I have a Seb 4000e and a Buzz Audio SSA1.1

They certainly compliment each other well, but I'm also planning on something Neveish in the near future.

i hadn't heard much about the buzz audio gear - i'll definitely look a little further into that. thanks for the reply!

Very clean, very fast, very quiet.
I record classical, brass bands, drum overheads, acoustic guitars, some vocals with it. Great preamp

I would imagine that anything 'clean,fast and quiet' would be a boon to any recording situation. As it is with this particular question and due to the Seb's ability to put out color in great amounts (as well as clean) it seems that a pre with these clean fast quiet qualities would be just the ticket.

if you're not doing a whole heap of tracking with more than 2 channels, i'd recomend getting a nice stereo ad/da converter (if you don't already have one) instead of another pre. the seb is a pretty versatile unit by all accounts, and you may find you benefit alot more from shifting the conversion duties away from the 002 to something like an apogee rosetta 200 or the like.

Hi,
I have a Sebatron vmp2000e and a Phoenix Audio DRS-1, and a Safesound P1.

evt

i hadn't considered the converter upgrade, does anyone else have opinions on this? any before and after samples of a converter upgrade such as the mentioned apogee? i don't know how great the converters are in the digi002. this could potentially be another thread on its own, but i wouldnt mind hearing some more opinions.

You'll get a lot more value out of another good preamp than better ADDA at this stage.
The 002 converters are not the best, but they are quite adequate.

well i disagree. you can do some amazing stuff when you've got a great stereo signal chain, but as the old saying goes, the chain's only as strong as it's weakest link. sure, a pre-amp will make a more dramatic difference than a converter, but personally, once i had a good versatile stereo pre, i'd be focusing on getting 2 channels of great sounding signal chain, not 4 channels that are average.

Well that all depends on how many channels are needed simaltaneuosly.
If it's only two, then maybe get the Seb and also better A/D.
But I'm assuming that DJ FADE wants another preamp for more channels.

That said, a friend of mine runs Indent Music recording studio in Melbourne. Recently he sold his HD3 rig and bought a 2" 16 track and a Trident console.
He then bought a Digi002R so he can dump to HDD for more tracks etc.
Then he was able to pick up a stereo Mytek AD unit (which is debateably a step up from Apogee) and he really can't pick that much of a difference.
And this is on Quested monitors in a professionally treated room.

So really, the money is better spent on a different flavour of preamp IMO.

YMMV

great replies everyone, thank you. i do have to say that a converter would be a longer term investment, being that i only have the factory preamps that are in the digi002 now, and would like to upgrade more solid channels of preamp to use for various situations and styles. also, i'll need the additional channels to track drums.

well, whatever works for ya! i suggested the converter as i was in the same situation as you. i have a 002r and found the pres to be pretty average, but with a good pre i thought it sounded fine. that was until i had 32 channels of 002 a/d conversion layered together, then it started sounding pretty ratty. borrowing a friend's rosetta 200, i used the stock pres and converters where i had to (mainly for drums), and all the overdubs with my nice pre and the stereo a/d, and got a much better sound, with only 4 channels of stock 002 signal, (2 of them only toms anyway) and the other 28 nice pre and nice a/d. as always though, YMMV.

I have a Seb 2000 and found that the Lagevin preamps by Manley are a great companion at a good price. Plus if you get the DVC is has limiters as well which can come in handy.

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for clean pres at <$1000, consider the http://www.speck.com mic pre 5.0, John Hardy M-1, or Grace 101.