Newbie, UA-5 Question

[leshlush]

Just a quick question,

What's everyone's opinion  on a non-performace modded (just digi-mod)UA-5???

Are they a little bright???

I've never run one but I am presuming that I'll be in the market for a preamp shortly to replace my line transformers... I know that the UA-5 is a popular choice and was just looking for some feed-back...

The only reason that I would presume that it may be a little bright is b/c the transparent and warm mods exist... I was just wondering how bright they are w/o the performance mods... Too bright??? or fairly acceptable???

Thx everyone

[Brian Skalinder]

Lots of recordings out there on Archive.org for listening, FWIW.  IMO, brightness is not a problematic sonic characteristic of the digi-modUA5.  The digi-mod UA5 does have some noticeable self-noise at very high gain, though.  But if you're recording loud PAs, it's not an issue.

[NJFunk]

The Oade performance mods completely swap out chips, so the original sonic characteristics of the non-modded box do not affect the choice of the mod.  In other words, the warm mod exists not because the original box is "bright", but because the chip that Doug replaces the factory chip with is a significant upgrade and happens to have a warm coloration.

[leshlush]

Thx folks... I appreciate the feedback