Unison preamps and guitars

RalphK

Active Member
Hey folks,

I was doing some experiments demoing the api vision and the neve 1073 with my fractal ax8 and i can state the following:

Neve 1073: amazing for classic rock kind of sounds especially with a marshall plexi and a strat.

Api vision: with its handy eq cutting the 500hz freq. Its awesome for shimmering cleans and heavily distorted palm mited guitars.

What is thy opinion ?
 

Gitaarwerk

Venerated Member
Unison doesnt work for DI in for my firewire apollo. So i added a DI into the mic amps. I LOVE the UA610. Especially the A version.
 

Ashford

Venerated Member
I own two hardware LA610's. They are my go-to mic pre's and DI's for guitars. I am sure the unison version of the 610 will offer a similar level of performance.
 
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exoslime

Venerated Member
i dont have unison on my silverface apollo, but i will also use the Neve 1073 or the API Vision as an regularInsert FX in the Consolo on the Way in and commit to them on my axe fx and kemper signals.. works really great.

and i dont see a benefit to use Unison on a line signal level? perhaps i´m missing something but also say, i dont care. it sounds already great, also my kemper i hooked up straight via SPDIF ;)

unison on hi-z is a different story though.. reacting with the impendace/pickups, affecting resonance of pickups and affecting playing is an important aspect indeed :)
 

Bear-Faced Cow

Hall of Fame Member
The 1073 is my usual go-to from my Helix. Aside from the usual complement of Marshalls, I find it works great with the Dr. Z amp sound which is one of favourite emulations to use. I'm more apt to use the Vision with either the Engl, or Mesa type amps, or for something when I'm looking for something more "in your face".

I also find myself using 610A for certain classic rock feels as well.

jord
 

Matt Hepworth

Master of the UADiverse
Forum Admin
Moderator
1073 is my go-to as well, but 610B is good for heavy, thick rhythm guitars too.
 

De Pepper

Active Member
Erh, just for clarification: Are you talking about going out from your Axe, Helix etc. into the Apollo Hi Z and then hitting 610, Vision or 1073 (in Unison slot)?
 

DanButsu

Administrator
Forum Admin
Moderator
Unison doesnt work for DI in for my firewire apollo. So i added a DI into the mic amps. I LOVE the UA610. Especially the A version.
Hey there. Are you going Guitar -> DI -> xlr -> Apollo Mic Pre -> Unison Pre?

If so, the Apollo's impedance loading will only "see" the DI Box and not the actual Guitar Pick-Ups, thus rendering Unison unless. It will still sound great as Exo said, but won't have the impedance interaction/loading to the guitar!

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but it's the same with Eric Valentines Variable Impedance Cable, it has to go directly to the guitar, no DI or pedals in between!
 

Bear-Faced Cow

Hall of Fame Member
Erh, just for clarification: Are you talking about going out from your Axe, Helix etc. into the Apollo Hi Z and then hitting 610, Vision or 1073 (in Unison slot)?
My Helix goes into the Mic inputs of my Apollo. I have a Rockman XPR that feeds into the line input, mostly due to the fact that it is noisy as hell.

jord
 

RalphK

Active Member
I found that the apis are the closest to the stock preamps but maybe crisper and brighter... any does anyone still use the stock pres ?
 

Gitaarwerk

Venerated Member
Hey there. Are you going Guitar -> DI -> xlr -> Apollo Mic Pre -> Unison Pre?

If so, the Apollo's impedance loading will only "see" the DI Box and not the actual Guitar Pick-Ups, thus rendering Unison unless. It will still sound great as Exo said, but won't have the impedance interaction/loading to the guitar!

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but it's the same with Eric Valentines Variable Impedance Cable, it has to go directly to the guitar, no DI or pedals in between!
Hi there. Yes, exactly like that.

The reason is that the DI (radial j48) already changes my impedance. Persoanlly, i like this sound better than the average 1Mohm one on tge fronts (iirc).

Aside from that, the unison part will change the sound more than when im not changing it when put into the front panel.

I must admit,not on all guitars it sounds better. Still need to list and record all changes the sound makes.

I cant create a good comparison, since more than half of my gear is packed because of moving houses.

I also prefer the pad function of the DI and drive it more than using it on the apollo. Sounds a tad warmer.
 

Cams

Active Member
What's a good unison pre for acoustic guitar pickups? I have four acoustics, all with different pickups so I suppose they'd all respond differently to the different preamps too. I have two Baggs, one single source Lyric (active mic) and one dual source (Lyric mic with UST, also active). Another guitar has the K&K Pure Mini, and my fourth an active UST (D-Tar Wavelength 18v).

I have the 610B (got it with the bundle that came with my Twin Duo), Manley VoxBox and B15n. Those are my only unison plugs, but I'll be looking to spend something with the coupon I get with my recently ordered Apollo 8 Quad.

Thus far my acoustics have always been miked. Guess I've got some experimenting to do!
 

RalphK

Active Member
If u want boominess go for the 610 or the voxbox, if u want crispness and attack go for an eqed api vision... imo.
 

RalphK

Active Member
I think the real power of the api is the channel strip eq... i wish the 1073 had a similar eq... i find it too restrictive... cant cut at 500hz.
 
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