Sounds like you're serious, and since you are, you should get a Distressor or two. It can do the LA-2A thing and so much more. It's kind of a must-have piece nowadays. I know I couldn't do my job without my stereo pair.

I'd skip the Avalon U-5(s) and use the DI's on your other gear. I almost bought a U-5 as well, but I realized that I have great DI's on my other preamps.

Personally, the Amek never thrilled me that much. I'd much rather have a Focusrite isa428 with the digital option. It's $2500-ish, and it sounds great (both the Neve preamps and the converters). And it's four channels instead of two (plus four extra converter line-ins)

The Great River is a wonderful choice.

Those are a lot of clean preamps. I'd try to add something colored. I have both the UA 2-610 and the UA 2108, and they compliment my cleaner preamps nicely.

For that money you maybe deserve much better AD converter ... :wink:

hey idiophone, you got a good point about the Distressor. I was actually debating if the Distressor would be better than the LA2A and it is also less expensive. I might just buy both, record and mix through them and then decide which one to keep. As for the Avalon U-5, I have seen so many reviews and heard many people praised the U-5 as a great D/I so that was why I may get it. Any thoughts on the Manley Vari-Mu ? How different is this from the Distressor or LA2A ?

As for the converter, I don't want to spend $4000 or more on it cause the next level up is quite a bit. I figure if I have a good selection of pre, compressor, and eq, that would give me a better sound. Also, the Apogee AD-8000 is pretty much standard a few years ago for tracking. Almost every studio I've been to have it.

Have you considered the New [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.lynxstud…"]Lynx Aurora Converters[/]="http://www.lynxstud…"]Lynx Aurora Converters[/]?

The main reason I recommend the Distressor is that it has variable attack settings, and that attack - unlike the LA-2A - can be VERY fast. The LA-2A is a one-trick pony. It's one hell of a trick, though.

The Distressor's LA-2A emulation is very close, besides. There's an "optical" setting with a very slow attack and fast release that lets me get that LA-2A sound when I need to.

I don't know nuthin' about the Vari-Mu - sorry.

And AD-8000 converters sound great, especially if you have high-end stuff before them. No need to get anything more than that unless you're doing foley work or something.

Don't EVER skip a Manley Vari-Mu. :!:

Unless you already have one or two...

I wouldn't skip the 2055 either - As much as I love the UAD stuff for a lot of things, nothing really compares to heavy aircraft aluminum boxes filled with tube and/or great class "A" circuitry.

If you're seriously looking at an Apogee AD-8000 then you should be seriously looking at an Apogee "Big Ben" clock, or at very least a Lucid GenX6-96 clock... the conversion in an AD-8000 isn't that horrible if you get a decent clock on the thing.

Peace.

You may want to consider a Rosetta 800 instead of the AD8000...it's a little more expensive, but its conversion quality is better (I suppose that's debatable) and you'd have a warranty and things like that.

-Duardo