[AllAboutTone]

Originally Posted by AdamLazlo

Considering that I'm not a fan of Focusrite, TLM103, or UA610...

I push toward a 60's - 70's U87. Most of the mic pre's I've run my 70's U87 thru sounds great... or I should say it's been the #1 mic that gets used for vocals 80% of the time; male or female in all different genre's.

A couple months ago I did run my U87 thru a newer Focusrite pre and it sounded pretty good (much to my surprise considering my previous disappointments).

A vintage U87 really won't benefit from a darker mic pre considering that the early U87's are already darker and rounder than the newer U87ai's. If you got a U87ai, I'd suggest a different, vintage, and darker pre.

If you can get your hands on a U87 (proper, sans "i" or "ai") for around $1000 to $1500 of which might need some work, that would be a great purchase. If the mic needs work, ie - re-skin, expect to dump another $200 to $350 to get it back to original factory specs.

To reiterate, my 70's U87 sounds just fine, if not better, thru any pre than most of my other mics that can be particular/dependent regarding a mic and mic pre combo.

-- Adam Lazlo

Im with you, a u87 i / ai is a workhorse and always blends with most everything, my second favorite mic is a GT66 tube, real mice warm sound.