Bass Guitar Tube Preamp

[Clear] I read a lot of reviews of this preamp which complained about the lack of headroom and tendency to distort the signal easily, producing a wooly, dark, or muddy tone. If you are looking for a clean, all-purpose preamp with very little character then this is not what you are looking for. However, if you are after a warm, dreamy tube-driven sound then this is a great low-price preamp to add to your arsenal. It's become my favorite preamp for a classic acoustic guitar tone paired with a beyer ribbon mic-- beautiful warm, woody sound with a little gentle tube compression. Happiest I've ever been with an acoustic guitar.

I read a lot of reviews of this preamp which complained about the lack of headroom and tendency to distort the signal easily, producing a wooly, dark, or muddy tone. If you are looking for a clean, all-purpose preamp with very little character then this is not what you are looking for. However, if you are after a warm, dreamy tube-driven sound then this is a great low-price preamp to add to your arsenal. It's become my favorite preamp for a classic acoustic guitar tone paired with a beyer ribbon mic-- beautiful warm, woody sound with a little gentle tube compression. Happiest I've ever been with an acoustic guitar.

[2] Very good tube preamp very warm

[21 x 15 x 5"] Nice sounding tube preamp with lots of options. Tube plate voltage can be adjusted between (low) warmer sound and (high) cleaner sound. The high tube plate voltage option is good for chaining with another tube preamp (e.g. UA 610) for getting a different character. I get a lot of use out of the channel strip features -- the compressor / expander, de-esser, and EQ, which all work pretty well. Digital out too in a lot of formats, if you need it -- I don't. Fit and finish / physical quality is very good on the two that I ordered.

[1 mW] I kind of cheated. I used a Mullard (National electric of India) 12ax7 instead of the stock tube, which i hear is very nice. This preamp simply outperforms my Schiit audio Saga. It has all of the nuance and detail, but an air and slight lushness/warmth that others lack. It does anything sonically my former Quicksilver tube preamp did, but better for a fraction of the cost. This is a low cost/high end sounding product...full stop. So, support American jobs, experiance high fidelity and get a Bellari PA-555.

[End Address] I haven't used these much yet, but hooked them up to my tube preamp and did some sample recordings. Boy are they sensitive, and if you have an impedence knob you can get some variable results, all of which seem to be very good. Can't complain about the case. It's not like you're going to be tossing this thing around like a gorilla at the airport; it's just for storage and it looks cool. Shock mounts seem fine too. Great for the money, I'd say! I also like that you can swap the capsules to different patterns for not too much money. Really an excellent option for more variations!

[3.45 lb] I absolutely love this preamp. I bought it and tried it and it sounds pretty good right out of the box, but I upgraded the tube to an American made RCA 12AX7 and it sounds absolutely terrific on my bass and on vocals as well. Haven't had a chance to try on anything else but I have no reason to believe I wouldn't get the same results on other sources as well. Its very well made as it has a nice metal enclosure and not a cheap plastic one.

Put the right tubes in this puppy and it is a good as any digital tube preamp on the market. Very wide frequency response. Great ability to match impedance. Set the plate voltage to high for over easy smoothing of vocals. ADAT was easy to setup with my Protools control surface. Don't spend too much money on tubes. JJ Tesla or Tung-Sol sound great....

[0.01%] I use to as a headphone interface to a guitar tube amp DI out. It works great for that.

[48 kHz / 24-Bit] Don't be put off by the bargain price, this is a wonderful amp mic, period. The RSM5 is impressive sounding on guitar amps or speaker cabs. In that application, it's better combine the RSM5 w/ another non-ribbon mic, like condenser or dynamic. I get great results combining RSM5 with a ShureSM57. The RSM5 adds a delightfully smooth, warm low end girth & the SM57 adds presence, cut and sparkle. Experiment with positioning the mics on the speaker cone. As with all bargain ribbon mics, be sure to check your RSM5 for loose ribbon tension before keeping it. Google the issue and how to do a test. The tension inside mine was perfect out of the box. The RSM5 takes EQ great, yet doesn't need much to fit into a mix. It's very low noise. I have not yet really tried the RSM5 on other sound sources. Like all passive ribbons, this one needs lots of preamp gain or a mic booster to get a good level with quiet sources. With a loud source like guitar amp, that's not an issue with the RSM5. The preamps built into my Steinberg UR44 interface are more than powerful enough to get great results with Nady RSM5 on amps. I even briefly tried it on my male spoken voice, for which the preamps had to be turned up quite a bit, but I think even that would work without any extra preamp booster. I suspect that on quieter voices, or acoustic guitar from a distance, you'd need a gainier preamp, or FETHEAD or Cloudlifter to get a good level with the RSM5. The RSM5 has presentable build quality, and it sounds much, much better than I imagined, especially at this price point. It's downright unbelievable! I love the tones I am capturing having this mic as part of the mix. I have been playing music seriously for 40 years, and am fanatical about good tone. Nonetheless, given the great results with the RSM5, I could not justify the extra cost of the high end ribbon mics.