Topic: UA5 vs. SD USBpre

[Matt Quinn]

I run a UA5 now, just wondering if anyone has made any direct comparisons between these 2 units. They seem to offer a lot of the same features, but I never hear much about the USBpre. It does look like the SD unit has a lot nicer level meters than the cheesy one red light on the Edirol.  The reason I'm curious is that I was thinking about picking up an MP2 to warm up my mics a little, and then realized if the USBpre sounds similar to the MP 2, I could still get away with a 1 box set up for a little while.    

[EA]

Dude, I really don't think ya wanna add an MP2 to your 460's. I think it'll just accentuate the loose boomy bass inherent in the stock 460's. Just my $0.02

[Matt Quinn]

Weird....you run a V2, right?
The trigger for this thought was listening to my Set 3 It tape. I borrowed a friends gear and ran v2>ad2k behind the 460's. I thought it souded terrible, really thin, honestly worse than the 1st 2 sets which were my regular rig. The v2 was just way way too transparent with the 460's. So I decided to look for something to fatten up the sound. MP2, PSP-2, AD1k, Minime are all options at this point. I'm (obviously) trying to keep it cheap for now. Do you have any stuff you've recorded online? I'd love to compare the 460/v2/ad2k tape I did with one of your mod460/v2 tapes.      
     

[BC]

The USBPre is an excellent value for the money, great metering, quite transparent sound. However I would definitely not say that it has a warm sound, if anything it tends toward the bright side IMHO. If you want to warm up your rig sound maybe you would be better off with the warm-mod UA5.
Take care,
Ben

[EA]

Yeah, I run a V2, but it's with the mod 460's which have a completely different sound than the stock ones. I don't have any of that bloated bass and lack of mids that the stock 460's are known for. So, what I would run with my mics isn't the same as what I'd run with your mics. I'd stick with your UA-5 for now and spend the money on getting the mics modded. Then figure out what pre works best for you.

Weird....you run a V2, right?
The trigger for this thought was listening to my Set 3 It tape. I borrowed a friends gear and ran v2>ad2k behind the 460's. I thought it souded terrible, really thin, honestly worse than the 1st 2 sets which were my regular rig. The v2 was just way way too transparent with the 460's. So I decided to look for something to fatten up the sound. MP2, PSP-2, AD1k, Minime are all options at this point. I'm (obviously) trying to keep it cheap for now. Do you have any stuff you've recorded online? I'd love to compare the 460/v2/ad2k tape I did with one of your mod460/v2 tapes.      
     

[DaryanLenz]

I agree with ethan...regualr 460's are thin and do not sound as good as the mods..night asnd day actually after hearing some of ethan's tapes!  Anyway, I was wondering..is the usbpre not transformer based like the mp-2?  I would have thought the pre's were the same, but then again, what do I know!  Have a great day all

Daryan

[Matt Quinn]

Anyway, I was wondering..is the usbpre not transformer based like the mp-2?  I would have thought the pre's were the same, but then again, what do I know!  

This is really what I was wondering about.
I'm going to get the mod done.....just a matter of time/money. If I can't get it done before Fall Phish tour, I want to have some other options.  

[nic]

"I borrowed a friends gear and ran v2>ad2k behind the 460's. I thought it sounded terrible, really thin, honestly worse than the 1st 2 sets which were my regular rig. The v2 was just way way too transparent with the 460's. "

slightly off-topic, but a STS9 show that Sonic Sense hosted a month back used Neumanns(184 or 140...not sure which) with a V3>AD2K combo. sounds HORRIBLE. way too thin and the high end sounds very brittle! is this suppossed to be "transparent"?
dont know if it was the V3, the AD2K or the combo, but something was definately off on that recording. granted, it could have always been the actual FOH mixing that made it sound like this, but I have never heard a STS9 show in person that sounds anything like this.
just my $.02

[EA]

Well, my point is, you're gonna pay about the same for an MP2 as you'd pay for the mods. And IMO you'll get much more of an increase in sound quality with the mods than you'll get with a new pre. By the way, Jim does the mod and has the mics back to you in about a week. He's super fast. If you want to hear a good mod 460 show that I taped, check out Keller Williams 07/19/03 which is up on Furthur. It's a short one disc show. So it's a quick download.

Anyway, I was wondering..is the usbpre not transformer based like the mp-2?  I would have thought the pre's were the same, but then again, what do I know!  

This is really what I was wondering about.
I'm going to get the mod done.....just a matter of time/money. If I can't get it done before Fall Phish tour, I want to have some other options.  

[Matt Quinn]

Cool, I'll check for it. Thanks.

And luvean.....thats so weird. The kid whos gear I borrowed runs Schoeps, and some of his tapes are the best AUD's I've ever heard. I just thought it was my mic's. Oh well. I guess the 460 mod is my next stop.

[DaryanLenz]

I agree big time with Ethan about the mods.  Get the mics modded first, as that will effect the sound a ton more than anything else in the signal.  If I remember correctly, the mods are 125 dollars a piece, which is way cheap!  As far as the v3->ad2k tape...I could have told you it would be thin before even listening to it.  I would never run v3->ad2k, maybe v2->ad2k, but with either rig, especially with akg's, what you hear is most certainly what you get.  A good friend of mine, DR. Mike runs 483->v2->ad2k and that is exactly how I would decribe his tapes.   YMMV though.  

[Simp-Dawg]

tube, are you going from ua-5 to dat or laptop?  if you're not going laptop, don't bother with the usbpre, it is not a standalone unit, you have to run it off usb from a computer and there's no good way to output to another device from it.  but it does a great job of 24bit over osb to the laptop and sounds very nice, IMO

[Matt Quinn]

I'm going to laptop. I saw that the USBPre has coax outs, too, is it the same story as the UA5? No signal unless it's hooked up to a comp?  No way of externally powering it either? It has to be powered off the USB? Ouch. Oh well.....back to the drawing board.

[Simp-Dawg]

it has coax out but it is ONLY active during playback, and ONLY at 16bits.  no good for patchers.  main drawback of it if you ask me, i love it as an all in one box but the only patch i can give is a mini headphone monitor out, which i guess sounds ok but it's definitely not ideal.

[ianstone]

i believe SD has a unit called "Mix-pre" which is very similar to the mp2.

I love the mp2, great unit for stealth and non-stealth situations.

i run mbho's>mp2>ad2k+

ian


ps- i really like the sonosax with the 460's. i've never heard the modded 460s so i cant give any input there...