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Universal Audio Solo/610 -- First Impressions.

T-Dogg

Active Member
Just picked one of these up last night for my own little band project... I wanted the vocals to sit in the mix ina very dry, up-front, moderately saturated manner. I've never really had any pre's that excelled at this, most everything I have leans towards the class A solid state side of things -- a little too clean, and a little too edgy when pushed into saturation...

Now I haven't gotten vocals through it yet, but did try it as a bass DI, as well as briefly on some guitar amps... Some first impressions:

Bass DI -- this is the sh!t. With a newer Fender American Jazz bass (boutique-y pickups) direct in, you're greeted with a sweet low frequency warmth and a nice growl when you dig into the strings, a very thick solid tone. Some degree of tube compression was apparent, giving more of that spongey amp-like feel. A-->Bing between the 610 and a lightly modded presonus M-80 (class A circuit loaded with jensen transformers, very \"forward\" sounding in the mids) was a no-brainer. More transients slipped through on the the M-80, but it revealed too much \"string tone\", leaving an unnatural, disembodied sounding top end that seemed to run away from the meat of the bass tone. Very sterile sounding. Same goes for the pre's on my Soundcraft Ghost, though I liked it's less focused, slightly \"muddier\" sound better. Also tried a Focusrite ISA -- the image definately has some weight and a nice low end... and the ISA's tranny's do saturate a little more forgivingly than the presonus, but bass still sounded a bit to clinical. What the 610 did in terms of rounding out the low end, smoothing and merging the top end with the rest of the bass sound, and gently adding that dynamic \"growl\" when pushed could not be duplicated. One strange thing about the 610 in DI mode -- I felt the input gain stage could drive a little harder here, if you really wanted to push it. At max input gain I was just barely able to get to the orange (driven) signal LED to light when really diggin into the strings... Not that I wanted to drive it harder, but I'd like to hear what it would've sounded like when called for.

On Strat --> Bassman --> Shure beta57... This amp is always a b!tch to mic. It just has too much headroom, and gets way too loud before it sweetens up. But it's great for sparkling, percussive finger-picked clean tones. With the presonus, these transients really shine through -- but so much that the tone is hard to sit in a mix. A little too edgy and agressive sounding in the upper mids... Here I liked what the 610 did, in terms of pushing the sound \"back\", making it more suitable for rhythm underneath a vocal line... ... Again the gentle compression when driven, the round low end, and the diffusing (a nice sizzle) of the top end helped to smooth out what can be a very abrasive sounding amp.

On Strat --> Fulltone OCD --> Keeley compressor --> Ampeg Gemini --> Neuman TLM193... Holy sh!t. This is where I ended the night, and it was getting late so I had to keep the amp volume low... preamp input gain was cranked to compensate... This was total liquid creamy greatness, I can't wait to go home and play around with this some more! Best guitar tone I've ever gotten with my gear, unless my ears were playing tricks on me...

Anyway, just some rambling first impressions. Bottom line -- I am really diggin this thing on everything I've tried so far... I'll report back in a few weeks once the \"new toy\" syndrome has worn off... 8)
 

Eric Dahlberg

Purveyor of musical dreams fullfilled.
It sounds like you'd really like ribbon mics on guitar.
 

T-Dogg

Active Member
Eric Dahlberg said:
It sounds like you'd really like ribbon mics on guitar.

I've often wondered that, but never got to spend much time with them. Only recently I was introduced to the Royers (I think the cheaper ones), being used as overheads at the time, and they did sound pretty f'in sweet.
 

Eric Dahlberg

Purveyor of musical dreams fullfilled.
If you're in the US, you're welcome to borrow one.
 
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