Violet Global Pre?

musicalnyc · 12th January 2006

Hi,
I just found this product online called the Violet "Global Pre" and was wondering if anyone had used one. It's a compact, phantom powered, transformerless housing for use with bottle type capsules. I'd love to put my unused Blue Bottle capsules to work - but only if it sounds good. To anyone with any experience/suggestions, thanks in advance!

vocalworld · 12th January 2006

I have not used the violet preamp but I use the Red Mic Type B (with solid state class a technology) which is produced from Vintagemicrophone.com a daughter company of Blue microphones. This Type B can be used with the Blue capsules, too (I have B6 and B0). The Red Mic sounds great with the capsules. The Type B with the B6 capsule sounds better than the new AKG 414 XL II although the sound character is rather similar (both are CK12 like sounding). And it is better sounding than my AT 4050 because it is more open sounding and more detailed (although the AT 4050 is a good mic, too).

Compared to the Blue microphones the Red Mic Type B is rather cheap. And I think it is also cheaper than the Violet Mic. Therefore for me there is no reason to buy a Violet Mic. I will stay with my Red Mic, buying some more different Blue capsules for it and maybe one day buy the Blue Bottle to have a tube mic. In the Moment the Red Mic Type B is my favorite mic.

Mathias

musicalnyc · 14th January 2006

Thanks vocalworld, I will definitely check out the Red Type B!

Ocie · 8th August 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by musicalnyc

Hi,
I just found this product online called the Violet "Global Pre" and was wondering if anyone had used one. It's a compact, phantom powered, transformerless housing for use with bottle type capsules. I'd love to put my unused Blue Bottle capsules to work - but only if it sounds good. To anyone with any experience/suggestions, thanks in advance!

Your Blue bottle heads won't work on the Violet Global Pre. Violet uses a the same mount as Neuman. Violet is hand made in Latvia where Blue used to be made.

Jonboy79 · 8th August 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ocie

Your Blue bottle heads won't work on the Violet Global Pre. Violet uses a the same mount as Neuman. Violet is hand made in Latvia where Blue used to be made.

Let's not start this again.

matta · 9th August 2007

Ocie,

This thread is over a year old and as someone pointed out all 3 of your posts have been about Violet and bragging about the fact that BLUE are no longer made in Latvia, or something to that effect... which only leads me to think you are somehow linked to the company. I certainly hope not as this crap really has to stop as I've shared before!

I am the Violet dealer/distributor in South Africa and have always stated this upfront in my posts so everyone is very clear on my point of reference/views and may choose to take it/them with a pinch of salt.

That said I'm VERY happy with the Violet Mics, both their sound and build quality.

I have a company that specializes in custom build pro audio solutions and racking/refurbishment of old analog gear and never planned on becoming a dealer for anything other than my own products and services, but I was THAT impressed by the Violet Mics... so I did. I was customer long before I was a dealer.

Please lets leave the past behind and focus on Violet's future, they make great mics, have got some new and unique concepts/designs with a new line that differentiates them from BLUE. They have grown their distribution network as well as product line and are finally standing on their own 2 feet, but crap like this only take the brand a step back, not forward. The world is big enough to allow BLUE and Violet to coexist without the mud slinging.

Now even though this post is a year old I'll give some input in the Global Pre (to get back on topic!).

I think it is a GREAT little studio mic pre amp, very clear/clean with gobs of output and can be used with the older Neumann CMV style capsules, the RED line as well as Violet's own VIN series, making it incredibly flexible in any studio environment. I own one myself with the VIN 26 capsule (similar/same capsule as their Amethyst Standard Mic), which is a blend of a C12 and U67, quite different from a lot of studio stalwarts having a very upfront sound to it, great on acoustic guitar and certain vocal types.

I think John Paterno (whose work I admire and respect) has also commented on The Amethysts use as a great acoustic guitar mic in the past.

One of my clients has a plethora of GREAT and I mean GREAT mics including a U67, C-800G and VM1-KHE (not the lite version) and a slew of staple, non valve condensers. We shot out some of the line of Violets against the above and he now has a Global Pre with VIN26 and VIN67 heads on order to compliment his already well stocked mic cabinet.

But as I share with all things, go take a LISTEN!!! Too much 'hype in type', you got ears, use them.

Contact your local dealer and make a plan to get a demo mic/s. I offer this service to my clients, I would assume or at least hope their other dealers do likewise.

Cheers

Matt

paterno · 11th August 2007

Hey Matt --

thanks for the kind words. yes, I am way into the Violets -- the Amethyst Vintage and Standards especially. Awesome for acoustic guitar, piano, drum overheads, percussion, vocals. All kinds of stuff. If I have one complaint, they have too much output, so it's hard to use them on a loud guitar amp without padding down the input of the mic pre. But if you can get it to work, it sounds pretty spectacular. The Globe Vintage is great on acoustic as well. I've used the Black Finger as a hat mic as well -- it is open on the high top end, without getting aggressive in the presence area.

Cheers,
John

matta · 11th August 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by paterno

Hey Matt --

thanks for the kind words. yes, I am way into the Violets -- the Amethyst Vintage and Standards especially. Awesome for acoustic guitar, piano, drum overheads, percussion, vocals. All kinds of stuff. If I have one complaint, they have too much output, so it's hard to use them on a loud guitar amp without padding down the input of the mic pre. But if you can get it to work, it sounds pretty spectacular. The Globe Vintage is great on acoustic as well. I've used the Black Finger as a hat mic as well -- it is open on the high top end, without getting aggressive in the presence area.

Cheers,
John

Hi John,

It is a pleasure on the words.

I'm a fan of your work, love the Manning Jnr. record and your work with Robbie Williams. Been followed your career through your records and the articles in various pubs like EM and Tape Op etc.

I am a HUGE fan of Tchad's work and methodologies and being the assistant to Froom/Blake during the hayday of their musical partnership must have been a trip... though no doubt physically and mentally taxing!

Thanks for the additional words on the Violet Mics. I, like you work with gear everyday, both new and old and when I first heard the Black Knight (the first of the line I heard a few years ago) I couldn't believe the price tag, I thought they were onto something and overtime I picked up the line here in South Africa.

I hear you on the output! As I commented above.... GOBS of output! One thing that is amazing is despite the output being LOUD it is surprisingly clean/noise free having a VERY low floor noise compared to many mics in the same price range/class.

As I shared in another thread I love both Amethyst's but find the Vintage a little more flexible than the the Standard in certain applications, have you found it likewise?

One thing I also noticed when comparing the Global Pre with VIN26 capsule in comparison to the
Standard the Standard exhibited a slight combing/resonant head freq thing going on in the mids making the Global Pre a little more favorable/open sounding to me, even if the Amethyst looks a heck of a lot cooler and still sounds pretty amazing.

I shot out the SM81 and Black Finger in a similar Hi Hat test and it revealed/yielded similar results, nice open top end without the mid range aggression/transient peaks.

I've been using a factory matched pair of the Black Knights as drum overheads. Smoother and darker than the Fingers/Amethyst but find they compliment overly bright cymbals taking the edge off a bit.

Cheers

Matt

jamboy · 16th August 2007

I'm surprised that there hasn't been more mention of violet mics on this forum (apart from the obvious). I thought I'd give my experience.

I bought a Grand Pearl cold (not something I'd normally do) and I think it's a really great versitile mic. I use it with Blue Robbie and they compliment each other well. For my vocals it's perfect (when you add price into the equation). It's pretty much my point it at anything mic. I'm seriously considering the Global pre after reading some great reviews.

12th January 2006	#1
musicalnyc Gear Head Joined: Sep 2005 Location: NYC Posts: 54 Thread Starter	Violet Global Pre? Hi, I just found this product online called the Violet "Global Pre" and was wondering if anyone had used one. It's a compact, phantom powered, transformerless housing for use with bottle type capsules. I'd love to put my unused Blue Bottle capsules to work - but only if it sounds good. To anyone with any experience/suggestions, thanks in advance!

9th August 2007	#6
matta Lives for gear Joined: Sep 2005 Location: Cape Town, South Africa Posts: 603	Ocie, This thread is over a year old and as someone pointed out all 3 of your posts have been about Violet and bragging about the fact that BLUE are no longer made in Latvia, or something to that effect... which only leads me to think you are somehow linked to the company. I certainly hope not as this crap really has to stop as I've shared before! I am the Violet dealer/distributor in South Africa and have always stated this upfront in my posts so everyone is very clear on my point of reference/views and may choose to take it/them with a pinch of salt. That said I'm VERY happy with the Violet Mics, both their sound and build quality. I have a company that specializes in custom build pro audio solutions and racking/refurbishment of old analog gear and never planned on becoming a dealer for anything other than my own products and services, but I was THAT impressed by the Violet Mics... so I did. I was customer long before I was a dealer. Please lets leave the past behind and focus on Violet's future, they make great mics, have got some new and unique concepts/designs with a new line that differentiates them from BLUE. They have grown their distribution network as well as product line and are finally standing on their own 2 feet, but crap like this only take the brand a step back, not forward. The world is big enough to allow BLUE and Violet to coexist without the mud slinging. Now even though this post is a year old I'll give some input in the Global Pre (to get back on topic!). I think it is a GREAT little studio mic pre amp, very clear/clean with gobs of output and can be used with the older Neumann CMV style capsules, the RED line as well as Violet's own VIN series, making it incredibly flexible in any studio environment. I own one myself with the VIN 26 capsule (similar/same capsule as their Amethyst Standard Mic), which is a blend of a C12 and U67, quite different from a lot of studio stalwarts having a very upfront sound to it, great on acoustic guitar and certain vocal types. I think John Paterno (whose work I admire and respect) has also commented on The Amethysts use as a great acoustic guitar mic in the past. One of my clients has a plethora of GREAT and I mean GREAT mics including a U67, C-800G and VM1-KHE (not the lite version) and a slew of staple, non valve condensers. We shot out some of the line of Violets against the above and he now has a Global Pre with VIN26 and VIN67 heads on order to compliment his already well stocked mic cabinet. But as I share with all things, go take a LISTEN!!! Too much 'hype in type', you got ears, use them. Contact your local dealer and make a plan to get a demo mic/s. I offer this service to my clients, I would assume or at least hope their other dealers do likewise. Cheers Matt __________________ Matt Allison Studio Owner / Mad Scientist www.dockyardstudios.com www.ashtonaudio.com Last edited by matta; 9th August 2007 at 11:35 AM.. Reason: Typos and added some more info...

11th August 2007	#7
paterno Lives for gear Joined: Jan 2003 Location: LA Posts: 1,456	Hey Matt -- thanks for the kind words. yes, I am way into the Violets -- the Amethyst Vintage and Standards especially. Awesome for acoustic guitar, piano, drum overheads, percussion, vocals. All kinds of stuff. If I have one complaint, they have too much output, so it's hard to use them on a loud guitar amp without padding down the input of the mic pre. But if you can get it to work, it sounds pretty spectacular. The Globe Vintage is great on acoustic as well. I've used the Black Finger as a hat mic as well -- it is open on the high top end, without getting aggressive in the presence area. Cheers, John __________________ discography and other stuff:www.jpreceng.com

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12th January 2006	#2
vocalworld Gear Head Joined: Dec 2005 Location: Germany Posts: 36	I have not used the violet preamp but I use the Red Mic Type B (with solid state class a technology) which is produced from Vintagemicrophone.com a daughter company of Blue microphones. This Type B can be used with the Blue capsules, too (I have B6 and B0). The Red Mic sounds great with the capsules. The Type B with the B6 capsule sounds better than the new AKG 414 XL II although the sound character is rather similar (both are CK12 like sounding). And it is better sounding than my AT 4050 because it is more open sounding and more detailed (although the AT 4050 is a good mic, too). Compared to the Blue microphones the Red Mic Type B is rather cheap. And I think it is also cheaper than the Violet Mic. Therefore for me there is no reason to buy a Violet Mic. I will stay with my Red Mic, buying some more different Blue capsules for it and maybe one day buy the Blue Bottle to have a tube mic. In the Moment the Red Mic Type B is my favorite mic. Mathias

14th January 2006	#3
musicalnyc Gear Head Joined: Sep 2005 Location: NYC Posts: 54 Thread Starter	Thanks vocalworld, I will definitely check out the Red Type B!

16th August 2007	#9
jamboy Gear interested Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 27	I'm surprised that there hasn't been more mention of violet mics on this forum (apart from the obvious). I thought I'd give my experience. I bought a Grand Pearl cold (not something I'd normally do) and I think it's a really great versitile mic. I use it with Blue Robbie and they compliment each other well. For my vocals it's perfect (when you add price into the equation). It's pretty much my point it at anything mic. I'm seriously considering the Global pre after reading some great reviews.