Colorful pres and sidecars

[kooch]

Hello all,
My partners and I are gonna have about 5k to spend on new gear soon, and
after a bit of debate we've decided that mic pres are the best thing we can
invest in at this time. (Didn't take much debate since our board, a Speck
M72, has no pres....)
We presently record to either or both a Mackie MDR and a Pro Tools 24
(888/24 i/o). While someday we will probably own a 2-inch, we *know* we
will always have digital tracking going on into the future. Digital
tracking has led us to fall in love with our more "colorful" devices:
1176ln, Tubetech pre, UA 2-610 pre, etc. So as we look for new pres to add
to our arsenal, we want gritty or colorful ones. Straight "wire with gain"
is not what we are after presently.

We have sussed out much of the newer stuff out there and are aware of some
vintage pres, but want to explore all our options before committing. We are
especially interested in old sidecars or packaged channel-strips.

Any ideas for colorful, nice-sounding sidecars or packaged channel-strips in
which we can get 6 or 8 nice pres for about 5k? We love our nice tube-pres,
but we don't have to go toob.....We want balls, grit, and girth.

--Cheers!
--The Kooch (Who thinks we should blow some of the cash on a Fatso)

[Mike Caffrey]

In article >, "kooch"
> wrote:

> Hello all,
> My partners and I are gonna have about 5k to spend on new gear soon, and
> after a bit of debate we've decided that mic pres are the best thing we can
> invest in at this time. (Didn't take much debate since our board, a Speck
> M72, has no pres....)
> We presently record to either or both a Mackie MDR and a Pro Tools 24
> (888/24 i/o). While someday we will probably own a 2-inch, we *know* we
> will always have digital tracking going on into the future. Digital
> tracking has led us to fall in love with our more "colorful" devices:
> 1176ln, Tubetech pre, UA 2-610 pre, etc. So as we look for new pres to add
> to our arsenal, we want gritty or colorful ones. Straight "wire with gain"
> is not what we are after presently.
>
> We have sussed out much of the newer stuff out there and are aware of some
> vintage pres, but want to explore all our options before committing. We are
> especially interested in old sidecars or packaged channel-strips.
>
> Any ideas for colorful, nice-sounding sidecars or packaged channel-strips in
> which we can get 6 or 8 nice pres for about 5k? We love our nice tube-pres,
> but we don't have to go toob.....We want balls, grit, and girth.
>
> --Cheers!
> --The Kooch (Who thinks we should blow some of the cash on a Fatso)

Chandler EMI pre, definitely.

Fatso is good too and you get to use it twice - recording and mixing.



www.monsterisland.com

[Kooch]

(Mike Caffrey) wrote in message >...


>
> Chandler EMI pre, definitely.
>
> Fatso is good too and you get to use it twice - recording and mixing.
>

That is one on "the list", although it hangs below Manley (since I use
Manley a lot and know they sound great first-hand).
How would you say a Chandler compares to Tube-Tech, Manley, or
Urei(tube pres)? Those are the three I'm most familiar with.

I'm also curious as to which solid state pres are known for being
colored in a nice way.
--Cheers!

[Nathan Eldred]

I'm not sure of any sidecars (in that specific configuration) for that
price range, but 6 channels of Chandler TG-2 can be had in your
budget. It's one of the most colorful (but not lo-fi) and rich
sounding preamps I've ever heard. It's based on the late 60's era
Abbey Road/EMI studios Class A solid state, transformer coupled
preamps. You can find quite a bit of user comments over at
gearslutz.com (that slutz with a 'Z').

http://www.chandlerlimited.com/tg2.html

--------------
Nathan Eldred
http://www.atlasproaudio.com




"kooch" > wrote in message >...
> Hello all,
> My partners and I are gonna have about 5k to spend on new gear soon, and
> after a bit of debate we've decided that mic pres are the best thing we can
> invest in at this time. (Didn't take much debate since our board, a Speck
> M72, has no pres....)
> We presently record to either or both a Mackie MDR and a Pro Tools 24
> (888/24 i/o). While someday we will probably own a 2-inch, we *know* we
> will always have digital tracking going on into the future. Digital
> tracking has led us to fall in love with our more "colorful" devices:
> 1176ln, Tubetech pre, UA 2-610 pre, etc. So as we look for new pres to add
> to our arsenal, we want gritty or colorful ones. Straight "wire with gain"
> is not what we are after presently.
>
> We have sussed out much of the newer stuff out there and are aware of some
> vintage pres, but want to explore all our options before committing. We are
> especially interested in old sidecars or packaged channel-strips.
>
> Any ideas for colorful, nice-sounding sidecars or packaged channel-strips in
> which we can get 6 or 8 nice pres for about 5k? We love our nice tube-pres,
> but we don't have to go toob.....We want balls, grit, and girth.
>
> --Cheers!
> --The Kooch (Who thinks we should blow some of the cash on a Fatso)

[John Washburn]

"Kooch" wrote:

<snip happens>
> I'm also curious as to which solid state pres are known for being
> colored in a nice way.
> --Cheers!

This has been said a lot, but the Great River MP2-NV is pretty loverly. It's
also capable of being pretty clean which makes it versatile.

-jw

[tony]

hey kooch,
where do you work? i'm in indy also & have really been interested in
a chandler tg-2 & the great river nv for awhile....i just can't afford
anything right now, but i'd be interested in checking them out if you
guys get one.
thanks,
tony

"John Washburn" > wrote in message >...
> "Kooch" wrote:
>
> <snip happens>
> > I'm also curious as to which solid state pres are known for being
> > colored in a nice way.
> > --Cheers!
>
> This has been said a lot, but the Great River MP2-NV is pretty loverly. It's
> also capable of being pretty clean which makes it versatile.
>
> -jw