R/E/P Community
R/E/P => R/E/P Archives => The Acid Test => Topic started by: Ryan Slowey on April 02, 2009, 09:46:43 AM
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Does anyone here have experience with the Sage SE-Pre1 mic preamp and care to comment?
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Yes I do. I borrowed a pair from a friend here in Austin. I used them on kick, snare and overheads and I was really pleased with what I got. They sound quite fast and I couldn’t seem to overload the input even though the pres don’t have and pads. An abundance of low end and punch I thought. I didn’t get farther than drums though but I really liked what I heard. Build quality seemed quite good and I liked the option of a small or large power supply depending on how many pres you wanted to use....good for budget there. The phantom power switch on-off was a tad confusing, hard to realize if it was on or off but I suppose that’s just being unfamiliar.If I wasn’t trying to centeralize my preamps I would have considered a few of these. But I’m trying to really go with mostly all the same pres these days. I like the glue I seem to be getting. Using all Calrec and Telefunken at present so I’m pretty happy.
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I love the Sage pres.
In the past 4 years I've used them on just about every source I can think of (they were the nicest pres in my old portable rig, so almost everything went through them at one time or another). I've used them on Strings, Amps, Room mics, Oboe, Sousaphone, Gamalon, Cimbalin, Bass Clarinet, etc etc etc. As far as having a crystal clear pre with great bottom end they're one of my favorites. But by far they've exceeded my expectations on Kick and Snare. They've beaten out everything I've put them up against, including Neves (class A's and class AB's), API 312s (both the board pres in my 1608 and in the A2D), Chandler germaniums, Avedis MA5's, and a bunch of others. And this is covering a ton of different styles. I can't speak highly enough about them.
Now for the few downsides: Yes, the phantom power switch is confusing (it looks like the on/off switch for the unit), but you'll figure it out pretty quick. They're not very high gain (55db), although you can have them modded for up to 75db by Sage. And most of the gain seems to happen in the last 5% of the knob, so if you're working at higher gain levels it can be difficult to stereo match them. Finally Sage's rack mounting options are kind of lame. I built my own
Additional upsides: For their quality they're cheap as hell! Even including the external power supply. Plus, I think that Janet and Phillip may actually be the nicest people in the industry. Just give them a call and you'll see what I'm talking about.
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"...most of the gain seems to happen in the last 5% of the knob, so if you're working at higher gain levels it can be difficult to stereo match them."
Therefore any microphone preamp should have a stepped gain switch, with or without a + and - 10 dB fine tune. This allows you more precision matching and more stable gain.
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The Sage microphone Preamplifiers are excellent.
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No doubts they sound great, and for many the continuesly gain without markings seems not to bother most of you. There might be other recording situations where the Sage preamp could be very unpractical.
When lining up follow-up sessions weeks or months later, you need at least some sort of scale to see how much gain you have used. To find back your gain settings, not to speak from matching the L-R channels, it is not very easy unless you put marks on the wooden surface. Also in live situations where you have to predict the amount of gain, the Sage is rather unpractical.
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I don't understand the huge problem with not having stepped switches. If you can't get it done with your ears and two VU meters, just put a single speaker in between your two microphones and feed it a tone, then match your gains with the constant-volume-source.
Sage pres are excellent, by the way. DRUMS. IMPOSSIBLE to clip.