Starting in 500... Thinking about these preamps.

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resilient

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 4, 2005
Messages
51
Location
Great Smoky Mountains
Hi everyone,

Thinking about dipping my feet into the 500 world.  I've got a UA 4-710 coming tomorrow and it'll be going into a Saffire 56.  I'm looking for some big value pres.  I'm planning on starting with 3 single preamps around the $300 mark each and buy duplicates of the ones I like best for stereo.  Right now, I'm fairly certain I want a CAPI V28 and a Camden 500.  It's the third one I'm not sure of.  I'd like to round these out.  I'm debating between a Hairball Lola, Elements Gold, Elements Copper, or a CAPI V25. 

For general tracking, what would you guys go with? 

Brandon
 
The VP28 is great. I would build more of those vs. a VP25
Much more with the fader gain stage.

I don't know what the camden is so I'm not sure what would"round them out".

The NV73 is really good. And I would recommend a 990 based preamp. I haven't heard the Lola or Gold but they are probably both great.
 
Thanks for the reply!

Everyone definitely seems to love the VP28.  The reason I was considering the VP25 is because of the "extended low frequency response".  That sounds fun to me.  :)  But I keep hearing great things about the VP28.  Could be very fun on overheads and buses.

The Don Classics NV73?  I had considered an AML ez1073 as it seems to be about the same thing but is around $80 cheaper for some reason. 

I'm with you on the 990 based... that is what the Hairball Gold is.  Jensen transformers and a 990.  So kind of an M1 clone, I suppose.

The Camden 500 is a super flat preamp with color "options".  You can add "cream" or "thump".  They're fairly new to the market, and are not DIY, but they're priced well at $349.

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt I'll grab a VP28 .  Now I'm second guessing the others... perhaps a Hairball Gold and an AML ez1073 would be a great combo.  The big three in a way.  Hmmmm... 

Brandon
 
I built 5 channels of Neve's and one is the EZ73 - so I can say I like it. It gives me the same-ish thing as the others I built.  I don't know anything about the AML.
The Hairball gold doesn't have a schematic that I can see or even a decent technical description, so it's just a guess what it is from the picture. But the M1 (which I've built 10 channels of) has a bias and servo that I don't see on in the gold picture.  So it probably has a different architecture (blocking caps - unlike the M1).  Mike at Hairball is a great guy who's been around here for a long time.
 
Awesome.  Thank you for the feedback.  Hairball is a little different in how they pursue things (in a good way), so I can understand why their Elements Gold may not be a clone, but I would also suspect it will sound 95% like one or better.  :)

Brandon
 
VP28 is great but can get colored pretty fast. I prefer a clean pre for acoustic music unless a ‘west coast’ sound is what you are going for. Beatiful pre on electric guitars, be it jazzy clean or distorted rock guitars.
 
I could see that.  I found mine a bit on the thin side to begin with.  I need to do some more tracking with it to see if I really want to keep it or get a few more other pres... maybe Hairball Golds in it's place.

Brandon
 
I've been trying to figure out if I wanted to keep this 710 or not.  On acoustic guitar, it was a little bit underwhelming.  Then I tried it on vocals last night.  WHOA!  There it is!  Incredible depth to the sound.  Very 3 dimensional.  I am much more likely to keep it now.  It sounded great. 

Brandon
 
I've built 2 coppers, a Lola and a AML 16 and they're all worth the time. 

The AML 16 destroys on snare. 
 
Oh, man... another one to add to the list. 

Ironically I ordered an ez1073, an Elements Gold, and a VP28 today.  :)  I actually think the ez1073 will be here tomorrow.  Seems as though Colin ships overnight.  Good stuff! 

Brandon
 
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