Tube pre's under $1000

[akjl4]

I really like the sound of tube pres, and would like to know what is available under $1000 that has that nice saturated sound! Preferably with ample gain.

Alvin

[Empty Planet]

The Tab-Funkenwerk V78 is around a grand and a hell of a deal. It doesn't have monster gain, but it has sufficient for most tasks. It's a classy sounding amp based on a classic design, and the support is fantastic. You can read a little about the unit here.

In any case, I hope you find the gear that works out best for you.


Cheers.

[Jonstudio]

For that price, hands down winner, UA's Solo 610 for $800. Such a great tube sound.

Jon Schmitz

[Pohaku]

Peavey VMP-2. Used only, of course. 2 channels with rudimentary EQ for @$700.

[themikesonata]

Originally Posted by Jonstudio

For that price, hands down winner, UA's Solo 610 for $800. Such a great tube sound.

Jon Schmitz

I second the 610! I love it. So killer on a Bass DI. so much bass without losing the killer tones. Can't beat it for the price

[putney41]

I got my LA-610 used for $1,039 and I love it. An extra 2 or 300 bucks for the LA-610 (over the solo 610) is definitely worth every penny. UA's technical support is unbelievable too. One of their tech's talked to me on the phone for about 45 minutes walking me through all of the features and basically taught me how to use it. Just my 2 cents. Peace.

[Crash]

Originally Posted by Pohaku

Peavey VMP-2. Used only, of course. 2 channels with rudimentary EQ for @$700.

Yep, these really don't suck for the money and it is a real 4 tubes per channel preamp.

WINNER TUBE?

[Janesaid2me]

Yea the VMP go for about 700-800 used on ebay i think....and the solo is a nice option as well....if you dont want to spend alot try a art MPA with new tubes in it....those sound pretty decent as well as long as u stick new tubes in...

[Sounds Great]

Groove Tubes MP1. They sell very cheap, far less than they should. Really great sounding tube mic pre /DI. And plenty of gain.

[shocknawful]

Howdy Folks,

I've started buying and selling various mid-low priced mic preamps via EBay. Believe it or not I'm really liking the dbx 386 units. The stock tubes are OK and NOS 12AU7s are generally cheaper than the more popular 12AX7 units. What is also cool is the service Harmon International offers on all the dbx gear. I bought one dbx 386 off of EBay and there was a power supply noise problem. I sent it in to dbx/Harmon for repair. Got a pretty much TOTAL REBUILD FOR $ 100.00 ! And that included return shipping ! Took less than ten days ! Unit now sounds great and I'm really impressed by the service and support dbx offered. Rare to find customer service like that these days !

Kudos to dbx !

Shocknawful

[JPeters86]

+1 for UA Solo 610

[BorrelNote]

+100 for Solo 610 as well...killer for the price

[akjl4]

Cool, lots of vote for the solo 610! Ive been seriously considering this but was wonder what else was available. Does the solo have the ability to get more nasty any distored when pushed? I'm actually wanting this cause tube sound so much better that plugin distortion. I am making electronic industrial music and love a good dirty tube sound!

[erock]

610


I have the 2 channel and its great. I agree with everyone about the bass di. very good. i would suggest getting an inline pad also (like a whirlwind) so that you can reduce the mic signal up front and really crank the tubes up. it's a pretty hot preamp so that would be my suggestion.

[raregroove]

Demeter HXM1.

Used ballpark around $850, 2 channels with Jensen transformers.

[stagefright13]

I have a couple Solo's and yes you can get a great saturated sound with them. And they are the only one as far as I know with an input attenuator instead of a switch. And they REALLY sound nice with a tube swap. ;)

Of course mild saturation sounds great. Too much and it gets ratty!

[ShellTones]

Sebatron vmp 1000e = $800 single channel
Sebatron vmp 2000e = $1200 two channels


Adk microphones, condenser microphone, mic preamp, usb audio interface | Pro Audio Toys

[Charlie_M]

I really dig the 610 that came as part of my 6176. My experience with UA as a company has been great. I never needed them to fix anything but really good with info and response to questions.

Someone once told me that at 1000/channel you more or less can't go wrong. I think that's more or less true butI'm sure there are exceptions (you could buy something that is fantastic but just not what you're looking for). Buying preamps is hard if you're looking for something specific.

In this price range I find that I like to buy gear used because normally in that range people are taking good care of their stuff, and if it turns out that I don't like it I can sell it for nearly what I paid pretty quickly and then try something else, and regard any loss I took on the deal as "tuition" in this recording bit.

I doubt you'd regret the 610 or any of its variants (la-610, solo, 6176...) but you won't know that for sure until you try it unfortunately.

Good luck.

Charlie

[akjl4]

Thanks everyone, hows the sebatron and demeter compare sound wise to solo 610?

[chris carter]

GT Brick. You can get three for a grand used. New you can get 2 and a half. It's a great sounding pre. Although, it's not going to give you a ton of clean gain and it is headroom challenged.... but the solo 610 has the very same problems.

[RUSCO]

I think the sebatron is generally cleaner than the 610 but if you run two channels of sebatron in series you end up with a single channel of total tube goodness.
Like you can use the EQ on the front or back end of the path or pad the first channel but not the second etc.

You should try and get a vmp2000e for that purpose as it will get you more tonal options with two channels.

[1monkey1]

don't sleep on the summit audio 2b1-221.
you can catch them out there for $400-500.
i've recorded with tonelux, api, great river, purple etc. and the summits can hang with all of them.

[zeppe]

A lower end tube pre which I use a lot is the SPL Goldmike 9844. Got it for 350 euro. Lots of interesting features and plenty of gain. Great reviews too.

[jbjoubaud]

Solo 610 was the first that came in mind... But as you posted this thread in the low end section, I will suggest the Studio Projects VTB1.