the assistant I picked up from said they were hardly used. Hey - no accounting for taste, right? lol.

It's gone now (I made a copy) but Ben made a Patreon post on the gear he used to record his last album due to the pandemic and it's almost exclusively Warm Mics and Warm comps into an Apollo 8x. Who would have thought?  [added: I don’t think this is 100% correct the more I read into it, because the same post talks about mixing, but Michael Brauer mixed WMM. Maybe it’s his chain for demos?]

(Now truth be told, I don't think it sounds as good as Lonely Avenue, my favorite Ben album for pure sonics, but I know he went all out on that one to correct for how bad Way To Normal sounded after mastering.)

According to a story Ben told in concert in Austin, "What Matters Most" is at least partially about him realizing how much audio gear he'd accumulated and how little of it he really needed 😅 And now John has a couple of Helios pres!

The 1st album is still a miracle to me because, by all accounts, it was recorded live in a living room including live vocals. Songs and performances are all top notch too. . "Underground" was on constant rotation when I was in high school.

Sucks that all these kind of do their own thing. I put the Helios on the 2 bus and I don't think I like it as much as the Heiders. Heiders have such a tight punch. Anybody want to send some money?