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Hi,

Does anyone know how the tone of these preamps compare? Also the Eureka and MP80 which are essentially the same preamp.

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moonbaby Wed, 08/24/2011 - 16:17

My thoughts/experiences:
Stay away from the 207. Too noisey, find a 107 and upgrade the tube in it. Pocket the $$ difference and buy your girlfriend/wife/significant other a nice dinner. Or a new video game.
MP20 is a nice pre, a very good bargain when it was introduced. Find an early one that has the Jensen input tranny before the factory bean-counters caught on and made 'em get cheap.

I've owned both, still have a 107 (actually, 2 of them). Screw the wall-wart power supply, I like mine. I have one , along with the 108 Easyrider Compressor and the 109 Tube Parametric EQ in a 3-space SKB rack case. Probably less than $450.00 in everything, and I have what I call a "poor man's lunch box"; a 2-channel rig that I dedicate to guitar amp mics. I put a SM-7b into one channel, and a Beyer M160 as a room mic into the other, my vintage tube amps love that! Ain't as fancy as the ADL600 or the Avalon I have/had, but, close your eyes and see if you can tell the difference!
I'd get both- the 107 for guitars/some keys (no DI input, my one gripe, so I run 2 Radial DI's into the 107 when I want to do that). The MP20 is a bit more detailed , a good thing for the vocals. You can't have too many mics, and then you gotta have that darned pre for them, don't you? LOL!!!!

Boswell Thu, 08/25/2011 - 02:56

Dickie -

For for clean dual-channel pre-amps, I would not be considering the Aphex 207. However, as Moonbaby pointed out, an early MP20 is a nice-sounding unit.

My memory of your previous posts is that you are UK-based, so I would start by taking a look at the DAV BG1 and the Audient Mico. The BG1 is a no-frills unit, whereas the Mico is chock full of bells and whistles. I use both of these extensively on acoustic instruments and to a lesser extent on vocals. Both DAV and Audient are UK manufacturers, so these two products are very good value over here, and both are significantly less than an MP20.

dickiefunk Thu, 08/25/2011 - 03:05

Hi Boswell,

Thanks for the reply! I actually missed out on a secondhand MP20 the other day which went for £80 which seems like a bargain! My Eureka cost me £100 and one sold last week for £140 so I could have 2 channels of these pres for around £200 or less!
The Mico costs around £400 and the BG1 around £500.
Have you tried the MP20, Mico and DAV pres?