I am curious as to why you stipulate "line inputs vs. Hi-Z"...NONE of the Platinum series is really a quality piece...lots of flash and dazzle, little else...
I have the Grace, and for the VERY short time that I had a Voicemaster, the 101 was heads and tails above the Focusrite in every way. The Platinum series (and the ISA, no bull!) is made in China and simply doesn't have the build or component quality of the Red Series that made Focusrite famous,IMHO... The FMR is a similar illustration of US quality in a small, affordable box...

moonbaby...

I am curious as to why you stipulate "line inputs vs. Hi-Z"...

Because I prefer to record electric instruments via the micing of their amplifiers; & I have various synths (line level devices) that need amping...it's a simple as that.

But thanks for the info...I feel like I'm better able to make a decision now...& I appreciate that. So you're saying even FMR's Really Nice Preamp is a higher quality peice?

I suppose I could go with the instrument input (as opposed to the line)...'cause nobody seems to want to buy my UA 2-610 tube pre (for sale on ebay)...so I guess I could continue to use that for line.

Thanks,

mark4man

BTW - FMR claims their EIN is not as good as other pre's...but I noticed that # only differs by 7 or 8dB or so (-120dB vs. -128db.) Does that really make a difference?

It should do fine...
So you don't like the UA?

So you don't like the UA?

I love it...but not for my voice. Sounds great on everybody else in the band, but my voice has the timbre of a foghorn; & powerful phrases wind up sounding scratchy. I don't know if I'm buzzing the diaphragm on the mic or saturating the valves in the pre...but something's not right; & it doesn't seem to happen with solid state.

Thanks,

mark4man

I use a Trak Master (one channel channel strip, same mic preamp, without the headphone monitoring that the TT Pro has) and I am actually very pleased with the results for bass guitar tracking. Using the Instrument level Hi-Z front input, it gives me very articulate and pitch accurate, yet full sounding electric bass recordings. Other line level stuff I'm just going direct into my Edirol DA-2496. I haven't tried using the Focusrite for any of that yet.

I find the mic preamp (with my Rode NT1) to be quite clean and transparent. It may not have the "character" of my ART Pro tubed unit, but it's a different flavour.

The compressor is also super easy to use and to get usable sounds out of. I'm sure it would do fine on line level in, straight instrument in (like bass guitar) AND as a front end to track mic'ed acoustic and electric guitar. My $.02

The platinum series really gets slammed on this board by a lot of guys, but I must say for what I paid for it, it has a place in my humble rig. I haven't sat and listened to the TT Pro vs. other available 2 channel pres, but it seems like a very versatile box.

Update:

Since my last post on this thread in September I've had the opportunity to track a few more things (like acoustic guitar).

The TrakMaster has a more "chunky" sound on acoustic guitar thru my Rode NT1. This is with slight compression, no EQ, and no "Tube Sound".

My Art Pro MPA (with JJ tubes) and ART Pro VLA together have much more air and detail than the TrakMaster. I hear more harmonics, and more top-to bottom information in the recording.

The TrakMaster is still a good alternative for bass guitar tracking as the built-in channel strip features give you a lot of flexibility to tailor the sound.