Warm, Round, full sounding pre for acoustic guitar

[heyman]

Great River Mp2nv

or

A-dsigns Pacifica..


You be the judge.. Find a store that will let you test drive them..

Make your own decision.

Best of luck..

[gm5k]

Buzz Elixir...or tell Jens at Eisen Audio what you want he'll do his magic the newest pre he put together for me has a JLM opamp and has the biggest richest tone. unbelievable.

[Schmacko]

AMS-Neve 1073 DPA/DPD - can't go wrong with that!

I also like Wunder's pre's

[Stoneroses6300]

Originally Posted by heyman

Great River Mp2nv

or

A-dsigns Pacifica..


You be the judge.. Find a store that will let you test drive them..

Make your own decision.

Best of luck..

Yes, how would you suggest going about finding a place that will let me test them out? I live in Connecticut...Actually, I remeber Calistro music...

[pan60]

i love the A-Designs MP-2A for acoustic guitar deep and wide.

[heyman]

I live in Providence, but am originally from CT.. Welcome My fellow New Englander.
If you are not far from providence, you are more than welcome to come up to my place to try out the Great River..


Criag at Calistro might be willing to let you try those out with a deposit..

I know that Mercenary is gracious enough to let you try before you buy..


www.Mercenary.com (foxboro, Mass)

Any questions, PM me or respond back..

Best of luck..

[A440]

Phoenix Audio (UK) DRS-2

[chrispick]

When I want nice highs, I use my Pacifica.

When I want dark mids, I use my 6176.

[Acoustic Cloud]

John Hardy M-1!!!

[digitalM]

Another vote for the Phoenix Audio DRS-2!

[mrbowes]

When I think "round" I do not think Pacifica. The Pacifica is a great acoustic mic pre, but I wouldn't describe its tone as "warm and round". It's more aggressive, tighter, not as huge sounding but with a lot of high-mids/high-end shimmer.

I think a high-end tube pre will give you more of the qualities you are after. Sebatron VMP-2000e, A-Designs MP-2, or the Tube Tech MP-1a. I've owned all three of these tubes pres (currently own the Sebatron) and you can't go wrong.

[billgennaro]

tube-tech mp-1a.

[Chris]

Maybe most pres in a nice full warm sounding room would do the trick.

[robot gigante]

Originally Posted by pan60

i love the A-Designs MP-2A for acoustic guitar deep and wide.

Me too.

[Tim L]

Pendulum Audio MDP-1a ... of course this all depends on the guitar, player, style, mix, arangement... where Orion falls in the sky... etc, etc, etc,

All kidding aside, the Pendulum's my fav for acoustic guitar and seems to work most instances for me.

[NathanEldred]

Interesting suggestions on here...many I personally don't view as 'warm/round' but more on the fast and articulate side of things (which is far from bad, but if you say you want a Brunette a Blonde isn't going to do it). Warm and round to me means audible harmonic distortion and either an attenuated high end or bump in the low mids with maybe a slightly limited bandwidth and some phase shift. In other words obvious coloration and lots of it. Something in the Neve(ish) or Telefunken camp (and their respective recreations) would qualify for this (but not so much anything API-ish), the Chandler TG or Germanium, or the more colored tube preamps like Manley, Tube Tech, or Mercury (which are very similar to the Telefunken preamps). Just my two cents of experience.

[Stoneroses6300]

The main mic I use for acoustic is an AKG solidtube, which is a pretty dark round mic itself which I like, so I'm not sure how well it would mix with a dark tube pre...The pres I'm using now are the moded BLA 002 pres which have been really good on everything except for acoustic guitar...The acoustic sounds I'm getting are just a bit sterile...SO there is a bit more info....Let me know what are good matches with darker tube mics...

[scrubs]

How about getting a better/warmer/rounder/fuller sounding mic?

[jmikeperkins]

The Telefunken mic pres are my favorite for this application. The tube V72 and V76 units can be expensive but are great. A better value would be the 1st generation solid state units like the Siemens made V276 and the TAB made V376. Oliver Archut at TAB Funkenwerk makes a modern versions of V72 (called the V72s) if you want something new. While warm and round, the Telefunkens are also open sounding, and they work on pretty much anything.

J. Mike Perkins myspace.com/jmikperkins

[billgennaro]

Originally Posted by Stoneroses6300

The main mic I use for acoustic is an AKG solidtube, which is a pretty dark round mic itself which I like, so I'm not sure how well it would mix with a dark tube pre...The pres I'm using now are the moded BLA 002 pres which have been really good on everything except for acoustic guitar...The acoustic sounds I'm getting are just a bit sterile...SO there is a bit more info....Let me know what are good matches with darker tube mics...

I like the AEA TRP with dark sounding mics. After all, it was designed for ribbons. If you use a TRP with the solidtube you'll need phantom power (as the TRP doesn't supply pp). Atlas audio sells a combo TRP and phantom power unit. Fantastic pre and way inexpensive.

bill

[macmod]

Originally Posted by gm5k

Buzz Elixir...or tell Jens at Eisen Audio what you want he'll do his magic the newest pre he put together for me has a JLM opamp and has the biggest richest tone. unbelievable.

Does he actually asemble the whole pre, or do you have to do it yourself using his selection of electronics (kit) ?

Cheers,
Macmod

[analogjeff]

we have the phoenix, the chandler tg-2, and the pendulum mentioned, and we've either tried and returned, or used, Pacifica A, Great River, Hardy, Millennia, Buzz and Neve -- we use the Phoenix and Chandler alot for somewhat warmer acoustic gtr sounds, and the Pendulum when we want it more open and airy (but still smooth)...

[Slipperman]

Originally Posted by NathanEldred

Interesting suggestions on here...many I personally don't view as 'warm/round' but more on the fast and articulate side of things (which is far from bad, but if you say you want a Brunette a Blonde isn't going to do it). Warm and round to me means audible harmonic distortion and either an attenuated high end or bump in the low mids with maybe a slightly limited bandwidth and some phase shift. In other words obvious coloration and lots of it. Something in the Neve(ish) or Telefunken camp (and their respective recreations) would qualify for this (but not so much anything API-ish), the Chandler TG or Germanium, or the more colored tube preamps like Manley, Tube Tech, or Mercury (which are very similar to the Telefunken preamps). Just my two cents of experience.

I'm with Nate.

Most of the stuff mentioned thus far in the thread falls into the 'fast and clear' asile as far as I can hear.

Try a Fern VT-4.

Or, if ya wanna go crazy... just plug a Sennheiser 441 directly into an BA-6A(it's got so much make-up gain you don't NEED a pre-amp) and really lose yer marbles. A stunt I stole from Fletcher.

Bless his pointy head.

SM.

[beglobal]

AEA TRP would be my choice!!!

[bcgood]

A brand spankin new SOLO 610 warm round shiny and sweet!

bcgood

[AB3]

AEA TRP with ribbons is plenty warm. Worked great on my 12 string. No ribbons - then use an A designs MP=2A in general.

[Timothy Lawler]

Originally Posted by Chris

Maybe most pres in a nice full warm sounding room would do the trick.

Yep. And a guitarist who can get a rich and round tone.

Beyond that, I used an Avalon 737sp in a studio that smoothed out transients to be way smoother than the live sound, and did it really nicely.

[Tim L]

Originally Posted by analogjeff

... and the Pendulum when we want it more open and airy (but still smooth)...

Exactly my feelings... the Pendulum is definitely not a "colored" pre to my ears BUT, it still has a soft silk or even a fine velvet sort of quality to it while still delivering articulate detail. Precisely why I love the thing.

That being said, you can push the Pendulum into 'fuzzy love' by crankin' up the input gain.

"Warm and Round" for me personaly doesn't necessarily conjure up something with a definite distortion or 'color' to it... rather, W&R's a more gentle kinda thing... to me anyway. But then again I've allways walked a bit off the beaten path...

[vernier]

Solid-state falls short for warm 'n round. Vintage tube is only one I've heard do that.