Best Single Channel Microphone Preamplifier Under $1500

  • Thread starter Thread starter HakimCallier
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HakimCallier

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ALL SINGLE CHANNEL mic pres NO EQ and NO COMPRESSION.

Some may have DI circuits and Line Level inputs.

  1. Studio Projects VTB1 ($150)
  2. Black Lion Audio B12A ($320)
  3. Focusrite ISA One ($499)
  4. Grace Design m101 ($550)
  5. True Systems P-SOLO ($596)
  6. Summit Audio 2BA-221 ($679)
  7. Daking Mic Pre One ($765)
  8. Speck MicPre 5.0 ($780)
  9. Universal Audio SOLO-610 ($800)
  10. Universal Audio 710 Twin-Finity ($800)
  11. BAE 1073MP ($900)
  12. John Hardy M-1 Personal ($995)
  13. BAE 312A ($1000)
  14. BAE DMP ($1000)
  15. John Hardy M-1 ($1120)
  16. Rupert Neve Portico 5017 ($1045)
  17. Chandler Germanium ($1150)
  18. Great River ME 1NV ($1150)
  19. John Hardy M-2 ($1165)
  20. Phonix Audio DRS-1 ($1250)
  21. SPL Gain Station ($1304)
  22. Earthworks 1021 ($1400)
  23. Little Labs LMNOPre ($1450)
  24. TAB-Funkenwerk V78M ($1499)
  25. Dave Hill Europa 1 ($1499)
  26. John Hardy Jensen Twin Servo 990 ($1550)

I have only auditioned the ones in bold, the others are recommendations from trusted friends and longtime professional audio engineers with a combined experience of +100 years.
 
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Phoenix audio DRS is a badass preamp. That's personal experience talking.

I have an Avalon M5 - I'm a big fan.
 
BLA Auteur not included in this list?
 
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In my Eddie Murphy from Coming to America voice... ahhh haaahhh
 
Solid List! The Studio Projects VTB-1 can sound good especially when you change the tube out.

One pre-amp to add: Golden Age Pre-73! Its only $299 and is really clean. Used it with a Shure sm7b and it got great results. Its based on the neve 1073.. if you get a chance, check one out you'll prob. dig it.

How do you rate the Black Lion? Does it sound much more expensive? Interested to hear your thoughts ..
 
PriceWrite said:
How do you rate the Black Lion? Does it sound much more expensive?
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OK, first I'm a bit biased because, I am very friendly with Matt and JD over at Black Lion Audio so take what I say with that in mind.

As far as the B12A - I haven't the foggiest idea how it sounds other than web clips that you can hear for yourself. It was added to the list after one of my friends recommended it. I have only audition or owned those mic pres highlighted in bold.

As for the quality of Black Lion Audio products, I'll stand behind them. I own well over $3500 in Black Lion Audio Products and it has always performed above my expectations. Particularly, in the area of A/D conversion.

On rare occasions their analog wizardry is a little spotty because much of it is hand built - at least when I bought my stuff - but that is easily fixed and they are happy to correct their mistakes.

I own an Auteur and it was an AMAZING mic pre for $429 when I bought it. However, its popularity has now made its price point in the $600 range. I'm not sure how I feel about that. But I am happy with my Auteur.

You can hear it on the Female vocal in the third verse of the song in my sig. You can drive it into distortion if you engage the -20dB pad and push the gain a little bit harder. Push it to hard and it breaks up, but you can find a sweet spot that gets a pretty well saturated richness that sounds nice on aggressive female vocals.

-Hakim
 
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Thanks for this list again Hakim.

I'm looking to upgrade preamps dramatically by the end of this year, and I just found myself coming back to this as a all-in-one stop.

Any way we can have this stickied?
 
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