API R 20

I bought the R20 about 2 months ago & am very pleased with it. I've tracked just about everything from acoustic/electric guitars, drums/percussion, bass & vocals. The pres are very punchy, smooth & full with a more natural sound. Everything I've recorded so far using the R20 has given me great results. The unit is built very solid & with great quality. I gave this 5 stars not just because the great price, but also because of the great results it gives.

very nice dual pre

This dual pre works great for just about everything. I bought it specifically for drum overheads. It sounds very clean with little coloration. It may look vintage but has a modern sound. I just recorded a TV commercial, the back up singer was using a UA-610 and I decided last minute to track the main (male) vocals through the R20. It provided the perfect contrast between singers and really sat well in the mix. If your recording allot of female vocals then you may want to go with the ISA or UA pre's. I found it a little hard to control mid and high frequencies. Besides that it works great for a DI....I plugged my Telecaster straight in and the tone was sweet. It is also very well made. It will be part of my studio for another 50 years (if I'm lucky).

JDK Audio R20

I very much agree with the previous review. Very natural sounding preamp. Smooth but still retains punch. Clean without sounding sterile. These pres sound absolutely amazing on acoustic guitars and clean electrics as well. A high pass would be nice, but really not that big of a deal for me. Most of my mics have a high pass built in. Rugged build quality and on top of everything it looks SUPER cool. In my opinion, for two channels in this price range there is nothing i've heard that even stands close. Thanks goes to Kyle Manship for helping me make this decision.

Love It, But Not For Ribbons

I admit - I like the vintage military hardware look, and the sound is clean and smooth all the way up (not sterile though, as someone else also noted). Plus - the simple toggles, the bright indicator lights - all make life "easy" when setting up for a session.

However, it does not quite have enough gain for many ribbon mics, so I have to gain-stage through my Grace m101 (another clean, transparent pre) for a bit of a boost before it hits the JDK R20.

If you work with dynamics and condensers, not gonna be a problem for you. But if you've a collection of ribbons - you might seek something with more robust gain (70dB+)