Pre Amps, Mic

[JohnSparkz]

I am not a rookie (f0r say) im 19 years old, have been mixing/ engineering for 7 years, i run pro tools 10 with a bluebird mic for when i record, mainly i do mixing from outside sources but now im starting to get more into my own recording

using just the stock pre amps on the 002, i also have a Presonus Studio Channel

but i its time to get serious, i mainly only record hip hop and r and b so everyone says avalon, the price isnt too bad, but i was wondering if i could get away with something a little pocket friendly

i was looking at
ART Pro MPA II
Chandler Limited Germanium
Chameleon Labs 7602 MKII

i do not really need a pre with EQ and compression cause i do that in pro tools i just heard the 7602 is fairly good


any suggesions? should i upgrade the bluebird mic also?

[scottyjneilson]

Dude those pres are all over the place price wise... As well as design wise. Honestly you will find the greatest value in the 500 format... You can get into a nevish pre for under 700...

Sent from my LS670 using Gearslutz.com

[JohnSparkz]

sorry bout that, cause i am all over the place! so many people say nah get a avalon, then some say no this Chameleon Labs is good lol sorry about that

[JohnSparkz]

anyone?

[scottyjneilson]

IMO. Avalon is a waste of money.. If you are.dead set on one those 3 get the cl 7602 w mods and be done.

Sent from my LS670 using Gearslutz.com

[DR Music]

Try a Presonus Eureka, GAP Pre73,
Or a LA-610mkll is a good choice.
All 3 you would be happy.
Me I have tons of great pres (with and without 500 series) and I keep the Eureka's and my Pre73's. Nice units low cost.
A Eureka with a BurrBrown Mod is very pro sounding.
I suggest the La-610 mkll because I seem the prefer that one on vocals.

[DR Music]

Originally Posted by scottyjneilson

IMO. Avalon is a waste of money.. If you are.dead set on one those 3 get the cl 7602 w mods and be done.

Sent from my LS670 using Gearslutz.com

+1
Good idea aswell!!!

[JohnSparkz]

thank you for being logical with me, i kind of want to stay away from presonus, maybe the CL 7602 with the x mod, but i feel like thats a waste because i EQ an compress in pro tools

[Peacock]

Sytek

or

Davisound solid state

[DR Music]

Originally Posted by JohnSparkz

thank you for being logical with me, i kind of want to stay away from presonus, maybe the CL 7602 with the x mod, but i feel like thats a waste because i EQ an compress in pro tools

Ok. Good luck.

[scottyjneilson]

Well what I can Say is the outboard eq will come in handy on certain voices especially if you are limited to one or two mics.

I would say you should try eq on the way in. I dont do it and it is not for everyone but if its good on the way in, you will have less work in your DAW. Besides you never know when an outboard EQ will come in handy especially if you ever have to track a bass, nothing better than an outboard EQ on Bass and Guitar if an outboard EQ is available of course...

[Snatchman]

Originally Posted by JohnSparkz

thank you for being logical with me, i kind of want to stay away from presonus, maybe the CL 7602 with the x mod, but i feel like thats a waste because i EQ an compress in pro tools

If you like the CL pre,maybe just get the Chameleon Labs 500 pre and the optional one space PSU they make..Good luck

[Ernest Buckley]

Originally Posted by JohnSparkz

I am not a rookie (f0r say) im 19 years old, have been mixing/ engineering for 7 years, i run pro tools 10 with a bluebird mic for when i record, mainly i do mixing from outside sources but now im starting to get more into my own recording

using just the stock pre amps on the 002, i also have a Presonus Studio Channel

but i its time to get serious, i mainly only record hip hop and r and b so everyone says avalon, the price isnt too bad, but i was wondering if i could get away with something a little pocket friendly

i was looking at
ART Pro MPA II
Chandler Limited Germanium
Chameleon Labs 7602 MKII

i do not really need a pre with EQ and compression cause i do that in pro tools i just heard the 7602 is fairly good


any suggesions? should i upgrade the bluebird mic also?

A good handful of Gear Slutz frown about the Avalon 737... I don`t know why... I have two of them and love them. As I suggest to everyone asking about gear, get your hands on as many pres as possible and audition them. There is a pre in the 500 series that I love: the Grace m501.

Good luck in your search.
EB

[stevens119]

Originally Posted by scottyjneilson

Honestly you will find the greatest value in the 500 format... You can get into a nevish pre for under 700...

exactly. The Vintech one is fantastic.

Originally Posted by scottyjneilson

IMO. Avalon is a waste of money.

totally agree. Those 2022's and 2044's might be good for mastering guys, but i've tried making records with them and I get out exactly what I put in…not very useful. I want it to be bigger than what I recorded. API, Neve - that type stuff

Originally Posted by JohnSparkz

thank you for being logical with me, i kind of want to stay away from presonus, maybe the CL 7602 with the x mod, but i feel like thats a waste because i EQ an compress in pro tools

If you have never compressed a signal going in, you are missing a lot. Those compressor plugins are not doing what a real compressor does. Try an 1176, and then an 1176 plugin. You do need a compressor. Eq is not really necessary going in, but can be useful

As, for your original post. If you have the money, get the Chandler. That's an amazing preamp

[robertshaw]

Originally Posted by scottyjneilson

IMO. Avalon is a waste of money.

not used

[JohnSparkz]

i love this, everyones helping lol

well, i like the range 500-700
the Grace m501 ive hear a lot of good thing but my drawbacks are the mounting for it, and if it will sound good with hip hop

I cannot find a Neve one, neve products are a little confusing to me,
But i am really falln back to the CL-7602

I am very open to compressing before hitting the pro tools
But maybe someone could post a recording or send me a link to hear some examples of diff pres?

[Ernest Buckley]

Originally Posted by JohnSparkz

i love this, everyones helping lol

well, i like the range 500-700
the Grace m501 ive hear a lot of good thing but my drawbacks are the mounting for it, and if it will sound good with hip hop

I cannot find a Neve one, neve products are a little confusing to me,
But i am really falln back to the CL-7602

I am very open to compressing before hitting the pro tools
But maybe someone could post a recording or send me a link to hear some examples of diff pres?

Again, you should audition them yourself. Thats the best way to do this. I will mention this and its been said many times before on GS, the 737 may get a bad rep around here but the truth is, most professional studios own one. Why?

[hereticskeptic]

Are you looking to get a clean sound going in, a little flavor from the preamp, or heavy thickening from the preamp?

What mic(s) are you currently using?

Whatever you decide to buy, buy used, if you can. It's the best way to audition gear, without having to lose too much if you decide to resell it and go another route.

[Ernest Buckley]

Originally Posted by hereticskeptic

Are you looking to get a clean sound going in, a little flavor from the preamp, or heavy thickening from the preamp?

What mic(s) are you currently using?

Whatever you decide to buy, buy used, if you can. It's the best way to audition gear, without having to lose too much if you decide to resell it and go another route.

Thats the beauty and much overlooked aspect of the 737s. You can drive the input for a warmer tone or lay off and drive the output for a cleaner tone. You can also use the beautiful EQ and lock in the sound you want. Anyone claiming the 737 bland just have not used it fully or maybe they don`t know how.

I just don`t get the hate...

[DR Music]

Originally Posted by Ernest Buckley

Thats the beauty and much overlooked aspect of the 737s. You can drive the input for a warmer tone or lay off and drive the output for a cleaner tone. You can also use the beautiful EQ and lock in the sound you want. Anyone claiming the 737 bland just have not used it fully or maybe they don`t know how.

I just don`t get the hate...

I believe the reason why its hated on, is because when you have it side to side with other pre's that are less $$,
It's hard to justify the price.. Like me and a 737 owner after we compared it to a Eureka with modded opamps and upgraded transformer did great against it. With indepedence controls and the sound, we just couldn't believe it.
He sold it and has replaced it with a great river and a disstressor.
I love my la610 mkll VS the 737 but it's all preference.

[JohnSparkz]

i have a bluebird mic

and i am trying to get that warm sound that can be heard on kanye west songs

[hereticskeptic]

Originally Posted by Ernest Buckley

Thats the beauty and much overlooked aspect of the 737s. You can drive the input for a warmer tone or lay off and drive the output for a cleaner tone. You can also use the beautiful EQ and lock in the sound you want. Anyone claiming the 737 bland just have not used it fully or maybe they don`t know how.

I just don`t get the hate...

I hear you. I've never used the 737, but would never have expected it to be nearly as bad as some folks would have you believe. I mean, it could be to my ears, but so could a unit that is often praised.

I didn't know that you could go from clean to thicker character using input/output gain. I wouldn't be surprised if some folks weren't aware of this, and didn't play with the settings enough to discover this.

[Ernest Buckley]

Originally Posted by DR Music

I believe the reason why its hated on, is because when you have it side to side with other pre's that are less $$,
It's hard to justify the price.. Like me and a 737 owner after we compared it to a Eureka with modded opamps and upgraded transformer did great against it. With indepedence controls and the sound, we just couldn't believe it.
He sold it and has replaced it with a great river and a disstressor.
I love my la610 mkll VS the 737 but it's all preference.

I have a Great River too, it works nicely for certain things, not everything. I really just think that a couple of people back in the day put the 737 down and now people who don`t know anything about it continue to hate on it because its the GS thing to do. Aside from that, the GR mic pre is $2000 and a Distressor is $1350 so for $3350 your friend has a really nice chain. I think the Avalon $2200 new is still a good deal.

[hereticskeptic]

Originally Posted by JohnSparkz

i have a bluebird mic

and i am trying to get that warm sound that can be heard on kanye west songs

The Bluebird is a colorful, bright mic. Something that could smooth out the high end would likely be a good fit. I'm not sure which preamps will do that, based on experience, but most people might recommend something of the Neve flavor, where you can dial in more character with the input gain, and help smooth some of the high end.

In the end, you're gonna have to try some out, and see what works for your taste. I'm in the process of doing just that. Have a Neve-style preamp, as well as clean preamps, and am eager to compare (waiting on my mic to be delivered).

As a side note, UA has a promotion right now, where buying the LA610 MKII channel strip also gets you a UAD-2 card, so you could take advantage of that, in the event you were curious about that preamp.

Sorry that I couldn't be of much help. I try not to offer advice when I don't have experience, but I did wanna get you thinking about certain things that are widely accepted as true.

[hereticskeptic]

Originally Posted by Ernest Buckley

I have a Great River too, it works nicely for certain things, not everything. I really just think that a couple of people back in the day put the 737 down and now people who don`t know anything about it continue to hate on it because its the GS thing to do. Aside from that, the GR mic pre is $2000 and a Distressor is $1350 so for $3350 your friend has a really nice chain. I think the Avalon $2200 new is still a good deal.

I've always wondered if the Avalon might have once been a flavor-of-the-month unit, that was then viewed poorly, once the hype died down and something new came along. Also wondered if it's association with Hip Hop had something to do with that, but I see a lot of Hip Hop cats down the unit as well.

For a Hip Hop guy, I'd probably stress getting a good compressor, more than which preamp to get. Funny thing is, I puzzle over which preamp would be ideal myself, so I'm really in no position to preach, haha.

I'm now resolved to just get shit in here, and find out through experience. No better way, though research will at least reveal some consistently recommended units.

Happy hunting OP!

[DR Music]

Originally Posted by Ernest Buckley

I have a Great River too, it works nicely for certain things, not everything. I really just think that a couple of people back in the day put the 737 down and now people who don`t know anything about it continue to hate on it because its the GS thing to do. Aside from that, the GR mic pre is $2000 and a Distressor is $1350 so for $3350 your friend has a really nice chain. I think the Avalon $2200 new is still a good deal.

A 500 series GR! 750 plus 1250 Distressor is close to 2000. Very useful combination!!!

[DR Music]

Originally Posted by hereticskeptic

The Bluebird is a colorful, bright mic. Something that could smooth out the high end would likely be a good fit. I'm not sure which preamps will do that, based on experience, but most people might recommend something of the Neve flavor, where you can dial in more character with the input gain, and help smooth some of the high end.

In the end, you're gonna have to try some out, and see what works for your taste. I'm in the process of doing just that. Have a Neve-style preamp, as well as clean preamps, and am eager to compare (waiting on my mic to be delivered).

As a side note, UA has a promotion right now, where buying the LA610 MKII channel strip also gets you a UAD-2 card, so you could take advantage of that, in the event you were curious about that preamp.

Sorry that I couldn't be of much help. I try not to offer advice when I don't have experience, but I did wanna get you thinking about certain things that are widely accepted as true.

Just bought these UA la610 mkll with the uad2 promotion a month ago!! I got my card yesterday!!!
awesomeness for me! Only thing better than a la610 is 2 of them with a free uad2 duo card!
La610mkll is the best buy tight now.. Clean or butter warm sound...
Act. gtrs / Vocal / Bass..

[Peacock]

Originally Posted by DR Music

I believe the reason why its hated on, is because when you have it side to side with other pre's that are less $$,
It's hard to justify the price..

The 737 is a nice tool. Its incredible on DI bass.

As far as placing pres side by side. Since you are in Chicago you should call Mike at Sytek and audition the Sytek pre. It will hang with any pre at any price.

[DR Music]

Originally Posted by Peacock

The 737 is a nice tool. Its incredible on DI bass.

As far as placing pres side by side. Since you are in Chicago you should call Mike at Sytek and audition the Sytek pre. It will hang with any pre at any price.

Yup and at around $800 it's a freaking steal..

[KingGinger]

Check out the 500 series Shadow Hills GAMA. It's pretty rad and has switchable output transformers (Iron Nickel Steel) each respectively with their own sound, essentially Clean, Warm, and Dirty. It's an $800 pre in the 500 series and is worth every penny. People are dropping their API's over them. Read some reviews.