I once had the need for an extra pre in my setup and need something cheap. so i want down to my local GC and purchased the presonus tube pre.

I got the unit in the studio and it sounded Horrible! Like an indutrial fan blowing through the signal. long story short, i took the tube pre back and ponied the extra cash for a GT Brick. I've never looked back with by Brick.

If you buy something, make sure the store has a good return policy :wink:

-Chris

Basically the same pre's, don't be fooled by the tube, it runs low voltage which means it's usual tube characteristics aren't going to be present, just noise. Don't waste your money. Until you get up to the presonus adl600 all their pre's are whimpy and sterile sounding.

pollysix wrote: Does anyone have any experience with these? I've heard good things about them but am starting to get very skeptical about all this pro-sumer recording gear.

In short I recently bought a Firebox and have now realized that is has pretty wimpy pres... I'm thinking the TubePre might be a quick/cheap fix for me until I can afford a soundcard in a higher price range.

That was one of the first pieces of garbage that unfortunately walked through our studio door (before it even became a studio), and was purchased by somebody who didnt know any better. I also think they dragged it home from Guitar Center. Lord only knows what made them pick it... whether it was the pushy salesman preying on a buywer who didnt know better, or whatever....

No gear snobbery here when I say its one big stinky piece of cheese. My main objection is that the noise floor alone is mind blowing, nevermind the subjective question of whether it "sounds good" or not... which I dont think it does.

This has got to be Presonuses junkiest product. Every manufacturer is entitled to produce some junky models now and then. This certainly meets that criteria.

Thanks everyone for the replies (this forum is great). Yeah, that's kind of what I thought. I guess we have to be careful nowadays... just because "affordable" recording gear exists doesn't mean that it's actually even worth spending the money on.

So far the Firebox is pretty disappointing. I mean I even have to crank my Korg PolySix if I run it through that thing---which is ridiculous because it's a pretty damn loud synth.

Anyway. Maybe I should save up for a Apogee MiniMe (I only really need two channels).

The Brick sounds good too... if I wanted to go the dedicated preamp route.

blaumph2cool wrote: I once had the need for an extra pre in my setup and need something cheap. so i want down to my local GC and purchased the presonus tube pre.

I got the unit in the studio and it sounded Horrible! Like an indutrial fan blowing through the signal. long story short, i took the tube pre back and ponied the extra cash for a GT Brick. I've never looked back with by Brick.

If you buy something, make sure the store has a good return policy :wink:

-Chris

I have a firepod and I am wanting to buy a brick, this may seem really stupid. But when you buy a preamp and your plugging it into a firepod, or firebox your aslo plugging it into another preamp right? so would you just want to turn your pres down on the firepod? Or would my only options be to plug it into one of the two line inputs on the back?