Is the Avalon Preamp worth the money?

R

Redgee16Bars

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Im going to the guitar center today to pik up sum thangs i was looking into the avalon preamp which runs about 22-2600. I have some rnb singers who come to my studio who rave about it and how it makes a difference at there managers studio. Does anyone know if it makes a HUGE difference basically a 2600 difference? Let me know!
 
Sure it does, but the difference will be greater if your recording chain is up to par with the pre-amp.

That means the mic, pre, and audio device or external covnerters.
 
i got a good condenser mic not the best but it was about $799 and run everything off the digi002 console...
 
What kind of mic do you have, because certain mics work better with certain preamps and certain mics are better are recording R&B than they are hip hop and vice versa? I personally use the Avalon 737sp and I can tell you it mkaes a world of difference. Plus the 737 has compression and eq on it so you got a hardware device to physically shape your recordings before you track them in pro tools. I use to use the focusrite VoiceMaster and Twin Trak mic pres(from the platinum series) and after really doing a lot of recording on them I finally got a pretty decent sound out of them, but the Avalon is plug and play, the more in depth you get with them the better the sound. My advice though is if you don't have some good monitors, get those and the focusrite stuff as opposes to dropping 2k on the avalon. I also hear Trident makes some excellent sounding mic preamps and I think one of them is about 1g.

Oh yea, converters make a world of difference too. Protools converters are decent but i'd try to get the Rosetta or any kind of apogee converter if possible, the difference in your recordings is night and day!
 
sleepy said:
Sure it does, but the difference will be greater if your recording chain is up to par with the pre-amp.

That means the mic, pre, and audio device or external covnerters.
Click to expand...

Exactly.
 
from my experience id say that the avalon is a good preamp but there are much better for the money or there abouts.

take a look at:
chandler LTD-1
great river MP2NV / MP1NV
API 3124+
cranesong flamingo.

and thats just for starters. IMHO all of these are superior to the avalon but as with everything YMMV.

you could also check out the rupert neve portico series. havent heard any of them yet but they seem to be stirring up a bit of interest though cannot comment regarding the sound.

if you only need 1 channel the MP1NV is about $1600 and the same as the bigger MP2NV. these have a huge following at the moment and sound very good.

it would also seem that to even consider getting the avalon (or anything of the list) without getting it into your studio for a week or so to run and compare is beyond foolish.
it should be easily possible to arrange getting several of these in at once to demo and see what works for you, what you think sounds good and whether you feel any improvement is value for the money they cost.

mercenary audio is a good source of special edition units and has great service and good pricing if you need any pointers.
 
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its curious you should say that. its been my experience that many people i talk with have chandlers and great rivers and either didnt bother at all with the avalon or sold it off a while ago.
obviously theres larger numbers still using vintage Neve stuff aswell as you said, you cant go wrong there, however it tends to be much more expensive than the approx $2500 price tag region in this thread hence the reason i left them off completely

one imortant point to make is that once you get into this realm (high end outboard) it becomes much more a case of preference over quality. all are good and will enable a good job to be done. it just becomes what do you like or works best for you hence the reason you should always demo a few items once you have a short list.

that being said ive somehow personally always felt avalon to be a bit of a pretender in the high end stake for some reason. not on build quality or anything like that but just there just always seems to be others on the same list that are superior to them, whether it be in the character stakes or the transparent stakes, to really ever make them a satisfactory choice IMHO.
this has been the case everytime ive ever heard one be it compressor, EQ or channel strip though there are no doubt people making great products with them.
 
It really comes down to personal preference b/c i've heard people with experience make vocals sound better using focusrite platinum stuff vs inexperienced engineers using an avalon.(That is pretty hard to do too!)


The Cranesong Flamingo is like almost 5k, you could maybe find one on sale for like 3k but then its probably used at that. Great River makes good mic pres too, b/c i've had experience with them at a big time studio but I always see Avalon mic pres in the big studios, as well as Neve. Great River are better for recording R&B and a lot more pop/rock type stuff to me though.
 
mercenary are selling the cranesong flamingo for 3125.00 new, thats why i included it on the list as an option.
this wasnt exhaustive by any stretch, just an attempt to show that theres more out there worth a look when you are thinking of spending that sort of money.
if you still decide the avalon is the one for you then great, its certqainly up there with many other pieces of outboard but it should be because it stands out for your application from a group of contenders and not just because some told you it was the best.

testing holds true for any gear purchase but in high end its a requirement to get the right product IMHO as theres so many flavours available.

most places i know who still have an avalon keep it for bass guitar duties though it does seem to be a favourite in hiphop still.

to be frank though, if you cant get great results with any of these units listed then theres something far wrong elsewhere. the results will vary but they should all be good.
 
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The first thing you should do is audition TUBE pre amps against SOLID STATE pre amps. Find out which one suits your needs before you go spendning $$$.
 
neilwight said:

cranesong flamingo.
Click to expand...

You know, I've actually yet to hear one of those (not including, unknowingly). I've been hearing a lot about these units though, am I really missing out on something wonderfel? I may have to check them out, and compare to the units that I have.
 
Thanks for all the advice, comments, and opinions. I feel ya and i was choosing the avalon cuz ive heard such a buzz about it with many artists that come to the studio - we have managerz that buy our equipment and recieve 10% off the top of the beatz but they dont get nothin of the royality so the money is there issue - so keep tha commentz comin and which ever i get ill let u know how it turnz out - does ne one have one or a good one that they can send me comparison demos of a vocal even if itz them freestylin? Get at me! or email me at

LaCasaStudio@yahoo.com

HOLLA
 
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