Like most everyone else around here, I can only afford to buy "budget gear" for now. The conclusion I've come to recently is that everything under $1000 is pretty much the same. That said, I'm not going to spend $200 more to get something that is $600 when there is a comparable item selling for $400.

That said, I doubt those units use wildly different components, so pick the one that has the best price-to-features ratio.

AG

i own, and love a eureka. havent heard of this vxp you speak of.

Both are made by Presonus...

The "retail" price on the VXP is $800, but it sells for less on eBay than the Eureka, which "retails" at $700.

Just wondering if the De-esser and Expander are all that important?

vv-tim wrote: Just wondering if the De-esser and Expander are all that important?

IMO, they are not. I may catch flak for this, but I NEVER use any precision outboard like De-ess or Expander / GAte on the way in. In fact I don't even compress anymore on the way in (I do set it up to limit just to catch the occasional peak).

I would say check out the GT brick. The presonus stuff is ok, but pretty lackluster, IMO.

I haven't heard this one except for some mp3 excerpts, but people also seem to like the Studio projects vtb-1. DIRT cheap.

Yeah,
I am not a fan of PreSonus stuff ... it fills the middle ground ok but really lacks depth, dimension and there's a problem in some cases with them delivering enough signal into some loads ... I had a very hard time getting much more than -12 digital into my system without distortion.

The first year PreSonus pres were on the market, they recieved a lot of favorable press, I think partly because they were using Jensen transformers (makers of probably the best transformers available on the planet) across the inputs. A year in, PreSonus decided it switch over to a "custom made" transfomer. IMO, the units after that point don't live up to the praise garnered by the earlier units. It appears much of the favorable comments the marketing whizzes at PreSonus are always citing, was actually in reference to units produced in the first year. I really don't know of any reputible user of the later ones saying they cared very much for them.

As recommended ... "The Brick" ... streets for under $350. "The Brick" is is the real deal when it comes to mic pres. Transformers on the in and outs, 3 tubes, well built, robust power supply ... should live forever .. I have a pair here for review and I am hoping I can swing a way to keep them.

As a point of reference, I also have a GR MP2NV, a Millennia ORIGIN, 2 Amek Neve 9098s and a Sebatron VMP 4000e. The Brick holds its own very well in this company. Nothing to sneeze at. With "The Brick" you are not only going to get the best in audio capture but also the "bragging rights" that accompany having something that is among the best available.

The Eureka is my third pre and if I had known about recording.org before I bought it, I may have made a different purchase. That said, I got mine with a digital card for $499 (wish I had an external clock source) and I swapped out the opamps with some OPA627s samples I got free from Texas Instruments. I use it daily and have made a demo with it exclusively. It is clean and quiet and seems pretty acurate through my C1 and E200 (the C1 being a good budget condenser.) Not a bad unit for beginners and one that I know very well. Deffinitely a step up from the DBX386 and the Focurite Trackmaster. A lot of guys around here will tell you that it is not worth it because they use very expensive stuff and this would be an obvious step down for them. I have to admit that the Brick does sound interesting, though.

On another note, the Eureka is mod friendly, so if you are handy you can try out different opamps in there. I am going to cajole a couple of Hardy 990 discreet amps in there and see if I can't notice a difference.

If you can shoehorn a 990 and a real Jensen transformer in the Eureka, that might do the trick ... lets see ... a few bucks for the chips, a hundred for the transformer .. labor, cost of the Eureka, wow!

Is it worth it, considering the Brick is like $350?

I don't think that anyone but me would try and put 990's into a Eureka. Please don't be condescending. Experimentation got all of you guru's to where you are now.

I know you like The Brick, Kurt. It seems like it is showing up in a lot of your posts. Have you reviewed it? Given that it seems like you have a lot of premium toys to play with, what role would it play in your recording scheme?

I didn't mean to be condecending and if it appeared that way please excuse me.

I am in the process of evaluating "The Brick" for review .... so far it has past muster enough for me to know I am going to be doing the review and hopefully I can swing the cash to keep the review units.

In my rack I will most likely be uing "The Brick"(s) for guitars, vocals and perhaps bass tracking chores when tracking rhythm tracks.

Here's what I am using which pres on ...

Kick System 9098
Snare System 9098 ... I use these because they have EQ.

Toms (4) Sebatron vmp 4000e.

OHs GR MP2NV.

That leaves the Millennia ORIGIN and the 2 Bricks (at the moment) for bass and or guitars, vocals.

I have been using the Origin for bass duties and for the overflow (scratch vx / guitars / keys) I have been using Mackie pres up until now.

Now if I can get to keep the Brick(s) I will have a couple good pres to handle bass guitar, vox or keys (as I see fit) for each project.

I am supposed to be getting a Sebatron THORAX soon to review as well. With that and these 2 Bricks, I should be pretty well set up for mic pres.

I suspect it will take a bit before I really settle in on which applications "The Brick" will work best for ...

You mic'ing those bass guitars through the GT or are you using them as a DI (or both)?

Vocals: Presonus VXP or Eureka?

Hmmm. let's see. One half ass cheap and small sounding toy vs another half ass cheap and small sounding toy with a few more half ass features. I'll have to really think about that one....

The brick. Heard it. Used it. Liked it. Then I went and bought the ViPre...

netcastle wrote: You mic'ing those bass guitars through the GT or are you using them as a DI (or both)?

DI .... with bass I always di. In my opinion di's sound better on bass than an amp ... more lows, purer tone but some guys are married to their amps. Especially if distortion is part of their sound. I will mic the cab as well in those cases but I always take a DI.

It's a simple thing to take a direct signal and re amp it later if you want a speaker sound, so you can have more control and create less spill and low end muck in the the basic rhythm tracks.

vv-tim wrote: The VXP seems more suited for vocals, but it doesn't have the "saturate" feature that the Eureka has that supposedly adds tube warmth.

FYI: If the saturate feature is anything like on the MP20, it is a retarded feature. You want "tube warmth," git a brick.