ADA8000 $125? Worth it?

[guitarguru777]

Found a could ADA8000's today for $125 a piece and I am considering picking up 2 of them for my home studio. I did some research online and it looks as if they get fairly decent reviews.

Wondering if at $125 each if they are worth it?

Anyone use them along with any of the Presonus stuff? I have the Saffire pro 40 and want to be sure there is compatibility.

Thanks

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

They're worth it if you have a spare ADAT input free and need extra channels for triggers or something else sonically not that important.

 

[guitarguru777]

Are the pre's really THAT bad. Granted I am sure they aren't as good as whats in my Saffire, but I was thinking I could at least get some extra drum channels out of em for spot micing and what not. Basic stereo overheads suck ....lol

Oh and spare ADAT do have

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

No, they're defnitely not unusable, but not that great either. Definitely a step up if you can only mic stereo overheads at the moment

 

[guitarguru777]

Yup Yup ... so a new ADA8000 will be in my possession today!

Possibly 2 .....lol

Fuck it, triggers and mics and more channels for spot micing. Maybe I will get good at REAL DRUMS ....lol

Oh this is gonna be another one of those $2000 spending days I see it already, Converters, Cables, Mics, new rack ... ughhh

 

[jackwood09]

Ive got an ada8000 and i agree with the above comments.
They are totally usable and definitely worth it if you have the spare adat. which you do.
I wouldnt use it for vocals or anything similar. But they arent too bad for adding extra channels cheaply.

 

[Line666]

I have one, the only annoying thing is the gain thresholds. It goes from like minuscule increase to minuscule increase then right at the end jumps massively from semi quiet to almost clipping.

My unit is from 2002 though so these things can hold up.

 

[guitarguru777]

Cool, thanks guys.

I notice my Saffire does that too actually. If i get the gain on the fader just past 2:00 its fine, soon as I hit 3:00 its like a 3db jump. Shit is crazy ....lol

 

[pipaguapique]

the great reviews they have received is only for the conversion.
but i would suggest doing an A>B test to see how it stands against your saffire

 

[AllanD]

When I had mine, each channel had extreme 60hz hum, so I had to sell it since it was my main interface. Using it for triggers/talkback/extra channels would be awesome though.

 

[MetalJonesy]

I have one, the only annoying thing is the gain thresholds. It goes from like minuscule increase to minuscule increase then right at the end jumps massively from semi quiet to almost clipping.

yup, same happened on the one i had from about 08 i think it was.

 

[guitarguru777]

Ok so ... it has no adat optical cable. Is there a specific type i need? or will any fiber optic cable do?

 

[Line666]

Any standard TOSlink will do, should cost just a few dollars.

 

[Trevoire520]

The ADA is quite a strange unit. Certain steps of the preamp are noisier than others, it's different from pre to pre. For triggers and line level sources it's fine though.

 

[guitarguru777]

So I picked it up

Have it home hooked it up and got nothing but static out of the unit. Did some research online and it seems with the Saffire I have to use 2 TOSLink cables. Ughhhh ... ordered 2 from ebay should be here in a week or so.

 

[AllanD]

What? Why do you have to use two? Are you using it for outputs as well? Make sure you set it to slave and that it's at the correct 44.1khz OR 48khz setting.

 

[guitarguru777]

According to the 1 article I can find online the Behringer has to be the master. If I set it to slave it wont work. What they suggest is running the out from the Saffire to the in of the behringer then back into the saffire from the out of the Behringer..... seems retarded to me but the Behringer only offer a slave option on the back that has optiond for

Slave - ADAT IN
Slave - WC IN

Doesnt look like I cause use the Adat out in slave mode.

I can try it and see what happens I guess.

 

[guitarguru777]

Yup as soon as I flip the switch to Slave - ADAT IN the optical light on the output turns itself off

 

[guitarguru777]

Anyone else have experience using the Saffire with an ADA8000?

 

[pipaguapique]

don't worry dude...the converter on the ADA is pretty killer. like i said...i don't know compared to the Saffire's. but yeah...you need to have that as your master then.

If you ever have the money for it. i would really recommend you send it to Black Lion to get their mod (it's not on their website) but the mod they do to it...will be definitely a better AD converter than the stock saffire.