I'd skip the cheap tube stuff. You want a real tube sound in a decent mic pre and with great value? Groove Tubes Brick.

whut he said ...

The VTB-1 in my opinion, sounds better than the pres in many porta studio thingies ... but not as good as a simple Mackie vlz pre ....

The Studio Projects SP-828 pre looks like a good solution for those on a budget ... as the price is very much in line with what it seems it should be ... $75 per channel .. If the Sytek 4 channel pres sold at $300, I would be recommending them all the time ... for what they are at the price point.

I dislike the marketing approach of charging top dolllar, in order to make a product seem it is better than it is ... which is what I think manufacturers like PreSonus, Sytek and Focusrite (platinum series) are doing.

It just seems a bit like they are taking advantage of a segment of consumers who are not yet sophisticated enough to realize that they are being taken to the cleaners. That's why I often advise people to just get a small Mackie mixer for the pres ...

Not sure what you mean by:

wanted to take advantage of tube

but there are a lot of products that take advantage of tube by shoving one in their preamp as an effect. Don't worry much about these. If you can swing $400, the Brick is a real tube pre that will most likely kill your board pres. Nothing fancy, just good decent tone.

Dude, you kill me with your going back and forth with all these pres. :lol:

I know I have boinced all over....I finally got the brick. Here was/is my dilemma the whole time. I recently got laid off from my day job, and have been getting by with unemployment and recording money. I have enough money in the bank to buy Seb, API, or whatever my heart desires, but it would leave me up a creek. So I did the smart thing and left the money in my bank.

I figure that if I can make my consumer gear sound as close to pro as possible by using my ears and making good mic placement choices....then I'll get the most out of great gear when I can afford it. There isn't a pre in the world that will make my recordings sound like I'm good at what I do.

Arthur,
IMO you did the right thing ... and I think you did well choosing the Brick. I consider it more "pro" than "consumer".

It's not what it costs, it's how it's designed and built. The Brick is class A ,transformer balanced, discreet with a very adaquate power supply to run it on. All marks of a very pro piece. The fact you got it for $325 is irrelavent.

Kurt Foster wrote: whut he said ...

The VTB-1 in my opinion, sounds better than the pres in many porta studio thingies ... but not as good as a simple Mackie vlz pre ....

The Studio Projects SP-828 pre looks like a good solution for those on a budget ... as the price is very much in line with what it seems it should be ... $75 per channel .. If the Sytek 4 channel pres sold at $300, I would be recommending them all the time ... for what they are at the price point.

I dislike the marketing approach of charging top dolllar, in order to make a product seem it is better than it is ... which is what I think manufacturers like PreSonus, Sytek and Focusrite (platinum series) are doing.

It just seems a bit like they are taking advantage of a segment of consumers who are not yet sophisticated enough to realize that they are being taken to the cleaners. That's why I often advise people to just get a small Mackie mixer for the pres ...

OOOHH Jeeeezzzzz Kurt I wish you would have mentioned the part about" Presonus marketing" before you advised me on finding a Eureka----that of which I did.
I guess Ill chalk this one up to (Oh WEll) category.

I'm seriously looking at the Firepod...so I cringe at hearing that as well!

Kurt. If a presonus item cost about half to three quarters of its retail, would that be a fair price?

Say, (theoretically [hehehe]) a Firepod is about $1500 AUD retail, and some one in NZ is (theoretically) selling them at $850 AUD full warranty etc, then would that (theoretically) be a decent price ?

in US $ = 799 retail, 599 street, someone selling for around $499 US might be equivalent...

I didn't mean to change the subject, but I thought it was at least vaguely relevent to this thread!

Ant

Kurt Foster wrote: whut he said ...

The VTB-1 in my opinion, sounds better than the pres in many porta studio thingies ... but not as good as a simple Mackie vlz pre ....

The Studio Projects SP-828 pre looks like a good solution for those on a budget ... as the price is very much in line with what it seems it should be ... $75 per channel .. If the Sytek 4 channel pres sold at $300, I would be recommending them all the time ... for what they are at the price point.

I dislike the marketing approach of charging top dolllar, in order to make a product seem it is better than it is ... which is what I think manufacturers like PreSonus, Sytek and Focusrite (platinum series) are doing.

It just seems a bit like they are taking advantage of a segment of consumers who are not yet sophisticated enough to realize that they are being taken to the cleaners. That's why I often advise people to just get a small Mackie mixer for the pres ...

As far as the Presonus ,Im sure that the dam thing is set at a 200 percent mark up,thats why everybody offers either free shipping,with a free crappy mic----------so what do I do?--------order the dam thing,-------but I dont feel so bad purchasing it because the thing didnt really cost me a dime :lol: I got lucky and won a super bowl pot!----1G------!.
What I plan to do is at a later date is sell what I have to a couple of locals,and get the Seb 8-)

OOOHH Jeeeezzzzz Kurt I wish you would have mentioned the part about" Presonus marketing" before you advised me on finding a Eureka----that of which I did.
I guess Ill chalk this one up to (Oh WEll) category

I don't recall ever recommending the Eureka. I have harbored suspicion about all the PreSonus products, ever since one of their dealers who was making noise about buying RO tried to get me to endorse them using more than one approach. He really tried to exert a lot of pressure to get me to put the push on PreSonus on the RO site. That was almost 3 years ago. Perhaps you are confusing me with someone else?

but I dont feel so bad purchasing it because the thing didnt really cost me a dime Laughing I got lucky and won a super bowl pot!----1G------!.

Good for you. Congratulations!

Kurt. If a presonus item cost about half to three quarters of its retail, would that be a fair price?

If the Eureka (for the sake of this disscussion) were to list for say $250 (which it would "strret" for under $200), it would absolutely be a better value. That wouldn't make any of the other issues any different, it just wouldn't be so overpriced.

Kurt Foster wrote:

OOOHH Jeeeezzzzz Kurt I wish you would have mentioned the part about" Presonus marketing" before you advised me on finding a Eureka----that of which I did.
I guess Ill chalk this one up to (Oh WEll) category

I don't recall ever recommending the Eureka. I have harbored suspicion about all the PreSonus products, ever since one of their dealers who was making noise about buying RO tried to get me to endorse them using more than one approach. He really tried to exert a lot of pressure to get me to put the push on PreSonus on the RO site. That was almost 3 years ago. Perhaps you are confusing me with someone else?

but I dont feel so bad purchasing it because the thing didnt really cost me a dime Laughing I got lucky and won a super bowl pot!----1G------!.

Good for you. Congratulations!

Kurt. If a presonus item cost about half to three quarters of its retail, would that be a fair price?

If the Eureka (for the sake of this disscussion) were to list for say $250 (which it would "strret" for under $200), it would absolutely be a better value. That wouldn't make any of the other issues any different, it just wouldn't be so overpriced.

Trust me,it was you that suggested the Eureka----but thats neither here nor there---------------everybody has to fall off a bike a couple of times to really get to learn how to ride it 8-) ----same goes for recording equipment-----------Im new at this----but I will say one thing----------Ive learned alot in the past 2 yrs,---------I may have to buy something thats not worth a shit------------but I learn how to work that piece to its fullest----------------then move on 8-) .
For what Im doing at present time-----the gear I have is great for me--------------but Im sure in time--------Ill see-------------and hear-----------the diff between "rack cracp"---------and the real deal