I was just about to drop several thousand on a pre in this list, but the high-gain part of your video showed me the error of my ways. I am now going to drop several thousand on a DIFFERENT pre in this list. So, you just saved me from a several thousand dollar mistake. Thank you (times several thousand)!
@@JacksonGomesMusic I was planning to get two Manley Force (for 8 total channels), but after comparing the SSL VHD, it was clear the VHD is much more smooth in the high freq's on over-loud high gain material. I definitely was not expecting that. Also, the SSL allows for some very audible tone adjustments via it's VHD that the Manley does not have. With two units, that decision saved me almost $2500.
It's kind of amazing what you've done here, a very fine test!! You must be blessed with some amazing friends! To my ears there were vast differences to each preamp's character! Although not enough of a difference to justify the price tag on some! Heck, for some of the dirty tones I REALLY liked some of the 500's. I'm just gonna pick a preamp with the most channels and call it good!!(Probably an ISA828 for drums) Thank you! Surprised this video does not have WAY more views, as it's pretty darn helpful and enlightening.
Great shootout. The more I research microphone pre amps the deeper down the hole I go. Lol. So many choices out there. I guess studios need a huge range like you do.
The Burl Audio B1 & Shadow Hills Mono Gama take the cake for cleans in the 500 series. The color and clarity in midrange without being harsh is what does it for me.
Also : this video is nothing less than a glorious testimony, an absolute proof to WHAT A TOTAL BEAST the Focusrite Isa is!!!!! Right on top with the big guys, staring them in the eyes! Big classy defined clean with lundahl input transformer goodiness from heaven! Ok, it loses every time against 1073, but hell, there should be a law that makes it compulsory for young engineers to buy ISA as their first serious preamp
Definitely my desert island preamp. works on everything, Most people don't know this, but the ISA circuit was Rupert Neve's very first design, it laid dormant and unreleased until the 1990s i believe. Cheers!
Wow! My favs were JDK audio, Chandler Germ 500 MkII, Burl B1, Purple, BAE 1073D, and Shadow Hills. All are hard core performers. Wasn't expecting the Grace 101 to hold out and be as musical being that it's solid state, but it's no slouch either. Awesomeness.
Wow! On the clean guitar... I liked the following a Pacifica, focusrite ISA, WARM 412, BLUE ROBBIE, UAD tube setting, Manley Force. Grace designs101, Phoenix labs and the Burl both units. Impressive, you can get it done with any of these beautiful tones.
First of all I just want to say that you have way too many cool toys at your disposal! I found this video extremely helpful for hearing the differences in all these pres! I'm bookmarking this one to return to any time the urge hits me to go mic pre shopping. I was listening on a cheap pair of Koss Porta Pros and I could hear the differences. I can't wait to run through it on my Adams and my Shure SRH1840 cans! Thank you for your effort and the great video!
This is a very valuable shootout! Good job! Thanks !!! ... And for some reason, I got attracted to something that comes in my favorite color ... PURPLE :)
For electrical guitar a softer bass accentuation is requisite to blend the track into the mix without being too interruptive . The electrical guitar sounds more natural when the bass region is prominent and extended but dynamically smooth.
This is great! I'll have to deep dive into this several times in the near future. Also... it's too bad you didn't engage the SILK on the Shelford for this. I really like the Red Silk on electric guitars most of the time!
Much appreciated. I really like the Shelford, the Redd, the Powerstrip, but also found myself really appreciating some of the cleaner pre's like the Grace and wondering about EQs. If you have a similar variety of those please do an EQ comparison lol (not as straight-forward i know). There isnt a bad unit here. I can see (hear) uses for them all, albeit with different sources perhaps. Thanks for the work that mustve gone into this..
Anyone else loving the JDK Audio MP-R20? Kind of an unsung hero of this test for me. Was also very surprised by the Focusrite ISA 428 and loved the Daking II
Other than the Shelford on clean standing out somewhat from the crowd and the Tonelux not fairing well on the dirty, pretty much any preamp would suffice provided the track wasn't a solo. I think the SM57 and or its position was possibly not a good choice although it likely very common in home studios but the preamps costing 5 to 15 times the cost of the SM57 does not match well. So the MIC and its positioning, recording space, instrument and talent playing the instrument are all more important than the mic preamp. That's an impressive collection of preamps you have there.
Redd 47 ALL THE WAY. Being a bae owner I still think it sounds the sweetest it gets the best of color and high frequency sparkle. That red is King. The monogamma competes very well.
Redd 47, Little Devil, Germanium, RND Shelford, API 512c(CLEAN), DAKING(CLEAN), ISA ONE(DIRTY) , RED ONE(CLEAN) were my favs, not particularly in that order! IF I had to pick one , only listening through twice, I would pick the Chandler Germanium for the Dirty, and the Redd 47 on the cleans!
Listening through again , it's pretty crazy how my perception on some of them changed, or how others stood out to me this time around maybe more than the first time I listened a few months ago! I'm convinced my tastes are always changing too depending on maybe what Im working on or what gear Im using (will affect my opinion ) if that makes sense. Just a theory lol. But ya, still really liked the Redd and the BAE really stood out to me this time and a couple others not as much as last time!
Were these all precisely level-matched using a LUFS meter? The majority of them sounded closely matched but that Burl Audio B1D sounded louder than all the others to me. If it's wasn't louder, that might just be the best overall pre right there.
I rode the volume knob on several of them to try to make up for the slight differences on a couple of them. Completely forgivable for such an extensive list. Damn useful video.
They're all very similar. Kind of surprising actually. The SSL may have been the most underwhelming, but who knows. Takeaway here is buy a decent pre, buy a decent mic, FIND THE BEST MIC POSITION!, EQ to taste. I couldn't begin to make a buying decision on a pre based on this. If you were to run vocals or overheads through all these, you would hear more variation in tonal quality from pre to pre. Oh and the R20 is good bang for buck and seemed to sound pretty good on the sources here. check that one out.
Great test, thanks a lot. Would love to hear a similar test of the heavy guitars in a mix. I had a lot of choices that I liked. The APIs I liked a lot and the BAE of course. I dug the saturation of the Daking (not sure how itd work in a mix tho) and I thought the WA73 held it's own considering the price point. Shadow Hills sounds is super cool and aggressive. Focusrite ISA was great too. Spoiled for choice here. Thanks!
The Manley, Daking, JDK, TG2, and Germ all really sounded great on both to my ears. Very interesting, thanks for taking the time to do this! It's been a couple years since I tracked with ISA's or the Pacifica, but I think neither of them shine in this particular application.
Are the .wav files available anywhere for download so we can closely compare in the highest audio quality possible in our DAW's? I know, I know... now I'm asking too much. 🙂 Thank you. It was an excellent shootout - very informative and appreciated.
I have a couple of Warm Audio mics that sound good, but their preamp sounds like it has a little less low end then many of the others. I've heard Warm Audio equipment sound excellent, but a slight tweak on an equalizer can change the sound.
I have used a ton on warm products (Mics, Preamps/Eq's and Comps) can honestly say that everything I have tested I think is personally worth every penny. The WA73EQ and Pultec are my favorites. Their U87 and 414 Clones are fantastic too.
The volume was a little lower on the warm audio but I thought the sound quality was just as good as any of them. I guess some people are just made of money!😭
Shelford is very clean, detailed but a little two-dimensional sound. Honestly, i think discrete preamps like Chandler tg2, neve 1073, Retro Powerstrip ect. always have a great tight body with character and 3d sound, while SMD/SMT (Surface-mount technology) based pre's like Shelford, Portico is more clean and 2d. Yes Silk function is cool, but honestly it sound like VST plugin without that Discrete "Mojo". Nothing special. I tried to fall in love with Shelford and other SMD based pre's (And yes, they look like PC Motherboards inside), but from my experience, Fully Discrete pre's allways win.
Some of the clips (powerstrip) are completely in the red, whereas others are nowhere near peaking... it's hard to really gauge what we're supposed to be listening for, since the input gain stage on each pre seems to be radically different (even if they're level matched in your daw).. that said, nice collection of preamps, someone must have some serious drug money lying around or benefited greatly from a bicycle accident! sweet jesus
This shootout just confirms what I've thought about any WARM gear I've used or heard: it's a facade! So anemic...The UA 610 is also never it for guitar from I found. I love Daking on e-guitar (prolly my fave mic amp I've ever used for guitar) and the Pacifica are great. Lots here sound good but those stood out for me. Have to say, these aren't all level match to my ears or TotalMix mixer PB levels though and louder always = better in these tests ;)
yeah, I want to like Warm audio stuff so bad but I bought the WA-12 MK II and was surprised at how mediocre to bad it sounded. I think Golden Age Projects have them beat in terms of the cheap vintage replica stuff. I loved my Comp 2A of theirs, especially after replacing some of the tubes. Their newer premier 73 preamp sounds awesome as well.
Thanks for the great work here. Impressed at how well the Focusrite Red 1 stood up to the Shadow Hills Mono GAMA. Clean guitar part is beautiful...is this from a song or just a ditty?
Did you say what mic you are using? Sorry if I missed it. I have used the Several UAD (610, Avalon, Neve vers), Red (ISA 110, 428/430), Grace, Earthworks and Sound Devices. It is SO Mic and impedance and source dependent. However, the few that can provide a depth, phase and related neutrality and articulate dynamics given the chance are the Grace, Red 430 MkII, 2018 and later Red’s with Air on, Sound Devices and Earthworks. However the Earthworks only shows it amazing ability with a good SR40-V or similar ultra frequency response mic-otherwise it can make a good mic sound a bit lifeless.
Hearing quite a bit of clipping :(. Cool comparison overall though. The biggest surprise was I actually liked the Earthworks on the dirty guitar but not the clean one. So many of these smoothed over the aggressiveness of the dirty guitar or accentuated the hashiness. The Shadow Hills was the overall winner for me as it sounded the best on both. The Daking, Burl B1, and SSL were all very nice as well, and the Grace would be my budget pick.
This is fantastic and this is the 5th time I’ve used as a reference to inform my next pre purchase so I have to ask...how confident are you in the level matching? For instance the Germ 500 seems louder and bigger than the Warm pre...Is that because the level isn’t perfectly matched or is it because that’s how the Germ truly sounds in relation to the Warm in person?
I would have really loved to hear and be able to compare a genuine Neve 1073. Such a shame to do the world's largest mic preamp shootout without one. Shoot.
@@ShredShed Ha! After acquiring all that excellent gear I can see why! Why don't you have a Neve 1073? I'm sure you did at one time, I'd like to know which you prefered over it. Also, what's your favorite or go-to preamp for synths, samplers and drum machines?
To be honest, its amzing how little effect the PreAmp has. I mean in Solo, there are quite some differences (I like the 512c and the Redd 47 a lot on both), but in the context of a mix feel that any of these could make it. Some are more present and some are more tamed, but I do not hear vast differences...
To me, the biggest differences are going to be in low end extension and top end, more of a gentle sculpting to the tone rather then stark differences. Preamp's with bigger,beefier output transformers are going to have more low end, which may not necessarily be your thing on electric guitars, but more so on bass or Kick, etc. to me, electric guitar really hones in on the entire tonal spectrum, Low end, mid detail and top end. I think this type of shoot out reveals the most with electric guitar due to it's rich harmonic material. Any of these preamps would cut the mustard, but the right one for the job will save you time. Cheers!
Someone with some real ears....everyone loves to hate the 737 but it still outperforms in most cases.... A lot of marketing hype on youtube leaves ones ears to biased conclusions. Two of these and two of your favorite solid state pres can accomplish much!
Really exhaustive test, congrats on putting it together… But… The distortion on the clean tracks drove me nuts. Not only can you hear it but any amps that had meters showed it too. I just don’t get why you didn’t dial it back and not overload the preamps? I can see if it was a test to hear the sound of the preamp crapping out, but … it wasn’t. Anyway, regardless… this comment is here because you do great and useful tests, and are probably secure enough to take constructive criticism. Don’t stop making awesome vids. Thanks!
@@ShredShed oooh, I concur with Chris. In the mix is so much more revealing. I could record a little drum part for this, and make a version with Nugen Stereoizer or something on the guitar. It does a decent job at faking it to give someone a mix perspective.
a slightly different plectrum on the guitar (and I mean SLIGHTLY different- like the same make and model- just older or newer) would change the sound approx 10 billions times more than choosing one of these preamps over another. In fact, just think of how many variables before the microphone there are- and not just the obvious ones (like room, amp, cabinet, guitar, pickups, pedals)....but the intangibles: plectrum, players mood, players familiarity with part, players personality dynamics with alpha male studio intern, string type or age, hangover, coke quality, hotness of singer's girlfriend and the resulting impulse to impress). Just sayin': preamps makes so little difference compared to all the afore mentioned things. Just get a super clean one and work on getting the mojo into the mic. "Warmth" or "Glassy Highs" (or whatever bs marketing buzzword) doesn't sell records. Nirvana's Nevermind would have still completely changed the music landscape if the album was recorded into API pres instead of Neves (or- let's be real, a presonus audio interface).
Too many people caught up in hearing a 'massive' difference between these pre's. You could do a blind test and pretend to substitute a variety of different preamps and actually just keep the same one in place - and people would STILL claim to hear differences. It's been done many times.
Yeah on super high gain stuff it breaks appart! But on stuff like snares, that breaking appart can be a good thing! And on clean stuff that you wan't to have broken appart it's good! But on super high gain shit that's D or below forget about it! You'd be better off with a more modern preamp! Like the Grama, or even an Audient preamp like 800! Their clean but for high gain shit, it keeps it super tight especially with a shit ton of tracks! You want it tight if your tracking a bunch of guitars high gain! For the money you just can't beat Audient pre's! And let's be honest, preamps are the least of your concerns tonally speaking! Where talking smidg'es of tone here! A cunt hair here, a cunt hair there! You want bigg changes in your tone????? Switch out your cab, or speaker! You'll get more tonal changes than switching a whole new guitar, amp, preamp, or compressor! Try using an Accugroove bass cab on your C tuned heavily distorted guitar tracks! HOLY SHIT will it blow your fucking mind!!!!
so i was searching for a comparison-video of preamps things which are made for quite things like vocals acoustic guitars... things which don't have a pre amp already!!!!!!!!! and thats the third video i see where they used a f***ing distorted guitar...come on
Levels aren't matching. Listening to this, i'd buy a Manley. But i know i can reach that sound using the 80% of other pres...cranking out 1,5 db more+a generic eq
Clean : Shelford 9:08 BAE 9:30 Heritage 9:19 WA73 9:42 WA412 11:56 ISA 8:46 Earth 10:16 REDD 7:39 UA610 7:17 TG-2 8:01 Daking 6:33 SSL 10:04
Dist : Shelford 3:20 BAE 3:38 Heritage 3:29 WA73 3:48 WA412 5:36 ISA 3:01 Earth 4:15 REDD 2:06 UA610 1:48 TG-2 2:25 Daking 1:12 SSL 4:06
Wow, this was great, thanks. Daking + Pacifica were the big winners for me, followed by the REDD47.
Any Chandler stuff I’ll take anyday. All their stuff is dope.
I was just about to drop several thousand on a pre in this list, but the high-gain part of your video showed me the error of my ways. I am now going to drop several thousand on a DIFFERENT pre in this list. So, you just saved me from a several thousand dollar mistake. Thank you (times several thousand)!
names, please... :-)
@@JacksonGomesMusic I was planning to get two Manley Force (for 8 total channels), but after comparing the SSL VHD, it was clear the VHD is much more smooth in the high freq's on over-loud high gain material. I definitely was not expecting that. Also, the SSL allows for some very audible tone adjustments via it's VHD that the Manley does not have. With two units, that decision saved me almost $2500.
@@TheGeneralHoudini did you ever pick up the ssl alpha
It's kind of amazing what you've done here, a very fine test!! You must be blessed with some amazing friends! To my ears there were vast differences to each preamp's character! Although not enough of a difference to justify the price tag on some! Heck, for some of the dirty tones I REALLY liked some of the 500's. I'm just gonna pick a preamp with the most channels and call it good!!(Probably an ISA828 for drums) Thank you! Surprised this video does not have WAY more views, as it's pretty darn helpful and enlightening.
Thanks man, The ISA is a great choice, that's my desert Island preamp. Works great for everything!
- - Dirty Tones - -
API A2D 0:35
API 512C 0:44
JDK Audio R-20 0:53
Warm Audio TB-500 1:02
Daking MicPre II 1:12
Manley Force 1:20
Universal Audio 4-710D -Tube 1:29
Universal Audio 4-710D -Solid State 1:39
Universal Audio LA-610MKII 1:48
Avalon 737-SP 1:57
Chandler limited REDD 47 2:06
Chandler limited Little Devil 500 2:15
Chandler limited TG-2 500 2:25
Chandler limited Germ 500 MkII 2:34
Burl Audio B1D 2:43
Burl Audio B1 2:52
Focusrite ISA428 MKII 3:01
Focusrite Red 1 3:11
Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel 3:20
Heritage Audio 2264Jr 3:30
BAE 1073D-500 3:38
Warm Audio WA73 3:48
Purple Audio BIZ 3:57
SSL Alpha Channel 4:06
EarthWorks 1022 4:15
Grace Design M101 4:24
Tonelux MP5a 4:33
A Designs Pacifica 4:42
Retro instruments PowerStrip 4:51
Phoenix Audio DRS-8 MKII 5:00
Blue Robbie 5:09
Shadow Hills Mono Gama 5:18
Rupert Neve Designs Portico II 5:27
Warm Audio WA412 5:36
- - Clean Tones - -
API A2D 5:47
API 512C 5:59
JDK Audio R-20 6:10
Warm Audio TB-500 6:21
Daking MicPre II v 6:32
Manley Force 6:43
Universal Audio 4-710D -Tube 6:54
Universal Audio 4-710D- Solid State 7:06
Universal Audio LA-610MKII 7:17
Avalon 737-SP 7:27
Chandler limited REDD 47 7:39
Chandler limited Little Devil 500 7:50
Chandler limited TG-2 500 8:01
Chandler limited Germ 500 MkII 8:12
Burl Audio B1D 8:23
Burl Audio B1 8:34
Focusrite ISA428 MKII 8:46
Focusrite Red 1 8:57
Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel 9:08
Heritage Audio 2264Jr 9:19
BAE 1073D-500 9:30
Warm Audio WA73 9:42
Purple Audio BIZ 9:53
SSL Alpha Channel 10:04
EarthWorks 1022 10:16
Grace Design M101 10:26
Tonelux MP5a 10:38
A Designs Pacifica 10:49
Retro instruments PowerStrip 11:00
Phoenix Audio DRS-8 MKII 11:11
Blue Robbie 11:23
Shadow Hills Mono Gama 11:34
Rupert Neve Designs Portico II 11:45
Warm Audio WA412 11:56
You are a true hero for listening these links! I've been doing this on some shootout videos myself. None this big though. Thanks!
For me the Focusrite ISA428 MKII in both clean and dirty tones
Great shootout. The more I research microphone pre amps the deeper down the hole I go. Lol. So many choices out there. I guess studios need a huge range like you do.
The Burl Audio B1 & Shadow Hills Mono Gama take the cake for cleans in the 500 series. The color and clarity in midrange without being harsh is what does it for me.
Also : this video is nothing less than a glorious testimony, an absolute proof to WHAT A TOTAL BEAST the Focusrite Isa is!!!!! Right on top with the big guys, staring them in the eyes! Big classy defined clean with lundahl input transformer goodiness from heaven! Ok, it loses every time against 1073, but hell, there should be a law that makes it compulsory for young engineers to buy ISA as their first serious preamp
Definitely my desert island preamp. works on everything, Most people don't know this, but the ISA circuit was Rupert Neve's very first design, it laid dormant and unreleased until the 1990s i believe. Cheers!
@@ShredShed Have you ever used the digital card?? Is it worth it?
@@ShredShed are we talking about the reissue isa one? or the vintage models?
Made in China
@@alecalfaras5936 Nope, i have an old one that is made in england. you can find them from time to time. badass units.
the 4710d may not have the strongest character but it always sounds really nice and seems versatile in a mix
Wow! My favs were JDK audio, Chandler Germ 500 MkII, Burl B1, Purple, BAE 1073D, and Shadow Hills. All are hard core performers. Wasn't expecting the Grace 101 to hold out and be as musical being that it's solid state, but it's no slouch either. Awesomeness.
those are all solid state but on two occasion pretty sure
Wow, made a few remarkable discoveries there! Thanks!
Wow! On the clean guitar...
I liked the following a Pacifica, focusrite ISA, WARM 412, BLUE ROBBIE, UAD tube setting, Manley Force. Grace designs101, Phoenix labs and the Burl both units. Impressive, you can get it done with any of these beautiful tones.
I loved the daking, manley force and BAE alot
First of all I just want to say that you have way too many cool toys at your disposal! I found this video extremely helpful for hearing the differences in all these pres! I'm bookmarking this one to return to any time the urge hits me to go mic pre shopping. I was listening on a cheap pair of Koss Porta Pros and I could hear the differences. I can't wait to run through it on my Adams and my Shure SRH1840 cans! Thank you for your effort and the great video!
JDK Audio R-20 0:53
Warm Audio TB-500 1:02
Universal Audio 4-710D -Tube 1:29
Universal Audio 4-710D -Solid State 1:39
Universal Audio LA-610MKII 1:48
Chandler limited TG-2 500 2:25
Burl Audio B1 2:52
Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel 3:20
BAE 1073D-500 3:38
Warm Audio WA73 3:48
Rupert Neve Designs Portico II 5:27
I felt the API A2D on all! Chandlers were nice, too.
Man, this is a great comparison! Thank you so much! However, I downloaded it and level matched to get a more precise comparison.
This is a very valuable shootout! Good job! Thanks !!!
... And for some reason, I got attracted to something that comes in my favorite color ... PURPLE :)
I listened very carefully for break up on the last couple of notes. There all great.
For electrical guitar a softer bass accentuation is requisite to blend the track into the mix without being too interruptive
. The electrical guitar sounds more natural when the bass region is prominent and extended but dynamically smooth.
Lol the fucking beatles preamp sounds pretty good for metal
Ha,. this was hilarious ; )
This is great! I'll have to deep dive into this several times in the near future.
Also... it's too bad you didn't engage the SILK on the Shelford for this. I really like the Red Silk on electric guitars most of the time!
So helpful, thanks for this
the api A2D sounds grest with this kind of high gain metal
Much appreciated. I really like the Shelford, the Redd, the Powerstrip, but also found myself really appreciating some of the cleaner pre's like the Grace and wondering about EQs. If you have a similar variety of those please do an EQ comparison lol (not as straight-forward i know).
There isnt a bad unit here. I can see (hear) uses for them all, albeit with different sources perhaps.
Thanks for the work that mustve gone into this..
holy cow that’s a ton of mic preamps
Anyone else loving the JDK Audio MP-R20? Kind of an unsung hero of this test for me. Was also very surprised by the Focusrite ISA 428 and loved the Daking II
Same here. After all, JDK is a subsidiary of API.
Other than the Shelford on clean standing out somewhat from the crowd and the Tonelux not fairing well on the dirty, pretty much any preamp would suffice provided the track wasn't a solo. I think the SM57 and or its position was possibly not a good choice although it likely very common in home studios but the preamps costing 5 to 15 times the cost of the SM57 does not match well. So the MIC and its positioning, recording space, instrument and talent playing the instrument are all more important than the mic preamp. That's an impressive collection of preamps you have there.
Redd 47 ALL THE WAY. Being a bae owner I still think it sounds the sweetest it gets the best of color and high frequency sparkle. That red is King. The monogamma competes very well.
Redd 47, Little Devil, Germanium, RND Shelford, API 512c(CLEAN), DAKING(CLEAN), ISA ONE(DIRTY) , RED ONE(CLEAN) were my favs, not particularly in that order! IF I had to pick one , only listening through twice, I would pick the Chandler Germanium for the Dirty, and the Redd 47 on the cleans!
The Chandler GERM definitely has a distinct sound, quite different from the others. I dig it!
Listening through again , it's pretty crazy how my perception on some of them changed, or how others stood out to me this time around maybe more than the first time I listened a few months ago! I'm convinced my tastes are always changing too depending on maybe what Im working on or what gear Im using (will affect my opinion ) if that makes sense. Just a theory lol. But ya, still really liked the Redd and the BAE really stood out to me this time and a couple others not as much as last time!
Bae, chandler, api and the la610 were on point for my preference.
digging the jdk and the tonelux on the clean sound today. digging the BAE and the 512c on dirty
Great pres I hear but Grace M101 stands out like it cost $2k amazing video
The API 512 really did it for me.
That or the A2d are my favorite on guitars. I really Dig the ISA and Force too. close second. The Chandler Germ was pretty thick and rich too.
Chandler Germanium!!! Gotta get me some 👍🏼👍🏼🎛 awesome vdo
Were these all precisely level-matched using a LUFS meter? The majority of them sounded closely matched but that Burl Audio B1D sounded louder than all the others to me. If it's wasn't louder, that might just be the best overall pre right there.
I rode the volume knob on several of them to try to make up for the slight differences on a couple of them. Completely forgivable for such an extensive list. Damn useful video.
@@TheGeneralHoudini Agreed. It definitely helped me make my decision.
They're all very similar. Kind of surprising actually. The SSL may have been the most underwhelming, but who knows. Takeaway here is buy a decent pre, buy a decent mic, FIND THE BEST MIC POSITION!, EQ to taste. I couldn't begin to make a buying decision on a pre based on this. If you were to run vocals or overheads through all these, you would hear more variation in tonal quality from pre to pre. Oh and the R20 is good bang for buck and seemed to sound pretty good on the sources here. check that one out.
You might be the only honest person on this comment thread
Great test, thanks a lot. Would love to hear a similar test of the heavy guitars in a mix. I had a lot of choices that I liked. The APIs I liked a lot and the BAE of course. I dug the saturation of the Daking (not sure how itd work in a mix tho) and I thought the WA73 held it's own considering the price point. Shadow Hills sounds is super cool and aggressive. Focusrite ISA was great too. Spoiled for choice here. Thanks!
really liked the ssl alpha channel on hi gain
Actual the Warm is a bargain at any price.
The Manley, Daking, JDK, TG2, and Germ all really sounded great on both to my ears. Very interesting, thanks for taking the time to do this! It's been a couple years since I tracked with ISA's or the Pacifica, but I think neither of them shine in this particular application.
thanks man!
Manley Force, Daking MKII and A Pacifica. Wish I could afford the Manley...
Thanks dude!
Are you sure that the hp filter was not engaged in the TB12 500?it sounds a lot thinner compared to all the others!
I like the Redd 47 and the Shelford channel overall and the Phoneix on clean
The Shelford actually shines even more on guitar if the Red Silk circuit is engaged!!!
Are the .wav files available anywhere for download so we can closely compare in the highest audio quality possible in our DAW's? I know, I know... now I'm asking too much. 🙂 Thank you. It was an excellent shootout - very informative and appreciated.
I have a couple of Warm Audio mics that sound good, but their preamp sounds like it has a little less low end then many of the others. I've heard Warm Audio equipment sound excellent, but a slight tweak on an equalizer can change the sound.
First : THANK YOU for making this video!
Second : O M F G Warm Audio products SOUND LIKE TOTAL C R A P - thx for helping me avoid them for eternity
I have used a ton on warm products (Mics, Preamps/Eq's and Comps) can honestly say that everything I have tested I think is personally worth every penny. The WA73EQ and Pultec are my favorites. Their U87 and 414 Clones are fantastic too.
Also was not liking what i was hearing here. Liked ISA and Daking... maybe becaue of there price points though lol.
The volume was a little lower on the warm audio but I thought the sound quality was just as good as any of them.
I guess some people are just made of money!😭
damn now i want that redd. crazy.....
Shelford is very clean, detailed but a little two-dimensional sound. Honestly, i think discrete preamps like Chandler tg2, neve 1073, Retro Powerstrip ect. always have a great tight body with character and 3d sound, while SMD/SMT (Surface-mount technology) based pre's like Shelford, Portico is more clean and 2d. Yes Silk function is cool, but honestly it sound like VST plugin without that Discrete "Mojo". Nothing special. I tried to fall in love with Shelford and other SMD based pre's (And yes, they look like PC Motherboards inside), but from my experience, Fully Discrete pre's allways win.
Shelford smt and they charging 4000 for a preamps is laughable. Probably cost 5% in cost
Thats quite the shed you have there....
Mike Sloan thanks dude 😂
Did anyone mention that this test is totally invalid because of the differences in levels? Please do it again with level-matching.
To my ears, I prefer the RND Shelford Channel and Shadow Hills GAMA
Chandler Limited 500 mkii Wow umph chucgg
Some of the clips (powerstrip) are completely in the red, whereas others are nowhere near peaking... it's hard to really gauge what we're supposed to be listening for, since the input gain stage on each pre seems to be radically different (even if they're level matched in your daw)..
that said, nice collection of preamps, someone must have some serious drug money lying around or benefited greatly from a bicycle accident! sweet jesus
We did our best. We do this in our spare time, and don't get paid so a little grace would be nice : )
If you liked this video make sure to show some love and HIT DAT subscribe button ; )
04:15 Earthworks Zero Distortion 1022,
then Shadow Hills Mono Gamma, and A-Designs Pacifica are my favorites.
Wish you'd used a flat response microphone.
what do you think about Burl Audio? compared to Universal Audio?
According to what Ive learned, is using a cheap Behringer mixer for this kinda guitar is the best .
This shootout just confirms what I've thought about any WARM gear I've used or heard: it's a facade! So anemic...The UA 610 is also never it for guitar from I found. I love Daking on e-guitar (prolly my fave mic amp I've ever used for guitar) and the Pacifica are great. Lots here sound good but those stood out for me. Have to say, these aren't all level match to my ears or TotalMix mixer PB levels though and louder always = better in these tests ;)
yeah, I want to like Warm audio stuff so bad but I bought the WA-12 MK II and was surprised at how mediocre to bad it sounded. I think Golden Age Projects have them beat in terms of the cheap vintage replica stuff. I loved my Comp 2A of theirs, especially after replacing some of the tubes. Their newer premier 73 preamp sounds awesome as well.
Steer away from budget gear. In the long run, its a poor investment in sound and financial return if you ever go to sell it.
I've owned a metric tonne of gear. Burls were some of the best. Still running a Great River NV500.
Shelfords help you stop looking and start playing.
On clean, Rupert Neve channel. Dirty Tg2 Germ mk2
Daking takes the cake!
Thanks for the great work here. Impressed at how well the Focusrite Red 1 stood up to the Shadow Hills Mono GAMA. Clean guitar part is beautiful...is this from a song or just a ditty?
Did you say what mic you are using? Sorry if I missed it. I have used the Several UAD (610, Avalon, Neve vers), Red (ISA 110, 428/430), Grace, Earthworks and Sound Devices. It is SO Mic and impedance and source dependent. However, the few that can provide a depth, phase and related neutrality and articulate dynamics given the chance are the Grace, Red 430 MkII, 2018 and later Red’s with Air on, Sound Devices and Earthworks. However the Earthworks only shows it amazing ability with a good SR40-V or similar ultra frequency response mic-otherwise it can make a good mic sound a bit lifeless.
SM57
Hearing quite a bit of clipping :(. Cool comparison overall though. The biggest surprise was I actually liked the Earthworks on the dirty guitar but not the clean one. So many of these smoothed over the aggressiveness of the dirty guitar or accentuated the hashiness. The Shadow Hills was the overall winner for me as it sounded the best on both. The Daking, Burl B1, and SSL were all very nice as well, and the Grace would be my budget pick.
This is fantastic and this is the 5th time I’ve used as a reference to inform my next pre purchase so I have to ask...how confident are you in the level matching? For instance the Germ 500 seems louder and bigger than the Warm pre...Is that because the level isn’t perfectly matched or is it because that’s how the Germ truly sounds in relation to the Warm in person?
aAll I can say is we did our best. we don't get paid and we do this for fun. it is, what it is
i dunno not hear much diff. on occasion slightly brighter but well ok i confess i’m on the telephone / couch
I would have really loved to hear and be able to compare a genuine Neve 1073. Such a shame to do the world's largest mic preamp shootout without one. Shoot.
We're too poor for a real 1073
@@ShredShed Ha! After acquiring all that excellent gear I can see why! Why don't you have a Neve 1073? I'm sure you did at one time, I'd like to know which you prefered over it. Also, what's your favorite or go-to preamp for synths, samplers and drum machines?
@@LesVegasMusic My top 3 are the API, ISA and Manley Force
its how they will punch stacked the burl daking force and redd will do me
I really dig a2d, red, Manley
The manley was one of my top 3 too ; )
To be honest, its amzing how little effect the PreAmp has. I mean in Solo, there are quite some differences (I like the 512c and the Redd 47 a lot on both), but in the context of a mix feel that any of these could make it. Some are more present and some are more tamed, but I do not hear vast differences...
To me, the biggest differences are going to be in low end extension and top end, more of a gentle sculpting to the tone rather then stark differences. Preamp's with bigger,beefier output transformers are going to have more low end, which may not necessarily be your thing on electric guitars, but more so on bass or Kick, etc. to me, electric guitar really hones in on the entire tonal spectrum, Low end, mid detail and top end. I think this type of shoot out reveals the most with electric guitar due to it's rich harmonic material. Any of these preamps would cut the mustard, but the right one for the job will save you time. Cheers!
Disagree. Especially once you start stacking 10, 20, 30, 40 tracks recorded with a preamp, its tonal shape becomes quite magnified.
seems like it’s clipping a tad on the clean guitar..
I'll take the Avalon
Someone with some real ears....everyone loves to hate the 737 but it still outperforms in most cases.... A lot of marketing hype on youtube leaves ones ears to biased conclusions. Two of these and two of your favorite solid state pres can accomplish much!
They all sounded good so the cheaper the better.
Do you use black lion audio?
My TOP
Dirty
1. Focusrite ISA428 MKII
2. Heritage Audio 2264Jr
3. Manley Force
4. Daking MicPre II
5. Chandler limited Germ 500 MkII
6. Chandler limited REDD 47
7. Phoenix Audio DRS-8 MKII
Clean
1. Daking MicPre II
2. Manley Force
3. Chandler limited REDD
4. Focusrite ISA428 MKII
5. Chandler limited TG-2 500
6. Chandler limited Germ 500
7. API A2D
Summary TOP 5
1. Daking MicPre II
2. Manley Force
3. Focusrite ISA428 MKII
4. Chandler limited Germ 500 MkII
5. Heritage Audio 2264Jr
Is the first riff from Mastodon?
No sir
🔥🔥🔥🔥
All are amazing preamplifiers... for different applications, but a little disappointed with Tonelux
ISA focusrite
wished vocals were used also
Really exhaustive test, congrats on putting it together…
But…
The distortion on the clean tracks drove me nuts. Not only can you hear it but any amps that had meters showed it too.
I just don’t get why you didn’t dial it back and not overload the preamps?
I can see if it was a test to hear the sound of the preamp crapping out, but … it wasn’t.
Anyway, regardless… this comment is here because you do great and useful tests, and are probably secure enough to take constructive criticism.
Don’t stop making awesome vids. Thanks!
For what I can afford I would by both the two Warm models and the Blue Robbie
The Blue Robbie was WAAAAAAY better than I was expecting. Holds its own.
No Great River?
I wish we would of had one!
A Vocal would have made this amazing.
This is good but I so wish you did hard panned guitars in a mix!?
It's just a single mono guitar man, maybe next time ; )
@@ShredShed oooh, I concur with Chris. In the mix is so much more revealing. I could record a little drum part for this, and make a version with Nugen Stereoizer or something on the guitar. It does a decent job at faking it to give someone a mix perspective.
a slightly different plectrum on the guitar (and I mean SLIGHTLY different- like the same make and model- just older or newer) would change the sound approx 10 billions times more than choosing one of these preamps over another. In fact, just think of how many variables before the microphone there are- and not just the obvious ones (like room, amp, cabinet, guitar, pickups, pedals)....but the intangibles: plectrum, players mood, players familiarity with part, players personality dynamics with alpha male studio intern, string type or age, hangover, coke quality, hotness of singer's girlfriend and the resulting impulse to impress). Just sayin': preamps makes so little difference compared to all the afore mentioned things. Just get a super clean one and work on getting the mojo into the mic. "Warmth" or "Glassy Highs" (or whatever bs marketing buzzword) doesn't sell records. Nirvana's Nevermind would have still completely changed the music landscape if the album was recorded into API pres instead of Neves (or- let's be real, a presonus audio interface).
Too many people caught up in hearing a 'massive' difference between these pre's.
You could do a blind test and pretend to substitute a variety of different preamps and actually just keep the same one in place - and people would STILL claim to hear differences.
It's been done many times.
Chandler limited REDD 47
focusrite
@ShredShedStudios, Hey man, do you have a contact or an email>?
Ha, been a while since I've been on here. Shredshedofficial@gmail.com . I'm more into homesteading now. audio is taking a back seat at the moment.
Man I am amazed how much I don't like the Neve based stuff... The RND is ok, but the old school neve stuff just sounds sloppy on high gain.
Yeah on super high gain stuff it breaks appart! But on stuff like snares, that breaking appart can be a good thing! And on clean stuff that you wan't to have broken appart it's good! But on super high gain shit that's D or below forget about it! You'd be better off with a more modern preamp! Like the Grama, or even an Audient preamp like 800! Their clean but for high gain shit, it keeps it super tight especially with a shit ton of tracks! You want it tight if your tracking a bunch of guitars high gain! For the money you just can't beat Audient pre's! And let's be honest, preamps are the least of your concerns tonally speaking! Where talking smidg'es of tone here! A cunt hair here, a cunt hair there! You want bigg changes in your tone????? Switch out your cab, or speaker! You'll get more tonal changes than switching a whole new guitar, amp, preamp, or compressor! Try using an Accugroove bass cab on your C tuned heavily distorted guitar tracks! HOLY SHIT will it blow your fucking mind!!!!
so i was searching for a comparison-video of preamps things which are made for quite things like vocals acoustic guitars... things which don't have a pre amp already!!!!!!!!! and thats the third video i see where they used a f***ing distorted guitar...come on
Levels aren't matching. Listening to this, i'd buy a Manley. But i know i can reach that sound using the 80% of other pres...cranking out 1,5 db more+a generic eq
uploaded at the quality of a lioteral potato....what a joke lmfao
Daking or BAE = best !! api 512 better than a2d
this comparison is meaningless because the samples are obviously not level matched.
i think lawn mower would sound better
I would have used mine it it was out of gas..
proof its all the same lol