I think the ad-20 is a great pre- just has limitations, no phantom, no one does mods, no ability to do matrix, I ran oktava mc012 > rolls pb224>ad20>jb3, and I have tapes that I enjoy from my ad-20 better than my t+ mod ua-5 with that being said the ua-5 was more clear but thinner sounding and not as warm. Maybe it was the pa that day but I really enjoyed using the ad20 just watch that gain, I always ran 10 db pads on the mics after one bad experience.