Well, the question was indeed about solid state amps, not the tube ones.
opacheco said:
Thanks a lot for your comments!!....BUT....Which one is the most sought?, Which one is the holy grail of these solid states preamps???...What is the best sound of them that you has heard???
How about Neumann V475-2b, WSW Siemens 811403, Siemens V275/01......????
Opacheco.
Well.... as said before, it depends to what you want to do with it ! From your reply, I've got the suspicion that you don't really know what the numbers are about.
V stands for "Verstärker", which is german for Amplifier.
Vx72 is a multi purpose amp. Can be used for line applications, summing, gain make up for passive faders or passive EQ's, and even as micpre (with limited gain though). The V72 is the most famous of all Vx72 types. The single V672 (not the dual version !) is also very popular, followed by the Siemens V272.
Vx75 is a summing amp. It could be used as micpre, but as far as I know the Siemens V275 is the only one that's usually used as micpre. The most sought after Vx75 is without doubt the Neumann V475, particularly the 2B version because it's easy to get rid of the high cut circuit.
Vx76 is a dedicated micpre module. The most popular/desired one is the V76. These usually go for 1500 euro (2000 USD) or more. The V276, V475, and the (Telefunken) V676 are together the second most desired.. I think this has got to do more with the companynames that built them, than the build quality. Neumann and Telefunken are "hotter" than TAB and Siemens, and they are " hotter" than ANT, Filtek, BFE, LAWO. It's a bit weird. The Siemens V72 has a better buildquality than the Telefunken V72, but still the Telefunken raise more money than the Siemens. ANT and Telefunken built the V6xx series together, to the same standards and specifications. Still the Telefunken's are worth more than the ANT's.
There are a few more, but not so consistent as the ones mentioned above
Vx73 is usually a monitorspeakeramp (mostly 4 watt).
Vx74 is usually a line amp (sometimes combined with multiple outputs).
V78 is a talkbackmicamp, but the U274, U674 and some others as well,
Vx82 is usually a distributionamp (1 line-input, 4 to 6 outputs).
Oh, now we're talking about numbers :
below 100 is made by various companies: Eckmiller, Maihak, Siemens, Neumann, Tab, Telefunken, Klangfilm (maybe a few more). Most of these (but not all) are tubedevices
200 series is made by Siemens. only Discreet electronics, and DOA's. No opamps afaik.
300 series is made by TAB. (Discreet/doa/IC based, I don't remember....)
.......................
..... Oh, here is a copy/paste from Kubi site , haha :
3-digit numbers: 1st digit indicates manufacturer.
2xx Siemens
3xx TAB
4xx Neumann
6xx Telefunken (later ANT)
7xx Telefunken/AEG
9xx Lawo (later used by ANT, too)
11xx BFE
20xx Curt Hensmann, later Adis
[U: Dynamics, talback modules, drivers for meters, etc.]
[V: Any sort of amp]
[W: EQ's, faders, pan, other misc stuff (ms-matrix, oscillator, etc.)]
So, what are you looking for ? A summing box, mic pre?
