Review on Avalon and Presonus Microphone preamps. by Sodacon

My goal is to describe my experience with different microphone preamps made by Avalon and Presonus. I'm confident recording artists can use this in their decision to purchase a preamp and get the most from their music.

My first experience with preamps was the Aardvark interface. It was back in the days of Windows 98 and it was useful for many purposes when tracking with Sodacon and my other projects. Now we are using Windows XP (upgrading to Vista soon) and trying out different preamp combinations. I don't have a favorite preamp. Any one of the following preamps used correctly will help make mixes magical.

Instrument Preamps:

Avalon Ultra 5

The U5 is the first preamp I ever tried along with the Presonus Eureka. In the past I would pipe the guitar directly from the back of the amp into the Aardvark Q10. It was possible to dial in a decent tone, even in a basic line direct preamp. However the Avalon U5 takes the sound to a whole new level. The unit itself is a solid metal finish and very durable. The first thing I  remember about using the U5 is noticing no peaking on the EQ meter, and a heavy gain with tons of head room. Acoustic guitars plugged into the U5 sound golden and crisp. You can boost the highs to the moon and it will boom back at you without harshness. The U5 contains a tone and "boost" switch that help to provide ambience and sparkle. Bass guitar plugged directly creates a clear tone. However, the hardware unit is big and awkward. I recommend racking it and getting the additional metal plates to hold it. The thing that bugged me is the metal plates to rack it cost $55.00. It may be worth your time to build your own for that.

Instrument/vocal Preamps:

Presonus Eureka

 The Presonus Eureka is a fascinating channel strip to say the least. I've used this on most of my vocal tracks during the past few years. The sound is comparable to higher end Avalon units without the Tubular sound. Recently we've been using this on guitar and bass more often. It has this uncanny ability to dial in the perfect sound without clipping. The compressor and EQ give you the ability to customize tone, headroom and the Q curve. It has a soft button and a bypass button to put the EQ before or after the compression. It's fun to experiment with an entire range of different guitar sounds using the Eureka. I plan on using this last in the chain after the Vox amp, before sending it to the house live when we are on tour. You can't go wrong with an entire rack of these things, whether your putting down drums, recording guitar, bass, vocals, it's good for it all. Granted, there are higher end preamps on the market out there, but for it's price the Eureka is amazing. Tip: if you save the manual, and learn to dial it in correctly, the end results on your mix will be amazing.

Avalon VT 737

Ok, so I lied, maybe I do have a favorite. The Avalon 737 is the cream of the crop when it comes to preamps. When John first plugged his bass in for the first time, I couldn't get him to put it down and stop playing. The first thing we noticed is crystal clear tone, on anything piped through it. The first difference I noticed with vocals, the only way I can describe it, is that they sounded "tubular". A very warm sound, especially when combined with a Soundelux microphone. I've heard people complain that they don't like the compressor on the unit but thats a bunch of baloney. It's a very clean sounding compressor, combined with the preamp gain in the dial, can really give a thick signal, not allowing peaks. Using this thing live is a dream on vocs, they come booming through and bring the lead vocalist right to the front of the mix. Be very careful with the output knob on this thing. I slight turn upwards, from 0 to just 3 is very loud. As for as single channel multi knob preamps go, this thing is tops. The manual is fantastic as it contains pictures and diagrams. I love the sound this puts on snare drum recorded with a Sure SM57 mic. The sound of the snare, reminds me of a splash of water, but tight and thick, right in the middle of the mix. Our drummer Mike used to complain that he could never hear his snare in the mix, but those complaints no longer exist, thanks to the VT737.

Presonus Digimax LT

We tracked Mike's drums for the Sodacon Trifecta cd using the Presonus Digimax LT, and with a combination of the Eureka on kick drum, VT 737 on the snare drum. It connects to a Motu 2408 through a light pipe wire interface or similar interface device. This light pipe thing seemed strange to me at first, but when I got the cable plugged in, I was excited to see that all 8 XLR/1/4 inch inputs were live and ready for signal. It contains 8 different inputs on the front, and 8 ins and outs on the back. The combinations of these two units are great for not only adding instruments and mics, but also for routing cables. I believe a decent channel strip needs to sound good and it also has to help a studio with the routing of wires, and basic organizational stuff. It's a very clean sound and the preamps are excellent. Additional preamps can be ported in through the back of the unit as well.

To summarize, it may help to find a company who makes a preamp that you like and use them often. There are so many preamps on the market that can be used, and when you find a good one, buy more from that company. Avalon and Presonus happen to be my favorites.

Thanks for taking the time to read my guide.