favorite mic preamp?

[puffpastry]

What's your favorite mic preamp?
I like the John Hardy MP1, a lot, it's great if you want a really transparent preamp. And what's with the nomenclature thing? Everyone has a mic preamp that's called "MP1." Great River, Sound Devices, Hardy, Sytek (I think they call theirs the MPT1...)

[GearJunkie]

there's also a guitar preamp called the ADA MP-1. Weird.

[909one]

I love that Universal Audio tube pre. Totally colored and smoove. I think its the UA2160 or something of the sort. Those Syteks sound pretty awesome too. They are super transparent with nice fast transient repsonse. Pretty much the opposite of the UA. For the money those pres are the best you can get. I have used the Hardy's.... I know they are supposed to be good, but I just didn't like em. Something not flattering about them- I used em for drum overheads once. I also really liked an Amek I used a few years ago. Can't remember that model though.
Cheers.

[smopo24]

i like trident pres; they make me happy. also, the vipre is pretty neat as well.

[dagosto]

The pres on the SSL G4 that I recorded on back in the day were great. They killed on drum tracks especially when you ran them pretty hot. The UA is great as well. I really like my Avalon for DI bass and guitar.

[sorensound]

I own a Focusrite isa430 that I get great results with, good all around pre. I record a lot of acoustic guitar and vocals now, and I kind of wish I would have spent that money on an Avalon 737 , I used that a lot a couple years ago, great on vocals and acoustic guitar. The Universal Audio 610 also comes to mind, great sound, oh and the Manley Vox Box. Oh the gear I will never own....

[sorensound]

GML 2032 Microphone Preamp and Parametric EQ. I tested one of these at NAMM a year ago, totally amazing, totally unaffordable.

[puffpastry]

I'm into in the early API stuff right now. Although they're a little on the slow side for me personally, they were designed in such a neat and simple way. Gives you that thick, midrange growl that really stands out on guitar tracks and such. Not so good for a light and airy track, though--they aren't really fast enough to pick up high end reflections.

[puffpastry]

By the way, has anyone used the RNP? Mark (the designer) complains that it's too noisy. I'm just curious if anyone can confirm this.

[fargone]

Originally Posted by puffpastry

By the way, has anyone used the RNP? Mark (the designer) complains that it's too noisy. I'm just curious if anyone can confirm this.

They are a bit noisey, but they're fairly transparent. I use mine for location recordings. For the price tag, I've not heard much cleaner...

...except those kickass ART Tube pres


...sorry.

I guess it depends on what I want my mic pre to do. A 9098 pre on vox is super fine. API 512s on toms or guitar, tastey. You're right, those G series SSL pres are pretty nice for anything all around. I'd love to get the chance to use some more classic Neve pres, 1081s, 1073s