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Post by gouge on Mar 3, 2015 22:01:12 GMT -6
finally finished my 3rd diy preamp recently and slotted it into the rack. always hold my breath but fortunately great build instructions have once again resulted in sweet tones and no smoke.
currently looking to the next project.
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Post by mulmany on Mar 3, 2015 22:26:09 GMT -6
Let us know what you think. Interested in these for ribbons and clean and natural styles.
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Post by gouge on Mar 3, 2015 22:38:42 GMT -6
I rate the lola very very highly.
it's probably my favourite preamp with ribbon mics. it has become my first choice for room mics as well. I've had one for about a year and use it constantly so this one gets me a stereo pair. for whatever reason it kills on orange amps.
to me it's an impressive preamp. if I could only have one preamp it would be the lola. there seems to be a lot of depth to it. I've not seen a freq curve but comparing it to other preamps I have I'd say it has a very true and flat response. it has plenty of extension and the mids are not overly hyped.
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Post by tonycamphd on Mar 3, 2015 22:56:55 GMT -6
i've got one here that winetree lent me to try out, i'm going to use it with my samar ribbon mic in a M/S array with Jk's mic tomorrow before i sadly pack it up for a thursday shipping to Nashville, the MKU47 is unreal imo. gouge the lola is a fully differential design, how quiet does it strike you? have you turned it up all the way just to see what is? |
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Post by gouge on Mar 3, 2015 23:36:54 GMT -6
I'll run with dead quiet. You'll hear ambient noise before self noise.
I'll double check on Friday tho cause am back in the studio then.
Advice would be use the output attenuator lightly at first to hear it open and true. As you attenuate it removes top end and compresses the signal.
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Post by gouge on Mar 4, 2015 2:44:16 GMT -6
Out of interest and off topic next up will most likely be the la-500a.
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Post by gouge on Mar 7, 2015 2:56:13 GMT -6
tonycamphd. I did the full gain test. Bear in mind all my preamps are half normalled to the console. Lola, ma-5 and daking all got noise at the last notch. Vp28 with full pre and full fader had noise but compared to others it was clear winner.
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Post by tonycamphd on Mar 7, 2015 11:22:02 GMT -6
tonycamphd. I did the full gain test. Bear in mind all my preamps are half normalled to the console. Lola, ma-5 and daking all got noise at the last notch. Vp28 with full pre and full fader had noise but compared to others it was clear winner. this is amazing! i would've expected the fully differential to walk away with this? i will verify this over the weekend(- the daking), i plan on some M/S recording on acoustic gtar. C12/samar ribbon. |
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Post by gouge on Mar 7, 2015 18:34:46 GMT -6
yeah, I was knocked over by this outcome. I would have thought the lola would wipe the floor as well.
while not a scientific test it was very real world. I have 2 of each preamp and both pair sounded the same. they are spread across 2 different lunch boxes etc. it's not a slight on the lola though because it's on par with the ma-5 which is stunning and reality is all preamps had noise at max gain.
but I am very surprised the vp28 was clearly quieter. kudos to jsteiger ....would love to hear your comments as a comparison. maybe it's my lola's only???
in use though I've never had noise issues from any of those preamps while recording. even with quiet ribbon mics I'm usually a notch or 2 below full gain.
just realised I didn't add the sytek into the test. will do that next as well.
also, there was an audible difference between the 500 series daking and the mic pre one. the mic pre one was just a notch below the vp28 where as the dak 500 was the worst at max gain. |
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Post by tonycamphd on Mar 7, 2015 20:27:11 GMT -6
yeah, I was knocked over by this outcome. I would have thought the lola would wipe the floor as well.
while not a scientific test it was very real world. I have 2 of each preamp and both pair sounded the same. they are spread across 2 different lunch boxes etc. it's not a slight on the lola though because it's on par with the ma-5 which is stunning and reality is all preamps had noise at max gain.
but I am very surprised the vp28 was clearly quieter. kudos to jsteiger ....would love to hear your comments as a comparison. maybe it's my lola's only???
in use though I've never had noise issues from any of those preamps while recording. even with quiet ribbon mics I'm usually a notch or 2 below full gain.
just realised I didn't add the sytek into the test. will do that next as well.
also, there was an audible difference between the 500 series daking and the mic pre one. the mic pre one was just a notch below the vp28 where as the dak 500 was the worst at max gain. wow, cool, keep us posted on what you find out sytek, that MA5 is on the short list! i'm planning on doing that M/S stuff tomorrow, i'll let you know and maybe post a clip. As far as J Steiger, yeah he's one of those very rare guys who has great ears and electronics design creativity and chops, it kinda blows my mind that his thing isn't completely off the charts by now?? maybe the new FC526 will get him the recognition he deserves. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2015 20:32:21 GMT -6
I do like the MP1's
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Post by gouge on Mar 8, 2015 2:40:53 GMT -6
yes me too. it was my first love. I'd struggle to go without it as well.
just imagine all of those sonic youth albums that wouldn't sound so good if the daking gear wasn't built.
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Post by gouge on Mar 10, 2015 16:05:05 GMT -6
as far as lowest noise goes.......
the winner is................................................................
sytek.
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Post by gouge on Mar 12, 2015 20:27:23 GMT -6
yeah, I was knocked over by this outcome. I would have thought the lola would wipe the floor as well.
while not a scientific test it was very real world. I have 2 of each preamp and both pair sounded the same. they are spread across 2 different lunch boxes etc. it's not a slight on the lola though because it's on par with the ma-5 which is stunning and reality is all preamps had noise at max gain.
but I am very surprised the vp28 was clearly quieter. kudos to jsteiger ....would love to hear your comments as a comparison. maybe it's my lola's only???
in use though I've never had noise issues from any of those preamps while recording. even with quiet ribbon mics I'm usually a notch or 2 below full gain.
just realised I didn't add the sytek into the test. will do that next as well.
also, there was an audible difference between the 500 series daking and the mic pre one. the mic pre one was just a notch below the vp28 where as the dak 500 was the worst at max gain. wow, cool, keep us posted on what you find out sytek, that MA5 is on the short list! i'm planning on doing that M/S stuff tomorrow, i'll let you know and maybe post a clip. As far as J Steiger, yeah he's one of those very rare guys who has great ears and electronics design creativity and chops, it kinda blows my mind that his thing isn't completely off the charts by now?? maybe the new FC526 will get him the recognition he deserves. how did you go? what's your thoughts?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2015 21:10:07 GMT -6
How would describe the difference in sound between sytek and daking?
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Post by tonycamphd on Mar 16, 2015 22:32:16 GMT -6
wow, cool, keep us posted on what you find out sytek, that MA5 is on the short list! i'm planning on doing that M/S stuff tomorrow, i'll let you know and maybe post a clip. As far as J Steiger, yeah he's one of those very rare guys who has great ears and electronics design creativity and chops, it kinda blows my mind that his thing isn't completely off the charts by now?? maybe the new FC526 will get him the recognition he deserves. how did you go? what's your thoughts?
sorry man, i thought i responded to this? hmmm, ya know i DID respond to this, somehow it didn't post? Anyway, i've only used it in a M/S configuration so far, i need to use it straight up, probably not till this weekend... |
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Post by gouge on Mar 17, 2015 4:44:15 GMT -6
How would describe the difference in sound between sytek and daking? Pretty similar really. Daking has more pushed top end and slightly more bottom. I like them both very much. |
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Post by EmRR on Apr 21, 2015 13:35:04 GMT -6
I'll bet that was channel 1 of the Sytek. Channels 3-4 have increasing hum from PSU proximity in every unit I've used. I haven't heard one where 3 or 4 would ever get used for spoken word with an SM7.
CAPI quieter than Lola; I'll bet it's the 'free' gain from the input transformer step up in the CAPI. The amps in the Lola are making more gain for an apples to apples comparison of the two.
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Post by gouge on Apr 22, 2015 3:46:51 GMT -6
I've got the burr browns on channels 3 and 4 which I use on overheads. so they definitely do sound dirtier than channels 1 and 2. I think you are right though. it would have been ch1 on the sytek.
sytek was clearly ahead of all of the others. to be honest though the noise thing is a bit of a red herring I love them all....
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Post by EmRR on Apr 22, 2015 9:00:33 GMT -6
Yep, noise is seldom a problem with most preamps, when it is a problem it usually means it's the wrong mic and preamp combo for the job, practically speaking.
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Post by yotonic on Apr 22, 2015 19:21:32 GMT -6
Hey Doug is here, cool. Welcome. I had a Quad-Eight preamp I bought from you some years ago, it was a cool box I miss it.
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Post by EmRR on Apr 23, 2015 11:23:23 GMT -6
Hey man! There's one of those Q8's on ebay right now with a large markup (cough) and a problem.....it's been awhile.
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Post by gouge on Apr 24, 2015 0:32:19 GMT -6
I've got 1 q8 line amp and 2 electrodyne line amps plus a 4band all discrete q8 eq here that I am supposed to get working as a channel strip and preamps at some point.
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Post by yotonic on Apr 24, 2015 18:39:57 GMT -6
 These are EBay they look good, original AM10 cards but $5000 starting bid seems high. Love the Q8 sound. I've been through a few though and in my experience they were all a little different. If you find one you like don't let it go. |
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Post by EmRR on Apr 24, 2015 20:17:01 GMT -6
$5K....a fishing trip!
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