Unfortunately – the answer is something along the lines of “whatever sounds better in your situation is the better purchase”.

Some people prefer to record as clean as possible (no EQ no compression). Other people use a little (or a lot) of both on the way in.

Depending on your needs, preferences, and workflow, either of these could be right for you. Your current setup also may help to shed some light on this – let us know what you are using and maybe we can help.

Or, for under $1000, getting something like a UA Twinfinity or Solo610 would be cool too. These are good pre’s, but with something like the LA610, you’d get a comp too.

Thanks!
xander

I can probably make a good recommendation if I get a little more info from you – things like:
What sort of work do you do (what will you be using the mic for primarily)?
What does the rest of your setup look like (DAW, computer, monitors, other pre’s, outboard gear, plug-ins)?

Are there any preamps that you’ve auditioned and liked/disliked?

Can anyone just tell me which one to buy??

Thank you
Xander

Getting wisdom teeth yanked tomorrow, I’ll be incognito likely for a bit… (Although, as soon as I can focus, I can type….)

Just FYI: Connor is putting his new Vintech 473 through the paces on a multi-day tracking session even as we speak. That is one heck of a nice set of pre-amps (who wouldn’t want multiple channels of Neve pre/eq in their rack?)

Skipped over the X73i and went straight to the 4-channel. Nice! I’m sure he’ll tell all of us about it and hopefully post some demo tracks. We’ll see when he comes up for air.

Damon
The STudio Files

I myself noticed an immediate warmth that was added to my tracks. espeacially vocals. I was able to pull the vocals out from behind the mix with this unit. Not only did i get a nice tube warmth added to my tracks, i also got a nice addition of tube noise added to my tracks. This unit can be quite noisy. A hum will surely haunt your mix whil using htis unit. And nothing ruins a good dynamic pause than a very engraved tube hum.

I’m yet to try a $1000 + pre amp, that is the next step i am taking in my growth as a home studio recording engineer. once i try something spendier like the vintech X73i or the Avalon VT-737 i’ll be sure to let you know how much price does effect the quality that you will get.

But the advice i’ve been given countlesly that i will pass on is, save up and spend the extra money. Cheap mic pres loose their return sale value and if you are serious enough you are eventually going to upgrade, so you’ll lose money. Spendier units retain there value better and sound better. So if you get the spendier unit and 3 months later you decide that you need to quit the recording hoby because your wife wants a big house to start a family, you aren’t going to loose as much money as you will when buying the cheap stuff. So its smarter to save and pay more, its a better investment in the long run.

Also when reading reviews on certain mic pres, be sure to read reviews from people that are professionals and that use the expensive equipment. If they say that this $500 unit sounds great i’ll trust them more than the garage band kid who doesn’t know as much as the experience guy will. And also remember diferent pres for different situations. A pre might sound bad to one guy, because maybe he was using a tube mic pre in a situation where a solid state mic pre would have been a better choice, i.e. recording acoustic guitar. Usually when recording an acoustic guitar you want more of a natural sound.

hope this helps!

Dustin

Looks like Damon already made some comments, but I’ll chime in as well.

I’ve had good luck on both male and female vocals with the 610 with a few different mics (Neumann tlm103 and U87ai, Shure KSM32, AT4033a, and AKG 414).

But, as Damon noted, you may have to dial down the input knob. Pushing the tube circuitry too hard on vocals can sometimes warm it up too much. (Usually I can drive it harder on higher female voices, but with guys it can get too muddy).

It can definitely be a very “colored” sounding preamp, but with less input gain, its fairly neutral for a UA tube pre. What mics have you tried it with/which do you have available to use?

Hope this helps!
C
The Studio Files

http://www.joemeek.com/threeq.html

D

You may be driving the tube (first knob) stage higher when you do the bass recording than you would want to for vocals. What mic are you using with it for the vocal tracking?

D

I have been using the UA Solo 610 for a while now and really enjoyed it. I have been using it for my bass tracking as well as for my vocal over dubs. The bass recordings I have been getting are really warm and mixing them has been pretty straight forward, but I have some issues with vocals. Should I be using that preamp for vox or should I switch to a different one? If so, do you have any tips for getting a good sound for both male and female singers. Are the particular mics you would suggest to use? gain/level ratios? I would love any advice you have.

thanks,

Chuck P.