A-Designs 500 series EM-Gold preamp

[Disco D]

Peter Montessi blessed me with the very first pair of Gold EM-1s made. These things are out of control. The first thing I tried these with were the stereo outputs of my MPC 4000 thru the DI. I have never heard sampled drums sound so good in my life. The claps and cymbals were crackin and snappin with no digital harshness and the 808 damn near blew my head off. OUT OF CONTROL. I will post pictures later.

DD

[picksail]

Very cool!!!

Peter brought one over about a month ago and I discovered that it's very useful on guitars.

Cheers!!!!

[BryanGamet]

yet again more things to fill in the rack

[pan60]

i need more money

[Disco D]

Originally Posted by picksail

Very cool!!!

Peter brought one over about a month ago and I discovered that it's very useful on guitars.

Cheers!!!!

ill try that. You mean as a DI or for micing a cabinet or acoustic?

[picksail]

Originally Posted by Disco D

ill try that. You mean as a DI or for micing a cabinet or acoustic?

Sorry. I was referring to mic'ed guitar cabinets.

[Isle of Weight]

Originally Posted by Disco D

Peter Montessi blessed me with the very first pair of Gold EM-1s made. These things are out of control. The first thing I tried these with were the stereo outputs of my MPC 4000 thru the DI. I have never heard sampled drums sound so good in my life. The claps and cymbals were crackin and snappin with no digital harshness and the 808 damn near blew my head off. OUT OF CONTROL. I will post pictures later.

DD

Disco D,
have you compared your MPC through any of the other A design 500 series w/ the new Gold? I do alot of work w/ mpcs, etc., this sounds very interesting.

thanks
AA

[Disco D]

Originally Posted by Isle of Weight

Disco D,
have you compared your MPC through any of the other A design 500 series w/ the new Gold? I do alot of work w/ mpcs, etc., this sounds very interesting.

thanks
AA

no, all i have is the pair of Golds and the P-1 which is based off the Pacifica. The other 3 pres in the lunchbox are various OSAs and they don't stand up both in build quality or sound. I also prefer the sound of the Golds to direct into an SSL which while I don't do at home is how I track my mpcs in bigger studios. It sounds great. The other thing I noticed is you can crank the output of the MPC into the pre without changing the level on the pre, and it adds a unique little bit of compression. These things are great. Definitely my go-to stereo pair right now.

[Isle of Weight]

Originally Posted by Disco D

no, all i have is the pair of Golds and the P-1 which is based off the Pacifica. The other 3 pres in the lunchbox are various OSAs and they don't stand up both in build quality or sound. I also prefer the sound of the Golds to direct into an SSL which while I don't do at home is how I track my mpcs in bigger studios. It sounds great. The other thing I noticed is you can crank the output of the MPC into the pre without changing the level on the pre, and it adds a unique little bit of compression. These things are great. Definitely my go-to stereo pair right now.

can you compare the P1 and Gold? which osa's do you own? (I've used the C, A and the L) I'm trying to find a point of reference.

thanks again
AA

[s.d.finley]

EM Gold?

Pics please!!

I am in agreement w/ DiscoD, the A-designs stuff is of higher quality, build and tone, than the OSA...at least the ones that I have....MP1-C's...the P1 and EM-Silver totally rawks!!

sdf

[s.d.finley]

pics?

sdf

[AdamJay]

Originally Posted by s.d.finley

pics?

sdf

i reckon it looks just like the EM-Silver, EM-Blue, and EM-Red...
but its most likely Gold instead.

[s.d.finley]

Originally Posted by AdamJay

i reckon it looks just like the EM-Silver, EM-Blue, and EM-Red...
but its most likely Gold instead.

Yeah,

I suspected that....but it would still be nice to oogle it...

sdf

[SecretAgent]

It's been a long time since there was real talk of the EM-Gold!

I see in pics from other threads here that people now have them. How are you finding them and for which applications are they working best for you?

Particularly interested in using a pair with my MPC > EM-Gold DI inserts or Tracking Rhodes/bass > DI + a cab mic.

Would this be a good pre pair to start a 500 series rack?

[BLueROom]

I just picked up a GOLD and so far it rocks on guitar and floor toms! That's all I've been able to try it on so far, but as in all A Designs products... it performs far above it price.

A+

[SecretAgent]

as in all A Designs products... it performs far above it price.

Yep, their whole range is so good i'm stuck for where to start!

I see from a bit of snooping you got the P1s. Also tempted by those as an all rounder. It's def the quad eight sound i'm after. The P1 & it's EM variants do not make it an easy choice!

[pan60]

Originally Posted by SecretAgent

as in all A Designs products... it performs far above it price.

Yep, their whole range is so good i'm stuck for where to start!

I see from a bit of snooping you got the P1s. Also tempted by those as an all rounder. It's def the quad eight sound i'm after. The P1 & it's EM variants do not make it an easy choice!

you can't go wrong with the P-1s
if the quad eight sound is what you are looking for them i would not even give it a second thought.
i love the A-Designs as a system from the P-1 to to entire range of the EM-COLORS
i have a pair of P-1s and a EM-BLUE i plan to add more P-1s and the range of EM-COLORS to my system.

[SecretAgent]

Originally Posted by pan60

i love the A-Designs as a system from the P-1 to to entire range of the EM-COLORS
i have a pair of P-1s and a EM-BLUE i plan to add more P-1s and the range of EM-COLORS to my system.

Yea the versatility of the A-designs gear looks so wide!

I'm already dreaming of a lunchbox stacked with pres > the 'atty2d' for level duties before going to DAW! BEAUTIFUL!!!

Thanks pan60 for the guidance.

[NathanEldred]

Originally Posted by s.d.finley

the A-designs stuff is of higher quality, build and tone, than the OSA...at least the ones that I have....MP1-C's...

Originally Posted by Disco D

no, all i have is the pair of Golds and the P-1. The other 3 pres in the lunchbox are various OSAs and they don't stand up both in build quality or sound.

Can either one of you provide comparison sound samples? I'm sure people would be interested to hear the differences. Please be specific which ones you are comparing since there are 4 different OSA models which all have different characters, and maybe the serial number of the unit to verify that it's post 2001 (not a really old unit).

[LaLaFaV]

Originally Posted by NathanEldred

Can either one of you provide comparison sound samples? I'm sure people would be interested to hear the differences. Please be specific which ones you are comparing since there are 4 different OSA models which all have different characters, and maybe the serial number of the unit to verify that it's post 2001 (not a really old unit).

I believe that Disco D is unfortunately no longer with us...

[sevendaysoff]

RIP

[ology]

RIP Disco.... I will say I just got my FIRST P1 for my OSA Rack ( which has 4 OSAs , and 2 Shadow Hills Mono Gamas) and WOW these things are on another level. YES the build quality of the A designs stuff has impressed me so much, I bought another P1 a day later. Now I want to replace my OSA's ( which in their defense are quite nice)and CANNOT WAIT to hear the GOLD... but I want all my osa's with A designs pres PERIOD. I love the Shadow Hills but comparing them back to back the A designs has a "solidness" that the others just cannot quite compare to in my opinon. At least in the P1 so far. It has a certain "3 Dish" thing it does for vocals IMO. From the second I turned up the red volume knob I was like ... Whoa!.. wait a second..WOW... man, this thing is KILLER!... Also recorded a female singer in it on a VERY Dynamic Latin Ballad the other day. She Sage almost wispery soft and then at the end of the song BLARING LOUD and this Pre never distorted ONCE... I'm Sold...

[pan60]

just hammer the EM-BLUE with some vocals today, man i love these pre's: )~