- Nov 6, 2005
- 320
- 29
- 28
I randomly found a thread somewhere (probably gearslutz) and there was talk about the Symetrix 302. In digging into them, I found a handful on Reverb, with a racked quad up for $250. I bought them expecting utility preamps, but was surprised at how syrupy and sandy they sounded, to the point that my WA273 (neve clones) sounded more open and neutral. I did a test of my Framus Cobra into a MF400 with a v30 miced with an sm58 (no windscreen). The full mix bus has Satson Bus, Cytomic Glue, and Kilohearts Limiter. The guitars only are raw off of the preamps.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gb1BrrEm_RxpKZyRe2gUQz52Yj-LvW1O
In hindsight there is too much gain, but I found it interesting on the middle part (1:05 on) that the WA273 seemed to smear, the MPA didn't as much, but the 302 seemed to glue them down while still being a little more defined. However, the WA273 is set with the gain higher and the output backed off a bit, so some of that may be saturation buildup.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gb1BrrEm_RxpKZyRe2gUQz52Yj-LvW1O
In hindsight there is too much gain, but I found it interesting on the middle part (1:05 on) that the WA273 seemed to smear, the MPA didn't as much, but the 302 seemed to glue them down while still being a little more defined. However, the WA273 is set with the gain higher and the output backed off a bit, so some of that may be saturation buildup.
