VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Rob Ellis]

To give you an idea, here's my signal chain:

Gefell M930, Sennheiser 415>Avalon 737>MOTU Ultralite>Adobe Audition

Recently, not wanting to wait for the 737 to warm up for the recommended 30 minutes, I tried recording directly into the MOTU, which has mic preamps w 48V phantom power, etc.

I may be crazy but running the mic directly into the MOTU sounded fairly close to running it through the 737 and then into the MOTU.

The 737 adds a slight touch of more warmness and air, but at the same time without it there seems to be a little more clarity and cut through....

I'm not knocking the 737 by any means, just beginning to wonder if such a high-end preamp($2000+ new) is really necessary, especially since I don't use any of the ancillary functions like compression, EQ, etc.

I'm also thinking maybe there's something to be said for having one less component in the signal chain.

Or maybe selling the Avalon and buying a less expensive pre-amp, (probably solid state), preferably in the $500 range, and putting the $1000 or so leftover dollars to different use.

It's not that I'm unhappy with the Avalon. It's just that as I mature in this business, I'm more cognizant of what I DON'T need, and less willing to keep around high-end gear that's not being fully utilized.

Also possibly of relevance to any input you may have on this: I will be switching from a PC to a Mac computer system soon.

Thank you in advance for your input!