Solid State Logic SiX Channel 500 Series Channel Strip Reviews

I Purchased a pair of these (For kick and snare) They work great, sound great, and are easy to use. The one button compression is surprisingly usefull. had i know about them earlier, I would have a rack full of them. SSL at that price is a no-brainer.

This little thing has really impressed. Very clean and yes there is warmth. For the price it really is a bargain.
I especially like putting my bass and adding some compression to it.

The SSL Six strip is a great all around general purpose channel strip.
Also it is one of the best bangs for the buck
I can't think of a similar product in 500 format that offers preamp/DI/ compressor and EQ in one package.
Expect a good clean clear sound.
Do not expect any spank from the compressor. It is smooth and designed to prevent clipping.
The RQ is 2 band and simple. Not surgical but still decent for broad sweeps.

I have a pair and would like another sometime soon if they go back to $

It doesn't get better for the price. Been using two to track my MPC into Ableton and I have no complaints.

I had been looking at these for a couple of years. And I finally pulled the trigger! These are great! Really enjoying them. So cool to have a compressor and an Eq in this "mini channel strip!"

My first 500 series piece and I've gotta say, at least on my voice, this far exceeds the quality of anything I've used in this price range and in the $ price range. I just finished up tracking a song I wrote thru this with a very slight boost on both EQ shelves, compressor disengaged, into a 2AKT hit pretty hard and then into my interface's line in and It is very nearly a finished product. I thought I had a grasp on how much easier outboard modules etc. could make the creative process but this is next level; glad I kept experimenting rather to find which sound fits my stuff best.

There's a review on here entitled: No better, no worse than a built-in preamp" WHAT?? Talk about not knowing what you're talking about! I put this up against my Avalon 737SP, BAE 1073DMP Mic Preamp, Peavey VMP-2, CAPI VP26, True Systems P-Solo (2), Cranborne Audio EC1 and D.A.V. BG501, and it's as good as the best I have! The compression is smooth and is great for tracking. A little eq goes a long way, and is very flexible with the two modes. For my modest home setup, this makes me want for nothing more in the way of preamps! What a great sound!!!

In A World Where Music & Sound Is Subjective, 1 Thing Remains Consistent… Quality! This Nifty Preamp is the King In This price range, punches 5x over its price point, and very well might be the best preamp ever made for the following reasons:
1) For the promotional price, to get a genuine Clean, Transparent SSL pre is unheard of!
2) Not only is it an authentic SSL Pre, But Authentic SSL EQ, Authentic SSL Compression!!! They Sound Clean, Polished, Precise, Refined, & Built To Give That TIMELESS accuracy only SSL has Mastered!
3) Many Preamps Have Great and Unique qualities that make them legendary, and I have tried many, Neve, API, Lesser Known Brands, and let me tell you they all approach the problem of amplifying signal slightly different. This is where the "Taste" as an engineer comes into play, however NONE have done such in such a fun, cool, affordable, quality format that works on EVERYTHING! I have thrown everything at this pre/eq/comp and it just takes it, handles it, and then teases you by asking for more! This gear costs $ (at this time) but sounds & performs like something easily $ usd.
4) Simplistic Beauty! The knobs are soo simple, intuitive and direct, fixed frequency points, fixed compression ratio w/ variable threshold, clean gain & phantom power, perfectly placed high pass filter to clean a variety of sources without losing fundamental frequency that will affect upper harmonics. All of these things have been carefully planned with this gear and if you thought your equipment sounded good before, with very very minimal tweaking it will sound phenomenally better
5) In an age where everyone is making music, but 95% or more do not know what they are doing at home. This is your savior. As an engineer who has worked in sessions in many big studios with many big names I will tell you 99% of the time it's not the gear that gets your that sound but the skillset of the artist as we are always chasing another gear, another plugin in hopes it'll make us better and our music sound like what's in the radio. The truth is it will not. There's soo many steps that go into that polished sound we are used to hearing and trying to replicate but can't articulate well enough due to our lack of understanding of Sonic Science and our inexperience with EQ, however this can potentially change that. The biggest problem many people have in their home recordings is capturing a good sound from the source. This means:
-Proper acoustic treatment, Good Mic & Mic Placement, Good Gain Staging, Which results in a Great Recording!
The top names in the game know this and most of them Expect it at every stage (Beat Production, Artsit Selection, Vocal/instrument tracking, Mixing Stage, Mastering Stage)
This is what you're hearing on the radio, mostly greatness every step of the way. So believe me while it's possible to create great home recordings that can lead to radio ready songs, it's often difficult to compete because something in the process chain of greatness is done incorrect, which will compromise something else quality wise down the line! This SSL Pre can help fix that!
It is a breeze to capture good levels to be mixed professionally later, tasteful eq that will shape tonality or get rid of huge problems in a broad stroke with creative freedom later, and easy going forgiving soft compression that tames and controls the source initially which still leaving a world of room to crush or distort or compress further to taste.

-Conclusion! YOU WILL NOT FIND A BETTER PRE AMP and OVERALL one size fits all EQ, Compression Solution in this price range. This Item should be priced at $ but it's $ (currently) IF YOU HAD ANY DOUBTS Or HESITATION About Buying this gear…. STOP THINKING & START PURCHASING! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT! 500 Series Rocks!
I have used full size gear and 500 series gear, the quality, headroom and performance in all my studies have been 100% on par and in many scenarios 500 series has been even better performance wise.
!!GET THIS PREAMP/EQ/COMPRESSOR From Sweetwater TODAY!!

I have the neve 1073 opx
API 550
RND 511

love the opx but this is a nice different color
super clean and smooth

An affordable quality line input compressor and eq that enhance the signal. It's literally used on every recording I was using only one and decided to purchase another to make stereo was a better choice for the workflow.

The 6's have gotten a great sound on anything I've thrown at it. The eq shelves are incredibly useful and the one knob compressor is perfect for shaping while tracking and at $ I just got 2 more.

SSL what else more could you ask for.

I have been interning for the past 7 months in a studio with a SSL 9000 Duality. I also studied on this same console for the past 3 years. Well, these 500 Series Mic Pre's are baby versions of the 48 channel SSL console. At 500$ each as compared to 100k$ for a similar if not identical sound is incredible. Although the Six Mic Pre has limited features compared to the large console, it still has the minimal features needed to get great analog signal into your Interface and DAW. So far, DI bass guitar with the Rickenbacker 4003 sounds amazing! Also, these are amazing for recording a live drum kit into your interface, as these sound way better than any plugin. The Compression is fixed, but it still is very usable and sounds great. If you like the "cleanish"/"cleaner" vibe of the SSL (Compared to the darker and crunchier vibes of the N 1073 or UA 610) than these little guys are for your studio! The DI and HIZ access on the front of the Mic Pre is very convenient as well.

We all know that the UAD plugins from UA sound amazing, but..... Just like Amp modelers, digital versions just don't have the same richness and characteristics as real analog gear does.

I mean a ssl channel strip at this price already gives it 5 stars. I will say theres nothing overly amazing about it but for the price to get a very nice clean crisp preamp, some eq which actually sounds pretty good and the compressor is good but the release time doesnt really make it applicable to everything. I will say though u cant reallt drive this preamp for any extra color the sound doesnt really distort in a pleasant way. Even though the eq seems like it isnt much it actually has good set frequencies that make it very useful and sounds good. The compressor is good and is easy to use of course but the release time is 300ms which is cool to smooth some stuff out but you want to lightly tap it or its easily noticeable not like most hardware comps im use to.

Great sounding mic channel. It's amazing how SSL managed to pull this off. In just one slot.

I read another review knocking this preamp for not powering a ribbon mic, gotta be honest here, if thats what you wanted do buy a preamp specifically made for that mic application. Knocking this perfectly outstanding piece of kit just because it can't do ONE very hyper specific thing is like knocking a swiss army knife for not killing a bear.

Thank you SSL for making a product that sounds like your line, thank you for putting intelligent features sets into it that making creating music that much faster!!

If you don't like this preamp, EQ/Comp combo I'd have to ask if you knew what you wanted or had a different price point in mind..

Wonderful punchy fast and clean as all SSL consoles behave. The EQ is better than one might think and the compressor works best at low settings. The unit is low noise and is built like....welll an SSL. This is designed to add excitement to your music without the colour. Just a fantastic beast and there is nothing out there that does what it does for 399... I tried to find something and you just cant. Almost like the SSL matrix... nothing matches them pound for pound.

Absolutely incredible cost to value here. You not only get a good preamp but you get some tone shaping as well?! So versatile and really lays the groundwork into getting into more intricate hardware gear.
Highly recommend it

my first toe in the 500 series water and i don't think there could've been a better choice to get aquatinted.
the preamp is crisp and clean. my reference points in my rig are a gap pre73, a joemeek q3 and an art mpa ll with upgraded tubes. the ssl preamp section is hi-fi sounding in comparison to these others but warms up when pushed. the 2 band eq is effective and musical, and the simple one knob compressor does exactly what it's supposed to. and the kicker is the price point. i've already saved almost enough lunch money to buy a second one…

Thank you SSL for giving the people what we hoped for and more!

Used this tonight on vocals, bass DI, and mono omni drum smash and it was impressive!

Sounds great. Reliable. And it's an SSL. Like having a mini SSL channel in my 500 lunchbox. I couldn't get it to sound bad even when I tried! Plenty of gain for any mic, though my dynamic mics (sm58, 57) had to be turned up pretty high. Don't have ribbons to try it out, but the specs suggest it would have enough gain for ribbons. EQ and Comp both very simple to use. Very useful for tracking.

When I first tried this out, all of the push-buttons wouldn't cycle correctly and frankly, they felt kind of cheap. Engaging and disengaging them, both ways, the buttons would get stuck in kind of a half-way position and I would have to cycle it again. However, cycling through all of them a dozen or so times seemed to "loosen" them up a little and now they're fine ever since, and have lost that "cheap" feeling. Hope that issue doesn't pop up again. Gonna have to knock half a star for that reason cuz I don't know what they're gonna do down the road.
On to the sound of this little channel strip, it sounds great! There are just enough options on the EQ to where you really should be able to get a decent sound (But I wish there weren't detents at the zero position). The comp sounds nice and smooth at low levels. At higher compression levels you can dial in some grit that sounds good on vox (mainly just done vocal recording so far). Really really like the sound of this strip. If I had another wish, it would be to have the VHD harmonics on board this puppy.
Overall, really glad I bought it, it will definitely get used.

I never used a big SSL console so I'm not sure what folks are after. I don't think it's these guys though. These days if a preamp can't pump out enough to power a ribbon or dynamic ( and these don't ) then you might as well just use your preamps. The eq is decent but I'm not sure you need an outboard eq besides HF. The compressor works well but has no flavor. I suspect these preamps may work well in a SiX or a Big Six where the power can be controlled but in a 500 rack it's a different story ( tried them in API 6b and a Midas L6). Also, as someone else mentioned in a review, the gain pot was kind of wonky and was all over the place at first, and even two days later I didn't get the demarcation between clean and totally distorted. The knobs are not stepped so it might even vary from preamp to preamp. The price is certainly right so if you need something just slightly better than your interface, they would be fine.

So first off I want to state that I'm a lil bit biased in the fact that SSL moved to china. I've had two of these units and both of them feel really cheaply made. It's not built like a Chandler or a RND piece, because it's not. Though you would think for the money, even at the entry-level price. You'd get more than just a toy-like feel. It doesn't seem like it will truly last. On that note, I sort of felt this way about SSL 500 series modules when it was made in the UK. The knobs are flimsyish, and the overall build quality is questionable. Add the fact that it's made in china and I sort of now see SSL in the same realm as Behringer. It's sad.

That's my opening statement.

This comes in at $, and for just about the same price, you can get the RND 511 and have a preamp that doesn't feel cheaply made and with a sound that puts this one to shame. That'd be my recommendation.

If the idea of having a channel strip is your thing, and you must absolutely use this unit. I'd say it's overall a 2.5 or 3 out of 5 stars. Nothing special. Not absolute garbage. It's certainly usable. Just didn't tickle my fancy or anyone's fancy who was getting to check it out when we tried using it in a session. I guess basic, plain, and cheap is the motto i'd say goes along well with this pre.

You're able to use it on an array of things and it does have versatility. Which is cool. Acoustic guitar, and vocals, really did sound the "best". The drums were okay, and as I mentioned, it did work. It's no API, or Neve tracked snare or kick drum, but it does cleanly track a decent drum take. Bass DI was fine, and so were synths and digital piano. Guitars also were no frills which brings me to my next point, the overall sound of the preamp.

I see this as a pre that sounds like a pre you would get in something mid to high grade for audio interfaces. Like on the same level as a UAD pre with no unison preamp kicked on, or a RME pre, or a Motu pre. It's generic, it's stock, it has no flair or flavor. It's just a pre that sounds flat and preamplifies the signal. It does what it's supposed to do. 3/5

The eq, is really just for tone shaping and guidance, and it could help in a pinch with a bassy or untamed vocal. I'll give em' kudos for that. I'd say the eq is the best feature along with the DI. It can increase the overall clarity of a take and I believe they use that as a selling point. They should. Cute, good lil eq. 4/5

The compressor is one knob, twist, set, and forget as you find the compression works itself out. All fixed ratios, attack, release, and makeup gain, etc. It helps keep things more in line. It'll help in a quick tracking session and keep things from being too dynamic. I just can't see you using it as a solution to compression like other channel strips allow you to do. 3/5

DI is solid, it works as intended. This doubles up on the fact it's pretty much like plugging straight into your audio interface and tracking as you would. It's flat, clean, and analog. It sounds solid enough to track an actual take with, but it's just baseline. No frills. 3.5/5

I wouldn't recommend it unless you really wanted some simplistic additional features that many other pres in the 500 format do 100 times better. I'd say grab an RND 511 because it's essentially the same price. They'll do wonders in terms of sound. Grab a DI box if you absolutely need DI. I sold both of mine just after a week of fully testing them and putting them through the paces. As someone with Chandler, Neve, API, Shadow Hills, and having reviewed quite a bit of gear for my youtube channel. I'd have to say this thing is just not on the same team or even the same division, but in a totally different sport. As I mentioned SSL moving production to China, makes me think of them as an equal to Behringer rather as I saw them as a top-notch company. That may be a bit harsh, and truthfully my opinion is one of many, as this thing is greatly reviewed everywhere you go, but ya not my cup of tea.

While preamps were never really SSL's thing. It'd be nice to get a true 1-to-1 version of the 4000 or 9000 series pres in a 500 format. I think a lot of people would go crazy over it. While the VHD pre is certainly better than the SiX Ch, it's nothing to write home about. It still kinda gives you the feel of an SSL console sort of kind of, in a weird way.