The S20 is basically the pre section from the Trident 80 series. I've used the 80 quite a few times and have always been in love with the sound of the console.

A cool feature on the S20 is the ability to have 2 mics connected to each channel at once and be able to A/B them with a push of a button. A novel idea when your just not sure which vocal mic is the perfect one.

I always like the Trident 80 on drums in particular, although it is really difficult to get bad results from the 80 unless your a monkey.

Hope this helps,

Chris

I as well liked the original Trident Series 80 sound. Too bad the S20 doesn't capture or sound very much like it. It is a decent above average mic pre, but that old Trident sound I've used and am used to hearing it is not. If your looking for the old Trident type sound, I'd suggest you look at the Daking stuff. Use the search function and you will find many different comments on the S20 other mic pre's as well.

Really?

At AES I was assured that it is the same circuitry as the 80 Series mic pre.

How does it sound different to you?

Unfortunately, I didn't get an accurate listen to the S20 because of all the floor noise and having to use headphones. (bogus)

What's the S20 missing?

Chris

I don't know about you, but I'm wise enough to not believe everything I'm told, yet alone at a tradeshow or more specificly from the guy who bestows upon himself and takes credit for being the father of british eq. Even if what was said was true, saying something has the same circuit is not the same thing as having a product that sounds the same as a product from yesteryear. Just the fact that most of the off the shelf components that was used back then are long obsolete insures it is not the same. What is it missing? The real old school tone and character.

Well John Oram is not the Father of British EQ. In fact, he did not even design the Trident 80B...Malcolm Toft did that. So most of the information Mr. Oram passes on should be taken with a grain of salt. No sense in going into the negative about this.

For the record, if you want an original 80B EQ with the original Trident FET Compressor, look at the Toft Audio Designs ATC-2. The mic amp is "not" original, but still very good...but the EQ and compressor are identical. Fletcher said the EQ was worth the admission price alone.

Having said that, the only way to get real 80B mic amps is to find some older modules, and then recap them.

Good response, thanks guys.

I'm not taking Oram's word for gospel. I've read several places about the design and assumed that at least one of them wasn't lying to me.

Silly me.

Chris

Dude... most of the places where you read this shit are just reguritating the same shit from the same press releases with zero research into what they're writing.

John Oram is a piece of shit and everything I've seen that he has built is a piece of shit. Let me put it another way... if that cocksucker told me the fuckin' sky was blue I'd look up to confirm it before I believed him.

Seeing that Malcolm Toft and the late Barry Porter were the real creative force behind the real Trident and Oram was at best an afterthought... I'd say bet on Toft... but that's only if I was betting with my own money... oh wait, I have bet on Toft with my own money... how 'bout that.

You know I thought Oram was a bit of a prick at AES. I tried to engage him about his product a few times and he got quite snotty with me.

Good point Fletcher.

Chris

Ok so I'll mark the trident off of my list. Any good 2 or more channel preamps out there for under a grand? It's going to be used for a wide variety of applications including drums, guitars and vocals. I don't think I want a transparent pre....I want something that'll add a little character. I'm record mostly hard rock/metal.

I can't think of any decent two channel mic pre for under $1000. I haven't heard the PMI / Toft but I would tend to believe Fletcher when he said it wasn't that great ...

The best pres I have found that don't break the bank are;

The JLM TMP8 which sells for $2250 (last time I checked). This is an 8 channel pre ... so if you break it down, that's $281.25 per channel ... just about the cheapest decent mic pre around ... this is for a transformer balanced, op amp type pre ... much like a Focusrite Red or the API's.
http://www.jlmaudio.com

and ...

the line of mic pres from Sebatron. Transformer balanced, tube based with a solid state output stage. A basic two channel unit sans meters, goes for a little over a grand ..
http://www.sebatron.com

I would be very content with 16 channels of either of the pres. 8 of each would be wonderful as well ... I realize that these two are a tad expensive but look at it like this ... buy something cheaper and you will more than likely wind up upgrading again later ... buy them now and you are essentially done buying mic pres for the rest of your life. You can spend your cash once or twice ... it's your call ...

Kurt Foster wrote: I can't think of any decent two channel mic pre for under $1000. I haven't heard the PMI / Toft but I would tend to believe Fletcher when he said it wasn't that great ... ...

Far be it for me to explain Fletchers comments, but I think you are taking them out of context. Fletcher did not quite mean for it come out the way he said it, but he can deal with that if he wishes. In the meantime you can buy the Toft Audio Designs ATC-2 from Fletcher... So how bad can it be...

I actually thought he said that he would and did bet on it with his own money....seems he must own one or two ....or three.....

ahyatt wrote: [quote=Kurt Foster]I can't think of any decent two channel mic pre for under $1000. I haven't heard the PMI / Toft but I would tend to believe Fletcher when he said it wasn't that great ... ...

Far be it for me to explain Fletchers comments, but I think you are taking them out of context. Fletcher did not quite mean for it come out the way he said it, but he can deal with that if he wishes. In the meantime you can buy the Toft Audio Designs ATC-2 from Fletcher... So how bad can it be...

Alan,
I didn't mean to be disparaging ... I recall Fletcher saying the pre wasn't that great but the EQ was... and that was worth the price. But we are talking about mic pres here .... and that is what the comment refers to ... I would be more than happy to listen to the ATC-2 and do a review if you like..

The actual review where I said the "mic pre's suck" is [url=(dead link removed)here[/url].

For anyone who doesn't feel like taking the time to read the whole thing [and good lord knows I wouldn't blame you a bit... I find most reviews exceptionally pedantic]... lemme give you the highlights:

I guess we'll start with the shit I didn't like about it first... I am, after all, a negative motherfucker so let's get this out of the way... the mic pre's suck.

They're just not up to what I like playing with... and seeing that we have pre's like the Martech MSS-10 hanging around here... it's not necessarily a "fair" evaluation [my GEO doesn't handle like my Ferrari... so the GEO sucks kind of an 'unfair' comparison].

They're certainly up there with shit like the Presonus and the Focusrite... they just don't measure up to a "real" pre-amp.

I hope this puts it in perspective.

Peace.

I quite agree that these new "Trident-like" mic pres are unexceptional at best.
But for me, so was the Series 80.

The Trident worth getting really excited about (in fact, I think perhaps the best sounding desk ever) was the A Range.
And that sound is basically available in the Geoff Daking mic pres.
Not in either the Oram or the Malcolm Toft lines.