What is your favorite Tube Mic Preamp ?

Hi ,

just to talk a bit about
what  is your favorite diy and  market available Tube Mic Preamp  for voice ,  guitars , brass , strings , drums etc…
usually used in combination with most diffused main condenser mics like
akg 414 , shure beta 87 ,  neumann U87 ,Tlm 103 , Rode , etc… as overhead and x-y too….

thanks to all for post
cheers

I had the beginning of a list until you said 'condenser', then I got nothing. 

emrr said:

I had the beginning of a list until you said 'condenser', then I got nothing.

Click to expand...

check attached …….
… or do you use only dyn mics for all  ?

Ribbons and dynamics are a must with anything loud, the 20dB+ in the input transformer is not your friend in that case with condensers.
Condensers into preamps with more appropriate front end level handling.  Quiet sources, could be tube pre or SS pre, depends on noise floor.  Sometimes the 20dB+ in the input transformer beats a quieter amplifier circuit in SS. 

If it works into a tube pre, whatever it is, then you get the sonic choices that come with various amounts of negative feedback, SE vs PP, etc.  All source and intent related.  No fixed answer. 

Then there's transformers....most of the sound as a constant.

I'll play!  With no reference , I've taken mono tube mixers and rebuilt channels with direct outs
the NYD one tube made a generally satisfying  mic pre , no special input xfmr's  I also built some Fern
[ reported to be basically an RCA design ]  takes two tubes several people had me build a them and use them as the main
and the one tubes as utility.
Comparing the the UA tube pre in the 6176 to the Milennia  STT-1 , liked the UA better less of a " tonal " quality to it
more neutral [ to me at least last time I listened with voice , U89 maybe  ]

I'm not a big fan of tubes (except for gtr amps, where they do naturally what designers of solid-state amps sweat over), so I don't have many tube mic pres. I have some, since customers expect a decent studio to have tube equipment.
I have an ART Pro Channel, that hardly qualifies as a tube preamp; I'd rather say it's a preamp with tubes inside (front-end is SS), however I must say it sounds sweet enough and has a nice EQ and a nice compressor.
I also have an ART Voice Channel, that adds some bells and whistles, but doesn't sound as good, and an Avalon SP737, that gets very little use.
Finally I have a Universal Audio LA610, that ends up being used quite often, however I would most of the times use a SS chain for vocals (Focusrite ISA430MkII or LA Audio PS10).
Anyway, IMO, the mic matters much more than the preamp; I get much more variation changing from an AT4060 to a Shure SM7B than swapping the ISA430 for the LA610.

One of the best tube pre's on the market was the vipre by groove tubes.  However it was way over engineered and they could have easily achieved the same things with less tubes.  7 tubes in a unit is a bit much unless it's a guitar amp or other amplifier having multiple power tubes.

If your looking for pre's to make good luck in that one.  But there are plenty of good ones you can diy.

I wouldn't call myself an expert by any means as I have very limited experience with a lot of tube pres, but I love my G9 with Lundhals.  Hell, I use that thing for almost everything-I'm more than happy to also go direct with guitar and bass in to it as well.  The gain and trim give me a lot of control over tonality.

API on everything.

CJ said:

API on everything.

Click to expand...

With vacuum-state transistors, of course.  8)

oh wait, tube mic?  doh!  V76 on everything.

Most used tube mic pre thesedays  is the G9      ...  with bigger lundahls up front and carnhill at the outputs ...

It's quiet, has great gain control (and hence usable thd variation) and the hpf just works really well with bass heavy stuff, like my jazz guitars  ....  Narry a service outage to date  !

Most liked is the redd style ....

Notable mention is the  New York Dave OneBottle / Mila style.

For a touch of hair, I often use a fender style preamp  ...

I like the one Ian has built for me. Bass (rickenbacker) direct in with the gain pushed gave me a very cool sound. Something I was looking for for some time. Also had good result on guitar cabs with dynamics. It’s quite clean for a tube pre I think.

Most tube amps have 2 signal transformers with so many variables we should tell their model and then preamp.
I love Redd47 or V72 with very good trafos, RCA BA-2 is simple good sounding where OT is critical. Then Gates SA-70, EMRR's Gates SA70/WE 141-A mash-up is good sounding simple one too, didn't have much luck with NYD preamps.
Hamptone J-fet preamp doesn't sound much different from tubes either, i often prefer it to tubes in bass, John hardy M1 with 1 990 op-amp is excellent solid state too.
I would say first choice are Redd47, V72S (40dB of gain or little more), RCA BA-2 and EMRR's Gates SA70/WE 141-A mash-up.