500 Series Preamp Shootout Saturday April 12th.

[James 'LA' Lugo]

The P1 and the Blue were both killer on vocals and acoustic guitar (big and lush). Out of everything we shot out many of us thought the Red was the best for heavy guitars. I personally love the Red for guitars, they have a cool edgy top end that none of my other personal pres have. I have a pair and use them weekly.

[Bradahman]

How was the MA5? A different league, or a different flavor...

[NathanEldred]

Hi James, did the Juggernaut arrive safely yesterday? Did you get a chance to use it? Thanks!

[Berolzheimer]

Originally Posted by Bradahman

How was the MA5? A different league, or a different flavor...

I liked it on some things, it had a sort of loose low end that made the female vocal really warm & intimate, but that same low end tended to get out of control on acoustic guitar.
RE the A-Designs stuff I loved the P1 (Pacifica) generally but the others didn't do much for me.

[Bradahman]

Could you comment on the OSA Pre's. Thank you.

[mcsmitty]

let me say thanks in advance to James for taking the time and effort to get all this valuable information together, and for posting the audio files whenever that happens. truly a great resource!

i can't wait!

[Berolzheimer]

Originally Posted by Bradahman

Could you comment on the OSA Pre's. Thank you.

As my friend Billy Talbot would say, Smoothoid. In a very nice, musical way. I especially liked the L3 version, it was a bit more open in the top end.

[Lynn Fuston]

Originally Posted by James 'LA' Lugo

The new Lachapelle Audio 583V Tube Mic Pre. Whoa!

With all those units, my eye was drawn immediately (like I'm sure everyone else's was) to the VU meter on this one. Great idea. And killer sales draw.

[GilWave]

Hello again, Lynn!

That VU meter sure is Slutty. Is it the same one Anamod is using on their Fairchild 670 500 series module?

-gil

[trubac]

Originally Posted by mcsmitty

let me say thanks in advance to James for taking the time and effort to get all this valuable information together, and for posting the audio files whenever that happens. truly a great resource!

i can't wait!

[johnnyjellybean]

Originally Posted by Berolzheimer

I liked it on some things, it had a sort of loose low end that made the female vocal really warm & intimate, but that same low end tended to get out of control on acoustic guitar.
RE the A-Designs stuff I loved the P1 (Pacifica) generally but the others didn't do much for me.

I wouldn't call it a loose low end but rather a large extended low end. Although I wasn't there, I can share my experiences with recording acoustic guitars with the MA5. Although I track mostly electrics, as far as acoustics go so far to date I have recorded a 1941 Martin D-28, a 66 D-28, a 1939 Gibson J-35, a custom made Don Sharp brazilian Dreadnaught and a Blueridge BG-160. Out of these guitars the Martins and the Gibson all had those in your face , piano like mids that pre-war guitars are so well known for. The blueridge also had a bit of that quality. The Don Sharp, although a sweet sounding guitar misses a bit of that mid forward sound which translates into a large sounding bottom end with a forward high end. With that guitar I found the bottom end would get a little out of control but with the 3 vintage pieces, the presence of the more up front mids would even it out. The bottom end of the MA5 seems to extend way down there and on all of the acoustics I usually put a HPF at 45hz.

[James 'LA' Lugo]

I have to go out of town for some gigs till Monday, then I will get these badboys up. It's gonna be about 100 mp3s, so buckle in. This has to be the most compresensive collection of 500 series audio clips ever assembled and anywhere!

[Kronos147]

These were my thoughts: (Caveat, I am a smoker and left a few times for a fix.)

Purple Pants - The Pants seemed to have funny gain issues. The pants was loud, on some things, as pants should be. For character against the pack I think there was better. It seemed to smear the top end somewhat.

Purple Biz - For character against the pack I think there was better. It seemed to smear the top end somewhat.

BAE312a - great mid presence, great on electric guitar and quite good on the male vocal. I felt on acoustic it was missing both high end presence but even missing more low end.

Mint Julep - This unit reminds me of me Focusrite Red 1. The grayhill pot for gain was stepped and often it seemed the optimal setting would have been between the two settings available. When I heard it, it was very nice and articulate. It would be one of those things I would think about on acoustic sources. Pretty impressive.

API 512c - WARNING:- Biased opinion! (The 512c is mine, no one else brought one!) One of the nicest of the group, as it should be. Great on everything that day, the only minus is my one quip that the pad is kinda cloudy. I had some BAE312's and sent them back for API 512c's. They are similar in that the mid presence is fantastic, but the low end translates better with the 512 and the high end is not as smeary.

Shadow Hills Mono Gama - great unit all day, one of the tops. I did ask if it was an early unit, turns out it was something like serial #27. I asked because I know Pete had two sources for transformers, the first one I know and like, the second I don't know. I thought the Mono Gama sounded best with the transformers, IMO. Cool to have the option, I guess.

Avedis MA5 - It did sound good. It did. It had everything, except maybe the ooomph I expected. It was a tad less exiting than I had hoped. Like James said, the A Design Red was spanking on Distorted guitar. I would have thought the MA5 woulda hung a little harder. Maybe the 28k switch would have knocked it up a notch.

OSA (all 4 models) - Functionally perfect, great features. Sound, hmmmm, not hanging with the others. They were near the first units we started with on every round and we were all like, yeah, that sounds good, until the A Design P1 came up right after them. Then it was like "oh." There was more depth, clarity, and punch out of the gate.

A Design Blue - Very solid. I am not sure I could really tell the differences in the A Designs until the distorted guitar. I want to listen to the tracks again.

A Design Gold - See Blue.

A Design Red - Really grabbed my attention with its low end. I thought it would have to be killer on bass. Sounded fantastic on electric guitar.

A Design P1 - Very cool unit, I was told that the rack mount uses slightly "beefier" transformer. I think I should check that out sometime.

VSI M1 - Another disclaimer, this is my unit, and it was built to my specs, and is the prototype for the model I will market with VSI. I compare it best with the P1, Mono Gama (Nickel), and 512. It has slightly less mid hype then those previously mentioned but the low and high end clarity was there. It was very solid, until tracking acoustic and female vocal, where the gain was not high enough. The designers said that it is "a resistor change, the gain is there, we just are padding it down to much." So, bottom line, thank you, thank you, thank you James and crew as we can get that fixed on the first production models.

LaChappel 583S - IMO, both the S and V were best of show. Nothing else touched them. I think I favor the S, but that again may be a personal bias that I need not discuss here. I will quote a VSI designer, "the difference between tubes and discrete op amps is that tubes have some 'give,' much like an old wood floor versus a cement floor."

LaChappel 583V

Buzz Elixer - Very clean sounding unit. Lots of presence and voice. Maybe a tad smeary in the 4-5k range?

JM-130 - Solid unit, very present on everything. I swear I hear a big ole' transformer in that boy. Good lows, good highs, but, I couldn't fit it in the lunchbox I brought for whatever reason.

[James 'LA' Lugo]

That was awesome! He sat next to me the whole day. Great review man.

Most all of the units were good or great but the 2 LaChappel's just f**kin slayed! The 512C was another great unit as was the P1, MA5, Mint Julep, JM-130 and Mono Gama.

[Lynn Fuston]

Somebody tell those Mint Julep guys that the face plate needs to be the same color as the PC board. I couldn't even find it in the pictures. If you're calling it MINT, it doesn't need to be gray.

[lrieves]

Man, Kronos has really got my engine revvin'! it's exciting because i love the sound of my biz, so i can't wait to hear what a mono gama or api will do to my collection!

[imdok]

Just out of curiosity, why was Great River not represented? Nobody owned one?

[strings]

Originally Posted by lrieves

Man, Kronos has really got my engine revvin'!....

lol...that sounds like something that your avator character would say...funny!

[Brent]

Originally Posted by Lynn Fuston

Somebody tell those Mint Julep guys that the face plate needs to be the same color as the PC board. I couldn't even find it in the pictures. If you're calling it MINT, it doesn't need to be gray.

Yeah but is it 'mint' as in the flavor/color or are we talking about 'mint' when used in conjunction with things like hockey cards etc... ( although I agree gray/grey is less than exciting :))

[matta]

Mint Julep - This unit reminds me of me Focusrite Red 1. The grayhill pot for gain was stepped and often it seemed the optimal setting would have been between the two settings available. When I heard it, it was very nice and articulate. It would be one of those things I would think about on acoustic sources. Pretty impressive.

Most all of the units were good or great but the 2 LaChappel's just f**kin slayed! The 512C was another great unit as was the P1, MA5, Mint Julep, JM-130 and Mono Gama.

Thanks for the thoughts and comments guys. Pan has mentioned the 6dB steps in the past as well and we will look into the possibly of adding a gainswitch with finer steps and or an output pot to attenuate the signal. In the meantime an A-Designs's ATTY will be a perfect companion to those trying to find the 'sweet spot'.

Somebody tell those Mint Julep guys that the face plate needs to be the same color as the PC board. I couldn't even find it in the pictures. If you're calling it MINT, it doesn't need to be gray

Yeah but is it 'mint' as in the flavor/color or are we talking about 'mint' when used in conjunction with things like hockey cards etc... ( although I agree gray/grey is less than exciting :))

YEAH! I mean COME ON who makes a white front panel! I reckon we find those 2 guys and drag them into the streets and flog them, good for nothing audio engineers.... Hah hah!

Lynn, if that PCB is not GREEN enough I'm not sure what is, LOL.

Obviously the name 'Mint Julep' stems from the beverage popularized by the Kentucky Derby, which is a HORSE Race, but somewhere along the line we decided to go with the racing theme, but more along the lines of track racing. It evolved into being white with the black pine stripe running through it. All the switches are illuminated in green when depressed (they get that way often these miserable good for nothing things!) to add to it's Minty Charm.

Here is a better shot of Minty, albeit with the wrong gain knob.



Cheers

Matt

[Berolzheimer]

Originally Posted by imdok

Just out of curiosity, why was Great River not represented? Nobody owned one?

Good question, I was hoping to hear that one too.

I'll also post my overall impressions Kronos-style in a day or 2.

[Bradahman]

Originally Posted by Kronos147

Avedis MA5 - It did sound good. It did. It had everything, except maybe the ooomph I expected. It was a tad less exiting than I had hoped. Like James said, the A Design Red was spanking on Distorted guitar. I would have thought the MA5 woulda hung a little harder. Maybe the 28k switch would have knocked it up a notch.

This is going to hurt for some. Blasphemy

[Bradahman]

Originally Posted by Kronos147

OSA (all 4 models) - Functionally perfect, great features. Sound, hmmmm, not hanging with the others. They were near the first units we started with on every round and we were all like, yeah, that sounds good, until the A Design P1 came up right after them. Then it was like "oh." There was more depth, clarity, and punch out of the gate.

What were the first units that they were hanging with? Are all 4 so similar in sound, that they get lumped together? Thank you for your comments.

[pan60]

Originally Posted by matta

Obviously the name 'Mint Julep' stems from the Kentucky Derby, which is a HORSE Race


Cheers

Matt

and i was thinking
Mint Julep recipe

serve in Collins Glass

Scale ingredients to servings

4 fresh mint sprigs
2 1/2 oz bourbon whiskey
1 tsp powdered sugar
2 tsp water

Muddle mint leaves, powdered sugar, and water in a collins glass. Fill the glass with shaved or crushed ice and add bourbon. Top with more ice and garnish with a mint sprig. Serve with a straw.
ahhhhh love the deep south!

[Lynn Fuston]

Originally Posted by Brent

Yeah but is it 'mint' as in the flavor/color or are we talking about 'mint' when used in conjunction with things like hockey cards etc... ( although I agree gray/grey is less than exciting :))

Although gray/grey WITH a VU meter definitely caught my eye.

I think manufacturers shouldn't underestimate the visual impact when trying to get their design to stand out in the crowd. Like, for instance, in a crowd of 20 VPR modules.

Not that anyone would ever do that, put 20 of them all together in the same room. That would be stoopid.

[Lynn Fuston]

Originally Posted by matta

Lynn, if that PCB is not GREEN enough I'm not sure what is, LOL.

Obviously the name 'Mint Julep' stems from the Kentucky Derby, which is a HORSE Race, but somewhere along the line we decided to go with the racing theme, but more along the lines of track racing. It evolved into being white with the black pine stripe running through it. All the switches are illuminated in green when depressed (they get that way often these miserable good for nothing things!) to add to it's Minty Charm.

Thanks for the better picture.

Obviously? Well, I'm here in Tennesse, a stone's throw from Kentucky, and I'd bet most of the people I know think of the drink and not a horse. Bourbon, sugar, mint.

Heck, I'm a tea-totaling Baptist and even I know what a Mint Julep is.

Obviously things are different in Capetown. (Duh. There's a brilliant thought!)

[AmplitudeAudio]

Pan,

For the best juleps you gotta use Maker's Mark (or a "boutique" Kentucky bourbon like Knob Creek) and forget about the water! A great "sipping" drink, after the first 1 or 2 it's all downhill or is it Churchhill Downs.

My wife makes a great mint syrup which we keep in fridge for instant juleps. One cup water, one cup sugar, stir well, bring to a slight boil stirring until the sugar is dissolved, turn off heat and steep a half cup or so of fresh slightly crushed mint leafs wrapped in cheesecloth for about an hour. Add one tablespoon to a shot of bourbon in a glass of crushed ice......aaaahhhhhhhh.

My wife and I went to the Derby a few years back and she had a thermos full of mint syrup. The guards at the gate wouldn't let her take it in until she convinced them that there was no bourbon in it and she was going to use for some "tea". Meanwhile I had the bottle of Knob Creek tucked strategically in my pants. I don't remember much about the races that day but there was one hell of a party on the infield.

P.S. Thanks to all who participated in this monster shootout. I'm still working on a lunch box "dream team". Can't wait to hear the results.

Charlie

[Lynn Fuston]

Originally Posted by pan60

and i was thinking
Mint Julep recipe

serve in Collins G