My favorite

I have used the millenia stt1 for more than 5 years ...it's awesome. The compressor is unequaled and the sound as clear as water.

I wish I had ten of these!!!

I don't give perfect scores often but if you want true versatility in a pre-amp with using an emulation, this is your beast.

The only problem with this pre is that it makes me want more of them but it is well-worth the price if you are tracking single sources. You can use this on ANYTHING. The solid state circuitry is super transparent for recording VO with a U87. Add a great tube mic (we have the Elux 251) on the tube circuitry and you are instantly transported back in time. With so many combinations possible, it would be hard to find a situation where this pre couldn't deliver.

The construction is solid and you can tell from the very first control you adjust. Millenia went the extra mile and made every push-button switch a relay - no audio passes through these buttons. The gain and output knobs are super smooth for finite adjustments.

My only small complaint is that there is no input metering, only a clip indicator. However, the brightness is variable depending on how much you are clipping and it works very well. The rest of this unit is so impressive that this small issue didn't get a half point deduction.

We have the Avalon 737 & 2022, a four channel UA unit, the Liquid Channel, and a Langevin dual channel - the Millenia STT-1 is my goto pre-amp on every project unless I need multiple channels.

Get one, you won't be dissapointed - you may end up buying another.

League of its own

This was a very smart purchase, and I tend to 'buy and sell' equipment as much as I went through girlfriends back in high school. I've had a couple of other popular channel strips (Avalon 737, Liquid Channel, UA 6176), and all of those have moved on...all pretty much replaced by the STT-1. They all had their strong points, but this guy really gave me the sonic range/clarity that I was waiting/hoping for. I do believe it really brings out what the microphone was meant to do. I swapped out the stock tubes for the Telefunken and Tesla and that made the difference between the solid state and tube path more dramatic. Don't want such a big open sound? Turn off the transformer option and it's a whole new palate of sound. For the cost, it's well worth it. Only downside I know if is that you can't use the de-esser and the compressor at the same time. The compressor is very decent, and the eq is really good. This is my first review of gear. It's definitely a high end strip.