Avalon vt737sp pre amp

Price $1850 from www.8thstreet.com

http://www.8thstreet.com/product.asp?ProductCode=9904&Category=Audio_Processors

http://www.avalondesign.com/vt737sp.html

This is a pre amp for bringing signal from Lo Z (mic level) to Hi Z (Guitar level) up to line level. It can also be used to master recordings as it accepts line level signal and can be hooked up to another one to synk compressors / EQ for stereo mastering etc.

In addition to being an all tube Pre amp it has an EQ and an opto- compressor which can be placed either in front of or behind the EQ.

Pros...It sounds great
Cons..It is very expensive

OK the Review:

.....very nice !! It was hard to burn the tubes in (2x 8 hour burns) with out having a little fiddle !!

It does "quacky" strat guitar better than any other pre / amp I have (even better than the Marshall TSL) and just pips the Focusrite PVMP.

Vocals: Better than the Focusrite by a long shot. More air, sweeter harmonics, warmer and generally more pleasant on the ear.

The 737 just kicks the whatnots out of the pres on the Peavey desk.

The difference between the Focusrite and the Avalon is not that pronounced doing guitars direct but in-conjunction with a nice mic (AKG C414) the 737 really pulls away.

The compressor and the EQ are particularly nice. The EQ offers a lot of control and the compressor will go fro a little beep to ...flat ! It is also very transparent.

The pre can be driven into overdrive if you push it however I haven't gone down that road yet as Im still amazed at the sounds from the pod XT and the pod pro.

I do suspect that it is only a matter of time before Im plugging in the PRS and seeing how hard I can push it !!

It also gives me an excuse to crank the MOTU 828s up to 24/96 which is cool and I hadn't done before ! Again it sounds nice.

Marks out of 10...well I was expecting more exaggerated mid range clarity when I first plugged in the guitar and I didn't hear it until I started using the C414 and tweaking the EQ. It was there all right just needed a little tickle to bring it to life !!

......so 9 out of 10.

Is it worth 1000 dollars more than the Focusrite PVMP...well Im not sure about that !! It is the last pre I will buy for a while so Im basking in my terminal GAS whilst I can !!

(oh yes the settings above played with the bridge and middle PU of a strat gave a beautiful "Quacky" tone...Uhmmmmmmmm !!)

Oh yes the tubes are Sovtec 6922s