Joemmek twinq or TL Audio Ebony A1

[stafs]

Hi, folks! It's time to upgrade again. At this time i'm looking for preamp to improve my recording chain. I put my eye on these two: Joemmek twinq and TL Audio Ebony A1. Joemeek have features like, comp, eq, deesser, but TL Audio is just a two channel tube preamp. Actually, i'm looking for better preamp more, than full chanell strip, but.... ;) I did read a lot about JoeMeek here, on gearsluts, but can't find any toughts on Tl Audio Ebony series preamps.

[stafs]

bump!

[DarkSky]

Your question is unanswerable, stafs.

You say you want to improve your recording chain and ask if either of two units would be an improvement, but you haven't said what your current chain is so how can anyone possibly know whether either of the units you mention would improve it.

You also haven't given us any clue what kind of improvement (for what kind of music, with what color, for what instruments, in what situation) you are hoping to achieve. So again, whether either or neither of the units you mention would take you in a direction you might find helpful is anybody's guess.

For example if you are currently trying to record the London Symphonic through a mix of behringer and radio shack preamps, then either unit might be a step up. If you're presently recording grunge through a rack of MP2NVs, I'd say don't bother.

If you want useful answers, you might want to put some thought into framing a useful question.

[stafs]

Thank's for Your time, DarkSky. Actually, best of all i'd like to know something more about TL Ebony preamps, how they sound, ar they clear or colouring etc. TL Audio's 'Ivory' series preamps sounds terrible, so i'm just trying to get more info about their new line. Definetly, the premps in my studio are the weakest point, because i'm working with Presonus DigimaxFS and RME Quadmic preamps. DigimaxFS is my converter and via lightpipe digital signal goes to RME 9636 sound card.I have pairs of Rodes NT1,NT5, Audio Techicas 4047,4050, Shure SM57,58,58Beta, and few more mics from Beyer, AT, AKG. I have small, but accousticaly very well treated studio and recording mainly poprock, rock, punk, metal, hc, hip-hop, pop and sometimes even soul or r'n'b kinda stuff ;).
Presonus preamps to my ears sounds cold, sterile. RME's, directly to AD, in some combinations gives a bit fuller sound, but still, in most cases its very hard to get a decent 'body'. I don't even think about warmth, or something, if singer or accoustic guitar, for example, lacks it. So, i think, the tube preamp would help definetly, as i will use it mainly for vocals, guitars and OH's. But for the price, there is not so many choices, if i'm looking for 2ch preamp. I mentioned Jomeek, just because, it have some nice features, like comp and eq, but not shure, Meeks preamps are good enough, to cover my needs. There's too much in the box, for the price, including AD converter, and couple of mics. Maybe the TL Audio Ebony will give me that warmth and fullnes i'm looking for? Who knows? :) "So many gear, so little knowledge"

[DarkSky]

Okay, that puts things in perspective.

I can't give you a thorough review of the TL Ebony, as I've heard it (nothing bad to say, but I wasn't blown away either) but I haven't worked with it. I've never been impressed with their Ivory series - but I don't want to pre-judge the Ebony.

However I can comment on the TwinQ, as we have one of those in the rack here. We had in mind to use it as an additional color piece, however it has surprised me by being fairly versatile - and capable of being quite clean and quiet - and relatively transparent, when not pushed. Surprisingly good for the price (and it's numerous features are quite useable). Given your stated objective, you could certainly do worse.

Hopefully others will chime in regarding the Ebony. What you really need is someone who has hands-on experience with both.

[stafs]

Im just wondering. TL Audio Ebony preamps are out in the market for a while, but seems like no one have worked with them, because i can't find any user comments on the net. Strange.

[Kronos147]

I have several TL Audio classic series pieces. I have modded them and I really do like them, but I would need to know they made similar improvements to the new series before I would look.

As to the Classic series, I felt they were good units except for the switches and the output. The output was transistor based and really made it sound small. Modding one PA-1 and A/B'ing it to the stock convinced me I was on the right path.

There was another TL Audio thread on GS where I asked the TL Audio rep what was happening on the outouts of the new series, like, are there transformers, but i don't remember reading an answer.