25 mic pre shootout/review! Male vocals (BAE, NEVE, API, UA, Great River, Chandler, Shadow hills) 

After a few years, my favorite is still the BAE 1073, on most vocals, certainly mine. I added a touch of reverb because to me dry vocals are the death of sonic bliss, like pasta without salt, and would make it so painful that it would be distracting to even try to have any emotional instinctual reaction to the minor differences between pres. Please subscribe and go check my other videos, that'll be the thank you for the free service here provided! :) Cheeeeeeers, G PS If you feel they all sound the same, congratulations! You are luckier than all of us and are free from the insidious GAS (gear acquisition syndrome), and will live longer and happier!

Absolutely mind blown by the Germanium, I didn't expect that. Smooth as butter in your voice, the 'S' sound is just precious.

thanks for the video! Favorites were BAE1073, NEVE1073LB, Chandler, Great River Pre.

I think the API and Grace Design 501 are my preferred ones. What a perfect way to do a shoutout video.

The API 512C is so SMOOTH! I really like the Neve 1073.

BAE 1073 and UA610 are so lovely on his vocals, silky.

I really liked the RND 511... clarity and warmth at the same time, really clear 3D effect

Thanks you friends for all your hard work, much appreciated.

I trust these recordings I can tell the difference been researching all this year and this is the icing on the cake helps me identify what sound I'm looking for an dodge a few bullets

Wow! THANK YOU so much for all your work in putting this together. It's interesting to read everyone's favorites...which reveals just how different all our ears are. My personal favorites were Great River, the UA 610, and the Avedis (Although, I've never heard of Avedis). The Purple, Clarett, and Phoenix were painfully harsh. Ugh. This has been HUGELY helpful in narrowing down which preamps I want to go with in my studio. I was locked on to the Manley CORE channel strip...but its preamp isn't anything crazily astonishing compared to others either.

what if this reverb could go away so we can tell what they sound like

DW Fearn was my fav. Super round sounding. Deep lows, and no sibilance. The Skibbie had a really cool bite to it! I have electrodyne so I have to like that one too. BAE nailed the classic Neve thing. Always impressed with stock Focusrite pres as well!

The Neves, the BAEs, the Edwards, Avedis and Burls, hell of em!

I was feeling you needed a touch of eq until I heard the Shadow Hills... to me the best for your vocals but they all can emulate each other with a nice EQ :) Great review! 👏

They all sound good! Can’t go wrong with any!

That's SOME collection of great preamps! Was hoping for a Focusrite ISA in there, but you can't have it all. Thank you.

The Chandler has such a warm even tone. I like it !!

What a pleasant video. Thank you. I was really impressed by that Edwards LE-10 and the Manley Core. I wish that the RND 511 would have had a clip with the Silk engaged and one with the UA-610 impedance set to high.

Thx for sharing. They all sound good. For me was bae 1073, 610 Manley was amazing also Avedis.

Thanks for this work. Great !

Great demonstration!!! Thank-you!!

Love Chandler Germanium!!!! That’s hands down all about the tone I go for. Wunder is beautiful. Used a large format console for years in San Fran. Amazing gear. (Except it picks up Mexican radio, even the large console did that)

00:05 BAE 1073 00:32 NEVE 1073LB 00:59 Chandler Limited Germanium 500 MKII 02:19 Shadow Hills Gama Nickel 02:45 Shadow Hills Gama Steel 03:13 Focusrite Clarett pre - no air 03:45 Daking 500 pre 04:14 Purple Biz - Dual switch engaged 04:43 Great River MP2NV 05:10 Rupert Neve Design 511 pre - no silk 05:39 UA 610 solo - 500 impedance 06:08 D.W.Fearn VT-1 pre 06:36 Manley Core mic pre 08:25 Phoenix DRS-1R pre

this is probably the best preamp comparison demo for vocals on youtube

Eff'ing fantastic service you have provided!!! The most useful shootout I've come across in a long time! There were a few things I found interesting. First thing is just how similar so many of these were an, how edgy the top end was on most of those that sounded alike. Makes me think most are copying the same basic design, wink, wink. The only two that really stood out for me were the Manley, which was smooth as butter but not muddy or slow sounding, and the Electrodyne, which sounded like the records I grew up on so many years ago. The tonality was pleasant and laid back while the low mids were pushed ever so slightly into the pleasant range. I also dug the Gamma with Steel engaged but was totally underwhelmed by the Wonder and the Portico, which makes me sad.

Awesome shootout ty!!!

Focusrite Clarett SURPRISE

Avedis MA5, BAE 1073, Great River MP2NV lovely bottom end and solid. Inward connections seem to be the closest to actual sound. API 512C, just because it is an awesome dependable workhorse at a decent price. love my 3124. But Avedis is the fullest and most appealing in my opinion.. Listening mainly to the low end. If the lows and mids are not solid, a mix always seems lacking in body. When bass and low mids are nice and grounded, everything else easily falls into place. Beautiful and very effective comparison test. Thank you very much.

The BAE is really something else. By far the most pleasing to me. The GAMA seems like it has an insane amount of headroom. The Grace is also really nice, extremely transparent but never harsh. The rest were just good.

That Skibbie 736 surprised the shit out of me. Sounds amazing!

¡¡¡Felicitaciones!!! Muchas Gracias!

Wow, the shadow hills and skibbe spoke to me

BAE 1073 for me but the RND 511 sounds amazing and controlled. Fantastic comparisons.

Thanks for putting this together. I often come back to this for unequivocal evidence of how much of a negligible difference pre-amps make and how much misinformation was spread on my university course. As an excellent comment below stated, this is absolutely a case “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. A story upheld by all who gain to benefit from it and believe by those they can exploit. Every discernible difference these expensive preamps make from each other can be adjusted with mild EQing. Don’t fall into the trap of believing it ✌️

Neve 1073 winner to my ears, Damn!! Now I've go to buy another Preamp, 16 and counting.

This is the freaking best preamp shootout!!!!!!!!!

Impressed by the BAE

BAE 1073. Clean, clear, not too harsh. No bad mids sticking through.

Among these, the BAE 1073 has a well-balanced sound with a good core and a good vintage feel.

Daking, Electrodyne, Neve Portico and Chandler Germanium all hav an openness and a smooth midrange that I quite like.

If you haven't listened to the song this vocal is from, check it out!! It's called "Ok," and it's an awesome song with ethereal chord progressions and gorgeous, rich vocal harmonies that just come soaring in out of nowhere. The vocal makes so much more sense in context, and the song itself is excellent.🌅 🌌

the clarette pre really holds its own here for its price!

Shadow Hills Gama (nickel mode) was the only on that really stood out, head and shoulders above all the others. Wow!

_Bravissimo!_ Outstanding demo, my dude. ***for the relative noobs*** : Most of any of these will serve solo instrumentalists and singers just fine. It's when you are mixing many tracks and needing to mitigate whatever the rooms, mics or performers are doing that may be sub-optimal - that is when the hand-built, hand-biased and calibrated circuits really tend to make the most difference in the end result. And your monitors matter a lot here, or you won't be hearing much difference! Anyway, [personally coming from a M160, 2x little blondies, 797/SP C1 and SM57 into an early UA LA-610 and ISA 428 mk1] the Chandler is the sound of desire - the balance of vibe and natural musicality shines every time I hear one working. that Grace 101 is still as detailed and smooth as ever 15 yrs on, and the Daking a bit more lively in a similar respect. BAE 1073 stays smooth and big as it tracks and flatters the mid-to-lowend fundamental like nobody's business. Similar but not as commanding were the Avedis, GR and Gama...the Purple sounds like too many steroids. the 312a thinner but better detailed and very nicely present to help mix a lead vocal into a denser mix. Love the API and Phoenix for their balance and ability + character. RND 511's mids sound a little odd here, perhaps not the best mate to mic or singer. Manley and the Fearn sound like 2nd cousins just born a few decades apart. otoh, that Magnum hardly bettered the Clarette with it's bizarre resonances and ringing...yuck lol! The Wunder had a similar problem in fewer regions. Skribble smeared the sibilants from that KSM32 too much, imho. The Millennia exhibits an impressive yet plastick-y ability to track and emphasis upper partials, here it's sounding peculiarly 2D but I suspect that it can cut through a busy mix easier than many other pres can.

THANK YOU SO MUCH

Years later I still consider this to be the absolute best preamp shootout on the internet. It inspired me to get the Daking and sell my grace and it was a really pleasing change for the projects I was working on at the time.

Thanks, nice video… very useful. Can tell the differences even on phone speakers

Burl/Daking FTW for 500 series. Listen to those quiet parts, wow.

I like the chandler a lot, its bottom end has something I seems to like

My favorites were the Daking, the Edwards LE-10, and the Grace Design. They made the voice sound the most balanced and it sounds like their frequency response is more in line to pleasantly affect his specific vocal range. Everything is useable but may have sounded too wooly, dark, thuddy, brittle, honky, or combinations of all these for my taste. Thanks for the comparison!

Neve 1073LB and Chandler Mkii together in one mix is basically all you need for at home recordings. Neve: Focusrite: 0:31 3:14 0:40 3:25 0:50 3:35 Just for fun.. ears forget quickly.

Thanks for the excellent shootout! For me, I can finally put to rest the preamp debate. Listening through AKG 371 wired cans, yes there are differences, but they are so subtle! Some options are a little more airy, some have a little more bottom end, some have a little more definition in the mids, but not to the point of making a huge difference at all, not really, for me at least. Not to the point that a little EQ would help balance the ground between them. I am happy to see thay my pair of RND 511 that I got second hand at a ridicously price, are hanging there with the best, and actually sound very fresh, modern to my ears, and without the silk. Also surprised that the Focursite preamps stood their ground against the others. I won't ever think of outboard preamps anymore. I might just sell the IGS Neve clone that I was expecting to arrive home soon, stick to my RND pre's and get something more usefull, like a new virtual instrument, an Audioscape V3A compressor, some ribbon mic, or a radial pedal interface instead... Case closed, thank you very much!...Move, next.

Vintage King is a Great Shop! Liked that Germanium Chandler! can't go wrong with the 1073 or 312

Crazy... they all sound the same to me. Listening through a pair of DT 770 pro.

RND 511 is an incredible preamp, I have two

Great Video, really helpful- one of the best for comparing mic pres - nice one! Had a listen through headphones and studio monitors plus some generic desktop pc speakers. Obviously it's subjective but I thought the Bae had a bigger sound than any of the others including the neve 1073 although I think compared to the neve it sounds a bit " wooly " in the lower frequencies. Believe it or not in Englandat least, a Bae 1073 is more expensive than a Neve if thats anything to go by.

the BAE is unbeatable! The way it handles the mids harsh frequencies is just great. My second choice would be the Chandler

The Burl sounds fantastic imo.

The BURL B1 is like the love child of the 73 and the 512. My personal favourite for that reason.

Awesome. Thanks. Great vocal. So many nice pre's for different uses. The BAE has some pixie dust; the new Manley is like a lighter version. Really interesting to make comparisons.

BAE 1073 and burl are beautiful!

Thank you !!

RND 511. Crazy it’s clear but not overly bright. Controlled very nicely. The fern was nice too. The worst I think was the burl and the purple

Very interesting results, Thanks Giulio! Would you be able to make the .WAV files available via dropbox or some other file site?

Thanks for doing this! The Gama is my choice.

Neve 1073 & Bae 1073, me quedo con el Neve😍

great river is just beyond them all no question

the ones that stood out to me were: Bae 1073, Chandler, Shadow hills would be great for a rock and aggressive vocal, Edwards, and I think that Pheonix stood out a bit. Also the purple biz.

For me the winners are Neve 1073LB and Manley Core. Definitely the best of the best, two beast preamps.

I love the BAE. It sounds similar to my Dan Alexander with the original Marinar transformers.

BAE is the winner for me. I have two in 19" but want to get a 500 series version as well for my portable rig.

My favorites (for this microphone and vocalist) were: Daking, Great River, and Avedis MA5. API and Electrodyne are runners up.

I Iove the BAE!!!

This is easy...That Great River is the best for this mic and vocalist. Beautiful!

very cool. very subtle but just noticeable differences mainly in top end air mids and presence between them all. I prefer the sound of some but will these differences matter? I think mic and placement will be bigger factors.

The Manley and RPN 511 really stood out to me. Wish you demoed the Chandler TG2 too though! Great shootout. Also, the Great River sounded.. well.. great. There were a few others that were impressive but forgettable for me. The 511 has a clarity that feels almost three dimensional and futuristic. It’s really quite good. Dig the API also. I think I’m pulling the trigger on a 511, a CAPI VP26, and an AML EZ1073. The BAE is nice but the AML does the same job at a much better price if you can solder. Also would like to echo another comment and add another perspective… while these pres may sound great on their own, and subtle in a mix, if you stack every track recorded with the same pre, it will be much more noticeable in a mix. Also, tube on tube on tube may not always be the best. I use a 47 clone with the 610 right now, and it’s great, but matching mics to different preamps appropriately can give a mix so much more life and sonic differentiation between parts. Cheers!

Bae 1073/Chandler- 2 favorites

The bae 1073 was good, Manley, the skibble was my second favorite, the 610 sounded great as well but by far with that mic the shadow hills was the most in your face but very smooth on that high note.

This confirms to me that if you've got a good voice, you'll sound good through anything. They all have their subtleties, but it's completely subjective what sounds best.

Listened to this several times on different occasions through headphones. Top 3 for me were: Daking 500 pre, Phoenix DRS-1R, API 512c. All 3 revealed more detail (most notable during some of the singer's softer consonants at the end of passages. Most of the other pre's completely missed some of this!

Thanks for doing this. The BAE is my favorite. The Neve seems to have a tad more articulation, but the BAE is smooth and detailed. Have you ever used the 88rlb? It seem more open and cleaner than the Neve 1073.

Chandler, Edwards and Grace...clear, balanced...im going to by some of this shit

Thank you for the nice singing and making the effort. Definitely helps me in selecting the most suitable models for my studio. ...a.k.a. the preamps on my Focusrite interface. The differences between these preamps, while definitely there, are not worth the price tag for me.

Most AMS owners disliked the tone of the BAE variant. Personally I regard the BAE as possible alternative when tasked with recording slow music. You have to consider that a bass region that sounds "loose" and a bit "static" will find it difficult follow the dynamic execution of rhythmic patterns but instead will deliver sort of a resonant ring that lacks dynamism and tightness. Thank you for this great comparison.

Great shutout! But missing in my opinion the best Mic Pre of all time...The Chandler TG2 500 with the magic Fine Gain. But all pretty close, except some minor color differences. The RND 511 is also a very pleasant modern Mic Pre.

I love your songwriting. What preamp do you prefer for electric bass?

D.W.Fearn VT-1 pre sounds good to my ears.

Great test ! Thank you ! I would have appreciate to hear a Yamaha cl preamp just to hear the difference. ;-)

Tell us please how was this test done. Did you split the mic signal before sending it to all the preamps at the same time or you already pre-recorded the voice with some transparent preamp and then reamped it again with these items in different studios?

Great shootout! Which a/d converters did you use? Thanks

Chandler germanium! Goddamn

Thanks for this shootout. The reverb sounds quite different on Fearn. Any particular reason for this?

On the Wunder Cobalt: Was the voice speaking in the background someone in the studio, or did it pick up a radio signal?

Depends on the application. But in no particular order, I really dig the API (Very open and punchy), Millennia *Surprised me* (Very clean, smooth, and so much depth) And the Great River, Which sounds more like a Vintage Neve 1081 to me. I've used the API and the great river in real life, But with how cost effective the Millennia is, I'm most certainly getting a few of those to add to my rack! Thanks for the great video!

Nice, germ was my favorite.

It’s gotta be the BAE!

Rupert Neve Design 511, BAE 1073, UA 610, Shadow hills Steel

BAE1073 to my ear sounded great.

I thought the crescendo and overall dynamics sounded best on the UA 610, but can’t decide why. The focusrite stock pre was no slouch though, I must say

After watching 100 plus videos.. At last the true vocal comparison . And I agree whole heartedly re the reverb. Thank you thank you thank you. I think i liked the Phoenix most followed by the BAE 1073