Gearslutz.com - View Single Post - Mic Preamps LA-610 MkII Classic Tube Recording Channel

bbensoy · 31st March 2012

The unit's two tube gain stages let you achieve a wide variety of tube coloration and harmonic distortion. There is a lot of headroom at the input stage which I like. That property widens the pallette.There is not a meaning of having this If you have a stable fuzzy, hairy sound always on top but here it is not the case. You can crank it or not depending on what you want.
I mainly use this pre on guitars, vocals,bass, snare and kick and acoustic guitar.

On vocals:
I feel the focus is at the mid range having the lower fundamentals there. That gave a thick sound. This is what the tubes does. Additionally, there still have nice transients in the upper range what most tube press don't have. So vocal is on my face. But I would record a voice like Alison Krauss, this is not my first choice then. The compressor has very nice LA-2A sound which is often on vocals. The preamp and compressor together works great for distorted voices. I couple the conderser mike with sm57 or sometimes just sm7. That seems the perfect combination for the situation.

Bass:
This is a bass player's dream so don't have to add on that. Comparing with the Great River pre, this has the punch and feel of playing with a nice bass amp which is very important for most bass players and eases to take the performance out. But the GR has the low end. I like the active pickups giving mid punch but here that might not be my first choice to play better with the pre input level.

Guitars:
Don't have to compress on the amp very much to get a thick sound. The preamp does it while the player is still can show more of his playing with a dynamic amp sound. The sm57 or/and AKG414 on the cabinet with this pre does great job. I use EQ section to tame the highs of AKG and boost where it is needed. The EQ does the job for this.

Kick and Snare:
Snare goes very nice If the snare sounds nice because of the harmonic distortions. The crack of the top skin sticks on face having the low mid fundamental very defined. On kick If you need the punch then this is the pre. Not a lot low end focus but If the bass resonance is captured well then the puzzle is done.

31st March 2012	#21
bbensoy Gear interested Joined: Mar 2012 Posts: 5 4 Reviews written	Universal Audio LA610 The unit's two tube gain stages let you achieve a wide variety of tube coloration and harmonic distortion. There is a lot of headroom at the input stage which I like. That property widens the pallette.There is not a meaning of having this If you have a stable fuzzy, hairy sound always on top but here it is not the case. You can crank it or not depending on what you want. I mainly use this pre on guitars, vocals,bass, snare and kick and acoustic guitar. On vocals: I feel the focus is at the mid range having the lower fundamentals there. That gave a thick sound. This is what the tubes does. Additionally, there still have nice transients in the upper range what most tube press don't have. So vocal is on my face. But I would record a voice like Alison Krauss, this is not my first choice then. The compressor has very nice LA-2A sound which is often on vocals. The preamp and compressor together works great for distorted voices. I couple the conderser mike with sm57 or sometimes just sm7. That seems the perfect combination for the situation. Bass: This is a bass player's dream so don't have to add on that. Comparing with the Great River pre, this has the punch and feel of playing with a nice bass amp which is very important for most bass players and eases to take the performance out. But the GR has the low end. I like the active pickups giving mid punch but here that might not be my first choice to play better with the pre input level. Guitars: Don't have to compress on the amp very much to get a thick sound. The preamp does it while the player is still can show more of his playing with a dynamic amp sound. The sm57 or/and AKG414 on the cabinet with this pre does great job. I use EQ section to tame the highs of AKG and boost where it is needed. The EQ does the job for this. Kick and Snare: Snare goes very nice If the snare sounds nice because of the harmonic distortions. The crack of the top skin sticks on face having the low mid fundamental very defined. On kick If you need the punch then this is the pre. Not a lot low end focus but If the bass resonance is captured well then the puzzle is done.