Gearslutz.com - View Single Post

chrisrulesmore · 19th March 2006

My Chandler Germanium preamp arrived on Friday and it looks perfect...all knobs, buttons, and switches are perfectly aligned and I'm proud to say the faceplate is straight as an arrow!

I've only had a few hours of tracking through it, so take this review with a few grains of salt...still, I feel obliged to write a few words given the buzz about this unit.

The Germanium comes with a rather crude xeroxed copy of a manual, not that you really need one, but it does have four sample settings labeled clear, big, bigger, and biggest.

I set it to "big" with a Mesa Stiletto through a Bogner 4x12 and an SM57 and here is my one word review...

"HOLYFUKKINGSHITBALLSTHISTHINGSOUNDSAMAZING"

I remember reading Mike's review in Tape Op and thinking the bit about getting lost in his bass playing was a bit corny, but, I inadvertently spent 30 minutes playing my guitar and listening through the headphones before I could bring myself to even try the next setting.

All four sample settings sound better than any pre I have ever heard on electric guitar. My SM57 now has the smoothness of a ribbon with the balls of a 57. Generally with preamps, I plug in and say, eh, okay, that probably sounds better. With the Germanium the audible improvement is all but palpable...

Next up was DI bass and as you can probably guess, it sounds amazing. I believe Mike's review alluded to the pre yielding a very warm sound without sacrificing punch and clarity. I couldn't concur more. It sounded so good, I tracked through the first setting I tried and didn't even bother listening to any other settings.

I ran out of time, but did manage to track one backup vocal through a Studio Projects C1 condenser...all I can say is it sounded great. I completely expected it to sound too dark or weird on vox, but nothing could be further from the truth. Just a great big vocal sound.

The track I was working on entailed double tracked guitars using different Germanium settings, and the Germanium Bass DI...to answer your question, no the resulting sound was not muddy. I didn't eq anything and the three tracks sat together perfectly...the only difference in the guitar tracks were the preamp settings and they retained excellent stereo separation, clarity, etc...

If it helps, my other pre is a Great River ME-1NV with an FMR RNC 1773 used on the insert point. Interface is an M-Audio Project Mix I/O.

Look forward to hearing others comments on their first impression.

-Chris

19th March 2006	#1
chrisrulesmore Lives for gear Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 638 Thread Starter	Germanium First Impressions My Chandler Germanium preamp arrived on Friday and it looks perfect...all knobs, buttons, and switches are perfectly aligned and I'm proud to say the faceplate is straight as an arrow! I've only had a few hours of tracking through it, so take this review with a few grains of salt...still, I feel obliged to write a few words given the buzz about this unit. The Germanium comes with a rather crude xeroxed copy of a manual, not that you really need one, but it does have four sample settings labeled clear, big, bigger, and biggest. I set it to "big" with a Mesa Stiletto through a Bogner 4x12 and an SM57 and here is my one word review... "HOLYFUKKINGSHITBALLSTHISTHINGSOUNDSAMAZING" I remember reading Mike's review in Tape Op and thinking the bit about getting lost in his bass playing was a bit corny, but, I inadvertently spent 30 minutes playing my guitar and listening through the headphones before I could bring myself to even try the next setting. All four sample settings sound better than any pre I have ever heard on electric guitar. My SM57 now has the smoothness of a ribbon with the balls of a 57. Generally with preamps, I plug in and say, eh, okay, that probably sounds better. With the Germanium the audible improvement is all but palpable... Next up was DI bass and as you can probably guess, it sounds amazing. I believe Mike's review alluded to the pre yielding a very warm sound without sacrificing punch and clarity. I couldn't concur more. It sounded so good, I tracked through the first setting I tried and didn't even bother listening to any other settings. I ran out of time, but did manage to track one backup vocal through a Studio Projects C1 condenser...all I can say is it sounded great. I completely expected it to sound too dark or weird on vox, but nothing could be further from the truth. Just a great big vocal sound. The track I was working on entailed double tracked guitars using different Germanium settings, and the Germanium Bass DI...to answer your question, no the resulting sound was not muddy. I didn't eq anything and the three tracks sat together perfectly...the only difference in the guitar tracks were the preamp settings and they retained excellent stereo separation, clarity, etc... If it helps, my other pre is a Great River ME-1NV with an FMR RNC 1773 used on the insert point. Interface is an M-Audio Project Mix I/O. Look forward to hearing others comments on their first impression. -Chris