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Yes,
that is my hand.
The LAZ MPA
is a fully discrete, dual stage microphone and DI preamplifier, with
up to 80dB of gain.
It features high quality transformers on the input and the output.
A discrete fet input DI is relay switched when a jack is inserted
and the DI signal then (most importantly) goes through the input
transformer.
Phantom power, 20dB pad and polarity flip switching is provided, as
well as
an 80Hz discrete fet, 12 dB/oct High Pass Filter, that takes care of
any low down nonsense
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A reviewlet from AndyP
Peter has very kindly lent me one of these to try. I have been using
it daily for 3 months or so now. This is something REALLY special. I
have tried it for vocals male and female, percussion ( tamb. shaker,
cajon, etc,) and d.i.'d acoustic, electric guitars and bass. Also as
a single room mic . I have a number of fabulous mic pres already
API, Helios, Pye, Audix, Glensound, my own concoctions with Neve
input trannnies, Gainbloak, and API output trannies etc etc. I am
A/Bing all the time with that which I'd normally use for any
particular purpose. Hands down, this rules the roost chez
strangeandbouncy. The level of detail is astonishing, top, middle
and bottom. I would sum up by saying that the sound is extremely
un-fatiguing, yet very clear and present. I cannot wait to try a
bunch of these on a drumkit, where I am certain they would excel
too. We use Dean St quite a lot for drums, and they have 8 1073's
and a 16 channel discrete Melbourne as well as Wonder, Great River
etc. I am looking forward to a shootout soon!
The artist I am working with has the most problematic voice I have
yet encountered in 25 years. Not one of my large collection of mics
(tube and otherwise) works for him, and in the end, we ended up with
a £300 Beyer m160 ribbon mic, which kindly ignores his sibilance
entirely. This left him with quite a reasonable but muddy sound with
an API, too soft a sound with a rented Massenburg, and, you guessed
it!, absolutely spot on with the LA-Z.
I also tried some 2520's in this pre. They didn't stay in for very
long at all. Peters DOA just won outright on every source for me.
The level of detail is superb, and they sound faster, with a cleaner
top end, and just as much grunt lower down. On a vocal, there is
much more detail in the midrange.
I tried out the DI quite a lot too. I have never really liked using
the DI input on Pre's like the API in the past. They can sound a bit
flat, missing out on all that iron. I am in love with the EMO
passive DI boxes for guitar and bass, and personally love the colour
they bring to the table. I was surprised to find that we frequently
preferred the sound plugging straight into the LA-Z, especially with
electric guitar that was being severely mangled in Ampfarm or
Sansamp. - Nice to learn something new!
The dual gain stage is actually very cool, with quite a subtle range
of tones available. Where this really comes into it's own is on di'd
guitars going through say Ampfarm where a slight tweak of the
relative levels can really turn on the creme! Friday I discovered
even more fun can be had using a 600ohm constant impedance
attenuator after the pre, and instead of the unsubtle break-up I am
used too, a much more controllable pallette ensues.
I don't often use a highpass whilst recording, but I won't hesitate
to use this one if I need to. Does what it says on the tin. Smooth
and effective. Just rolls off the bottom with no smearing to my
ears.
I should add that these don't sound like anything else! A new
flavour IMHO.
All in all, I'd say Peter has cracked it with this one. It looks
great, wonderful construction and a sound to die for.
(What more do you want? Magic-eye metering? A free
holiday? A hit record? The six winning lottery numbers?)
Kindest regards,
ANdyP
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