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anonymous 25 December 2005

Hi there. I know a lot of people are probably over this kind of question, just like monitors. but this ones a little specific and I've done a lot of searches and homework.

I want someclass A pre's. The budget is around the $2000 mark with room to move either way. I'm after cost effective spending here: max return of quality for expenditure, I guess you'd call it bang for buck :)

OPTION ONE - THREE or more seperate pres.

One I want to be clean and quality. I was thinking a Grace of some sort.

the second I want to be coloured and most likely with toobs. perhaps two channel would be good. I was thinking Sebatron , they're local to me down here in OZ.

last at least I want one or two inexpensive pre's that still sound quite darn good, for extra live tracks. I'm thinking a GT Brick or two.

OPTION TWO- ONE unit of MANY PRES.

the JLM TMP8, as recommended by Kurt Foster, and like the Seb, made pretty much next door to me here i n OZ (saving on duty etc). This gives me eight great pre';s which at least I know I like the sound of...I've heard it in action on two recordings thus far. Also VERY portable. But would it be odd to use all eight the same? My experience engineering in recording studio's has usually entailed a Neve desk or SSL or other such...which are all the same pre anyway in the desk. I'm trying to look at this option in the same way. Then I could add later different colours..

So they're my ideas. Please give me yours. I really am not bound by the above, and am REALLY open to everyone heres opinions, even if they are far from my own. Like I'm hearing about some REALLY cheap Neve copies around the sounds like another option...

Please understand... due to the nature of the net, I prefer experienced opinions. If you have not tried or owned a pre and have just read reviews...then please go easy on highly recommending it. at the same time, all opinions are very valid, just please let me know if its an experiential recommendation, or one based on hear-say. Both are fine.

Vielen Danke. Many thanks. & merry Christmas all!

8-)

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Comments

anonymous Sun, 12/25/2005 - 04:27

Re: Three pre's needed, one clean, one tubey and coloured, o

Antho wrote: I want three class A pre's. (call it bang for buck)

Not that Grace wouldn't be awesome, but how about this...Maybe a Sebatron 4000e. Then you would have $$$$ left over and 1 additional channel.

Antho wrote: the second I want to be coloured and most likely with tubes.

Well, I was gonna suggest that a GT ViPre would be the best choice for this. AND the fact that there is a ViPre on ebay, right now for $2100 brand new, with "buy it now".
But if you get that Sebatron 4000e, I wasn't sure if that's to much tube gear in your rack at this point.
If that's the case, I would def reccomend the Great River MP2NV.
just my 2 cents

anonymous Tue, 12/27/2005 - 19:31

Thanks for the replies guys.

4 chan of Seb might be a bit too much of the tube thing. Two would probably be the max for now...and one would be cool too.

I'm looking at the Great River as an option, thanks for that recommendation. Do they have cheaper smaller pres? They are hard to get over here, but most hi-end pre manufactureres luckily seem provide power switching.

I picked a Brick up for cheapish on Ebay, since it was there, and has internal power switching. So thats one minor tube channel to start of the portable collection.

Now those little Rane pre's...I've done a bit of searching on those. Stinky, do you reckon you could give me some of your impressions of the sound? The review I did read says clean and not too smooth... I'm wondering if its really going to be any better than my current mobile pre's which are in the Firepod...? If they are not quite a lot better, then the price tag of $550 over here doesn't justify the purchase. I'd rather spend a bit more and get that chunk better...but if they are quite a jump, then ...

thanks again. it all narrows it down

8)

Davedog Wed, 12/28/2005 - 15:52

The JLM is really good stuff and theres no law about having all the same pres or not. The reason for having different pres is of course color, but mainly because some of the lesser pres (in price) tend to build up their little signature tonalities in a mix and this causes a lot of work to remedy. The "all the same" pres examples you gave ala; Neve/SSL dont have that problem at all. A rack full of $1.99 pres will. The JLM falls into the upper end catagory nicely, as does the Seb. Its all about the source at a certain level anyway. Old Sound Dude Motto: Sh*t in = sh*t out. With good engineering skills there is no such thing as 'too much toob'.....

anonymous Wed, 12/28/2005 - 18:44

"Neve/SSL dont have that problem at all. A rack full of $1.99 pres will."

lol, good point.

"With good engineering skills there is no such thing as 'too much toob'....."

lol again! :) Sounds like surfer speak crossed with audio engineer speak. 8)

I am liking the idea of the JLM more and more to be honest. It's the kind of simplicity I'm after, and can add single channels of Seb and others to as time progresses.

Thanks for your thoughts Dave Dog.

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