I actually don't find transformer less microphone preamps to be particularly musical sounding. Clear, clean, no doubt but to me that's lacking character. Sure, every preamp will sound different from each other. They're designed to do so. And if that's the case, what kind of neutrality are you looking for? Microphones like good Transformers. Microphones won't argue with you if ya plug them into something less than that. They are the analogy to your dog or cat. My mother trained her cats to eat only dry food. Now they will not eat what they're supposed to be eating which is real meat. Is that the kind of microphone preamp you want? One made from cereal? Or one made from real meat?

I like my meals to be rich in iron and copper.
Mx. Remy Ann David... I think I'm turning green?

ChrisH, post: 394276 wrote: Hello,
looking for some opinions on the character "character" comparison between the D.A.V. Broadhurst Gardens No.2, Shinybox Si4, and Sytek MPX-4?
What one do you recommend? Will be used mainly for "rock" in conjunction with Daking pre's.
Besides the Focusrite ISA pre's, they are all transformerless designs, but yet every pre still has different sonic "character" even when aimed at being transparent.
I'm just trying to find the most musical pre out of this bunch.

We need the bigger picture. What type of microphones you would use in front of these pre-amps and also which instruments (or amps) would you mic up? The sort of pre-amp you need for a pair of condensers as drum kit overheads could be very different from that used for an SM58 vocal mic. In addition, are you recording in a studio or a live stage show? If in a studio, will it be tracked all at once or individually?

Chris is looking to add some channels to his arsenal but has a bit of a budget or I think he'd simply buy an API 3124. He wants quality and something with some mojo built into the sound. My take is, of course, the Focusrite ISA series is the best bang for the buck out there. You can get clean and transparent with any of those choices but you have to have some 'iron' in the path for the mojo.

Thank you, Remy. Very informative.

Boswell, post: 394299 wrote: We need the bigger picture. What type of microphones you would use in front of these pre-amps and also which instruments (or amps) would you mic up? The sort of pre-amp you need for a pair of condensers as drum kit overheads could be very different from that used for an SM58 vocal mic. In addition, are you recording in a studio or a live stage show? If in a studio, will it be tracked all at once or individually?

I'm not looking for preamps that only work well on one application, I'm looking for general use preamps (drums, guitar, bass, vocal, keyboards).
They will be only used in the studio. I do both all at once tracking and individually?

Davedog, post: 394311 wrote: Chris is looking to add some channels to his arsenal but has a bit of a budget or I think he'd simply buy an API 3124. He wants quality and something with some mojo built into the sound. My take is, of course, the Focusrite ISA series is the best bang for the buck out there. You can get clean and transparent with any of those choices but you have to have some 'iron' in the path for the mojo.

Indeed