pete wrote in message . ..
What sort of preamps were used on early 70's albums (Paul McCartney,
Elton John, for example)?

It seems the sound in the 70's really changed around 1975 or 1976.

Listening to Paul McCartney's early albums, I notice that albums like
Ram or Band On The Run have a certain sound (don't really know how to
describe it...analogue, organic, warm), but then the album Speed Of
Sound is much different. Cleaner, more modern sounding (not
necessarily better, though).

Thanks for any info.

Less is more, and older studios were more hi-fi.
less amps in the signal chain, no automation, no compressors on each
channel, no miniaturization (try making a 24 input tube console with
eq and compression on each channel).
the big changes were the jump from the tube modular mixers that had
not many inputs not too many amp stages and few active components to
transistor desks (more of each), bigger transistor desks with lots of
preamps and gadgets and finally the modern op-amp based mixers with
VCA's etc (SSL and the like) which characterized the sound of the
'80's. The only 'good' thing about modern SSL type consoles from a
producer's standpoint is that the tracks eventually can be made to
sound like most of the other records that were made on that same
console, since it has such an ability to alter sound and make it
aesthetically 'correct' because of the various sonic imprints that it
leaves behind.
Another issue is that of transient reproduction.
I find that the 'feeling' in music comes through in the reproduction
of the transients. modern consoles use op-amps and have thousands of
dB's of negative feedback globally. Negative feedback will distort
transients in 99% of the amps used in consoles. Just think about how
the 80's sound was on the high frequencies.
the older equipment had a higher measurable distortion but less
'musical distortion' -- this coupled with less microphones (therefore
another decrease in transient distortion) created a feeling of being
closer to the artist who was singing or playing.
also multitrack recording did not really exist as it does now.
people used to play mostly live with bleed from one instrument to
another, big ambient microphones etc.
the more tracks, the more inputs needed -- therefore the bigger
miniaturized desks etc.