BLA Eighteen Channel Strip Anyone?

[RaphaelParticipant]

Hey guys,

I could get my hands on a BLA Eighteen Channel Strip. It would be my first proper mic pre, so the question is: is it the right choice? or do I rather go with a neve clone? Any thoughts / opinions?

Raphael

• This topic was modified 2 years ago by Raphael.

[Paul MotionParticipant]

Hey Raphael, when you say proper mic pre, what do you mean? For that kind of money, my personal preference would be a UAD Apollo or an Audient ID14 or 44.
Great mic pres and more of them! Not sure of your current aet up but if you’re saying this is your first then better to go for something like those frankly….
Just my thoughts. 🙂

[RaphaelParticipant]

Hi Paul,

thanks for your comment. I am currently using the Audient EVO4 and certainly wanna upgrade to an ID22/44 soonish, mainly because of an overall better sound and the connetivity. But I do like to commit to sounds early on during recording and I definitely am a very tactile person, so I thought I would be great to have a nice sounding mic pre with a bit of colour and EQ to do exactly that.

I got a used BLA Eighteen in great condition on my hands, that sells for a reasonable price. So I thought, why not seize the opportunity?

I hope, that clearifies my inital post.

Thanks again,

Raphael

• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Raphael.
• This reply was modified 2 years ago by Raphael.

[Paul MotionParticipant]

Hey Raphael, totally agree on the commit early, (being an old tape recording engineer 😜), and the tactile side of things given the nature of alot of what we do.
Sounds like a great deal!

[RaphaelParticipant]

So a quick update on this topic:

Got the BLA on Saturday and tried it on acoustic guitar and bass already. Pretty amazing. The preamp has detail and punch, but is what you would call vintage, I guess. The EQ is just very smooth, the low end nice and creamy as you would expect. So overall the right decision and definitely worth trying 😀

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