UA 610 or API 2134+ or even.... Manley Slam? Help me

[RCW]

Hey everyone,

My band will be recording a full length album at the end of march. We are doing everything ourselves with an exception of maybe mastering (yet to be decided).

Anyway, We plan on renting a really nice preamp to basically run all of the important stuff through. Drums, bass, guitars, and vox. I have a MOTU 8Pre for other general stuff.

I have read both reviews on the UA 610 and the API 2134+? They seem like great units... Can anybody give me a solid reason why I should choose one or the other?

Also, I have the possibility of also renting a manley slam for about 100 more than the other two units. I have always been way to giddy about manley products. Has anyone used these? Would they fit my all around general purpose for renting a preamp?

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[JeffTD]

UA610 is genius on vocals and was an awesome DI/comp for bass to my ears, but tends to distort at higher volumes with other things like kick, snare, and gtrs.

The 3124 would be the most useful, IMO - you could run all the 'important' drum pieces through it (OH, hh/ride spots or snare depending on your inputs), and would allow you to run multiple mics on the guitar cabinet with proper quality if you wanted. Would also end up sounding great on bass/vocals/whatever.

Would it be possible to get the 3124 for drum/gtr tracking, and then get the UA610 for vocal tracking? That'd be ideal IMO.

 

[RCW]

UA610 is genius on vocals and was an awesome DI/comp for bass to my ears, but tends to distort at higher volumes with other things like kick, snare, and gtrs.

The 3124 would be the most useful, IMO - you could run all the 'important' drum pieces through it (OH, hh/ride spots or snare depending on your inputs), and would allow you to run multiple mics on the guitar cabinet with proper quality if you wanted. Would also end up sounding great on bass/vocals/whatever.

Would it be possible to get the 3124 for drum/gtr tracking, and then get the UA610 for vocal tracking? That'd be ideal IMO.

Yea that might be possible. The only thing is we are recording for a solid 4 days. We will have to drive to Nashville to get whatever equipment we will be renting so going twice would suck. It would be a waste of money to rent both at the same time for both days when we would only use the 610 for vocals at the end.

I am thinking the API 3124+ is my best bet after all because it has 4 channels that I know would be quality. I still have some thinking to do.

If anyone else has any suggestions...... let me know.

 

[colonel kurtz]

yea dude if you can only rent one, then the API is definitely in order!

 

[guitardom]

i have a ua la-610 and an api a2d (same pre's as 3124) and i by far use the api more. for drums, guitars and even bass. i do not use it on vocals though. i use an adl 600 or vintech x73i to a distressor or the comp on the la-610. the api will work on vocals just fine, but something about it just does not do it for me if i have other choices. the ua 610 does not suck by any means, but does not have the attack and character of the api for metal/rock. i have never used the manley slam though i have a borrowed vari mu here right now, and it is amazing!!!

 

[RCW]

Awesome dudes! Thanks for the insight. I think I will go with that API. It's actually the cheapest unit to rent of the choices I provided. I have never had the opportunity to use a "nice preamp". The best I have used is a studio projects vtb-1. This should be fun!

 

[Wolfeman]

Get the API nice and hot, you'll like what it does.