Dave Hill Designs Europa I Microphone Preamp Reviews
The Europa I from Dave Hill Designs represents a totally unique design concept in mic pres. The impedance is selectable (2.2Kohms, 300ohms, and 1.2Mohms) and you have up to 66dB of gain available, giving you a plethora of sonic options. But these features aren't what set the Europa I apart from other pres, as a trio of controls really let you dig into the coloration capabilities. Adjust the SPEED control and dictate how fast the preamp responds. The control goes from 0 to 8 with 8 being the fastest rate, and 0 being very drastic. Further shape the sound with the even and odd harmonic control, which gives you nine levels of coloration. All the controls - gain, speed, even harmonic, the odd harmonic controls - are stepped which makes it easy to recall your favorite settings.
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Dave Hill Designs is currently experiencing manufacturing delays on all products, and Sweetwater is shipping customer backorders for this product in the order they are received. Please contact us to either secure your place in line for the earliest possible future shipment or discuss product alternatives.Customer Reviews
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Sweetwater Reviews
Carson McClain
Charlie Davis
Alex Morales
Stuart Niven
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Highest Rated Reviews
Super Useful
Incredibly versatile pre. Perfectly clean when I need it to be, warm when I need to be, and always smooth.
Europa 1
Perfect A+
Amazing on everything I am buying another one.
Killer Shaping
I bought this preamp a few years back and it is amazingly versatile. I have been primarily using it on vocals with excellent results. Being kind of the analog purest I get frustrated with any gear with a single knob!
The Europa preamp can evolve into endless preamp combinations, so in my world it is a dream preamp and saves me from buy 4 more other brands.
I agree like other reviews I agree you really need to sit down, dig in, turn knobs and take the preamp to dinner to get to know it.
The creative potential in this preamp is endless and running anything through it inspires new combinations of settings you better write down! Don't get fooled by hype of ancient preamp copies and living in the past! It is time to bring sound forward and of course Dave Hill delivers something that puts us in the drivers seat!
Hobbyist however lives up to the Tweakability hype!
im no expert, and just learning Audio Engineering, however this is one of my most powerful tools in my studio. For my vocals, i can tweak up the wazoo before my sound even hits my DAW. If you are one of those people that cant decide on warmth or punchy, or vintage or whatever heck else you are looking for in a mic preamp, then get this bad boy. It can give you whatever sound you are looking for provided you do your homework and mess with it and learn it. Hope this review helps
Clarity with character, the sound in my head.
As a friend said "Dave Hill is the new Rupert Neve."
This box is genius. I've got a pair of them as my primary chain. Somehow sources are more real, while simultaneously more polished. It can also get very vintage sounding. It's more detailed to me than an API. I'm very happy with them and they will be sticking around for years to come. If you aren't stuck on being a retro-fetishist, then I would buy one or two of these.
The sound is clear and very clean
For me, a good choice for a clear and warm sound.
Have the flexibility to adjust as needed.From the sound of vintage or to a completely new era.
A Master Manipulator
I first heard of this unit from my Sales Engineer, Stuart Niven. I was skeptical at first, it being a new product and all, but after using this unit with my Manley Reference microphone, all I can say is WOW! The clarity is just what I've been looking for. I have recordings that have people in awe because they aren't mixed yet, only ran through the Europa w/ slight compression. That's saying something. The versatility of this unit is great, I spent hours in my studio recording using just about all of the settings so I could get an idea of how the knobs work in conjunction with each other. So far everything about the Europa has kept me smiling, from the opening of the box to putting it into my rack space. I Love it!!
Tweakable warmth & detail!
Wow! I am literally floored by what this baby is capable of. From ultra clean and transparent to new flavors of vintage colors. I've got sounds in my arsenal that nobody else has now.
What's more, my compressor has a much lighter workload now. My waveforms are near perfect just tracking through the Europa. Thanks Dave Hill for making my voice into a new kind of magic. Sorry to my competitors!
Beautiful Piece of Gear
Love the warmth of this piece! Very versatile for any project
