Universal Audio Preamps, -who loves them? Options

[holli]

Hi all, anyone out there have any experience of Universal audio preamps et el? Having been blown away with the UAD I looked into their preamps, they seem to be modelled on some great vintage design approaches.

More concisely, what are the pro'sand cons of the 2-620 vs. the 2108?

I'm mainly recording sax and want something to plug my U87 into, be nice to push some other sources through as well. I'm a big fan of the Rudy sound and some of the work that comes out of Avatar (Breacker and so forth). Does anyone who uses them regularly fancy penning a few thoughts on the matter. All the best, Holli.

[malice]

If you want a clean preamp, don't go for it.
It is rather unclear sounding preamp.
I'm really not sure it is close to the original.
Was not impressed by any mean.

malice

[holli]

Thanks for your info Do you have a suggestion for a suitable 'competitor' that could take it on.

[malice]

WOW, very big question.

Do you really need tubes, what is your budget ????

If tubes are involved, you have Avalon M-5 and 2022... I think the pre in the 737 is also a very good, requisite pal, manley ...

you can try solidstate too, that doesn't necessary mean cold: great river, daking, helios, gml

were you from, england ????

[Fluddman]

This is a real pandoras box and your budget is a major issue as preamps range from $100 bucks to infinity.

I am currently considering purchasing some dedicated voice strips (preamps with a few other goodies such as compression, EQ and de-esser) in the under $2000 Australian dollar range (under US $1000).

The choice is daunting but I am narrowing it down to a few that are worth a second look such as

SPL Channel One
Focusrite Voicemaster Pro
TL Audio 5051
Drawmer TSI (Tubestation)

Of these only the TL Audio features more than one valve and the Focusrite I think is only tube emulation. All of these are really designed primarily for vocals but should be ok for accoustic instruments. I am looking for something that will be vastly superior to the pre's in my Mackie VLZ Pro (and they're pretty reasonable).

If anybody has been using one of these I would really appreciate your thoughts. I am leaning toward the SPL Channel One or the 5051 but would really appreciate getting feedback from an owner as a few minutes in the shop does not give the full picture (or sound either).

cheers

[tobor]

UA makes lovely things, I'd love to buy an LA-2A compressor... but I dunno about preamps...
As I said before... I have a Fairman and it sounds like heaven.

[puzzle]

I love my UA M610. I use it to record vocals, and my stratocaster and my jazz bass direct. It does have "a sound." – But it's a great sound. To me, it seems to make everything sound bigger than life. Personally, I think a sax would sound fantastic through it! I try not to use it on too many different tracks in the same mix, though. When I stack up multiple tracks through that thing, my mixes start sounding kinda dark and mushy. My other preamp is a Grace 101 – no color at all ... just transparent goodness.

[Y.M.]

UA 610 was not made as "I can do all" preamp. It is rather a reissue like of a VW bug or of a MINI. If you need a dump track than new "VW Bug" will not work, right?
Avalon and all of the other things mentioned have much longer signal path. That means phase shifts. If you mix several tracks, some of your sounds (vocals) will get lost. Plus they have IC chips. (Cheap-s)

Recently I was recording vocals with U87 + M610 + 1176 + Pro Tools. Yes the singer was able to oveload M610 when sensitivity was set to +10, but so what. When I would go after AC/DC type of vocal than that would be a desired setting.
No EQ was ever needed!!!!

Of course that UA 610 is just another tool. Decent studios have several different solid state and tube things.
You want to get that phat American sound (Sinatra, Green Day) you need to have one UA610. Another famous tube circutry is from those Telefunkens V72. (they use pentodes, pentodes have less of 2-nd order harmonics but have higher gain). Beatles were using them for tracking.

It depends of what kind of sound you are going after.

Go search the web where certain albums were recorded, and get the info about gear that was used.
I have 2 M610 and I love them.

[mixfisto]

Hi, I have a UA LA-610 which is the the 610 tube pre with a LA-2A style compressor. The pre works amazing on vocals (especially female) and bass guitar going staight in. As for an overall mic pre, your best bet is not a tube pre... I just sold my vintech 273 (NEVE copy) in order to buy the LA-610 and another non-tube pre, to avoid "build-up" (haven't decided which one yet, but most likely an API).