SSL - What is/was regarded as the best pre ?

[Jim Williams]

If I recall, those are the preamps that created the aftermarket preamp biz.

No one raved about SSL sonics back then, it was all about the 'recall'.

Sort of like 1968 when LA studios pulled out the tube consoles and installed Electrodyne and Langivin transistor consoles. The AE's hated the sound and bitched very loudly about that. "We want the tube boards back!"

Now those consoles are collectable. Go figure.

[Fletcher]

The "G" pres were better than the "E" pre's... but both kinda sucked. Like Jim mentioned, they helped launch the outboard pre-amp concept as they weren't that great at the best of times [of course they are "vintage" now... so maybe they're better than they were then].

Peace

[karljohnson]

So everybody wanted them for E.Q,Dynamics with the best E.Q the black E.Q right ?
kj

[Fletcher]

I always like the "02 Air" revision of the EQ best... but the black "242"s are pretty good. The first revision of the dynamics card in the "E series" [the one with the B&B attenuator] was really a favorite... as was the early "gold DBX VCA" version... the later ones seemed to lack balls.

"G" equalizers are good for some things... sometimes a little top end from one on a vocal is a beautiful thing... sometimes they can work on a bass sound... other times they can work on everything if that's all ya gots.

The usefulness for any given task is determined by the user on the day and time of the use... chatter on a message board is all well and good, but seriously means nothing in terms of being applicable to anything you might actually be doing with the tool in your specific application.

Make sense?

[kats]

They also have a transformer based preamp that was an option on the early boards. I have 11 of them on my console( the rest being G series). Hard to describe the character, kind of hard sounding, but not in a bad way. A bit weak in the bottom compared to a Neve 10xx series for example, but not thin sounding.

[Ernest Buckley]

Originally Posted by Fletcher

The "G" pres were better than the "E" pre's... but both kinda sucked. Like Jim mentioned, they helped launch the outboard pre-amp concept as they weren't that great at the best of times [of course they are "vintage" now... so maybe they're better than they were then].

Peace

So you`re saying that they get better with age? Like wine?

So theres hope for Behringer?

[Showcase]

Originally Posted by Fletcher

The "G" pres were better than the "E" pre's... but both kinda sucked. Like Jim mentioned, they helped launch the outboard pre-amp concept as they weren't that great at the best of times [of course they are "vintage" now... so maybe they're better than they were then].

Peace

I think its a little strong to say they suck They are not super nice, but not bad sounding either, I´d rather say perhaps a little boring sounding? 4000, Still best mixing console ever IMO!