Does the Job 
by Billy from Wisconsin, September 2008
Music Background:  One man band/studio

First thing first - wattage-starved tube gear is inferior to gear with optimally utilized tubes. This unit consists of what is a 100% solid-state path, with the additional ability to mix in a desired degree of starved-tube distortion. Really, starved tube distortion is about as unsubtle as solid-state distortion, so since owning this device I've considered the tube essentially a sales gimmick. Now forget about the tube - as an affordable solid-state preamp, it's pretty good. It won't add a bunch of noise and the sound is pretty clear, just don't expect it to sound like an Avalon or something. The "voicing" really works as a number of different EQ curves which can be quite useful for adding/removing high end from sources. Features wise it has the basics - phantom power, polarity reverse, input and output gain. The limiter is pretty useless, it just sounds distracting.

In summary, it's a decent solid-state preamp/DI that can add different EQ curves to the signal if desired, with the added ability of mixing in mediocre tube drive.

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