Presonus Eurkea or....?

[Youowemeapony]

Ok the time has come for me to upgrade to get a nicer pre than my digi 002 or octane pre's since both of those are pretty lame. I don't have a real budget right now, because if I thought it'd be worth it, I'd drop 2 grand on an avalon and be super satisfied and just make payments for the rest of time, but here's the problem.. I'm doing mostly demos and EP's for hardcore and metal bands that are all local.. so far everyone's been happy with what I've done for them, but I'm starting to get tired of having lackluster results, so I'm thinking of purchasing a new pre/channel strip. seems like no matter what i do as far as mic position, EQ and compression, I can't get my guitars to come alive at all.. they're just dull and dead sounding.. I'm assuming a lot of that has to do with the crap pre's Im using. If I could get away with spending 500 bucks on a eureka and have good results, then I'd rather do that, but would it be worth it to spend that much, or should I just go balls deep and drop a grand or two on a superb channel? Also, I only have til about June of next year to pay this off, since I'll be moving away to school and won't be making any income from recording. I guess its more of a personal choice to commit to paying off a huge debt, or just take the easy way out and be semi satisfied... I'm just wondering if I'll be able to tell a big difference or not.

anyone used a eureka with good results?

 

[A Toolish Circle]

i totally disagree , recorded a band with just the soundcard preamps for their guitars and it's sounds great .... mic pres can only do so much for u ( very little ).... correct EQing , micing , and MOST IMPORTANTLY THE PLAYING will get u good results... subtle gating and after processing will improve the oringal tone even more .

Getting an Avalon will defintely not solve ur problem , or a Eureka for that matter . save urself that money .

I've used Avalons before and to my ears all they do is amplify the signal very accurately... they don't really colour the sounds that much , not like Neves or Focusrite Reds .

but still....it's down to ur techniques and processing and playing .

 

[EtherForBreakfast]

Yup - I'm agreeing with toolish here.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

I agree as well. I'm in the same boat as you owemeapony but my guitars get better and better all the time. It's a fine line between what sounds good and what sounds bad and the more you make the most of what you got the closer to crossing that line you'll get. Don't expect the preamps to save you. What amp/cab do you tend to use? The right cab could be the key you're looking for.

 

[Youowemeapony]

depends on the bands I record. most give me crappy setups to record, but sometimes ill get mesa's or krank's. im not saying i catn get DECENT tone out of my pre's, but Im sure a nicer pre would make everything sound better. compare a behringer pre to an avalon and tell me its not gonna make a huge difference. i was just seeing if anyone had the chance to work with a eureka or not, and if it'd be worth spending the extra money for a super nice pre.

im working on a pre production for a hardcore band called Too Pure To Die right now, and we're doing guitars tommorrow, so I'll post the results tommorrow night. these dudes have pretty nice gear, so we'll see what I can do with this.

 

[Matt Crooks]

I will totally disagree with Toolish, Ether, and GGI... the mic pre does make a big difference. However, it won't be worth shit if it is not the weakest part of your signal chain. If you're using crappy mics (or bad mic position) micing a crappy amp, it doesn't matter what you use for a pre, you're just making shit into louder shit.

However, I can certainly hear the difference between Mackie pres, Avalon press (poth SS and Tube) and Neve pres. Every client I have had record can hear the difference as well. If I could have only one mic pre, it'd be the Avalon 737. It's great on vocals, bass and drums, and covers guitars fairly well.

That being said, someone with good ears and experience can make a recording with a Mackie 1604 & one 57 sound better than a novice with an SSL and a full mic locker. Once you get to the point that you can make the 57 and 1604 sound good, the mic pre will take the sound to the next level.

 

[A Toolish Circle]

I think looking at Andy's Mic Pre list in the equipements section just adds to what i'm trying to say. he doen'st have stacks and stacks of Avalons or Neves for that matter and yet he's pulling one of the best sounds ever.

it's the person that drives the gear that's important .

 

[Youowemeapony]

for sure.. and im not arguing the fact that mic position, room sound and a great sounding amp are extremely important. I definately take plenty of time experimenting with amp settings, mic positions and different mics... and I'm just saying that I think I might have reached the point where I can't get a better sound out of my pre's, and I think that's holding me back.

Im pretty interested in the Focusrite ISA 220 as well.. anyone ever have a chance to work with one of these? at right around 1 grand per channel with the A/D option, it seems like a pretty economical high end option for me. any thoughts?

 

[A Toolish Circle]

compare a behringer pre to an avalon

.

let's not even mention behringer here....according to a friend of mine they introduce horrible harmonics to the signal and fucking it up .

with preamps it's not really a question of does this sound better than the other...it's more of which type of preamps complements the amp/ or in most cases the vocalist and what kind of tone u want to achieve . sometimes all u want is a clean open and honest preamp and sometimes u wanna grit things up ... just like mics ....a Neumann U47 might not sound as good as a SM57 to some vocalists and the idea is to pick a preamp or mic to best complement the
instrument best .

so for guitars , i'd suggest the Focusrite Reds .

 

[Matt Crooks]

I think looking at Andy's Mic Pre list in the equipements section just adds to what i'm trying to say. he doen'st have stacks and stacks of Avalons or Neves for that matter and yet he's pulling one of the best sounds ever.

He's using a Cranesong spider which is a top-of-the-line 8 channel pre, 4 channels of Focusrite Red and two channels of Neve. I'd say he's using great pres on everything.

 

[SPLASTiK]

People are forgetting to mention one of the most important things...

Monitors.