Taking the Grace Design 101 home with me, I was so excited. I had a project I was working on and really hoping the 101 would come through for me. Upon opening the box, the first thing I noticed was how solid the unit was. It was heavy, not a cheap plastic case. The front was so shiny and sleek. With only two knobs and three buttons it felt very inviting, not intimidating. Getting a great sound out of this unit was really easy. There is a light that goes green when you have a -20 dBu signal and stays green until you get close to clipping at +16dBu. The gain knob gives you 11 different gain stages at 5dB increments, which makes it easy to record settings with specific mics and applications. Each knob even has a rubber strip in it to keep your fingers from slipping while you make adjustments. The other knob is dedicated to trim allowing you to dial in proper levels quickly.
So once I got it out of the box and plugged in, I grabbed a Rode NT-2 and plugged it into the Grace. I instantly noticed how clean and clear the mic sounded. Playing my acoustic, I was really able to hear the character of the microphone. The low end was really tight and the high end was very smooth. So I grabbed another mic, a small-diaphragm condenser, one I had some noise problems with in the past. Running it through the Grace 101 I had none of those problems. The noise I had experienced in the past was gone. This is a direct result of the clean, transformerless signal path. The phantom power is exceptionally pure as well. Put those two together and the result is that you really get to hear the sound and character of your microphone.
The Grace Design 101 is a great preamp for anyone. Whether you are a professional studio or you are expanding your home studio, the 101 will really help take your sound to the next level. It is perfect next to your other preamps if you are looking for an additional channel of preamplification. With its features and price point, it is also the perfect first preamp for a home studio. I loved using the 101 and found it really gave me all I was looking for in a preamp and love having it as a part of my studio.
