The A Designs Solid State Shootout (500 series + Pacifica)

warhead · 5th July 2006, 04:25 AM

About a month ago my friend Bob Moore of Sound Lab Recording and I decided to spend a day with the new 500 series preamps from A Designs, as well as the Pacifica preamp. Every "EM" series module (blue, silver, red) and the "P1" module was loaded into an API 6 space lunchbox and connected directly to a Tascam MX-2424 hard disk recorder via Canare cables, recording at 44.1/24 bit. The same channel was used on the MX recorder and the same Canare cable for every test (we just kept physically popping the cable into the next unit). The mic cable was a Monster 500 series. The mics used were:

Overhead: Shure SM81
Kick: E/V RE20
Snare: Shure SM57
Floor Tom: Sennheiser 421
Acoustic Guitar: AKG C451B
Electric Guitar: Sennheiser 421
Bass DI: Washburn 4 string w/ passive pickups (Monster bass cable)

Every mic on hand is considered a standard in its given position. It's not about the mics though, it's about hearing the differences between each preamp in this series.

Gearslutz member "Glitch" offered to host the .wav files here:

www.studionu.com

I would suggest saving the files and loading them into your DAW to play back in a real monitoring environment. On a laptop / cheap PC speakers you're not going to learn much by comparison.

The tests started as a way for me to familiarize myself with the differences within the line for Front End Audio but we went ahead and tried our hardest to make comparison clips in as fair a manner as possible. The drums are played by me, the guitars by Bob. We are both musicians to an extent (like most here!) and we understood the goal was to play easily repeatable lines and swap cables out as quickly as possible! Not rocket science, but not 100% perfect either.

Thanks Glitch for covering bandwidth duty, and putting together a nicely laid out page. I hope you all enjoy and learn a bit by studying these clips.

War

Peter Montessi · 5th July 2006, 04:51 AM

Thanks War!!

Looks like it was a ton of work and time on your end.

Peter Montessi
A Designs Audio
www.adesignsaudio.com

glitch · 5th July 2006, 07:09 AM

I made a couple quick tweaks.

Also, War, edit the link to be www.studionu.com

That's it.

warhead · 5th July 2006, 04:04 PM

Peter, I'll send you a bill for the hours. :)

Glitch, got it changed...thanks again.

War

funka · 5th July 2006, 04:50 PM

"EM Blue Electric" is not working here...
Thank you for this work.

pan60 · 5th July 2006, 05:11 PM

very cool of you Warren!

glitch · 5th July 2006, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by funka

"EM Blue Electric" is not working here...
Thank you for this work.

Someone else must have been accessing the file at that exact moment. I just checked link and source and they're good.

Thanks!

bobdemaa · 6th July 2006, 12:53 AM

This is really cool. I'm looking forward to hearing the clips and have been waiting for an opprotunity to check all these pres out.

I also just picked up Preamps in Paradise, so I'm looking forward to a long day in the studio...

Thanks.

Yetti · 6th July 2006, 02:27 AM

Very cool of you to take the time Warren!

funka · 6th July 2006, 08:26 AM

Yes, that's all ok, I managed to download all the files...now, I'll have a listen...

natpub · 6th July 2006, 10:46 AM

lol, War, you oughta hear the tracks we made today with the P1, holy cripes, delicious!

got a "short" review coming, once my head stops spinning

KT

P.S While I luv the purple cables, the wife wants hot pink (ouch!) for her birthday next month...sigh...cool but expensive when one's wife is a gear fanatic too...any suggestions on who deals hot pink? (blush, that sounds weird~~~~~)

ImJohn · 6th July 2006, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by natpub

P.S While I luv the purple cables, the wife wants hot pink (ouch!) for her birthday next month...sigh...cool but expensive when one's wife is a gear fanatic too...any suggestions on who deals hot pink? (blush, that sounds weird~~~~~)

Apogee AES cables are a nice pink or pink/purple color (pricey though!):
http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/wydeeyecables.php

I haven't used them but Horizon makes a series called 'Neon' and they have pink :
http://www.horizonmusic.com/catalog2...hone/flLzn.gif

warhead · 6th July 2006, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by natpub

lol, War, you oughta hear the tracks we made today with the P1, holy cripes, delicious!

got a "short" review coming, once my head stops spinning

I PM'd you on the cables.

War

glitch · 12th July 2006, 09:45 PM

So, anyone care to post some more impressions thus far?

WidgetNinja · 13th July 2006, 02:38 AM

I was actually surprised at how little the P1 sounds like the Pacifica honestly.

I really gravitated towards the Blues for most the drum duties. If I had to pick one for everything on the kit, it would've been them. They were fast, but still had some wicked depth. The red sounded pretty damn good on snare, as did the P1, but again, the blue was just the all rounder for me.

Pacifica on guitars for me, all the way. Lots of gel. It's polished and softer, but not via distortion seemingly, like what a nicerizer does to a mix. It just makes it better.

Brad McGowan · 13th July 2006, 06:14 AM

Each of those preamps are equally fast. The opamps are all the same so therefore same slew rate. The input and output transformers are the only thing that vary. Actually the Red and Gold are the only ones with different input transformers. Everything else has the exact same input transformer as the Pacifica. The difference between the P-1 and Pacifica are due to different power supplies and output transformers, the Pacifica having a much larger one.

Brad

astronmr20 · 13th July 2006, 06:27 AM

I am hearing perhaps a little extra "richness" in the pacifica. Listening on Tannoys and my sony mdr headphones (not simultaneously). Almost like it's slightly "slower," too.

I particularly like what the silver does to the the snare on the overhead takes with the sm 81.

astronmr20 · 13th July 2006, 06:29 AM

hmmmmmm..

Is that a pro vla I see in the background? Is it modded?

warhead · 13th July 2006, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astronmr20

hmmmmmm..

Is that a pro vla I see in the background? Is it modded?

I PM'd you.

War

glitch · 15th July 2006, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astronmr20

Listening on Tannoys and my sony mdr headphones (not simultaneously).

Haha! Thanks for the clarification!

Snatchman · 15th July 2006, 09:16 PM

SOT...hey War...What console is that with the purple arm padding?....

warhead · 15th July 2006, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snatchman

SOT...hey War...What console is that with the purple arm padding?....

Amek Angela.

War

lpkyer · 16th July 2006, 12:57 AM

humm...
kick: silver
snare: red
floor: none really

I wouldnt buy the pres for the last three, im sure i could dig something better for the drums (512s? OSA?)

ovh: pacifica

bass: pacifica (excellent sounding!!!!)

acoustic guitar: blue or pacifica, cant decide...it really would depend on the context.

electric: Red, P1 and Pacifica are equally good to me, though in a mix, i think the pacifica would stand out because of the brighter top end.

moral of the story: i'm totally buying a pacifica !!!!!!!!!!!

ben_allison · 20th August 2006, 12:41 AM

Hey Warren, thanks for this demo!

Lots of work for sure.

I couldn't hear tons of difference:

Does anyone think the the Behringer Truth's I'm listening on could be to blame?

Three things DID manage to grab me though:

Silver on snare
Red on bass
P1/Pacifica on El. guitar

Maybe my opinion will change when I get some actual monitors up in here!

tomdarude · 20th August 2006, 01:19 PM

man!! I love the pacifica...I picked it soooo often...even in blind tests!!!

a nice surprise was the silver...often liked it too, on acc git e.g....P1 was cool, but still no pacifica.

holy schmoly

jbuntz · 20th August 2006, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brad McGowan

Each of those preamps are equally fast. The opamps are all the same so therefore same slew rate. The input and output transformers are the only thing that vary. Actually the Red and Gold are the only ones with different input transformers. Everything else has the exact same input transformer as the Pacifica. The difference between the P-1 and Pacifica are due to different power supplies and output transformers, the Pacifica having a much larger one.

Brad

Transformers change slew rate in varying amounts. It's the hysteresis - iron is slow, nickel is fast, blah, blah, blah.

The pacfica is my favorite all arounder pre. It always rules on overheads and gutiars. It's a nice match with a 121, better than the neves. Neves feel kinda clunky on a lot of stuff to me. API's and dakings aren't as sweet. I still usually like the MP2 best on bass.

The Red sounds closer to an API to me and the Blue kinda like a Daking (closer than the others). Sorta hard to judge by the clips. Gotta do a few sessions with the pre before you really know it.

Tone Laborer · 11th December 2006, 06:05 PM

I finally loaded in some samples, mainly listening to the pacifica and p1, with a few Em Red samples.

My question was in regards to the acoustic guitar samples. I was surprised that the Pacifica and p1 both sounded darker than I expected. Like the mic was stuck in the soundhole. Any info on the type of guitar and mic position.

I was expecting a brighter sound.

Thanks to War for doing this.

Nu-tra · 12th May 2008, 08:00 AM

Old thread back from the dead... I really like the EM blue on snare...

dylansmale · 12th May 2008, 09:08 AM

Patch Bays are Easy. the end

pan60 · 13th May 2008, 02:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nu-tra

Old thread back from the dead... I really like the EM blue on snare...

me two

the A-Designs EM-BLUE is amazing on snare as well as anything acoustic.

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5th July 2006, 04:25 AM	#1
warhead Jai guru deva om Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: South Carolina Posts: 7,775	The A Designs Solid State Shootout (500 series + Pacifica) About a month ago my friend Bob Moore of Sound Lab Recording and I decided to spend a day with the new 500 series preamps from A Designs, as well as the Pacifica preamp. Every "EM" series module (blue, silver, red) and the "P1" module was loaded into an API 6 space lunchbox and connected directly to a Tascam MX-2424 hard disk recorder via Canare cables, recording at 44.1/24 bit. The same channel was used on the MX recorder and the same Canare cable for every test (we just kept physically popping the cable into the next unit). The mic cable was a Monster 500 series. The mics used were: Overhead: Shure SM81 Kick: E/V RE20 Snare: Shure SM57 Floor Tom: Sennheiser 421 Acoustic Guitar: AKG C451B Electric Guitar: Sennheiser 421 Bass DI: Washburn 4 string w/ passive pickups (Monster bass cable) Every mic on hand is considered a standard in its given position. It's not about the mics though, it's about hearing the differences between each preamp in this series. Gearslutz member "Glitch" offered to host the .wav files here: www.studionu.com I would suggest saving the files and loading them into your DAW to play back in a real monitoring environment. On a laptop / cheap PC speakers you're not going to learn much by comparison. The tests started as a way for me to familiarize myself with the differences within the line for Front End Audio but we went ahead and tried our hardest to make comparison clips in as fair a manner as possible. The drums are played by me, the guitars by Bob. We are both musicians to an extent (like most here!) and we understood the goal was to play easily repeatable lines and swap cables out as quickly as possible! Not rocket science, but not 100% perfect either. Thanks Glitch for covering bandwidth duty, and putting together a nicely laid out page. I hope you all enjoy and learn a bit by studying these clips. War __________________ Warren Dent Email: warren (at) frontendaudio (dot) com Front End Audio Sells Gear Tuesday Testers: Hear the Gear Shootouts Product Videos on YouTube: Overviews of Gear

5th July 2006, 04:04 PM	#4
warhead Jai guru deva om Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: South Carolina Posts: 7,775	Peter, I'll send you a bill for the hours. :) Glitch, got it changed...thanks again. War __________________ Warren Dent Email: warren (at) frontendaudio (dot) com Front End Audio Sells Gear Tuesday Testers: Hear the Gear Shootouts Product Videos on YouTube: Overviews of Gear

5th July 2006, 04:50 PM	#5
funka Gear addict Join Date: May 2005 Location: France Posts: 318	"EM Blue Electric" is not working here... Thank you for this work. __________________ "When 900 years old you reach, look as good you will not."

5th July 2006, 05:11 PM	#6
pan60 500 series nutjob Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: 500 series Guru land ; ) Posts: 5,733	very cool of you Warren! __________________ www.pan60.com quote: The Hammer is like sonic crack. I'm actually afraid to use it for tracking Brad McGowan IF YOU ARE NOT INTO THE 500 FORMAT, THEN YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS! quote: your secret identity is safe with me superman! Peter Montessi it is easy to sound as though one was endowed with great intelligence, whilst speaking amongst a crowd of total morons

5th July 2006, 04:51 AM	#2
Peter Montessi Lives for gear Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 614	Thanks War!! Looks like it was a ton of work and time on your end. Peter Montessi A Designs Audio www.adesignsaudio.com

5th July 2006, 07:09 AM	#3
glitch Lives for gear Join Date: May 2003 Location: USA Posts: 1,264	I made a couple quick tweaks. Also, War, edit the link to be www.studionu.com That's it.

6th July 2006, 12:53 AM	#8
bobdemaa Gear Head Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 37	This is really cool. I'm looking forward to hearing the clips and have been waiting for an opprotunity to check all these pres out. I also just picked up Preamps in Paradise, so I'm looking forward to a long day in the studio... Thanks.

6th July 2006, 02:27 AM	#9
Yetti Lives for gear Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 791	Very cool of you to take the time Warren! __________________ Yetti-

6th July 2006, 08:26 AM	#10
funka Gear addict Join Date: May 2005 Location: France Posts: 318	Yes, that's all ok, I managed to download all the files...now, I'll have a listen... __________________ "When 900 years old you reach, look as good you will not."

6th July 2006, 10:46 AM	#11
natpub More cowbell! Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 1,710	lol, War, you oughta hear the tracks we made today with the P1, holy cripes, delicious! got a "short" review coming, once my head stops spinning KT P.S While I luv the purple cables, the wife wants hot pink (ouch!) for her birthday next month...sigh...cool but expensive when one's wife is a gear fanatic too...any suggestions on who deals hot pink? (blush, that sounds weird~~~~~) __________________ Vibrational Arts, Inc. Blue Sky Way Sonic Sorcery Studios Austin, Texas/Columbus, Ohio

12th July 2006, 09:45 PM	#14
glitch Lives for gear Join Date: May 2003 Location: USA Posts: 1,264	So, anyone care to post some more impressions thus far?

13th July 2006, 02:38 AM	#15
WidgetNinja Lives for gear Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 507	I was actually surprised at how little the P1 sounds like the Pacifica honestly. I really gravitated towards the Blues for most the drum duties. If I had to pick one for everything on the kit, it would've been them. They were fast, but still had some wicked depth. The red sounded pretty damn good on snare, as did the P1, but again, the blue was just the all rounder for me. Pacifica on guitars for me, all the way. Lots of gel. It's polished and softer, but not via distortion seemingly, like what a nicerizer does to a mix. It just makes it better.

13th July 2006, 06:14 AM	#16
Brad McGowan Lives for gear Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,740	Each of those preamps are equally fast. The opamps are all the same so therefore same slew rate. The input and output transformers are the only thing that vary. Actually the Red and Gold are the only ones with different input transformers. Everything else has the exact same input transformer as the Pacifica. The difference between the P-1 and Pacifica are due to different power supplies and output transformers, the Pacifica having a much larger one. Brad

13th July 2006, 06:27 AM	#17
astronmr20 Lives for gear Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 3,022	I am hearing perhaps a little extra "richness" in the pacifica. Listening on Tannoys and my sony mdr headphones (not simultaneously). Almost like it's slightly "slower," too. I particularly like what the silver does to the the snare on the overhead takes with the sm 81. __________________ Steve "He's only a fast food knight..."

13th July 2006, 06:29 AM	#18
astronmr20 Lives for gear Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 3,022	hmmmmmm.. Is that a pro vla I see in the background? Is it modded? __________________ Steve "He's only a fast food knight..."

15th July 2006, 09:16 PM	#21
Snatchman Lives for gear Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 1,617	SOT...hey War...What console is that with the purple arm padding?.... __________________ Thanks for your time and ears!

16th July 2006, 12:57 AM	#23
lpkyer Lives for gear Join Date: May 2006 Location: Montreal, Québec Posts: 1,170	humm... kick: silver snare: red floor: none really I wouldnt buy the pres for the last three, im sure i could dig something better for the drums (512s? OSA?) ovh: pacifica bass: pacifica (excellent sounding!!!!) acoustic guitar: blue or pacifica, cant decide...it really would depend on the context. electric: Red, P1 and Pacifica are equally good to me, though in a mix, i think the pacifica would stand out because of the brighter top end. moral of the story: i'm totally buying a pacifica !!!!!!!!!!!

20th August 2006, 12:41 AM	#24
ben_allison Gear maniac Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Toronto Posts: 261	Hey Warren, thanks for this demo! Lots of work for sure. I couldn't hear tons of difference: Does anyone think the the Behringer Truth's I'm listening on could be to blame? Three things DID manage to grab me though: Silver on snare Red on bass P1/Pacifica on El. guitar Maybe my opinion will change when I get some actual monitors up in here! __________________ Benjamin Allison http://b2p.roestudios.com http://www.myspace.com/betweentwopoints

20th August 2006, 01:19 PM	#25
tomdarude Lives for gear Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: cologne, germany Posts: 723	man!! I love the pacifica...I picked it soooo often...even in blind tests!!! a nice surprise was the silver...often liked it too, on acc git e.g....P1 was cool, but still no pacifica. holy schmoly __________________ FS: Apple G5 Dual-2Ghz in Germany.....check the classifieds!! "You'd be surprised that "f*ck it!" can be a profound philosophy." picksail; 28th August 2008, 08:55 AM

11th December 2006, 06:05 PM	#27
Tone Laborer Lives for gear Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Austin,Tx Posts: 812	I finally loaded in some samples, mainly listening to the pacifica and p1, with a few Em Red samples. My question was in regards to the acoustic guitar samples. I was surprised that the Pacifica and p1 both sounded darker than I expected. Like the mic was stuck in the soundhole. Any info on the type of guitar and mic position. I was expecting a brighter sound. Thanks to War for doing this.

12th May 2008, 08:00 AM	#28
Nu-tra Lives for gear Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 2,321	Old thread back from the dead... I really like the EM blue on snare... __________________ http://www.nu-tra.com

12th May 2008, 09:08 AM	#29
dylansmale Lives for gear Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Salt Lake City, Utah Posts: 1,343	Patch Bays are Easy. the end __________________ BAND PAGE: www.myspace.com/capsul3cid

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