fun fact: i once accidentally ran a very loud distortion pedal through one of these and it started smoking right before my eyes. 10/10 unit, would explode again
The fact that the greeting was to a singular Earthling in this video suggests that this was a specifically done video. Also, that poor NT1 was collateral damage for the box throw, lmao
I remember having a V1 maybe 15 years ago or more. That thing really stunk tbh. This one sounds decent. We have so much more options now in terms of preamps its crazy.
I just came here for the Bandrew Concert. Had to listen to a Presonus add to hear the music, but it was worth the wait 🙂 Oh, VU meter... preeeetttttyyyyy.
I have two Presonus Channel Strips which are what you just demonstrate but with a compressor and EQ. I love them, they add something nice to pretty much anything.
For a Shure Beta 58A, what this would be useful for, is to act as the mic pre at a gain of About 35db so that when jacked into the line input of an SSL2, for example, the gain control on the SSL2 is much less cramped, like it is when used directly as a mic pre and the gain change is about 25db between the 3 o'clock and 5 o'clock position. As is the case for an audio miser with a mic pre- a channel and master gain control.
@@artysanmobile On an interface, all of the gain is via the main gain control, without any more by way of a channel fader and/or master fader. So a pre-amp before the interface, helps to emulate that arrangement. Also, for Audacity on Windows, because Audacity on Windows is not ASIO compliant: Set the device interface in preference's to WASAPI, for get better levels, by as much as 7db, compared to the default of MME.
A lot of comments coming up questioning whether to "upgrade" from current interface to this unit. Unless I'm mistaken, this is not an interface, and must be run through a separate interface unit?
Great great demo. I dig my 2 channel ART TPS II and the dual channel behringer mic2200's ($60 used all day long) but of course on a budget... Instant click as always.
With so many entry-level audio interfaces that are capable of driving mics like SM7B cleanly, I was wondering how products like Presonus TubePre V2 or Behringer MIC300 Tube could sell? No A2D conversion, no loopback, no DSP. Is this for someone using a mixer or cheap audio interface like UM2?
Well it's just a preamp, you find a lot of one purpose gear in a big studio, interfaces these days tries to do everything at once, but you can buy stuff like these for example if you have an interface with line inputs, to have more mic inputs, same with a mixer or as a color thingy (most interfaces nowdays are totally clean, and sometimes that's not what you want) with that distortion from the tube...
I'll go on a limb and say the UAD Essentials bundle for $29 atm is a way better buy if you want tube (and tape) saturation. Proteus/GuitarML & RTNeural/ChowDSP have a bunch of great free models too.
happy holidays to the doobly doos out there. great music demo segment in this btw. i'd love to see a comparison of some things like this, the WA73, maybe some Art Pro audio comparable tube units, and see if there's a character difference to the type of saturation they give.
Did you not like the rubber feet because they are, in fact, stickers? Kinda low impedance for a "modern" pre. I had the V1 at one point, didn't sound this good lol. The distortion would be kinda cool for drums... and then you give an example of it. Great job on this! On full saturation its got a weird duck like sound to it. Cool device. Used to use the apc88 (their 8 channel compressor) and the MP20 (2 channel solid state pre with transformer input). Presonus make decent stuff. We use a couple of their hardware controllers in the studio.
Damn, I'm siting next to my UA610, this does that for sure. I have the v1 tube pre too, not the same. It's amazing how much money people will spend on Neve and API pres (or clones of those pres) because they're a little gritty. I bought into that hype because of the Gearspace CAPI VP26 obsession, and was never fully satisfied by the cost to performance ratio. They've got a lot of solid gain, built extremely well, great parts, etc., but not too explosively different than any of my other cheaper solid state preamps (Ramsa board, midas board, symetrix, interface pres) other than that I could drive the input a little harder. The issue is that the drive on the solid state preamps isn't really pleasing to my ears. Solid state preamps are all very similar: great for clean gain, a little lackluster when driven. So I got a 610 some years back, and that's the sound, gorgeous breakup...for $700 (I have the m610, it's dope). The presonus can be had for $100 and totally nails it. Might not be fully powered the way a 610 or similar transformer based pre is, but if it sounds right, it is right. Presonus really upped their game in the last 10 years. Incredible company. If I was just starting out, I'd get a Scarlett 4i4 and two of these.
I've followed your channel ever since I saw your review on the Scarlett Solo 2nd Gen and the Rode Podmic. I ended up purchasing both of those when the Podmic was impossible to find. I was all over twitter looking for stores to post they had it and ended up getting one and I love it. I've been having some issues with my Solo and I've been searching for a new interface for the podmic. So as always I watch your videos to see what's out there. I was thinking of getting a fethead or cloudlifter, but I think a new interface in general would be better as cloudlifters are pretty expensive.
Oh quick addendum: how does the phase inversion function on this compare to doing it in software? Feels like that could make for an interesting effect in certain instances. Also, yes, more interfaces need analogue VU meters!
Doing a phase inversion in either analog and digital realms has zero effect on tone. In digital it's just simple math. In analog it's just crossing the wires over. Phase is only relevant when different sounds interact together.
really enjoyed this review and video, you are very appreciated! Might have to pick this preamp up for vocals as I like the warmth, cleaner gain boost. if I could I ask, what is your favorite limiter hardware? I'm a hardware/analog fan, and avoid software emulation that introduces latency/delay. I just want a solid piece of equipment that prevents clipping. My use case is live/streaming/web conferencing.
Hi man, can You do a Review of the alctron mc001 mic? I saw it's very affordable and i was thinking about buying it but i wanna see some tests with it and there is no reviews on it
i think ppl that watch these would really benefit from reviewing a focusrite ISA 1 or forget the name, the single channel pre. but two channels is great for remote setup on this.
No, there are so many more urgent buys if you are starting out. If you want this saturation sound there are heaps of plugins - the UAD Essentials bundle thats on black friday sale for 30 bucks atm would be a WAY better buy if you want this sound. Theres a bunch of amazing free options using proteus/guitar ML or RTNeural/ChowDSP
@@mycosysthats not the point. And buying plugin is not necessary at all if you starting out actually Its the opposite you need to master the tools you already have.
Did you miss ChowDSP and Proteus, @@DarkTrapStudio, or just got no idea what they are? & if you think you dont need saturation plugins starting out, then you sure as h3ll dont need to spend 10x as much on a saturator box
Awesome, I hope you continue doing more pre amp comparisons! Finally ordered a neve 1073 clone and is on the way. It was difficult to choose which preamp get but it sounds like Stam audio has a really close sound to an original neve from what I’ve heard. You should reach out to them I’ve seen other CZcamsrs being sent products from them to review!
Hi bro you are awesome can you help me I am currently using fc387 and want to upgrade u87Ai .is this good upgradation or not can I get better result I m doing voice overs thanks
Worth modelling in NAM/Proteus or not that interesting? XD (speaking sarcastically, but the huge problem for the market you mentioned is that the plugins are so incredibly good now, esp with neural models, and so much cheaper, easier and more versatile)
With this on the way in you are stuck with the wet sound, @@DarkTrapStudio - f you capture clean this sort of saturation is trivial to add itb, and tweak to the mix
@@mycosys In the real word and real work we don't procrastinate to have all the tweaking and options possible this is amateur move, there too much to think and mental charge in the mix and you need boldness to achieve a really good mix and also youll not master mixing if you always have a backup youll learn for your mistake, ask any best mixer in the world, see their interviews and masterclass, I know exactly the type of people where you learn this and trust me or not Its not the way to get better in engineering.
No you do not. The UR44c should have more than sufficient gain for both of those mics and unless you're looking to distort the mic signal, you wouldn't be gaining anything.
UMM... I AM STILL ON MY MISSION TO GET YOU TO SING A SOLID NOTE FOR AN ENTIRE VIDEO. AS I HAVE STATED IN THE PAST, I WILL NOT STOP COMMENTING ABOUT THIS UNTIL YOU UPLOAD AND I KNOW YOU KNOW ABOUT ME CUZ YOU KEEP REPLIYING. JUST KNOW I ALWAYS COME BACK...
fun fact: i once accidentally ran a very loud distortion pedal through one of these and it started smoking right before my eyes. 10/10 unit, would explode again
It's sounds sad but would be fun to experience 😆
@@HbargangUnrelated, why are you HBAR gang? Hedera is king? lol
Man, you write really good progressions. Do you have an album of your own compositions/songs?
The fact that the greeting was to a singular Earthling in this video suggests that this was a specifically done video. Also, that poor NT1 was collateral damage for the box throw, lmao
That throw needs to be nominated as one of the best throw of 2023 so far.
No competition to the time the box threw him tho
Almost had some collateral damage with the Rode mic though.
I remember having a V1 maybe 15 years ago or more. That thing really stunk tbh. This one sounds decent. We have so much more options now in terms of preamps its crazy.
I just came here for the Bandrew Concert. Had to listen to a Presonus add to hear the music, but it was worth the wait 🙂
Oh, VU meter... preeeetttttyyyyy.
I have two Presonus Channel Strips which are what you just demonstrate but with a compressor and EQ. I love them, they add something nice to pretty much anything.
Holy shit. Gorgeous demo track!
I've now got a small collection of 20 something year old valve preamps and compressors. They really do make a huge difference.
For a Shure Beta 58A, what this would be useful for, is to act as the mic pre at a gain of About 35db so that when jacked into the line input of an SSL2, for example, the gain control on the SSL2 is much less cramped, like it is when used directly as a mic pre and the gain change is about 25db between the 3 o'clock and 5 o'clock position. As is the case for an audio miser with a mic pre- a channel and master gain control.
Wuh?
@@artysanmobile On an interface, all of the gain is via the main gain control, without any more by way of a channel fader and/or master fader. So a pre-amp before the interface, helps to emulate that arrangement. Also, for Audacity on Windows, because Audacity on Windows is not ASIO compliant: Set the device interface in preference's to WASAPI, for get better levels, by as much as 7db, compared to the default of MME.
A lot of comments coming up questioning whether to "upgrade" from current interface to this unit. Unless I'm mistaken, this is not an interface, and must be run through a separate interface unit?
Correct.
I need a full version of that music test song. Love you✌️
Great great demo. I dig my 2 channel ART TPS II and the dual channel behringer mic2200's ($60 used all day long) but of course on a budget... Instant click as always.
Can't believe it's been out like 6 years... I've had the same one and still work no issues
With so many entry-level audio interfaces that are capable of driving mics like SM7B cleanly, I was wondering how products like Presonus TubePre V2 or Behringer MIC300 Tube could sell? No A2D conversion, no loopback, no DSP. Is this for someone using a mixer or cheap audio interface like UM2?
Well it's just a preamp, you find a lot of one purpose gear in a big studio, interfaces these days tries to do everything at once, but you can buy stuff like these for example if you have an interface with line inputs, to have more mic inputs, same with a mixer or as a color thingy (most interfaces nowdays are totally clean, and sometimes that's not what you want) with that distortion from the tube...
I'll go on a limb and say the UAD Essentials bundle for $29 atm is a way better buy if you want tube (and tape) saturation. Proteus/GuitarML & RTNeural/ChowDSP have a bunch of great free models too.
don't forget our beloved saturation knob by softube
Rubber feet? I barely know her!
Haha
Ahem. No yeah, sounds good.
Also, another BANGER music demo, Bandrew.
😳bruh, the way you said rubber feet
happy holidays to the doobly doos out there. great music demo segment in this btw. i'd love to see a comparison of some things like this, the WA73, maybe some Art Pro audio comparable tube units, and see if there's a character difference to the type of saturation they give.
Thank you very much for the suggestion. Once I get through some more preamp reviews I will definitely be doing some comparisons.
Did you not like the rubber feet because they are, in fact, stickers? Kinda low impedance for a "modern" pre. I had the V1 at one point, didn't sound this good lol. The distortion would be kinda cool for drums... and then you give an example of it. Great job on this! On full saturation its got a weird duck like sound to it. Cool device. Used to use the apc88 (their 8 channel compressor) and the MP20 (2 channel solid state pre with transformer input). Presonus make decent stuff. We use a couple of their hardware controllers in the studio.
I used one of these and also a studio projects vtb1 many years ago for snare mics. It worked well.
Damn, I'm siting next to my UA610, this does that for sure. I have the v1 tube pre too, not the same. It's amazing how much money people will spend on Neve and API pres (or clones of those pres) because they're a little gritty. I bought into that hype because of the Gearspace CAPI VP26 obsession, and was never fully satisfied by the cost to performance ratio. They've got a lot of solid gain, built extremely well, great parts, etc., but not too explosively different than any of my other cheaper solid state preamps (Ramsa board, midas board, symetrix, interface pres) other than that I could drive the input a little harder. The issue is that the drive on the solid state preamps isn't really pleasing to my ears. Solid state preamps are all very similar: great for clean gain, a little lackluster when driven. So I got a 610 some years back, and that's the sound, gorgeous breakup...for $700 (I have the m610, it's dope). The presonus can be had for $100 and totally nails it. Might not be fully powered the way a 610 or similar transformer based pre is, but if it sounds right, it is right. Presonus really upped their game in the last 10 years. Incredible company. If I was just starting out, I'd get a Scarlett 4i4 and two of these.
The ammount of asymetrical saturation :O
Excellent review. Precise description and straight forward information
I've followed your channel ever since I saw your review on the Scarlett Solo 2nd Gen and the Rode Podmic. I ended up purchasing both of those when the Podmic was impossible to find. I was all over twitter looking for stores to post they had it and ended up getting one and I love it. I've been having some issues with my Solo and I've been searching for a new interface for the podmic. So as always I watch your videos to see what's out there. I was thinking of getting a fethead or cloudlifter, but I think a new interface in general would be better as cloudlifters are pretty expensive.
Is it me or does the Presonus sound darker?
Oh quick addendum: how does the phase inversion function on this compare to doing it in software? Feels like that could make for an interesting effect in certain instances. Also, yes, more interfaces need analogue VU meters!
Doing a phase inversion in either analog and digital realms has zero effect on tone. In digital it's just simple math. In analog it's just crossing the wires over. Phase is only relevant when different sounds interact together.
Had a brain fart moment, I was thinking of absolute polarity which DOES have an audible effect. Relative phase is a different, thing, yep.
really enjoyed this review and video, you are very appreciated! Might have to pick this preamp up for vocals as I like the warmth, cleaner gain boost. if I could I ask, what is your favorite limiter hardware? I'm a hardware/analog fan, and avoid software emulation that introduces latency/delay. I just want a solid piece of equipment that prevents clipping. My use case is live/streaming/web conferencing.
seems like any analog compressor would help some too have a limiter feature
That drive at mid level sounds great, or am i just crazy? 6:30
Hi man, can You do a Review of the alctron mc001 mic? I saw it's very affordable and i was thinking about buying it but i wanna see some tests with it and there is no reviews on it
Are the rubber feet available separately?
Was that an original song ?? That was amazing
i think ppl that watch these would really benefit from reviewing a focusrite ISA 1 or forget the name, the single channel pre. but two channels is great for remote setup on this.
Idea for the next low cost preamp : Art tube preamp mp
Thank you for that good video and greeting from germany!
Can you review FDUCE SL40? Pleeeeassse!
I had it and sold it one week after. Boring Mic and you get fatigued from listening to it.
Excellent review !
I'm curious if you think it would be a good idea for someone to "upgrade" from a 2i2 to this TubePre?
I guess this is cool because you can change the tube
No, there are so many more urgent buys if you are starting out. If you want this saturation sound there are heaps of plugins - the UAD Essentials bundle thats on black friday sale for 30 bucks atm would be a WAY better buy if you want this sound. Theres a bunch of amazing free options using proteus/guitar ML or RTNeural/ChowDSP
@@mycosysthats not the point. And buying plugin is not necessary at all if you starting out actually Its the opposite you need to master the tools you already have.
Did you miss ChowDSP and Proteus, @@DarkTrapStudio, or just got no idea what they are?
& if you think you dont need saturation plugins starting out, then you sure as h3ll dont need to spend 10x as much on a saturator box
Awesome! maybe next time you can review their Presonus Go or Audiobox
Anyone swapped out the tubes?! What worked the best? Any bias adjustment inside?
Just ordered a pair of NT1 Signature Series mics. Do you plan to review that mic? Or did you do it already and I missed it?
Guessing in a week or two.
Will you review Behringer Ultravoice UV1, and compare it to the og dbx 286s?
im looking for a mic pre to run through a Bluey compressor before i get to the interface. Do you think this will work?
Gracias !
Awesome, I hope you continue doing more pre amp comparisons! Finally ordered a neve 1073 clone and is on the way. It was difficult to choose which preamp get but it sounds like Stam audio has a really close sound to an original neve from what I’ve heard. You should reach out to them I’ve seen other CZcamsrs being sent products from them to review!
Now going to impulse buy this mic pre with the LCT 840😏
You almost trashed your and your boom arm along with that box brother 😂😂😂😂😂😂
Hi bro you are awesome can you help me I am currently using fc387 and want to upgrade u87Ai .is this good upgradation or not can I get better result I m doing voice overs thanks
can you do a review on the Art MP/C
Can you make a Neve 88m review, please?
Buen preamp, saludos
Worth modelling in NAM/Proteus or not that interesting? XD
(speaking sarcastically, but the huge problem for the market you mentioned is that the plugins are so incredibly good now, esp with neural models, and so much cheaper, easier and more versatile)
Yes but with this you can get the sound on the way in, thats analog best use.
With this on the way in you are stuck with the wet sound, @@DarkTrapStudio - f you capture clean this sort of saturation is trivial to add itb, and tweak to the mix
@@mycosys In the real word and real work we don't procrastinate to have all the tweaking and options possible this is amateur move, there too much to think and mental charge in the mix and you need boldness to achieve a really good mix and also youll not master mixing if you always have a backup youll learn for your mistake, ask any best mixer in the world, see their interviews and masterclass, I know exactly the type of people where you learn this and trust me or not Its not the way to get better in engineering.
@@mycosysThe the last masterclass of Sonic Scoop for example, the Mixer of Doja Cat.
Yes, @@DarkTrapStudio, in the professional world we work with cheap preamps, not professional top-end plugins that fit one purpose like UAD. Obviously
do I need that with my UR44c interface ? I have AKG c214 & SE8 mics
No you do not. The UR44c should have more than sufficient gain for both of those mics and unless you're looking to distort the mic signal, you wouldn't be gaining anything.
@@Podcastage Thank you Sir!
Focusrite 2i2 4th gen review
No sticker?
E100SX next?
Should I buy this or the Scarlett Solo 4th Gen?
@unboxerofworlds Do you walk to school or carry your lunch???
@@7171jay I'll be going with the 2i2 4th Gen.
Philly guy here… it’s Utz pretzels, not Urtz! 🙄 lol
personis’ stuff is so hard on thee eyes can’t do !
Even no limiter or deesser...
For bigger than hundred bucks it sounds ok. 😊 I have listened from dinamics in realme gt neo 2. 😅
UMM...
I AM STILL ON MY MISSION TO GET YOU TO SING A SOLID NOTE FOR AN ENTIRE VIDEO.
AS I HAVE STATED IN THE PAST, I WILL NOT STOP COMMENTING ABOUT THIS UNTIL YOU UPLOAD AND I KNOW YOU KNOW ABOUT ME CUZ YOU KEEP REPLIYING.
JUST KNOW
I ALWAYS COME BACK...
its sounds like you absolutely hate rubber feet by the way you said rubber feet.. man he hates boxes and feet lol
Nice of you to assume I'm from earth..
Ok, nerd.